So Far Into You (33 page)

Seth took his turn in this game of musical chairs. ‘Taxi is on its way, Rina. It'll be here in five minutes and you're only ten minutes from Max's place. You could walk there.'

If she wasn't pissed as a newt,
Remy thought, but what she said was: ‘but not in those shoes.'

Rina's head snapped up, but her eyes were glassy. ‘Stop being nice to
me.
I don't deserve it. I've never been nice to you.'

‘What are you talking about, Rina?' Seth asked.

It all came out in one big, dirty rush. ‘I thwapped the adjuvant. I took that axyl-whatsit bottle and put the oxflo-whatsitsname in. I wanted her to get the sack. I thought maybe, if she wasn't around … you and me, Seth.' Rina's head lolled back. ‘I'm so pathetic.'

Remy's head spun and it had nothing to do with alcohol.

‘You're talking about five years ago, right? You're saying you changed the chemicals and that's why Remy sprayed the wrong stuff?' Seth's voice was calm, almost hypnotic.

‘Yesh.'

‘Did my mother know?' Seth asked. ‘Did Ailsa ask you to do it?'

‘God no,' Rina's hand struck the stem of her glass. Red wine slopped to stain the grass. ‘Ailsa would have sacked me if I'd done anything that might harm her family's precious vines.' Rina touched Seth's arm, pinching his shirt between her fingers. ‘I knew if I raised the alarm early, it would be okay. It happened once when I was working in the Hunter Valley years ago. One of the trainees mixed the wrong wetting agent. They mixed in a herbicide instead of the adjuvant or the wetting agent, whatever that stuff is. I would never have done it if I didn't know it was safe, Seth. You've got to believe me. That's how I knew it would be okay if I raised the alarm early enough.'

That's a helluva punt,
Seth thought, but he didn't say it. He looked for Remy and found her, white-faced. She was standing near one of the tables, gripping it like it was the only thing keeping her up.

‘Are you sure Ailsa never knew?'

‘Not about that. I never told her that. Not like the other thing.'

‘What other thing?' Seth asked, calm as ever.

Rina put her hand over her mouth and groaned: ‘Think I'm gonna be sick.'

They all got out of the way as she rushed from the tent.

***

‘Never for a minute did I think anyone else could have done it, Seth,' Remy said later at home as they dissected the day. ‘I can't believe it.'

‘You and me both, Remy. We'd never know if she hadn't said anything. She's got off scot-free for five years. I'm not sure why she owned up to it now.'

‘I'd say the wine had something to do with it. Maybe after she ran over Breeze it all caught up to her and she just needed to let it out. I don't think Rina drinks much anymore. It must have really affected her.'

‘You're very generous about people who've tried to hurt you, Rem. Next you'll be sending Ailsa a Christmas card.'

‘Hey, steady on.'

He laughed and she joined him.

‘I think you're angrier about this than I am,' she said.

‘I'm mad at myself.' He turned to her. ‘Here I am thinking I'm such a good judge of character. I got you so far wrong it's not funny, and I had Rina wrong the entire time.'

Remy put her hand on his thigh. ‘She's good at her job. It's because of her you were able to spend that time in so much big-picture stuff. Rina took care of the details. Lasrey wouldn't be where it is today without Rina. You wouldn't either. Say what you want, but the two of you complement each other.'

He mumbled something indecipherable, but in a way that acknowledged what she said was valid. ‘I still think there's more she's not telling me, but I couldn't get anything out of her in the taxi.'

‘Forget about it,' Remy said, snuggling closer to Seth on the couch. ‘I was so sure it was my error, you know. I couldn't think of any other reason except it being my stuff-up. The thought that someone would deliberately swap the chemicals never crossed my mind.'

‘Rina relied on that. Rina knew Ailsa would point the finger at you. She gave Ailsa the excuse she needed to fire you, and she didn't need much of an excuse. She saw you as too much of a threat. Both of them did.'

Remy traced her fingernail on Seth's wrist. ‘What will you do with Rina now?'

‘I don't know. She must have offered me her resignation twenty times in the taxi.' Seth had ridden home with her to make sure she got there okay.

‘I don't think you should accept it. Unless she's really genuine about it and it's not just a gut reaction. The chemical thing happened so long ago and only you and I, and your mum—if you tell her—will ever know about it. I've got over it. I've lived with it so long it doesn't matter to me anymore. It's from a whole other time in my life.'

‘What about the grapes? She would have let your fruit ruin in the rain, if she could have. Can you forgive that?'

Remy thought about it. ‘Something changed when she ran over Breeze. I think all this hate has been eating at her a long time. I don't think Rina's an evil person at heart. Maybe she had to get it all out.'

‘That's profound.'

She punched his arm. ‘Who knows what goes on in the head of Rina Stein? I give up.'

‘Between me and my mother and Rina, we've ballsed up your life brilliantly. I'm so sorry.'

‘It's okay. Truly. It's all okay. Everything happens for a reason, I believe that. I have a day like today at Oakbank with you … I have you and my vineyard and my mum and my dog. I don't owe anyone a cent, except the bank. My life hasn't turned out too badly.'

‘And you're about to be a grandma …'

She laughed and clinked her wineglass with his. ‘Yeah. There's that too.'

Epilogue

The weekend after Lexie and Bernie tied the knot at Ivy Lodge in October, Seth took Remy out for dinner in Adelaide. He'd hired the executive apartment at the very top of a high-rise hotel in King William Street for the night.

They'd eaten on Gouger Street. She'd had a meal of whole chilli crab that had taken her about two hours to finish, and he'd loved every second watching her crack crab claws and suck the white meat from the shell.

He'd walked her back to their accommodation slowly—navigating the pavement in heels required her full concentration. It was eleven floors up in the elevator, a swift turn right into a plush carpeted corridor, and a juggling act to swipe his access card into the lock and keep his hands from roaming beneath Remy's dress.

What a dress.
She'd finally let him buy her a new outfit for her birthday in July. She'd chosen a pink dress that was almost a match for the watermelon colour that had caught his eye in the park all those years ago. This one had a lace top and a short skirt that flounced as she walked and showed her gorgeous legs. He loved it on her. He loved it off her.

‘Ooh. Look at this,' Remy said, as she walked into the apartment in front of him, picking up a bottle of champagne from an ice bucket on a low coffee table. ‘I guess you spent enough hiring this place to earn a bottle of bubbles on the house?'

Seth grabbed the card. ‘We did. But that bottle's in the fridge. This one,' he flashed the ornate card, ‘is a gift from my mother.'

‘Another one?' Remy almost fell off her heels. ‘She's persistent isn't she?'

‘This is true. She's trying very hard to say sorry.'

Since Ailsa had been told about Rina's part in the vineyard incident that got Remy sacked, she'd back-pedalled faster than a politician at election time.

‘You know she's worried about a lawsuit, don't you? She knows how much that might dent her company dividend, because I'd be taking the damages straight out of her profit share,' Seth said.

‘And here I was thinking she might like to babysit the puppies …'

Smiling wryly, he took two champagne flutes from the fridge where they'd been cooling and poured them each a glass. Beyond the windows a bird's-eye view of the city waited. Seth opened the rooftop access door and Remy followed him into a private oasis where a blue-tiled swimming pool shimmered with water lit by soft blue light. The water overflowed the pool's edge like a white curtain, sliding into a bed of pebbles beneath.

Remy knelt by the water, trailing her hand in a shallow ripple across the surface.

‘You're so exquisite, Rem.'

She smiled at him over her shoulder as she stood up. ‘Thank you.'

He lifted a silk strap from her shoulder, moving the material aside to kiss her creamy skin. She shivered in his arms, her gaze on the street.

‘What do you think she's thinking?' Remy murmured.

‘Who?' Seth didn't look up.

‘See that lady over there?' She indicated with her chin.

This time he paid attention. There was a woman on a balcony on the opposite side of King William Street. She had a nice round face and soft features. Her hair was short and curly.

‘What about her, Rem?'

‘She looks sad. See how she's watching the people on the corner down there?'

‘Don't ask me to think too much about other women when I'm here with you.'

Remy tilted her head, arching herself against Seth's caress, but she didn't take her eyes off the woman on the balcony.

‘No one should be alone on a night like this,' Remy said. ‘It makes me sad. When I'm so happy, you know? It makes me sad to see someone who isn't shining like us.'

He paid more attention this time. The woman wore a silky bathrobe. She had a glass tumbler in one hand that she put occasionally to her lips. Whatever she was drinking glinted in the light coming from the apartment behind her. There was something
Mona Lisa
about her, Remy was right.

‘Put your hands over your ears, Rem.'

She giggled, but she covered her ears and once she'd done it, Seth let out a whistle that would have stopped traffic if they hadn't been so high off the road.

The woman on the balcony looked right and left, trying to find the source of the whistle. Seth waved, and after a few slow seconds, she looked up, seeing the movement. If he'd been closer, he might have thought she frowned, but then she waved instead.

Seth cupped his hands around his mouth. ‘Are you okay?'

‘Pardon?' The woman called back.

‘Are. You. Okay?'

‘Me?' She pointed at herself, looking over her shoulder just in case Seth had been talking to anyone else. ‘Yes. I'm fine, thanks.' She had a nice voice and it carried easily above the city sounds.

‘I'm about to ask this lady to marry me,' Seth yelled.

Remy stiffened, and he heard her gasp.

Across the street, the woman gave them a big thumb's up. She didn't look sad anymore.

Seth got down on one knee. He felt a bit silly doing this with an audience, but it felt right too, for reasons he'd really never want to try explaining. Maybe because the woman on the other balcony was smiling at them now and because he knew that made Remy happy.

He'd do a lot to make Remy happy.

‘You told me once that talk is cheap, and that action speaks louder than words?'

‘I remember,' she murmured.

‘Will you give me a lifetime, where I can show you I love you every single day?'

‘Yes, Seth. I will.'

A big burst of warmth filled his chest.

‘What did she say?' The woman across the street called.

‘Yes,' Remy answered, her voice ringing across the void. ‘I said yes.'

‘Congratulations.' The woman raised her glass. ‘That's awesome.'

‘What's your name?' Seth called, standing up, pulling Remy close.

‘Gina,' she yelled.

‘Thanks for being our witness, Gina.'

She laughed, like she found that funny. ‘That's about the most fun I've had on this street on a Saturday night in forever. Thank you both for that. I hope things work out brilliantly for you.' She went inside, pulling the screen doors shut behind her.

‘Now. Where was I?' Seth said, returning his attention to the strap of Remy's dress and the sweet curve of her neck.

Remy turned in his arms, smiling up at him. Seth picked her up and carried her over the threshold into the apartment. He let her down long enough to slip the pink dress from her shoulders and let it pool at her feet. Then he began making love to her all over again, starting where he'd left off.

Thanks for reading
So Far Into You
. I hope you enjoyed it.

Turn the page for a bonus story,
Angry Birds and Turtle Doves
, based one year after Seth and Remy solve the problems of love and the universe in
So Far Into You
. Sydney's hot. Adelaide's hot. And it's getting hot down under the tablecloth. This story published in 2015 by Escape, from the anthology
It Happened at Cafe Nix
.

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www.escapepublishing.com.au

Reviews can help readers find books, and I am grateful for all honest reviews. Thank you for taking the time to let others know what you've read, and what you thought.

If you liked this book, here are my other books:
His Brand Of Beautiful
and
Fairway To Heaven
.

This book was published by Escape Publishing. If you'd like to sample some more great books from my fellow Escape Artists, please read on.

Angry Birds and Turtle Doves