Lean on Me (The Mackay Sisters) (19 page)

“Are you sure?” She grasped his
arm.

“Nah.”  He laughed.  “Where’s the
light?”

“We can’t turn the light on with
the curtains open.”

“Why?”

“Because Shirley might see us.”

“I dare you.”

“No!”

“Fine.  Then we’ll just have to
find our way to your bed in the dark.”  He paused.  “Do you have a torch?”

“Of course.”  Hand out, she moved
along the kitchen bench until she came to the drawers.  Opening it, she fumbled
inside and finally wrapped her hand around the torch handle. Flicking it on,
she shone it towards the wall.  “Tah-dah.”

“I’ll give you tah-dah.”  Matt
caught her around the waist, plucking the torch from her grasp while planting a
lusty kiss on her mouth.

“Mmm.”  She could have gotten lost
in that kiss but he pulled away with a laugh, keeping one arm around her waist. 
“Onwards to your bed.”

“You’re staying the night?”

Stopping, he looked down at her,
his expression serious in the shadows cast by the torch.  “Is that all right?”

She smiled.  “Of course.”

“Good, because I was staying
regardless.”

She smacked his arm.

He lightly slapped her bum in
retaliation before palming a plump globe and saying, “Let’s go, sexy.”

Normally she’d have been
self-conscious to be naked before anyone other than her sister, but Matt’s
presence was so right, so comfortable, that she simply leaned into his side.

Plus it was gloomy and he couldn’t
see her properly anyway.

Grinning, she snuggled closer.

Matt kissed the top of her head
and led the way to the bedroom.

~*~

The morning dawned and Lori only
stirred when the warm body behind her shifted away.  Giving a moan of protest,
she snuggled further under the doona.

Pleasantly tired from a night
where she’d twice been woken by Matt to lusty sessions of sensuality and
laughter, she was only dimly aware of him moving around the room.  The lamp by
the bed flared on and she pulled the doona over her head.

Laughing softly, Matt pulled the
doona down to her shoulders.  “’Morning, love.”

Blinking open her eyes, she
focussed on his face and memories of the night came flooding back, immediately
followed by a blush that had her cheeks feeling like they were on fire. 
“Ummm…morning.”

“I’ve got to get home and showered
for work.”  He winked.  “Keep the bed warm for me.”  He dropped a kiss on her
lips, light and friendly before tugging the doona back up over her head.

Listening to him walk down the dim
hallway, Lori could only marvel at what had happened.

Matt Winters had made love to her,
Lori Mackay.  He wanted her, trusted her, was honestly turned on by her
over-generous curves, and he welcomed her shy, tentative, but undoubtedly enthralled
explorations of his body.

When she thought of what he’d done
to her during the night…what she’d done to him with his encouragement…cripes,
it made her cheeks burn and her womanhood clench.

Rolling over in the bed, she
buried her face in the pillow he’d been using, inhaling his male scent.  The
pillow smelled like Matt and if she closed her eyes and tried hard, she could
almost imagine that he was still there in the bed with her.

She couldn’t help the little
giggle that escaped her and she sat up.  It was true.  It was really true.  Her
dreams had become reality, her fantasises well on their way to being fulfilled,
and all was right with the world.

Her gaze fell on the empty spot on
the bed and a touch of sadness hit home hard.  Minx’s spot was empty.

The moment was bitter sweet, the
loss of Minx and the gaining of Matt.  Loss of one love, the birth of another.

Some people wouldn’t understand,
but… Lori stroked the spot where Minx used to sleep.  So much had happened in
so short a time.  So much frustration, so much happiness, and a lot of tears.

“But I know you liked Matt,
Minxie,” she whispered with a teary smile.

Lying back down, she looked up at
the wall, quietly contemplating all that had happened, watching as the dawn
gave way to the morning, the sun creeping up to paint the wall in a wash of
warm gold.

Finally she got out of bed,
wincing a little at the unaccustomed soreness between her thighs, the pull of
muscles used for the first time.  The warm shower was a definite balm.

Slipping on a skirt and top, she
stepped in sandals and went outside to sit on the veranda with a cup of tea and
a slice of toast, watching the world go by, knowing that life went on,
sometimes good, sometimes bad, but always there, it was a matter of just
learning how to walk it, as her grandma used to say.

Old Man Parker came meandering
along the footpath on the opposite side of the road.  He took one look at her
and turned into Mrs Hubble’s gate, hurrying up to her door and knocking.

The door opened, Mrs Hubble looked
at him, looked across the road at Lori, grabbed Old Man Parker and practically
yanked him into the house, shutting the door firmly behind him.

Ouch
.  Lori winced.  Damn,
she’d been hard on the local gossips.  Mrs Hubble, Mrs Swanson and Old Man
Parker could chinwag about everybody in the town and there was no doubting they
spread rumours like one spread vegemite on toast, but basically they were
harmless.  Everyone knew they gossiped and everyone took what they said with a
grain of salt.  No one took a lot of umbrage because deep down the trio were
nice people, always the first to offer a hand, always the first to offer
condolences on a loss, and they’d all been there for Lori and Ali when her
grandma had died.

Rubbing her forehead, Lori
sighed.  There was also no doubting the trio were nosey, prone to embellishing,
and over-eager to find a story, however far-fetched, to boost their day.

Okay, she had a right to have a go
at them yesterday, but still, they were her elders and she’d been brought up to
respect her elders.  So she should apologise.  Didn’t want to, sure, but good
manners dictated she needed to.

If they’d have anything to do with
her.  Looking at Mrs Hubble’s closed door, Lori sighed.  It was the first time
she could ever remember that Mrs Hubble hadn’t waved or called out a greeting
at spotting her.

Shit, no one was perfect.

Lori was just debating when to go
across and apologise when Mrs Swanson’s car pulled up in front of Mrs Hubble’s
house, and Mrs Swanson got out and hurried up to the front door, opening it
without knocking and entering, shutting it behind her.

Lori watched curiously.  Lynch mob
in the making, perhaps?  No doubt she was the object of speculation in Peeron
right now, a lot of people had seen her lose her cool at the supermarket.

Cringe factor.  Big time.

Her heart fell a little.  The trio
had been good friends of her grandmother’s, who’d laughed at their antics and
shrugged off their meddlesome ways.  Always one to dwell on everyone’s good
points, she’d happily overlooked their gossiping and kept their friendship.

Now Lori felt guilty.  About to
stand up and head over to Mrs Hubble’s house to apologise, she stilled when Mrs
Swanson, Mrs Hubble and Old Man Parker suddenly came out of Mrs Hubble’s house,
Old Man Parker shutting the door behind them and following them up the garden
path.

Onto the street they came, Mrs
Hubble holding a small pot with a little bush in it, a dainty white rose
bobbing on a slim stem.  The trio crossed the road and entered Lori’s gate.

She stood slowly, coming to the
edge of the veranda to meet them.

They watched as she came down the
two steps to stand before them.

“I’m so sorry-” she began, only to
be interrupted.

“We heard about Minx.”  Mrs Hubble
thrust out the pot.  “I know you’re mad at us, but we just wanted to give you
this so you have something to place in the garden in her memory.”

“Please accept it.”  Mrs Swanson
cleared her throat, a tinge of colour in her cheeks.  “We know she meant a lot
to you and Ali.”

“Condolences,” Old Man Parker
muttered, thrusting his hands in his pockets and rocking backwards and forwards
in his shoes.

A lump rose in Lori’s throat as
she took the pot.  “Thank you.  Thank you so much.”  She smiled around at
them.  “All of you.  This means so much to me, and it will to Ali, too, when
she gets back.”

“Anything we can do?” Mrs Hubble
asked gently.

And there it was, the niceness of
them, that soft-heartedness that just surged up when anyone needed help.

Shifting the pot to one arm, Lori
walked forward and embraced her, hugging her tightly.  “Thank you.”

Mrs Hubble patted her back. 
“That’s all right, dear.”

Stepping back, Lori turned to Mrs
Swanson, who was waiting with arms out.  Another hug, another whispered “thank
you.”

Old Man Parker hemmed and hawed
when Lori turned to him next, cleared his throat, then gave her a careful hug
as though afraid he’d break her.  His cheeks were distinctly pink when he moved
back.  “I can plant it for you,” he offered gruffly.

Knowing his back wasn’t as good as
it used to be, Lori smiled gently.  “Thanks, Mr Parker, I appreciate the offer,
but I think I’ll have a look at the garden later and see where the best spot
would be to plant this beautiful memory rose.”

“Could always get your young man
to plant it,” he said, a gleam in his eyes right before Mrs Swanson jabbed him
in the ribs.  “Or not.”

“We never saw a thing,” Mrs
Swanson assured Lori.

They couldn’t have either, not
unless they had night vision.  For one wild second Lori wondered if Shirley
might have night vision goggles, she could just picture her with them up to her
eyes in one hand, the other hovering above the phone with one finger extended
out to the speed dial buttons.

Looking at Mrs Hubble, Mrs Swanson
and Old Man Parker, Lori knew they’d soon get wind of what was happening
between her and Matt.  Maybe she’d actually give them the news first.  It was,
after all, good news, though she still felt a little self-conscious about it.

However, before she even opened
her mouth, Mrs Hubble announced in a rush, “We’re so sorry we caused you such
distress yesterday, Lori.”

“We never meant to hurt you,” Mrs
Swanson added.  “We just sort of heard…we thought…  Well, we never meant to
hurt you.”

Old Man Parker fixed a steady gaze
on Lori.  “We had no idea you were under a bit of pressure.  We’re sorry.”  He glanced
at his two cronies.  “I guess we did get a bit carried away with things.  It’s
a little problem we sometimes have.”

“I don’t know about that,” Mrs
Hubble sniffed, only to add when he glared at her, “Okay, sometimes.”  Looking
away, she muttered, “Rarely.”

Lori couldn’t stop the amused
twitch of her lips.

Reaching out, Mrs Swanson patted
Lori’s hand.  “Are we good?”

“Mrs Swanson,” Lori replied
gently, “We’re always good.”

A smile of relief spread over her
face.

“I shouldn’t have been so rude, I apologise
for that.”  Lori shook her head.  “Grandma would have boxed my ears if she’d
been there.”

“Right after she’d boxed ours for
gossiping,” Old Man Parker stated bluntly.

“She always did have a temper when
riled,” Mrs Swanson said.

“Called a spade a spade,” Mrs
Hubble agreed.

“I miss her.”  Old Man Parker
cleared his throat.

“We all do, Percy.”  Mrs Hubble
patted his back.  “You more so, we know.”

Oh ho, that was unexpected.  Lori
took a harder look at Old Man Parker.  Catching her look he blushed, glancing
way and rocking harder on his heels.

Wow.  Grandma and Old Man Parker? 
Surely not?  Surely… Lori switched her gaze to Mrs Swanson, who gave her a sly
wink. 
Cripes!

That brought to mind several
scenes that had no right bouncing around in her head.  If she’d been able to
scrub the thoughts out with a toothbrush, she’d have been inside scrubbing
right then and there.  Really, how long had it been going on between Grandma
and Old Man Parker?  To the end?  Oh man, that just wasn’t right, that…wait
until she told Ali!

Hang on, did Ghost know about
this?  He’d had been living beside Grandma before she and Ali had moved in, so
he probably did know.  When he got home she was going to pin him down and see
what he’d known, if he’d kept anything back from them.  Then again, Old Man
Parker and Grandma. 
Erk
.  Maybe Ghost had done right by not mentioning
anything.

 A car horn beeped and they all
looked up to see Harriet’s car drive past, Harriet waving at Lori.

“Hey,” Mrs Hubble said, “Isn’t
that the new woman in town?”

“I do believe you’re right,” Mrs
Swanson agreed.  “Hermione.  Hannah.  Helen?”

“Harriet,” Lori supplied.

Three sets of eyes swung back to
her.  Unnervingly, all three pairs of eyes gleamed.

“Harriet?” Old Man Parker raised
his eyebrows encouragingly.

“Wasn’t she visiting you
yesterday?” Mrs Hubble queried, as though she hadn’t obviously seen from her
lounge room window.

Old habits died hard.  Lori didn’t
know whether to sigh or laugh.  “Yes, she did.”

“She must be lonely.”  Mrs Hubble
tapped her lip.  “Keeps to herself a lot.”

“Mmm.”

“No point trying to pump Lori,”
Old Man Parker told Mrs Hubble.  “She’s just like her Grandma, see all, hear
all, say nothing.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,
Mr Parker,” Lori said.

His smile was wide, a twinkle in
his eyes.  “It was meant as one, young Mackay.  Now come on, you two.” 
Turning, he grabbed his cronies by the elbow.  “I do believe you brought
cupcakes from your restaurant, Millie.”

“Well, yes, but-”Mrs Swanson
began, finding herself being ushered towards the gate.

“And Claire, I reckon that kettle
would be boiled by now.  I could do with a cup of tea to wet my whistle.”