Authors: Angela Verdenius
“You have no idea what you’re missing
out on.” Alan rocked back and forth on his heels. “Wow, have you had a gander
at that bloke?”
Sam couldn’t help it, he glanced
over at the opposite house.
Yep, the bloke in question was
definitely skinny, almost painfully so, and he was covered in tattoos and so
rough looking beside Carly’s sweet roundness. Maybe that was why she was so
uptight, married to a rough bikie. Or shacked up with him, who knew? He
hadn’t looked for a wedding ring when he’d held her soft little hand in his.
Shaking his head, he turned back
to the flower bed.
“Made you look,” Alan drawled.
“What are you, ten?”
Alan laughed.
Sam couldn’t help but grin. Alan
might be trying at times, but he was a good friend and fun, and he didn’t mean
any harm. In a tight situation he was the man to have at your back. You just
had to learn to live with his warped sense of humour.
“So, anyway,” Alan said. “Sophie
wants you to come to dinner on Friday night.”
“Friday.” Sam thought ahead.
“If you’re not doing your nursie
business, of course. Are you on shift?”
“Nope. I’ll be there. What
time?”
“Si x o’clock. Gives me time to
get home, have a shower, and indulge in some hot sex with Soph before you
arrive.”
“You always were a
fast
worker.”
“Hey,” Alan said indignantly “I’ll
have you know I’m a stayer.”
“I’ll have you know I don’t
care.” Sam shuddered. “Or want to know.”
“Jealous. Poor bastard.” Alan
nodded cheerfully. “Okay, better go and deliver justice, keep you citizens
safe from harm, save the day. I’ll see you Friday.”
Pushing to his feet, Sam walked
him back to the car. As he watched Alan pull away, his attention was caught by
another Harley roaring down the street, startling SJ, who shot to his feet and
sped around the back of the house. The Harley pulled up at Carly’s house and a
hulking brute with a bald head, a pierced nose, and wearing a heavy leather
jacket got off the bike and sauntered up the steps and onto the veranda,
knocking on the door. Ed opened it and the bikie disappeared inside.
Ed spotted Sam and waved
cheerfully.
Sam waved back and returned to his
flower bed, wondering about his new neighbours.
It seemed he wasn’t the only one,
with his next door neighbour popping her head up on the other side of the
fence.
“I can’t believe it,” Debbie said
sharply. “What’s the neighbourhood coming to, Sam?”
“Hmmm?” Pretended ignorance was
the safest path.
“Motorcycles roaring around all
hours of the day and night. Before you know it, there’ll be wild parties,
fist-fights, drunkenness and debauchery happening all over the street.”
“Mmmm.”
“Did you see that big, bald bikie?
I bet he’s drugged out.”
Sam didn’t bother to reply, just
used his fingers to dig another small hole and carefully place the seedling
safely inside it.
Debbie was on a roll. “I wonder
how many people will end up living in that house. So far there’s two men and
one woman. And what kind of woman would take up with two men, I ask you?”
Alan would have had a reply for
that question, no doubt. Good thing his friend wasn’t around, though Sam sure
missed the entertainment.
“Sam!”
“Huh?” Startled out of his rhythm
of digging, planting and smoothing soil around fragile stems, he blinked and
looked up.
“Didn’t you hear me?” Debbie asked
sharply, her gaze raking across his face.
“Uh…” He pushed his glasses back
up his nose.
“I said, I saw you go over there
earlier.”
No point denying it. “Yep.”
Debbie raised her eyebrows.
Sam raised his in reply.
Impatiently, she looked across at
the house. “You went inside with that…woman.”
No point denying that, either.
“Yep.”
“What happened?”
“Hurt herself.”
When Sam didn’t elaborate, but
returned instead to the seedlings, Debbie knocked on the fence with her
knuckles. “Sam!”
“Mmmm?”
“What happened?”
“She hurt herself,” he repeated.
“Doing what?”
“Picking up a box.”
“Back issues?”
“Knife fell out and cut her.”
Debbie sucked in a breath and he
sighed.
Wait for it…
“Switchblade?” she queried, almost
angrily. “Some kind of dagger thing? Hunting knife? I
knew
it! Those
kinds of people are trouble! Oh my God, keeping weapons lying around in boxes
and-”
“Butcher knife.” Sam sprinkled a
little Seasol on the new seedlings to help give them a little boost after the
trauma of transplanting. “It fell out of the box of cutlery.”
That took the wind out of her
indignant sails. “Oh.”
Sauntering out to sit beside Sam, SJ
sniffed the seedlings.
“So what was she like?” Debbie
asked.
“Who?” He gently pushed SJ aside.
SJ responded by head butting his
hand.
“The woman, of course,” shee
replied impatiently.
“She seems nice.”
“Covered in tattoos, I suppose.”
“Not that I noticed.”
With an equally impatient sigh,
Debbie moved back from the fence. “I have things to do. See you later, Sam.”
“Yep.” He eyed SJ, who had
reached out one paw and prodded a seedling. “Cut it out.”
SJ poked a little harder.
Sam placed his hand on the cat’s chest
and pushed gently.
SJ fell over.
“Oh, please. It wasn’t that hard
of a push.”
SJ stretched and half rolled onto
his back, blinking at Sam.
Grinning, Sam reached out and
rubbed his belly.
Ah yes, this was the life. Warm
sun, the scent of clean, damp soil, fresh air and a furry companion. Could
life get any better?
No sooner had the thought crossed
his mind than a frenzied yapping caught his attention. Turning his head, he
looked in the direction of the noise to see, well, nothing. The picket fence
hid anything from sight, and he couldn’t make out anything between the tiny
gaps between the pickets.
Shrugging, he looked back around
to see SJ sitting upright, his head turned in the direction of the yapping, his
eyes big and round and his ears pricked.
“It’s all right, SJ.” Sam ran his
hand comfortingly down SJ’s back.
“Crusher!” A man’s voice yelled
out. “Settle down!”
Immediately silence fell.
Crusher? That name didn’t bode
well. Sam couldn’t help but feel a spike of concern as he glanced back across
the street. He certainly didn’t want SJ mauled by a dog. “You stay on this
side of the street, SJ.”
SJ resumed the sphinx position
beside Sam, but he faced the house opposite and Sam could just about see the
wheels turning inside his head. He just hoped SJ had enough sense not to check
out the source of the noise. Good thing he wasn’t allowed out after dark, and
he slept most of the day, but Sam still couldn’t help but worry that his cat
just might take it into his inquisitive head to investigate the yapper during
the day while Sam was at work.
Maybe he should keep SJ inside for
a few days. It wouldn’t harm him, he spent most of it snoozing anyway.
Minutes later, one of the Harleys
in the drive roared to life and Sam, who normally couldn’t be bothered about
the goings-on outside his fence line, couldn’t help but glance across to see
the big, bald bikie straddling the Harley, Carly standing beside him and leaning
forward to plant a kiss on his craggy cheek.
The skinny bikie was standing by
Carly’s side, an arm slung around her neck, and for the first time Sam wondered
if Carly was living with both bikies, as in
living
with them, sharing
the house, the bed…
Darn Debbie for putting such a
thought in his head.
Shaking his head, he reminded
himself that it was none of his business what other people did, as long as they
left him in peace and quiet to enjoy his solitude. He valued his peace and-
The roar of the Harley driving
away pulled his forehead into a frown. Maybe peace wasn’t something he could
enjoy as much, not if bikies were going to start roaring up and down the street
at all hours of the day and night.
For the first time in a long time,
Sam felt disgruntled. After sprinkling Seasol across the last seedling, he gathered
the gardening equipment and packed it away in the little shed in the backyard.
A search for his water bottle which he found in the garage, he had no idea why
it was there, a hunt for his book which he certainly didn’t remember leaving on
the front veranda, and then he disappeared inside the house to shower and
change, intent on spending the rest of the afternoon watching a marathon
session of The 70’s Show.
Away from everyone.
~*~
“I can’t find my leather vest,” Ed
said.
“You’re wearing it.” Carly didn’t
even bother to look up from the dishes.
“Not this one. The other one.”
“They’re all black, all tattered,
and all stink like old socks. Who’ll know the difference?”
“I’ll know. And Crusher.” Ed
edged nearer. “Geez, you in a snit or something?”
“Give me a few more minutes of
that attitude and you’ll find out.” She pointed the sponge at him. “Did you
finish cleaning the shower?”
Ed folded his arms. “Yes.”
“Don’t say it like that. We’re
sharing the chores, remember?”
“You
are
in a snit.”
Carly narrowed her eyes.
“Fine. Fine!” Hands up, Ed
spread his fingers. “Yes, I finished cleaning the bathroom like a good boy.
Can I have a biscuit now, please, mistress?”
She turned back to the sink. “Did
you take the garbage bin out the front for the garbos to collect? This is bin
day.”
“Cripes, it’s like living back
with the old lady.”
Moving fast, Carly spun around and
threw the sponge at him. It hit him right on the forehead with a satisfying
spray of detergent.
Swearing, Ed grabbed it in one
hand. Rubbing the detergent dripping down his face, he glared at her. “I
thought living together was going to be fun.”
“I’m not your ex, Ed. I’m your
niece.”
“You’re my nightmare.”
She grinned. “Now that, I’ll take
as a compliment.”
He flipped her the bird.
“And since you’re going to try the
lubricious idea of pulling the uncle act, that’s not the way to do it.” She
deftly caught the sponge he tossed back at her.
“It’s ludicrous that I’m your uncle.”
“Tell me about it. I’m sure half
the street thinks we’re husband and wife, or partners.”
Ed shuddered.
“My sentiments exactly.” She
turned back to the sink. “You can’t blame them, though.”
“Oh, I can. That’s
pre-judgemental.” He paused. “Or is that judgemental? Do I have it the right
way?”
“You’re the one with a Uni
degree.”
“Oh yes, I forgot that I’m the
educated one in the house.”
This time it was Carly’s turn to
flip him the bird.
“Your being rude to me will upset Crusher.”
“Crusher is a grown dog, which is
more than I can say about you.”
“You’re saying I’m a dog?”
Carly rolled her eyes.
“Anyway.” Appearing at her side, Ed
thumped her lightly on the arm. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“To wash your dishes?”
“Yeah.”
She elbowed him lightly.
Grunting, he rubbed his concave
belly before reaching over and taking the sponge from her hand. Tossing it
into the sink, he grabbed her other hand and turned her to face him.
“Ed, I need to get this done,” she
protested. “I have to go to work tomorrow and the house needs sorting and-”
“Just hush for a minute.” Ed
regarded her seriously, all traces of fun gone. “Carly.”
Her heart beat a little faster, a
little heavier, and the sudden lump in her throat rose unwelcomingly. “Ed,
don’t…” She didn’t want to think about, wanted to push the thoughts, and
emotions that accompanied them, away.
“Carly,” he repeated. “We’ll get
through this.”
She swallowed. “I know.”
“The whole unpleasant messes are
over, we only have to pick up the pieces. Okay?”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“No, Carly, I mean it.” His gaze
searched hers. “We’ll make it. We
are
making it.”
Tears blurred her vision.
He squeezed her hands. “We’re
going to be all right.”
“I know.”
Gathering her into his arms, Ed
hugged her close. His voice was gruff when he repeated, “We’re going to be all
right.”
Tightly, she hugged him back. What
they’d been through was so similar, she knew that even he was overwhelmed at
times, though he hid it better than her. But he was right, together, they’d
get over it.
Moving into a house away from bad memories
was the beginning. No, it was further along the track to recovery. This was
part of the journey, and to be truthful, there was no one else she’d rather have
beside her at this time, the one person who truly understood what she was going
through, for he was treading a similar path.
And Ed had been her close friend
throughout childhood.
He was the first to pull back,
clearing his throat. “Okay, enough of the sloppy shit.”
“I agree.” She took a deep
breath. “There’s still that bin to take out.”
“Slave driver.” He ruffled her
hair and walked away.
When he reached the door, she
called out, “Ed?”
“Yeah?” He glanced at her over
his shoulder.
“Thanks. For everything.”
He grinned widely. “Ditto.”
Carly smiled. Yeah, she felt
better. Moving to the big glass sliding door, she looked out at the blue
skies, the colourful mix of bougainvillea that grew along the side fence, and
the lantana that had burst through the big pot in which it had been planted by
the previous owner.