The Turnaround Treasure Shop (8 page)

‘It's not a problem,' he said quietly, sounding patient. ‘I want to have a word with Mrs Tam anyway. I'll wait for you outside.'

He made to leave.

‘Don't wait with Jillian on reception,' Charlotte called out to him. ‘Or you'll never get Lily home.'

Jillian Tillman worked on reception duty afternoons to evening. Her twin sister Jessica worked the early morning to mid-afternoon shift. The time of day was the only way most people could tell the girls apart. The twins were in their early twenties and Lily adored them. Ten years younger than herself, but age didn't count because when they were together, they were the only three young single women in town, since the fourth, Gemma Munroe, had left town two years ago when she turned 18. Gemma was now somewhere in Paris. How wonderful! Gem was an artist. Imagine all the youthful chances of romance she was surrounded by. Art, beauty and romance. Now there was a book Lily would like to read.

Nick nodded goodbye but didn't make an observation about being talked to death by either of the twins. He left the kitchen without another look at Lily.

Lily picked up her peeling knife and got back to the potatoes. Charlotte didn't speak, even though Lily knew she would be bursting with something to say about Nick driving Lily home.

No
look
from Nick this afternoon. Just as well, since Lily had now put all that nonsense to the back of her mind. Or had she?

After five minutes of unusual silence between them, with only the occasional toddler-talk from Olivia, Lily couldn't bear it any longer. ‘I wonder what he wants to talk to Mrs Tam about,' she said casually.

‘Think she's got a favour to ask of him.'

‘Oh.' He'd been doing a lot of favours suddenly. Janie-Louise's bike. Lily's car. Charlotte's knives — and the taxi service to and from Lily's house. Now things for the townspeople too.

Lily glanced at Charlotte but Charlotte was shaping her scones with a cutter and didn't seem prepared to talk about the oomph guy anymore.

***

Nick waited as Mrs Tam locked the museum in the Town Hall.

‘I've been thinking, Mrs Tam, about how I can get more involved in the Support to Survive program.'

‘How lovely, Nicholas. Just in time actually.'

‘Why's that?' Nick asked. ‘You have something you need?'

The old girl blushed and batted her eyelashes at him. ‘Not what I need, but what I'd like to see someone else receive.'

Nick raised his brow as Mrs Tam patted the bun on top of her head.

‘But you go first, Nicholas.'

‘Well, I was talking to young Andy this morning and he told me about how much research he needs to do for his schoolwork, and his hobby.'

Mrs Tam nodded. ‘Tools. He's fascinated with them. Always asking when we're going to get technical books in the library.' She shrugged. ‘Goodness only knows when we'll get a proper serviceable library going.'

‘You'll get there,' Nick said. ‘These things aren't easy to generate fast which is why I was hoping you'd accept my suggestion for putting Wi-Fi into the Town Hall. I've got an unused computer I could let you have too. At my cost. Probably the best place for it is the library, then all the kids can use it — if they haven't got decent connection at home.' Or if their parents couldn't afford to pay the bills on time.

‘Why-Fie?' Mrs Tam asked. ‘Is that the thing that scrambles across space and give us all the chance to surfboard the net?'

Nick's heart swelled with affection, along with his smile. ‘That's the one.'

She clapped her hands. ‘How exciting. And how thoughtful of you, Nicholas. On behalf of the town and the committee I would like to accept your generous offer.'

‘Good. I'll get things organised. Should be able to fix it up for you during the week.'

‘You'll be here anyway.'

‘I will?'

‘I need your assistance. But it will involve using your muscles.'

Nick flexed an arm. ‘I think mine still work.'

‘Will you kindly assist Lily — who's going to do an inventory for me — with the boxes of books I've just received? They're heavy, and they'll need stacking and re-stacking. Wherever Lily wants them. Anything Lily wants from you.'

Nick nodded, but gave himself a moment before voicing his answer. Junior Morelly had cornered him outside the hardware store earlier. Junior had asked for his assistance too. Helping Lily clear out the storeroom. Helping Lily with the heavy gear in the back rooms. Junior had used the same phrase, ‘Anything Lily wants from you.'

‘I'd be delighted to help out with the heavy lifting,' he told Mrs Tam. And with anything Lily wanted from him? Nick wasn't sure about what she might want from him, or about how he might respond to any wishes and needs she had, but it was obvious that the elders in town had taken measures into their own hands.

Nick hadn't been under much scrutiny or gossip before now. Probably because he'd done such a good job at creating his own hideout on All Seasons Road. A damned good job of appearing polite yet helpful when needed. When had his cover been blown?

Mrs Tam smiled her thanks, then cocked her head to one side. ‘I don't suppose you'd have a chance to let Lily know, would you? And maybe make arrangements with her about a suitable time for you both.'

‘Of course, Mrs Tam. I'll have a word with her.'

Nick left Mrs Tam and headed back towards Kookaburra's. He knew Lily's kids, and liked them a lot. He knew Lily. Just because he kept his distance it didn't mean he couldn't see her personality traits; the hardworking, magnanimously generous ones, and the cute, shy ones, like her refusing to meet his eye, and the blushes when she did. Of course he liked Lily. He'd never denied that to himself, but he liked her more than he should. A lot more than he should after this morning's vision of her in her close-enough-to-naked state.
So much for keeping your ‘apparently undying attraction' hidden
. What
had
blown his cover? Was his appraisal of Lily obvious to these people? Or were they simply hoping? The townspeople were certainly pushing him and Lily together, which told him he had been accepted and thought of as a decent man for Lily, their daughter.

But was he?

He'd had flings after leaving the forces but they'd been more one-nighters than anything meaningful. He hadn't wanted to get involved in another full-on relationship. It was one thing monitoring yourself to check if you were going quietly crazy just because you were out on civvy street and not in some hell-hole working in maritime counter-terrorism that you actually preferred. It was another thing to put a woman who thought you loved her in a situation where you disappointed her and made her heart break if or when you messed up and left her.

He had mates who were divorced, not having been able to hold their marriages — or relationships — together because they'd left the services and found themselves with no spark, no adventure in their lives. Buddies who didn't see their kids often enough, or who left and didn't want to see them. Ex-wives fighting over everything, some wanting more money, some wanting the ex-Army, the ex-Navy, the ex-Air Force man and all the troublesome psychological shit they couldn't get rid of, out of their lives and that of their children's — or back into it with commitment. Even the amicable break-ups had the power to hurt both parties, let alone what it did to the kids.

Nick couldn't say for sure he wouldn't eventually do the same thing. Leave and look for a spark, something to kickstart the quest for danger he suspected still lurked in his gut.

‘I'll be ready in 10 minutes, Nick. Is that okay?'

Nick turned to Andy who was calling out to him from across the street.

‘Mr Morelly's going to show me a new bench grinder.'

Nick raised a hand. ‘Take your time. I'm waiting for your mum to finish work anyway.' And then he was going to give them both a lift home.

As the kid went into the hardware store, Nick crossed the street and returned to his troubling contemplations.

Here he was, settled in this small, remote town. Helping people out and taking an interest. Wasn't this what he'd been hoping for?

The first year after leaving the Navy had been tougher than he'd expected. Loss of role, loss of identity. These factors hadn't diminished his sense of himself but he hadn't met the challenge of making new friends, not even when the worst part had hit him: all the free time. He'd had his share of physical and mental issues too. He hadn't had trouble concentrating, but yes, he'd carried tension with him. And he'd experienced moments of frustration. He'd avoided old friends for this reason, unsure what it meant.

He'd monitored himself for 12 months. In the end he'd searched for a hideout. Somewhere he could begin life again on a quiet, personal level. Swallow's Fall had offered the ideal.

He pushed through the swing door of Kookaburra's and looked around, unclenching his hands which had curled into fists with his thoughts. Quiet. Two or three hotel residents at the bar, the reception desk unattended. No Lily, but Charlotte smiled at him from inside the restaurant. She waved, so Nick walked through.

‘How'd it go with Mrs Tam?' Charlotte asked as she folded white cotton serviettes into fancy conical shapes and stuck them into champagne flutes. She nodded down at her task. ‘We've got an afternoon champagne tea party for a group of tourists. Business is good.'

‘Great to hear.' He motioned for her to stand aside as she moved to pick up the heavy-looking silver tray filled with the champagne flutes. ‘Let me.' He picked it up and followed her to one of the larger tables by the front windows which had been set with cutlery, tea plates and vases full of autumn branches and greenery.

‘Thanks,' she said as she began emptying the tray and placing the flutes in alignment alongside the place settings. ‘So how'd it go?

‘Good,' Nick answered. ‘I've asked if I can do something for the Support to Survive program. I suggested internet connection at the library. I've got an old PC they can have.'

Charlotte paused. ‘Thank you, Nick. That's brilliant.'

Nick looked down at a vase of yellow, russet and green leaves. ‘And I've been given my task,' he said, studying the silver vase. ‘I'm sure you know what it's all about, since Junior Morelly is asking the same thing of me.'

‘They're in need of your muscles.'

Nick glanced up. ‘So it seems.' He tilted his head. ‘Quite a lot of heavy lifting needed suddenly.'

‘Looks that way.'

She wasn't going to give, so Nick pushed it a step further. ‘Funny how Lily's involved too.'

‘Coincidence,' Charlotte said in an off-hand manner totally unlike her usual up-front self.

‘Yeah, well.' Nick looked over his shoulder. The restaurant was empty, reception still unattended and the few people in the bar far away enough for his liking.

He took a step towards the table. ‘There's something I'd like to ask you.'

‘Sure.' Charlotte emptied the tray of its last two glasses.

‘It's a touchy subject and none of my business.'

‘Go for it,' Charlotte said, picking up the tray. ‘If it's personal and confidential, I won't talk about it.'

‘Fair enough.' Nick gathered his thoughts. ‘Lily,' he said. ‘What happened to her husband?'

Charlotte's eyes widened and her mouth tilted in consideration. She didn't take her eyes off Nick and Nick felt the scrutiny like an open wound on his skin but he didn't expound on why he was asking. He waited for the answer, knowing Charlotte would give it because Charlotte had just sussed out that Nick liked Lily, and by the sly little smile sliding across her face, Charlotte appeared to be happy about this.

‘He was a bad deal,' she told him, her expression serious. ‘She doesn't talk about him, neither do the children. I think they're happy to forget him.'

‘Was he a hitter?' Nick's belly summersaulted at the thought.

‘I believe he hit Lily, at least once. I don't know about the children. Don't think so.'

Cowardly bastard
.

‘He's a gambler,' Charlotte said. ‘Spent all their money at the track. Horses, dogs — anything that raced, legal or not. I think Lily must have dealt with quite a bit from him, and apparently she turned up in town out of the blue, with the kids and a black eye. She changed all their surnames to Johnson after she divorced him.'

‘And what did he do about that?'

Charlotte shook her head. ‘Nothing. That's the sad part. He didn't care.'

Nick knew the type. Just as well the man hadn't cared. Hadn't cared enough to come and find his family. One black eye for Lily but how many broken bones? How many skin burns as he twisted her arm? He halted those thoughts. No point getting riled at the vision of Lily's ex-husband hurting her, but he knew what he would do if the man ever turned up in Lily's life. Or in the children's lives.

‘Thank you, Charlotte. I appreciate your thinking I'm trustworthy enough to have that information.'

‘You're welcome, Nick.' Charlotte backed away, swinging the tray in her hand. ‘Anything else you need to know about Lily, you just ask.'

Nick returned her smile but his was cautious. Charlotte's was an outright grin.

‘I'll let her know her lift's here.' She turned for the kitchen and Nick sauntered to the big panoramic windows of the hotel and stood looking at Main Street, waiting for Lily.

So what
would
he do?
If
Lily asked anything of him.

Since Andy had ridden the newly-fixed bicycle home, Lily found herself alone with Nick in the king of all vehicles.

‘We've only got a short drive, Lily, and I'd like to tell you something before we get to your house.'

Lily's nerve-ends prickled. They'd kind of only just got to know each other. What could he possibly want to tell her?