The Girl in the Yellow Vest (26 page)

Confused, she also looked up at the ceiling but the plasterboard was an uncomforting, unmarked and undamaged white.

‘Emily,’ his soft voice recalled her attention.

‘Sorry, sir.’ Her gaze quickly flew back to his. He was amused, like a cat playing with his food. ‘I’m concerned,’ he began levelly, ‘about the level of drinking and depression on this job. I’ve seen you talking to many of the men at lunchtimes. Your ear is probably closer to the ground than mine is. Do any of the men confide in you?’

Her lips tilted wryly at that. ‘You could say so, sir.’

‘What is it they need? What do they want? What can I give them?’

‘Oh that’s easy, sir.’ She smiled. ‘What they need is therapy. And lots of it.’

‘Really?’

‘No, sir, I’m joking. I just meant that many of them, not all of course, seem to keep things bottled up. If they had someone to talk to about it, it might ease some of the tension around here.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘It would certainly free up my lunch breaks.’

‘Is that so?’

‘It was just a thought, sir.’ She looked at his reflective expression with some surprise. She hadn’t seriously considered that he would listen to anything she had to say – least of all some over-the-top suggestion that some of his men needed counselling. She might as well say he was running a loony bin and hand in her resignation now.

Seriously, Emily, do you think through anything you say?

‘But I can see your point.’ He nodded as he turned things over in his mind.

You can?

‘They need an unbiased third party to complain to. More improvements could lead from there.’ He looked approvingly at her. ‘I wouldn’t be the first project manager to hire a social worker to counsel his FIFO workers on a part-time basis. The problem is,’ he ran a frustrated hand through his dark hair, ‘it’s more work than I have time for right now. I’ll have to get head office involved to find some likely candidates. Then there’s the interview process. It’ll be minimum a month before anyone gets here.’

‘Really?’ Emily blinked and then a startlingly brilliant idea happened to tap on the side of her brain. ‘Actually, I happen to know someone who lives locally, is fully qualified and would love part-time social work.’

He turned on her with undeniable interest. ‘Is he any good though?’

‘It’s a she,’ Emily went on eagerly. ‘And of course she’s good. So good that she writes self-help books too. I’ve heard they’re excellent and based on some of her own life experiences, so very moving and inspirational.’

‘Really? Do you have her contact details?’

Emily took a deep breath, pleased to be so much help this morning. She smiled widely. ‘It’s Charlotte Templeton.’

Caesar’s gaze returned to that mysterious patch of ceiling. ‘That’d be right, wouldn’t it?’ he said quietly.

They were both mad at him – Em
and
his best mate. He’d completely stuffed up everything. In hindsight, there was a lot to be said for minding one’s own business. But when Trent had told him angrily that Em had a date this weekend and why hadn’t he mentioned it, the blood had shot straight to his temples. And not because he was angry for Trent’s sake. No, that emotion would at least have been rational.

Instead, he was up and off like a crazy person demanding answers and explanations like he had a right to be jealous. Which he didn’t.

Trent had been very clear about his intentions this time. ‘It’s made me realise the truth, mate. I need her. She’s my rock. I should never have let her go. Is there any chance you could convince her to come back to Perth?’

‘I think it’s a bit late for that now,’ he’d said in response. ‘She loves it here.’

Besides, he didn’t believe it was in Em’s best interests to give up the best job she’d ever had. Trent had seemed keen to argue about it at that point but he just wanted to get off the phone and find out what the whole ‘date’ thing was about.

As though that had helped his cause.

She’d told him to get lost in short order. And in all seriousness, he needed a reality check. Trent wanted them to get back together. And Em probably wasn’t over him yet either. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be doing crazy stuff like dating Dipper. That had
rebound
written all over it.

He had to give these two some time. Allow the dust to settle before he made any moves. The last thing he wanted was for Trent to think he betrayed him or for Emily to use him to get over his best mate.

So there he was, sitting in the office, resigning himself to his new friend
patience.

His stomach was gurgling because he hadn’t eaten lunch and the guys on site were annoying the hell out of him. He was designing some temporary platforms for them to stand on while they worked on the drive tower. The problem was they needed the design yesterday. He had men coming in every hour asking, ‘Are you done yet? Are you done yet?’ Which not only stressed the hell out of him but made him want to punch them in the face, and a couple of times he nearly did.

It didn’t help that his concentration was shot to pieces over Emily’s dinner plans. Of all the crazy things he thought she’d do next, that was definitely not one of them. Over the years, he’d got used to accepting the fact that she was dating Trent. That she was off limits and forever more would be. But this!

This was different. There was no way in hell she was falling for Dipper of all people. But how could he stop her?

‘So I, er, heard about the bet.’

He looked up angrily to see who was addressing him and Nova immediately held up both palms in surrender.

‘Whoa! Did I say something wrong?’

‘What do you want, Nova? And before you ask, no I haven’t finished designing the platform and no you can’t have member sizes yet.’

‘Rest easy,’ he drawled. ‘I’m not after member sizes. I just want to know the latest instalment of this wharf’s hot new drama.’

‘I’m not in the mood, Nova.’

Nova ignored him. ‘I heard Dipper’s winning the competition. Gotta date with the little princess tonight. Impressed the hell out of her with some fancy new toilet.’

‘A toilet?’ Will’s eyes widened.

‘You don’t know anything, do you?’ Nova chuckled. ‘Apparently, she got Dipper to move a toilet and lunch room off the wharf to get the painters back in the yard. Worked a treat too.’

‘Why didn’t she ask me for help?’ he accidentally asked out loud.

Nova laughed. ‘So your nose
is
out of joint. I knew it!’

Will turned back to his computer screen petulantly and stared at his design model in annoyance.

‘You know what your problem is?’ Nova began knowledgably.

‘I know you’re dying to tell me,’ Will sighed.

Ignoring his lack of enthusiasm, Nova rolled across the room on his chair from his desk to Will’s. ‘You’ve put your relationship in a box labelled friendship and it’s been there so long you just don’t know how to get out. Make that leap, jump that moat.’

How true. And how misplaced.

Will turned back. ‘Nova, I don’t care what you think you’ve heard about this bet, but you’ve got it all wrong. I’m not going after Em.’

‘Why the hell not? Every man and his bolt cutter can see you’re more than half in love with her.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous, she’s my friend.’

‘Exactly,’ Nova agreed. ‘And in order to get out of the friendship zone, you need her to see you in a new and different light. You need to show her
sexy
Will.’

‘
What?
’ Will shut his eyes and prayed for patience.

‘Do you know how to flirt, Will?’ Nova asked thoughtfully. ‘I’m not talking about paying women compliments ’cause any dickhead can do that. AKA Dipper. I’m talking about getting under a woman’s skin.’

‘Okay, you need to stop now.’ Will lowered his voice to a whisper. ‘Because now you’re just embarrassing yourself.’

Unfortunately, Nova did not agree. ‘I’m trying to help you. I think if you –’

‘She’s my best mate’s girl, all right!’ Will blurted. ‘They might be
technically
broken up right now but they’re going to get back together. I can’t go there.’

There he’d said it. The truth was out. That, at least, ought to shut him up.

It didn’t.

‘Why?’

Will remained silent.

‘Would he keep his distance if the roles were reversed?’

Will glared at him. ‘I don’t know. Probably.’

‘If he’s such a good mate, why don’t you ever talk about him?’

Because I’m too busy feeling guilty about wanting to screw him over.
He shook the thought from his head and said tightly, ‘He’s in Perth. My focus is the project at the moment. That’s where it should be.’

Nova rolled his eyes. ‘Let me get this straight. He’s not really her boyfriend and he’s in another town but instead of seizing the opportunity you’re being a Boy Scout – all noble and shit. For crying out loud, Will. One of these days, you’re going to have to take some prisoners.’

‘Not today.’ Will pushed a drawing he had marked up in red across the desk towards him. ‘Here are the final member sizes for the platform. Can you knock that drawing out in an hour? I’m pretty sure that’s when Spooks will come back in nagging for it.’

He stood up, gathering another wad of drawings from another file.

‘Where are you going?’ Nova demanded.

‘To inspect the concrete slab for the pour tomorrow.’

The truth was, he’d already checked all the reinforcing in the drive tower first-floor slab that morning. But he couldn’t stand being in the office a second longer, especially if Nova was going to persist in giving him unwanted advice. Before his friend could protest he grabbed his hat off the filing cabinet and walked out. Breathing in the sweet tropical air, his heart rate began to slow, his blood pressure dropped and he stopped sweating.

He should never have invited her to Queensland. He’d learned to live without hope and bringing it back into his life had been a colossal mistake. If he had to live through losing her again, it was going to be worse. Much worse.

He marched on, trying not to grind his teeth.
Just get through tonight.

Perhaps he could go on a long run. Burn off all this jealousy making his body toxic. Then have a shower, dinner and get on his Xbox. He could kill aliens till his brain went dead. When he could no longer think, then he’d go to bed and hopefully smother any further frustration in sleep.

Satisfied with this plan, he put part one into action as soon as he got back to the resort that night. Changing into shorts, T-shirt and sneakers, he took off down the road and straight towards the beach. His feet hit Salonika’s white coastline and he began to run right along the water. His thighs burned as the sand made it that much harder to keep pace. But he loved it. Running along the beach was his favourite thing to do around here. Where else could you get a more picturesque workout?

The surrounding bushland was alive with the sound of cane toads and birds. Occasionally a white-faced heron or crow would squawk at him as he ran past. He ran till it was dark and his whole body ached.

Physically, he felt great until he saw Emily getting into a vehicle with Dipper when he walked across the Silver Seas car park. A muscle cramped in his neck as he clenched his jaw too quickly. Their eyes met across the car park but she neither smiled nor waved. Clearly she was still angry with him.

She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a white top with no sleeves – nothing particularly spectacular but he thought she looked beautiful. Those jeans were as snug as a glove, showing off her shapely hips and long legs. And the top looked soft and silky to touch. The neckline skated the top of her breasts in an inviting fashion that made him yearn. So much so that his voice came out on a croak.

‘Hi, Em.’

No response.

‘Have a good night, Boy Scout,’ Dipper called out to him, as he opened the door for Emily. ‘We certainly intend to.’

As they drove away, he realised that whatever benefit he had gained from the run was gone. He was now back to square one. He walked into his unit, had a quick shower and ordered dinner. When he caught himself pacing the floor at one point, he sat down on the couch and turned on the television. The pictures moved past his unseeing eyes in abstract flashes. And then there was a knock at the door.