“Hello?” she said breathlessly.
“Did I get you in from the garden?” Hetty asked. “Sorry, darling.”
“Where are you?” Renita demanded, disappointed that it wasn’t Brett. “Have you come home?”
“I’m still in Queensland,” her mother said. “I’ve enrolled in a new program, training to be a yoga instructor.”
Renita bit her tongue. Hetty was in great shape, and fifty-five wasn’t old. Why shouldn’t she start a new career? “That’s great, Mother. But Dad misses you terribly.”
“Darling, I’m not a child. You don’t have to make things up. He can’t miss me very much if he’s stepping out on a Saturday night—”
“Whoa, hold on.” Renita dropped her purse and keys on the kitchen counter and kicked off her shoes. Padding over to the fridge for a glass of water, she asked, “What do you mean, ‘stepping out’?”
“I called home to find out how Smedley was. Steve could barely spare me five minutes. He said he was on his way out for the evening. Didn’t say where, but he was practically buzzing with excitement.”
“Maybe he was heading to Jack’s for dinner,” Renita suggested. “I know he had a few people around this weekend. That’s nothing unusual.”
“I called Jack. Steve wasn’t there. Not expected, either.”
Renita couldn’t contain her resentment. “You left him. Why do you care what he does?” It was all very well for Hetty to run off to Queensland, but she’d abandoned Steve when he was sick and depressed.
“He’s still my husband,” her mother said with quiet dignity.
“Does that mean you’re not separating?”
Hetty hesitated. “I may have been hasty.” She took a shaky breath. “Something’s going on. I want to know what.”
Oh, God,
Renita thought. What if her stolid, conservative father had taken Brett’s pep talk to heart and started clubbing? Seeing other women? “Maybe he got together with some of his mates from the Men’s Shed.”
“He’s never done that before. He spends hours there during the day, but always comes home to eat. Then he watches TV all evening. Steve is a creature of habit.”
“People can change,” Renita pointed out. “You did.”
“Could you please find out what’s happening?” Hetty asked. “I’m starting my training tomorrow. I don’t want my focus weakened by worrying about Steve.”
“If you’re worried, why don’t you come back and check on him yourself?”
“Renita.”
“Oh, all right.” She sighed. “I’ll go around after dinner and see what I can find out.”
She hung up, then noticed that the red light on the answering machine was blinking, and pressed Play.
“Hey, Renita.” Brett sounded rushed and harried. “Sorry I haven’t returned your calls. I’ve been really busy. The gym will be closed for a couple of days. The new equipment is arriving. We’ll have to cancel your personal training. Talk soon.”
A beep signaled the end of the message.
Renita stared at the telephone. Talk about abrupt. Hetty wasn’t the only one who wanted to know what was going on.
Empty.
It was Tuesday. He obviously hadn’t taken Smedley for a walk. Where would he go midweek? It was a little late for grocery shopping—
“Are you looking for your father?” Mrs. Lockhart, the elderly woman next door, was in her garden pruning her roses in the fading light. A Maltese terrier with a pink bow between her ears was flopped on the grass.
Renita walked across the lawn to talk over the low fence. “Do you know where he is?”
Mrs. Lockhart dropped a thorny stem into the plastic tub at her feet and pushed back a strand of gray hair with her wrist. “He said he was going to the library.”
“The library?” Renita blinked. Her father subscribed to
Agricultural Digest
magazine, but he wasn’t what she’d call a reader.
“He was putting out the rubbish bins earlier and we got to talking. I mentioned my overdue books and he offered to return them for me, since he was going there, anyway.” Tilting her head, she snipped off another dead blossom. “The library shuts at eight.”
Renita glanced at her watch. It was eight-thirty. The trip home from the library shouldn’t take more than five or ten minutes.
“Okay. Well, thanks.” She started back to her car.
“I notice your mother’s still away.” Mrs. Lockhart called.
Busybody.
“She’s in Queensland training for a new job,” Renita said. “She’ll be back soon.”
Before the woman could ask more questions, Renita got in her car and drove around the corner. She parked, then called her dad on his cell phone. No answer. That wasn’t unusual. He’d only bought the phone a few months ago, after his emergency trip to the hospital. Half the time he forgot to turn it on.
Renita carried on to the library, even though she figured it was a waste of time. The main part of the building was dark, and through the big windows she couldn’t see anyone among the stacks. But a meeting room at the front was lit and below the pulled-down blinds she could see the shoes of people who were moving around.
Something was going on in there, but at least they appeared to be fully clothed. Her father hadn’t joined Swingers in the Suburbs.
The automatic doors to the building opened as she approached, and she went in. Renita peered around the half-open door to the meeting room. Tables arranged in a U shape facing a lectern were occupied by men and women ranging in age from twenty to sixty plus. Standing at the lectern was a smartly dressed woman in her early fifties. Over her chin-length blond hair she wore a multicolored jester cap, complete with bells that jingled as she moved.
What the—
Then Renita noticed that everyone wore a hat of some type. Baseball caps, sun hats…there was even a top hat and a sombrero. Steve wore the battered felt hat he used around the farm. He’d pinned a jaunty green-and-yellow rosella feather to the band.
What on earth had her father gotten mixed up in?
The blonde in the jester hat began to tell the group a story about her car breaking down at night on the freeway. Just as she got to the point where a Good Samaritan stopped to help her, she broke off and gestured to the man at the end of the table. He rose and continued the story, saying how relieved he was that help had arrived. That is, until the car door opened—and a tall pale man in a long black cape emerged.
Renita’s thoughts immediately flew to vampires, and she must have made a noise. The moderator’s eyes flicked to the door and Renita shrank back. She ought to leave, but at that moment her dad got heavily to his feet. He planted his fingers on the table and stood for a moment with his head down.
“Uh…” he began. “I…uh…”
Renita cringed. To say he wasn’t good at public speaking would be a massive understatement. She still recalled his clumsy attempt to say a few words at his and Hetty’s twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.
“The man in the cape…uh…smiled.” Steve stumbled over the words. “In the streetlight I could see his teeth were pointed. And sharp. I, uh, went to the trunk. That’s right. Where I kept my toolbox. I pretended I was getting a jack for the flat tire. Then I, um, pulled out the thing I carry in case of emergencies—a wooden stake.”
Laughter erupted. The moderator tapped her gavel to signal Steve’s turn was over. With a relieved grin he sat down, and the next person continued the story. Renita listened as the vampire was killed and a were-wolf arrived to hijack the repaired car, kidnapping the hapless driver and taking him to a mountain hideout, where he was rescued by helicopter….
And on it went, sometimes fantastical, sometimes mundane, depending on who was making up that segment of the story. There didn’t seem to be any point to the exercise that Renita could see, but these people were clearly having fun. She marveled as Steve enjoyed some fresh piece of nonsense.
The story had now gone around the circle, and finished to enthusiastic applause. Renita was about to sneak away when the MC said, “Come in, whoever’s lurking out there. Join us, please. Visitors are welcome at Toastmasters.”
All heads turned in her direction. She had no choice but to step inside.
“Sorry. I was just…”
Looking for my father.
“I saw the lights and I thought the library might be open,” she finished lamely.
She met Steve’s gaze and smiled. Then she ducked out.
Toastmasters, of all things. Before she’d reached her car she’d texted the news to Lexie and Jack. Sliding into the driver’s seat, she began to call Hetty. Then she stopped.
Thoughtfully, she started the car and drove home.
The truck containing the exercise machines had arrived early that afternoon from Perth. For hours workmen in overalls had brought in crate after crate through the propped-open doors.
A burly black-haired man wheeling a dolly lifted his chin. “Where do you want this one, mate?”
“Through there.” Brett pointed to the cardio room.
The workers Brett had hired were dismantling and removing the old exercise machines. Janet and Matt helped make sure everything ended up in the right location, and programmed each new machine as it was installed.
“This is fantastic,” Janet gushed as she escorted a fleet of stationary bicycles to the spin room. “You’re a genius to get this stuff delivered in time for the grand opening.”
Oh, yeah, he was a genius all right. The gym was finally starting to resemble the vision in his head. But how was he going to pay for it?
“Did you get the flyers sent to the printers?” he asked.
She nodded. “They’ll be delivered to the distributor by the end of the week.”
The day passed in a blur of activity and the stack of wooden crates in the parking lot next to the shipping container mounted. The three of them worked without letup, breaking only for a quick sandwich from the deli.
Brett called Tegan at three to tell her to go directly home or to her grandparents’ house. The gym was no place for homework.
Around dinnertime he was stripping plastic off a new cross-country ski machine. The workmen had left, and Janet and Matt had gone into the village to get more food.
“Brett!” Renita came through the open doors. She was in her gym gear, dressed for a workout. “So the new equipment arrived. I had to come down and see for myself.” Although her voice was bright, her manner was strained and she kept her distance.
He crumpled the stripped-off plastic into a ball, hardly able to look her in the face. He’d wanted to show her he could be a success at business, and for her to be pleased his gym was properly fitted out, confident he could take care of the cost.
“I take it you couldn’t cancel the order,” Renita said, glancing around the cardio room at the new machines.
He shook his head. “I’ve got fifteen days to come up with the rest of the money.”
“Any more nibbles on your medal?”
“Nope.” He was so ashamed he walked out of the room just to get away from her. Toltz had told him the market had dried up.
“Bummer,” she said, following him. “What’s going to happen?”
What kind of a dumb question was that? “I’m going to get the money.”
“How?” she persisted.
“I just will, okay?” he snapped. He wanted her admiration and respect, not her sympathy. And disapproval.
“My offer still stands….”
And he sure as hell didn’t want her help. “No!”
She jerked back as if he’d slapped her. “Okay. Fine.” Hands up, she backed off. “You’re busy. Since I can’t train I’ll go for a run.”
“Renita,” he called. But his appeal was half hearted.
She was already out the door, halfway to her car.