Butterfly Hunter 01 (17 page)

“
None taken,”
Nicholas immediately replied. He tilted his head for a moment to
frown up at Dave. “Do you really think I’d mind you finding my lips
pretty … ?”

Dave had to grin, though
he felt rather sheepish. “No, I don’t suppose you would.” They
looked at each other for a long moment. And then Dave leaned in and
pressed a kiss to those pretty lips, because that was only fair and
right, and the contentment in Nicholas’s smile afterwards was ample
reward if any were needed.

Sweet still moments passed.

Until at last Dave
couldn’t bear it anymore. “I’ve got to move,” he said. “Sorry to
interrupt the feast and all that, but I want to clean
up.”

“
It’s all
right. You’ve been very patient.”

“
If I just
start shifting off the Cruiser …”

“
I’m sure
he’ll get the idea and drag himself away. We know we have to let
you go sometimes.”

“
Huh,” said
Dave, as he gingerly started sliding across to the side of the
bonnet.

Nicholas was off the
Cruiser and on his feet a moment later, his hands out to offer
support if needed. “Could we have a dip in the pool? Did you test
the water?”

“
There’s an
idea!” Dave finally lowered himself to the ground, and at last with
his dining table vertical the butterfly lifted off, and started
fluttering around just over their heads. “Let’s see if this one
will come along, too. I think a change in diet is
required.”

A gurgling laugh from
Nicholas, before one of his cool hands slid into Dave’s. “Come on,
then!”

“
I don’t want
you drinking any of the water, mind,” Dave lectured him as they
walked down to the waterhole, both of them still bollocks–naked.
“It seems safe, but there’s no point in taking any risks we don’t
need to.”

“
Yes,
David.”

“
And no diving
in or anything. At least not until we explore a bit and make sure
there’s nothing hidden under the surface.”

“
No,
David.”

“
Just a quiet
dip, like you said.”

“
I might have
to kiss you while we’re in there, though,” Nicholas said very
seriously. “I’m giving you ample warning.”

“
Fair enough,”
said Dave quite stoically. And when Nicholas finally slipped into
the jewel–like water to join him, Dave let the man gather him into
his arms, and he suffered himself to be kissed.

Nicholas had hardly said
anything all morning, but it was perfectly obvious that something
was going on with the butterflies. If the increase in activity
hadn
’t clued Dave in – with photos being
taken, notes being scribbled, and comments being muttered as
Nicholas riffled back and forth through the field guide – then he
could hardly be immune to the tenseness of suppressed
excitement.

Still, the butterflies
were Nicholas’s concern, and Dave was happy enough pottering around
the campsite, or sitting back with his feet up and
Clarissa Oakes
in hand, contemplating the sun gentled by leaves and
pouring down softly on the water. The pool was as quiet as it had
always been, though Dave had often thought to wonder whether there
were actual Barcoo grunters in there. He found that he kind of
hoped so.

Late morning, Dave took a
mug of tea over to where Nicholas sat cross–legged by the wattle.
“Here you are,” he said.

“
Thanks,”
Nicholas replied. He scratched his head through that thick thatch
of dark hair, and belatedly tipped a sweetly distracted smile up at
Dave. “Thank you.”

“
No worries.”
Dave let a beat go by before asking in a tone he was careful to
make no more than mildly interested. “What’s happening?”

“
Well
…”

Dave didn’t push – but he
noticed that Nicholas had been frowning over the manual for his
video camera, not the field guide as Dave had assumed. “Um … Can I
help with that, at least? Isn’t it working, or are you just trying
to figure out –”

Nicholas was nodding. “–
whether it can do time–lapse photography, whether there’s
any
kind of
timer, or programmable thing …”

“
Oh. I think
that’s gonna be a bit outside its specs.” Dave sank to sit beside
Nicholas, and took the manual when it was offered. “Why d’you need
it? We’re here now. If we set up the camera on its tripod, we can
just take a shot ourselves every hour or whatever. We can work out
a schedule, or –”

Dave ground to a halt.

Nicholas just looked at
him, kind of both wide–eyed and glum at the same time.

“
You want to
set it up for tomorrow,” Dave concluded, “when we’re due to go into
town.”

“
They’re
emerging,” Nicholas whispered in hoarse intensity. “Some of the
pupae are beginning to break open. The butterflies are starting to
emerge from the chrysalis.”

Dave nodded. He
understood. God, he had it bad for this guy. “Obviously you’ll have
to stay.”

It was perfectly plain
that Nicholas wanted that more than almost anything. But he said,
“I can’t. I promised you –”

Dave gusted a sigh. “I
think, under the circumstances, we can break that rule one more
time.”

“
No, I don’t
want to take advantage –”

Dave just had to scoff at
that. “Bit late to be worrying about that, mate!”

“
Oh, David
…”

“
And how
stupid was I?” he added rather disgustedly. “I thought you’d be
wanting to have your way with me in a real bed!”

Nicholas became nothing
but grin. “You’d share my bed in town? We’d share a room …
?”

“
I should have
known better. It’s always the butterflies with you.”

“
David
–”

“
Well, all
right. Maybe in a town where nobody knows me.”

“
Is
there a town around here where
no one knows you?”

“
No.”

“
Oh.”

Nicholas sounded so
forlorn that David couldn’t help chuckling. “Don’t fret. I’m sure
the discreet shared use of a double bed is somewhere in our future.
Just not tomorrow night.”

“
Are you sure
… ?” Nicholas actually seemed quite torn between the two
prospects.

“
Of course I’m
sure. I can wait a week, and so can the bed. But it sounds like the
butterflies can’t. They wanna become fabulous, and they want it
right now!”

At which Nicholas was
just
glowing
at him …

“
Um … But I’d
better go in myself. Just for the day again. I promised Denise I’d
call her, and she’ll worry if I don’t. I mean, we could get by for
a while on the food we have, but I think I’d better go anyway.
Denise will –”

“
Yes,”
Nicholas said, cutting him off.

“
I
do
understand, you know,” Dave said, heading off
down another path, which for some reason felt just as aggressive.
“This is what it’s all about for you, isn’t it? The change from one
thing to another. From a grub to something
beautiful.”

Silence.

Dave felt like an utter
bastard. Though he couldn’t have even explained to himself why. He
let a few beats go by, and then started again in friendlier and
more professional tones. “Is there anything you need? Anything you
want me to do?”

“
Send a
Tweet,” Nicholas replied readily enough, “to Charles and to Simon.
Tell them … Nicholas has found his butterflies.”

“
I
will.”

“
And then come
back to me.”

“
Well,
I’m
hardly
gonna leave you out here!”

Nicholas cast him an
enigmatic look. But then he unwound and knelt tall beside Dave.
Cupped Dave’s face in both hands again, and bent his head to kiss
him. His usual masterful style seemed undercut this time by a hint
of wistfulness. “Come back to me,” he murmured again, with his lips
against Dave’s.

Dave headed for
Cunnamulla, and for once he was all business. He left the Cruiser
at the mechanic’s for a quick check–over and tune–up, dropped off
their clothes at the laundromat, did the grocery shopping, ate a
hamburger at the best of the takeaways while considering the other
items on his list. Although the first thing he’d done, of course,
had been to use his mobile to send the tweet as Nicholas had asked
him.

Almost an hour later, he
received his first response:
Takes a lot to make old charlie speechless. You found it
didnt you?

Yes we found
it
, Dave tweeted back, assuming Charlie
meant the waterhole.

Come see me next week and tell
me all. Both of you if he will come too.

Sure. I’m sure
he’ll be happy to. See you then!

And then in the late
afternoon, just as Dave was getting into the Cruiser to drive back,
the second response came through:
Excellent news to wake up to. Please give our
congratulations and love to Nicholas. Thank you, Mr
Taylor.

To which he
replied,
You’re welcome, and I
will pass that on. It will make him smile one of those big beaming
smiles.

It was only after he’d
thumbed the Tweet button that he thought,
Too much!
But it was also
too late. Dave quickly turned the phone off before he was forced to
face just how easily he could be seen through.

The satnav gave up on him
again, of course, but based on the distance he’d driven that
morning Dave knew he was within five kilometres of the waterhole.
He kept driving, quite confident that he recognised the landscape,
that he was in the right place. He’d get there on instinct, he’d
simply head straight there, no problems. They’d laugh about how
easy it was to find after all. He’d crest that long rise and head
back down again, turn left up the old creek bed, and he’d be back
with Nicholas before the sun was even close to setting.

Except that rise never quite
appeared, the road seemed level all the way to the distant horizon,
and there was no sign of any dusty old water courses.

“
Fuck,” Dave
eventually muttered, chewing at his bottom lip. He’d done almost
ten kilometres now, which meant he had to have passed it. After
another hopeful minute or two, he stopped the Cruiser, and got out
to look around and see if he could get his bearings.

Nothing. He had a good sense of
direction, but there was nothing to go on, nothing distinctive to
see.

“
Right.” He
got back in, and turned the Cruiser around. He was sure he hadn’t
gone wrong already, so he slowly retraced his trail, looking for
the creek bed again, remembering how it had crossed the road. Once
he’d done another ten kilometres, he stopped again, and tapped at
the satnav, wondering if it would come back to life. It
didn’t.

His belly was this hollow
stone sitting heavy within him, but he refused to give in to the
dread. There was no point in being anything but calm and
thoughtful. He had to find his way to Nicholas before it got dark,
that was all. And he’d do it, too. If not, he was sure that
Nicholas would be fine for a night, and so would Dave. He could
sleep in the Cruiser. Nicholas would trek out to the rim of the
wider valley the next morning to use the satellite phone, but he
was perfectly capable of doing that, and by the time he’d returned
to their camp Dave would have found him again anyway …

Dave sighed. No, he had to
get back that evening. He
wanted
to. He was desperate to.
Nicholas would be fine, really. But Dave couldn’t bear to risk
it.

He wondered if he’d gone
wrong somehow and ended up on a different track. Although he was
sure they’d been heading west when they first found the valley, so
perhaps this road ran parallel to the one they’d driven before.
Which meant that from here he needed to turn left, and strike out
across the countryside, hoping to come at the valley from the
opposite direction.

It was a wrench. It took
an actual physical effort to force himself to turn against his
instincts, to deliberately head what felt like the wrong way. “Oh
God,” he muttered under his breath. “Maybe I have to
not
want to
find him …” It was impossible. His every instinct clamoured against
such a notion. “Don’t ask that of me.”

There was nothing. For a long
time, which was probably only a moment or two, there was
nothing.

And then a bit of the sky
moved, off to his right – almost exactly where he least expected it
– and his heart tripped as he realised he was driving up across a
slow rise.

“
Thank you,”
he breathed.

He turned the Cruiser, and
soon was looking down across the wide shallow valley, and there was
the slightly denser foliage that hid their waterhole – a few bits
of sky were dancing low over it in the last of the sun, and
Nicholas was waiting for him. Nicholas was standing there where the
track led down towards the waterhole, and his figure was tall and
pale and fine and
glowed
in the
sunshine.