Tall, Dark & Distant (9 page)

‘Sweet ride,’ a boy said. A group of guys had gathered to stare at the car.

As Georgia watched the scene, the girl shifted a little to the right, revealing the driver’s face. Sitting behind the wheel, his green eyes locked on the girl, was Nik.

Georgia bumbled past the gathering crowd, up the boardwalk and into the trees. She stopped and turned round, watching Nik uncurl himself from the sports car. He locked the car and led the girl down the street. They disappeared into Sails for breakfast.

Georgia felt sick – totally and utterly drained, like she was going to vomit. Of
course
Nik wasn’t interested in her when he had this goddess. She felt helpless, hopeless and completely stupid. She stood on the boardwalk, staring into space. A tear rolled down her cheek, then another and another. She had hoped her sunglasses would hide her misery, but people began to sneak sideways glances at her as they strolled past.

‘You all right, love?’ a middle-aged woman asked.

‘Fine, thanks,’ she mumbled. But she wasn’t. She was awful.

Georgia left the boardwalk and scrambled down a set of stairs. She rushed across the rocks to a spot where the surfers launched their boards. She plunged into the sea, suddenly desperately hot and wanting to wash herself clean of the past couple of weeks. She wallowed in the waves, letting the seawater mix with her tears.

Georgia wished she’d never met him. She wished she’d never smiled at him on the track that day. Or maybe she wished she’d been more interesting at dinner. Perhaps if she hadn’t asked so many questions, it could have been her leaning over the door of the Ferrari, joining Nik for breakfast. She remembered how Nik had reacted strangely when she first said her name – if he didn’t even like it, how could he like her?

She dived underwater to clear her head – she had too many thoughts and wishes tumbling around inside.

It seemed to work. Although Nik didn’t come rushing out of nowhere to scoop her up in his toned arms, Georgia did feel much better.

She wasn’t going to die of a broken heart. There was also a good chance that she would drown if she spent any more time swimming in her trainers, but being dumped by a guy wasn’t going to kill her.

She dragged her soggy self from the sea and clambered back over the rocks, up the stairs and onto the boardwalk towards home. She hoped the apartment would be empty, so she didn’t have to explain her wet state to anyone. But unfortunately Alice was at the front door. She stuffed a pair of white knickers in Georgia’s face.

‘Why were my knickers hanging in the bush?’ Alice began.

Georgia had meant to take them down and throw them in the wash when her relationship with Alice moved from icy to just above chilly. ‘I don’t know. They must have fallen out of the window,’ Georgia said.

Alice’s eyes darted from Georgia’s head to her shoes and back again. The blame left her face, and a confused look replaced it.

‘Why are you all wet?’ she asked. ‘And where have you been? Mum and Dad are out looking for you. There was a fire in the national park. They think you’re passed out in a ditch somewhere. You know what Mum’s like.’

‘Oh my god. Really? Was it a bad fire?’

‘Probably nothing, Mum’s just being Mum. So … I can see you’re not burned, but why are you all wet?’

Alice was probably the last person on earth she wanted to confide in, but before Georgia knew it, she blurted out the story.

‘I saw Nik with another girl and I jumped into the sea.’

‘Oh my god! You tried to commit suicide?’ Alice gasped. ‘He’s not worth it, George. He wears deck shoes.’

Georgia grinned. Then her grin turned into a snigger. Then a great cackle came out.

‘Georgia, attempted suicide is not funny!’ Alice said.

‘Alice, calm down,’ Georgia said. ‘I didn’t try to commit suicide. I just jumped in the water because I needed to clear my head.’

Despite her sister’s overreaction, Alice’s concern over her suspected attempted suicide had given Georgia a warm fuzzy feeling. For a moment, anyway.

‘Oh. Whatever. You better get changed,’ Alice said. ‘You look like a total mess. I’ll call Mum and let her know you’re safe.’

Georgia followed her sister back into the apartment. Alice dropped her knickers in the bin and stalked down the hall to the bedroom.

‘You should stick to
Gray’s Anatomy
,’ Alice said over her shoulder. ‘You’re not really suited to … guys.’

And for once Georgia agreed with her sister.

Georgia stepped out of the shower just as the doorbell rang. She waited for Alice to run and answer it, and then realised that she was chatting on the phone on the balcony and mustn’t have heard. Georgia sighed and wrapped a towel around herself as she jogged down the hall to the door.

There on the doorstep was a young policeman.

‘Are you Alice King?’ he asked. Georgia could tell he was a newcomer to the job. He seemed nervous.

‘She’s just on the phone,’ Georgia said, dripping on the tiles. ‘Shall I grab her?’
What has Alice done now?
she wondered.

‘Who am I speaking to?’ he asked.

‘Georgia,’ she replied. ‘I’m Georgia King.’

A little flash of confusion crossed the officer’s face. She remembered the look that she had seen on Nik’s face when she’d told him her name. Was there something incredibly strange about her name?

The policeman flipped through his notepad and found what he was looking for.

‘Georgia King?’ he repeated. ‘But you’re missing.’

She raised an eyebrow.

‘Well, you’re not missing anymore, obviously,’ he continued.

‘I wasn’t really ever missing,’ Georgia began. ‘I just went for a longer run than usual. Alice is calling Mum to tell her I’m safe. Sorry, I didn’t realise they’d filed a missing-person report already.’

The cute officer nodded.

‘Is Alice in trouble?’ Georgia whispered. She wasn’t convinced the police visit was just about her.

‘No,’ he replied, confused. ‘We’re just looking for you.’ He looked down at his notebook. ‘Who wouldn’t be?’

The comment wasn’t directed at Georgia, but it was certainly loud enough for her to hear.

‘Well, someone will have to come to the station to sign off the forms,’ he said.

‘Right, of course,’ Georgia replied.

‘I finish work at five, so the best time to come would be just before five …’ He gave her a cheeky grin.

Georgia frowned. Was he asking her out?

The officer turned and walked back to his car in the driveway. ‘See you this afternoon,’ he called.

‘Thanks for your help,’ Georgia replied.

She watched the officer drive away with the growing real-isation that she had just been asked out. Maybe not on a date as such, but she was pretty sure it was an invitation of some kind. Maybe guys weren’t as difficult to get to know as she had thought.

Georgia didn’t go to the police station that afternoon. She sent her mum to sign the forms and Alice to flirt with the policeman. She didn’t need another debilitating obsession to replace the last. But the officer had helped Georgia realise that she didn’t have to waste the holidays pining over Nik, or any other guy for that matter. She had her whole life to find a partner. A boyfriend would just cramp her style.

As Georgia went out running the following morning, she felt lighter – like the weight of her obsession with Nik had fallen from her back. At last she felt like everything had returned to normal.

Georgia was almost at Hell’s Gates, revelling in her new-found freedom, when all of her resolutions flew off the side of the cliff. Standing at the lookout, peering into the wash below, was the very person who had caused her all the angst.

She froze in the middle of the path, contemplating her escape.

She couldn’t face him. Georgia grimly imagined the explanation: His girlfriend had arrived. He was so sorry. He had tried to explain everything at dinner, but the words had failed to come out. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he knew he had. Could she ever forgive him? He still wanted to be friends.

Georgia spun away from Nik, and ran straight into a hefty man heading towards Hell’s Gates at full speed. The impact sent her off the path and into a salt-stunted shrub.

‘Watch it,’ the man grumbled.

‘Don’t worry, I’m fine,’ Georgia called after him, fighting her way out of the shrub. Her running top was snagged on a branch and as she fiddled with the fabric, it just got more tangled and Georgia became more and more annoyed. Then a hand reached over, long fingers releasing her from her trap. She didn’t have to look to see who was attached to the hand.

‘Nik. Hi,’ Georgia mumbled. ‘Thanks, that’s great. Just a bit of a collision.’

‘I saw,’ he replied. ‘I’ve been waiting here for an hour and then I almost missed you. I have to thank that guy for stopping you.’

‘Very good of him, knocking me off the path like that, so you could catch up with me. I find phones a less brutal way of keeping in touch, but what would I know?’

Georgia hadn’t meant to be so sarcastic. She didn’t want to feel resentment as Nik wrapped his hand round her arm and pulled her to her feet. She wanted to feel nothing. She would have liked to just rise above it and move on with her new philosophy of staying single and free
.
But there was someone stopping her, and that someone was brushing leaves off her back.

‘Sorry I didn’t call,’ Nik said, turning Georgia round to face him. ‘I’ve been … busy.’

They stood looking at each other, their faces just centimetres apart. Nik reached up to pull a leaf out of her hair. As the leaf floated to the ground, her resentment and anger fell away. She felt her senses reawakened, her whole body aching to hold him.

‘I’ve missed … running with you,’ she said.

He smiled. ‘I have too.’

In just a matter of seconds, Georgia had gone from being a woman in no need of a boyfriend to a girl on the verge of an all-consuming obsession again. She had to regain some balance. He couldn’t just walk in and out of her life. She couldn’t live like that. And besides, he had a girlfriend!

Georgia took a step away from Nik. ‘So, what have you been up to?’

He looked down. ‘Oh, you know … a few things.’

She frowned. What did that mean –
a few things
? Driving his girlfriend around in a Ferrari? Entertaining her in his house on the hill? She was tired of working so hard for every snippet of information, so she waited for him to elaborate.

Nik took a breath. ‘I bought a new car, so I went for a drive.’

‘Oh, yeah?’ Georgia replied, sceptical. How many days had he driven for? ‘Where to?’

‘Sydney – it’s further than you’d think,’ Nik said. ‘Then my sister came to visit.’

‘Your sister?’ Georgia repeated. ‘You’ve been with your sister?’

Nik nodded. ‘We just got back yesterday morning.’

‘You were in Noosa yesterday?’ she asked, trying to make sense of things.

It took some time for the information to sink in. Georgia stared out to sea. A hundred metres or so from the beach, a surfer paddled to catch a wave. He jumped to his feet as the water curled behind him. She watched him, embarrassed, remembering how she’d reacted yesterday. She couldn’t believe she’d hurled herself into the sea, fully clothed, because Nik had a coffee with his sister.

‘Georgia,’ Nik said. ‘I’m really sorry I didn’t call.’ He stroked her cheek, then pulled his hand away.

‘A leaf,’ he said, even though she didn’t see anything fall. ‘I want to make it up to you. Can I take you for a drive?’

‘I thought I was taking
you
sightseeing,’ Georgia said, smiling. After all, Nik’s only real crime had been not phoning, which wasn’t the end of the world. It was just his unreliable streak – he had warned her about it. Georgia could forgive him, just this once.

‘There’s a track through the rainforest that goes all the way to Sunshine Beach,’ she said. ‘We haven’t taken that one before.’

Nik nodded. ‘Or we can take the car and go a bit further.’

‘Oh,’ Georgia replied, wondering how she could explain the difficulty with sports cars without sounding like a little girl. ‘Which car are you driving?’

Nik looked disappointed. ‘Does it matter?’