Someone Like You (2 page)

When he’d moved down to Middle Point, he’d flat-out told his best friend that all he wanted was time and space. He hadn’t wanted Ry or his fiancée hovering around him waiting for some miraculous recovery. He knew he would need time to get his head around what had happened on that dark winter’s night. Or rather, what had almost happened, when his car was slammed by a truck on the winding road back to Adelaide.

In the days and weeks after the accident, Ry had done the best friend thing and taken care of business. He’d said afterwards that it was no biggie, that it was what best mates did for each other. Ry had been at the hospital every day; he and Julia had taken charge, flown Dan’s parents thousands of kilometres from Queensland and fed and watered them while he recovered. He’d managed to convince his mum and dad that he was okay. They had returned to their caravan and were grey-nomading around the country, which suited Dan just fine. Last time he heard from them they were in Broome, in the far north of Western Australia. Which was about the right distance away, he figured. Having his mother around fussing over him would drive him bat-shit crazy.

And now everyone else was starting to drive him bat-shit crazy. Ry and Julia were still trying to take care of everything and that included trying to run his life. Ry had refused to let Dan go back to work as the Director of Special Projects at Ry’s company, Blackburn and Son Developments, even though he was still paying him his regular salary. That just didn’t sit right with Dan, considering he’d been sitting around on his arse for the past three months. And the happy couple had tried to pop around every chance they got which, considering they lived in the glass palace next door, was way too often. He hated seeing the worry in their eyes when he turned them back at the front door, pleading whatever the hell lame excuse he could come up with to be left alone. He didn’t want company. Liked it better on his own, with music cranked up so loud that he didn’t have to listen to what was flying around in his head. Ry and Julia had persisted longer than he thought they would, but had given up in the past month.

Funnily enough, the only person who hadn’t come knocking on his door was Elizabeth. She hadn’t once visited him while he was in hospital either. He hadn’t seen her in all the months he’d been back in Middle Point. Until today. So why now?

And what did he care anyway?

Dan was simply going to have to tell Ry to fuck off and leave him alone. Mates could say that to each another, he knew, and it would be taken in the spirit with which it was intended. Which was, ‘fuck off and leave me alone’.

Dan turned from the window and wondered where the hell his phone was. He wanted to make sure Ry got the message, loud and clear.

Lizzie squinted against the scorching wind and the burning hot sun. It felt like a bushfire day, the air was tinder dry and ready to snap, the low-lying hills behind the Point already transformed from their winter patchwork of green fields to parched brown fire hazards. It wasn’t unusual to see such a hot day in November, with the northerlies blowing, gathering up every molecule of desert heat from central Australia and dumping it in great gusty draughts on Australia’s southern coast.

She looked both ways along the road for cars and then crossed it, stepping onto the wooden path that cut through the shrubbed dunes, covered with grey-green bushes, bright white seaside daisies and coastal grasses. The tide was on its way in but there was still enough beach for walkers, roaming dogs, beach cricket champions and joggers. Out in the distance, committed surfers were waiting for the final wave of the day.

Lizzie gazed out at the expanse of white beach that she loved so much. The early evening sun shone so brightly on the water that the waves looked like mirrors in the distance, too bright to look at without squinting. Miles and miles of deep, sapphire blue water before her and a brilliant shimmering southern Australian sky above her.
Home was very sweet
, she thought with a satisfaction that she felt all the way to her bones.

Slipping off her sandals, Lizzie jumped on tiptoes over the hot white sand until she reached the water line, splashing her feet in the deliciously cool waves. In the distance, the majestic stone pub she’d worked in for years sat dramatically atop the rise of Middle Point, its walls proud and determined, its windows casting their gaze over the best view in the world. She was on her way back there to break the news about Dan to Ry and Julia.

Although she’d actually laid eyes on the man that half of the Middle Point population was beginning to doubt actually existed, her story would be pretty threadbare. When Dan moved to the Point, locals were buzzing. The news that the hot guy helping Ry Blackburn build the Windswept Development was moving into town swept through town like a cool change on a hot day. The fact that he was single and six foot, four inches tall made that news even more interesting to a number of the women of the Fleurieu Peninsula.

The rumble of curiosity and interest in Middle Point’s newest citizen, however, had faded in the past couple of months. Dan hadn’t been seen at the pub. He was never spotted walking along the beach, just a few dozen steps from his front door. No one had seen him at the local supermarket or newsagent. It was as if he’d moved in and disappeared.

Lizzie climbed the fifty stairs from the sand to the top of the Point, where the pub lights had already begun to glisten like stars in the twilight, and tried to figure out where to start. She pushed open the heavy front door of the pub and was relieved at the rush of cool air that hit her. Surveying the crowd, she did a quick estimate of bums on seats. She saw a few regulars, some people she didn’t recognise.

‘Lizzie!’

She turned at the urgent whisper of her name and walked over to the dining area to the table where Julia sat with Ry. They both stared at her with wide-eyed anticipation.

‘How’d it go?’ Julia asked. Her hands were tightly clasped together, resting in front of her on the white linen tablecloth. Ry leaned in to Julia, an arm around the back of her chair.

‘Well,’ Lizzie pulled out a chair and joined them. ‘That was mission
not
accomplished.’

‘What happened?’ Ry demanded.

‘Do you mean
before
or
after
he slammed the door in my face?’

‘You’re joking.’

Lizzie shook her head. ‘It was totally uncalled for. I was perfectly polite. Oh and, Ry, you’ll be getting a phone call if you haven’t had one already.’

‘Hell.’ Ry pulled his phone from the pocket of his tan-coloured shorts. After a tap on the screen, he shook his head. ‘No missed calls. I’ll get us a drink.’

When he was out of earshot, Julia leaned over to Lizzie. ‘How did he look?’

Lizzie took a moment to get the description exactly right. ‘Like the wild man of Borneo. And distinctly like someone who doesn’t want visitors.’

Julia exhaled a frustrated breath. ‘We just want him back, you know? Especially Ry. It’s killing him to see Dan go through this. It’s been months now and we haven’t seen any change. And there’s no way we can think about getting married when we can’t be sure Dan will want to be there. There’s only one person Ry wants to be his best man.’

Ry returned to the table with a chilled bottle of white wine.

‘I don’t know about you two, but I definitely need one of these.’ Ry poured the pale liquid into their glasses. They sipped while they pondered what to do.

‘I warned you it was a terrible idea to send me,’ Lizzie said.

There was a none-too-subtle exchange of glances between Julia and Ry.

‘I still don’t agree with you on that,’ Ry said.

‘I told you this morning. He’s your friend, not mine. You’re his best mate Ry, and Julia, you spent all that time with him when he was in hospital. I don’t know why you think he’d want an almost complete stranger turning up on his doorstep.’

‘A complete stranger?’ Julia asked with raised eyebrows.

‘Well, a distant acquaintance. I barely know the bloke.’

‘We’ve tried everything else, Lizzie,’ Julia said softly.

‘Well, thanks,’ Lizzie replied. ‘You’re saying I’m your only hope?’

‘Yeah,’ Ry grinned. ‘You’re like our Obi-Wan Kenobi.’

‘I think that makes me Princess Leia,’ Julia grinned. They laughed. They needed to. The three of them sat in silence, each wondering how to help a friend who didn’t seem to want any help.

‘So, what did you do with the food?’ Julia asked.

‘I left it on the front door mat. I was under strict instructions from my boss.’ Lizzie winked at Julia. ‘He’s such a tyrant.’

Ry gave her the smallest hint of a smile. ‘Lizzie, you know why we sent you.’

‘What, my charming bedside manner?’ Behind the flippancy, there was a strange tightening in her chest. She tried to keep her face a blank. She didn’t want to understand what Ry was talking about, didn’t want to remember flirting with Dan, just twenty steps from where she was now sitting, on the night of his accident. Whatever had been flickering in the air between them had been extinguished in the car wreck. She hadn’t seen him since that night.

Julia reached for the bottle and refilled their glasses. ‘You know why. When he regained consciousness, his first words were “pub” and “Elizabeth”. You’re the one he asked after. Not me or Ry.’

‘Well.’ Lizzie blew out a sigh. ‘Take note of the order. “Pub” came first because I was the last person he talked to that night. Right over there.’ Lizzie pointed to the wooden bar. ‘It’s a trick of memory, Jools, that’s all. You’re making something out of nothing.’

Lizzie would never tell them that she remembered every word of the last conversation she’d had with Dan before he drove off that terrible night and was almost killed. It had been her last week pulling beers before Ry had promoted her to manager and Dan McSwaine had walked in, all sexy swagger and confident charm. They’d met before that, as the best friends of lovers invariably do, but something about him had been different that particular night. Yes, they’d shared a moment, a flirting, promising moment. And then, for the thousandth time since, she asked herself the same relentless questions. Why hadn’t she made him stay for one more minute? Why hadn’t she cracked one more joke, teased him one more time, so that he left one minute later, so he would have been driving up Flagstaff Hill Road one minute too late for the truck that careened out of control and smashed into him?

She turned to face her friends, and a cold shiver moved across her shoulders. ‘Dan would rather slam the door in my face than open it and invite me in. I’m sure I’m the last thing on his mind. And frankly,’ she added, straightening her back, ‘he’s the last thing on mine.’ Lizzie hoped that if she said it enough times, it might turn out to be true.

‘What can we do to help him?’ Ry asked, looking from Julia to Lizzie and back.

Lizzie patted Ry’s shoulder. ‘He’s your best friend. Don’t give up on him, no matter how much of a pain in the arse he is.’

‘Of course I’m not bloody well giving up on him.’ Dan said, his blue eyes flaming.

‘Pushing him won’t help, you know that,’ Lizzie said.

‘You think I’ve been pushing him?’ Ry’s eyebrows shot up. ‘I’ve just been trying to get him to man up and snap out of it.’

The two women turned to him in disbelief.

‘You told him to
man up
?’ Julia’s voice was a shocked whisper.

‘Not in those exact words.’

‘You can’t force him to do anything he doesn’t want to do,’ Lizzie added. ‘Like take free food, for instance. He clearly wants to be alone. So leave him in his man cave.’

And then Ry and Julia did that thing where they looked at each other and had a conversation without saying anything out loud. Lizzie bit the inside of her lip.

‘We need you, Obi-Wan,’ Julia said.

Lizzie replied with an adamant shake of her head and crossed her arms. There were plenty of reasons to stay out of Dan’s life. Millions. Trillions. ‘I don’t have time. It’s nearly summer holidays. It’s crazy busy here until February.’

‘What else can we do?’ Ry said. ‘We can’t just let him hole up in that crappy old house.’

‘Hey, watch your mouth. That was my mother’s house!’ Julia smacked Ry’s arm playfully.

‘Yeah and it’s still a crappy old house, JJ. But Dan seems to love it.’

‘You’re crazy if you think I’m going to go over there and have the door slammed in my face again. No freakin’ way, Jose. And,’ Lizzie added, pointing her finger in the air to add dramatic effect, ‘he keeps calling me Elizabeth, which I
hate
.’

Julia leaned over the table. ‘Will you just promise me one thing, Lizzie? We have to head up to Adelaide for a few days. Ry has a board meeting and I’m lunching with a potential client for my new business. Will you take Dan something to eat?’

That was a low blow. How could Lizzie say no to her best friend?

‘Oh, for God’s sake.’

‘Just food,’ Ry added.

Lizzie set her lips in a tight line. ‘Food. That’s it. No therapy. No hugs. No pushing.’

‘Great.’ Julia squeezed her hand. Ry shot her a satisfied smile. Lizzie hoped they weren’t expecting miracles. Because in her experience miracles didn’t happen. They were like mirages on a hot bitumen road. Illusory and fleeting. When you reached out for them, they vanished.

The next evening, a cool breeze came in off the Southern Ocean and danced with the trees of Middle Point as Lizzie headed towards Dan’s house. The sun was almost gone for the day, but there were still crowds on the beach. The sand was dotted with sun shelters, retro green-and-white striped canvas awnings mixed in with new blue igloos. Families were gathered around eskies and the zinc-creamed noses of toddlers peeked out from under sun-safe hats.
At least someone was still having fun today
, Lizzie thought. She’d worked a full and exhausting day at the pub and had aching feet and tired eyes to prove it. Here she was on her way to Dan’s. Again.

The arrangement was simple and clear-cut. All she had to do was drop off the food. Knock on the door, hand over the booty and skedaddle as fast as possible. And if he slammed the door in her face again? That was about him, not her. If it made him feel better, good for him. She had a busy life and she wanted to get back to it.