‘Sorry ’bout the wait, Trav. What’ll you have?’
Travis took a deep breath. ‘Took you long enough,’ he snapped.
18
Vince had a glass of Scotch waiting on the bar for her when she arrived.
See, she thought to herself, this isn’t so bad. He’s a nice guy, he knows what I like to drink, and he’s not bad-looking.
She took a seat on the bar stool beside him.
‘I took the liberty,’ he said, nodding towards the Scotch.
‘You’re a gem.’
She picked up the glass and they shared a “cheers”.
‘So, thanks for coming out,’ he said. ‘I actually … I have to confess, I didn’t think you would say yes.’
She smiled and thought about telling him that her first instinct was to say no. She thought about telling him that her best friend had implored her to try everything and that’s why she was here, but she didn’t.
He looked at her with his doe-brown eyes, smiling. He had nice teeth. She searched for something to say. Even though she wanted to enjoy herself tonight, she didn’t want to have to force the fun, but it was true that the conversation may not flow easily.
She took a breath and tried to relax. ‘Tell me more about this Chinese restaurant.’
Still smiling, Vince shrugged. ‘Not much to tell. It’s the only Chinese restaurant within an hour’s drive, so …’
‘Is it any good?’
Vince laughed. ‘Well, it’s the best Chinese restaurant within an hour of here.’
She gave his arm a playful slap.
‘It was a choice between there or here. And I thought that after last night, you might be able to relax better somewhere else.’
‘That was really considerate of you.’
‘Not a problem. I thought we could have one drink here and then head off. I picked up my new car today, so you get to be the first person to ride in it.’
‘I’m honoured,’ she said, trying not to expose how little she thought about cars. It was obvious Vince was excited about it and it was clearly important to him, so she vowed to make a big deal about it when she did get into the car.
‘What’s Travis up to tonight?’ he asked.
‘Um, he’s watching a movie with his daughter. I think they’re getting pizza.’ The thought of Annie and Travis eating pizza without her made her want to change the subject back to cars.
‘When did you pick your car up?’
‘This morning in Melbourne. It’s been on order for almost three months, so I felt like popping a bottle of champagne when they called to tell me it was ready.’
‘What kind of car is it again?’ she asked, taking a gulp of her drink.
‘A jaguar,’ he said. ‘Very sexy.’ He added an eyebrow wiggle and Dee laughed, although she wasn’t sure that was the desired response.
‘Jags are expensive, aren’t they?’
‘Oh, yes. Very. I had to save my pennies for a long time. I’ve been eating baked beans and two-minute noodles for a while now. Our lunch at The Hill last week aside, this will be my first proper meal in months.’
She laughed again. It felt good to laugh.
Vince motioned towards her drink. ‘You’re almost done. Shall we take off after that?’
‘Sure,’ she said. ‘Can’t wait to see this car.’
‘Well, then,’ Vince’s eyes shone brightly, ‘let’s get out of here.’
Once they were in the Jag, Dee made a big deal about how it looked—slick and dark. Black, she assumed, though it was difficult to tell at night. She shivered, and he turned up the heat with the push of a few buttons. It looked very expensive and fancy, but in her mind, it was still just a car.
‘It’s an XF,’ Vince said pointedly.
‘Awesome. But I should tell you, I have no idea what that means.’
He laughed. ‘It means that I’m not going to pay off my mortgage anytime soon.’
Dee felt a pang in her chest at the thought of her little cottage back in Blaxland Falls. She had managed to pay it off two years ago—the result of buying at a time when market prices were low and working so hard she never had much time to do anything other than eat and sleep.
‘Do you live in the valley?’ she asked.
‘I do,’ he said. ‘Bought my place a few years back.’
‘Is it a house?’
‘A unit,’ he said. ‘One bedroom. It’s nothing fancy, but I love it.’
She nodded. ‘I feel the same way about my cottage back in the falls. It won’t be on the pages of Home Beautiful anytime soon, but it’s cosy and cute. Home is home, right?’
He nodded. ‘Right,’ he said. ‘I guess it must be hard for you, living far from home. And I suppose …’ He looked at her, his forehead wrinkling with concern. ‘I suppose it must be difficult for you to live where you’re living.’
Dee’s breath caught in her chest. Living at Travis’s was difficult for a range of reasons, but it wasn’t entirely unpleasant. Dee found that she vacillated between two warring ideas—either living with Travis was the best thing about moving to the valley, or it was the worst thing. She couldn’t quite decide. She thought about his clear blue eyes and the strength of his arms and caught herself in a smile.
‘It has its ups and downs,’ she said.
‘Travis is a strange one, that’s for sure.’
Dee stayed silent as the Jag slid along the country road linking Mason Valley to Cleeve Gully.
‘Do you know about his ex?’ Vince questioned. ‘Annie’s mother?’
Dee glanced at Vince and made a bold attempt at hiding her curiosity. ‘No, I don’t know anything about her,’ she confessed. Now that Vince had mentioned it, Dee admitted to herself that she was desperate to know more.
‘She was gorgeous.’
Dee took a breath and held it. Of course, she was gorgeous. That stood to reason, but how gorgeous? And where was this gorgeous woman now? So many questions began to float in, but Dee tried for a look of nonchalance.
‘They met in high school. I guess you could’ve called them the “it couple”. Travis worshipped the ground she walked on. Some say he still holds a candle for her.’
Dee looked down at her hands. She nodded. This made sense too. Dee had seen Travis with his daughter and his mother. He was a loyal, honourable man. Of course he would remain loyal to the mother of his child.
‘They never got married, though everyone thought they would, but after high school they moved in together. I think it’s because her family was bad news and Trav wanted her away from them. She and Travis stayed with his mum for a while and then they got a place of their own.
‘And then she got pregnant?’ Dee asked.
‘Not straight away. That came a few years later, when Travis was around twenty-four, I think.’
Vince steered the Jag around a deep and sweeping bend, and Dee had to admit, the car hugged the road nicely.
‘Travis and Kim moved in together—’
‘That’s her name? Annie’s mum’s name is Kim?’
‘Yes, that’s right,’ Vince said. ‘So, they moved in together and it seemed to be going well, but then Kim started playing pool at the pub. She fell in with the wrong crowd.’
Dee frowned. ‘What do you mean by “wrong crowd”?’
‘Drugs.’ Vince’s tone was grim. ‘They were into smoking dope at high school, then some of them got into pills and eventually heroin.’
‘Annie’s mum took heroin?’
‘Yeah, it was a real shame. Travis and his mum got her into rehab a couple of times, I think. At least, that’s what the rumours were. But it never stuck. She was clean while she was pregnant, but once their daughter was born … People say lack of sleep and the work it took to look after a newborn was too much for her. She relapsed pretty soon after.’
‘How awful.’
Dee pictured baby Annie, pink and beautiful and surrounded by chaos. She was caught between feeling sorry for Kim and feeling anger towards her.
> ‘What happened then?’ she asked.
‘Kim fell off the wagon and off the face of the earth, leaving Trav to pick up the pieces. People reckon he never really got over it. They say he’s set on Kim coming back one day so they can be a family again. Don’t think he really gets how it works with junkies.’
‘So, no one knows where she is?’
‘Dead, people think. She came back a couple of times when Annie was still small. But then she left again.’
Vince sighed. ‘Anyway, I suppose it explains why Travis is so moody and upset all the time. Pining for an ex is soul destroying.’
Dee looked out the window. It did explain a lot. Travis was angry at Kim but still loved her. He wanted Annie to have her mother and Dee couldn’t hate him for that. It made total sense.
The Chinese restaurant was like the one she went to as a little girl in the eighties. The food on the menu consisted mainly of eye-rollingly anglicised dishes like sweet and sour pork and honey chicken. There was even fried ice cream on the dessert list. Dee felt like she was twelve-years-old.
‘What do you recommend?’ she asked.
Vince didn’t bother looking at the menu. ‘Mind if I order a few dishes? I know the good ones.’
‘Sure.’
Dee was happy for him to make the decisions about dinner. Her mind was still trying to process all the information he’d told her in the car. The details pertaining to Annie’s mother were interesting and they explained a lot. She was busy conjuring images of a drug-addled beauty when the waiter came to take their order.
Vince rattled off about six different dishes and the waiter jotted the order down. By the time he was done, he’d ordered half the menu as well as a bottle of red wine.
‘Expecting about eight other people, Vince?’
He laughed. ‘I always over-order, then I ask for a doggy bag and live off the leftovers for the rest of the week.’
‘Strategic thinking. I like it.’
He smiled. ‘See, I’m more than just a pretty face.’
Dee took a moment to inspect his allegedly pretty face. “Pretty” might not be the correct word, more like “pleasing”. Vince had the face of someone you could trust, someone who was reliable and kind.
Too easily, the comparison to Travis arose. While Vince had a face you could like, Travis had a face you could lose yourself in. When Vince looked at Dee, she felt reassured; when Travis looked at her, she felt as though the world had been knocked of its axis. The comparison was … actually, there was none. Vince and Travis were stored under completely different categories in her brain.
Vince didn’t rock her world the way Travis did, but that wasn’t a bad thing. Dee wasn’t sure she needed her world rocked right now. What she needed was a friend and an ally, and Vince was the only person—other than Annie—who’d offered her anything close to friendship since she’d arrived in the valley.
Their wine came then, and Dee asked Vince for his thoughts on the distribution issue.
‘Maria from accounts payable has sent me the contract. She sent it today, actually, but I’ve not had a chance to look at it properly. I’ll take a good look at it tomorrow. There might be a way we can wriggle out of it if it’s not working for us.’
Vince sipped his wine, his expression thoughtful. ‘That’s not a bad idea, although I know Gary looked high and low to get the best deal. I’m not sure you’ll find a better one. You’re thinking of everything, though. You’re doing great, you know.’
Dee blushed at his praise. ‘Thanks. I just want to do a good job. I want to do right by the Olsens, but by this town, too. The community here needs this factory to work. It needs to be a success. So many mouths are fed by it.’
‘You’re right again. The only problem is …’
Vince hesitated, took another sip of wine and sighed.
‘What is it? Tell me.’ Dee was beginning to realise that she not only liked Vince as a person, she also valued his opinion as a colleague.
‘Dee, you’re doing all the right things, you really are … but I don’t think you’re going to find the answers in the distribution. Even if you manage to break the current contract without any fees and pick up a cheaper deal with another logistics company, the difference will be minimal. It costs what it costs to ship from Mason to metropolitan Melbourne. It’s a huge cost to the business and that’s never going to change.’
‘I have to try,’ Dee said, exasperated. ‘So far, and I know I’ve only been in the role a week, but so far, all I can see as an issue is the transport costs.’
Vince looked at her over his wine glass. ‘Dee, you’re a business woman. You and I both know that there are other things you can do to cut costs. Those are the things you need to look at.’
The waiter placed a bowl of prawn crackers down on the table and Dee stared at them. Vince was right. Her obsession with solving the problem of the cost of transport had stopped her from seeing other, more glaringly obvious, areas where she could trim back.
‘I want to be the boss that saves people’s jobs, not takes them.’
‘I understand,’ Vince said, his voice low and calm. ‘But sometimes you need to be cruel in the short term in order to be kind in the long run.’
Their food arrived and it looked amazing, but Dee had lost any semblance of an appetite. She might need to bite the bullet and consider taking the jobs of good, honest hard-working people. And that thought made her sick.
19
Dee spent much of the next day in her room reading a romance novel. She needed to escape thoughts of the factory or cutbacks and losing herself in the plights of the hero and heroine seemed to help. Annie and Travis were out for much of the day and that helped too.
The attachment from Maria, the contract that Dee had vowed to open, remained untouched.
The reality of her new role had hit her hard, and she kept picturing the faithful, hard workers who were nothing but productive and committed and—with the exception of taking their shirts off on Dee’s first day—had not put a foot wrong.
Sure, there was Dean. Him, she could cut without flinching. But the others?
Still, if laying off a handful of workers was what she needed to do to keep the factory solvent for now and successful into the future, then she would suck it up and do it, but she wouldn’t feel good about it.
By Monday morning, Dee had made peace with the idea. She knew it wasn’t something she’d need to do right at that minute. She had time up her sleeve, weeks, possibly months, and Vince had promised to support her. They’d scheduled a meeting for Friday afternoon so that they could gather all the relevant paperwork and really drill down into the figures and look at all the viable options. Dee still felt unsettled, but she was no longer miserable. Anyway, it was borderline impossible to feel miserable after spending the morning with Annie.
With dread cleared from her mind, her week settled into a pleasing routine—mornings with Annie, then work, dinner, then off to her room to read, or sometimes to Annie’s room to play Barbies.
Travis had been busy but quiet, and Dee hadn’t seen him much outside of meal times, which suited her fine. She needed the time and space to establish herself in the valley without her mind steaming up with desire every time she walked out of her bedroom and ran into her housemate.
Her friendship with Vince was building, too. They ate lunch together and discovered that they shared a nerd obsession with the Tudor dynasty. It was all starting to feel comfortable. Not amazing, not outstanding, but comfortable, and that was good enough for Dee.
On Thursday morning, Annie worked her magic and convinced Dee to make pancakes. Flour and splashes of milk adorned the benchtop and Dee swore under her breath when her phone rang, earning her a wide-eyed look of horror from Annie.
She wiped her hands on a dishtowel and lifted the phone from the bench. Travis’s name lit up the screen, causing the blood in her veins to run at double speed. Her insides turned to mush, a by-product of nerves and excitement.
‘Travi
s?’ she answered.
‘Good morning.’
‘Hi.’ She tried to keep her breathing level.
Annie stirred the mixture and sang, ‘Hi, Daddy. Hi, Daddy.’
‘Tell her I said hi.’ Travis’s voice was gravelly and rough.
‘I will.’
‘Listen, I’m just here with Pete. My mate. He works at the factory with me, and with you, I guess. Technically.’
‘I think I’ve met him,’ Dee said.
‘Yeah, well him and his wife Chloe are coming over tonight. We get together every couple of weeks at my place. It’s easier because of Annie.’
‘Okay.’
Dee was confused. She was quite sure Travis wouldn’t be asking her for permission to invite his friends over. Did he want her to go out so that he could spend time with them without her hanging around?
Pancake mix slopped over the sides of the bowl and Dee motioned for Annie to stop stirring.
‘You’ll like them,’ Travis said. ‘We usually just play board games and chat or whatever. And, it’s my night for dinner, so I’ll sort that out.’
Dee thought she knew what he was saying, but she needed to be clear. ‘So, you’re happy for me to stay while your friends are here?’
Travis chuckled. ‘Well, yeah. That’s the reason I’m calling. I wanted to make sure you’re free.’
‘I am!’ she said, perhaps a little too eagerly.
‘Great. They usually come over around six, but like I said, you won’t need to do anything.’
Dee beamed.
‘Okay, I’d better get back to work,’ Travis said.
‘Yes, sure. Annie and I are just having breakfast.’ Although, if they didn’t get the pancakes cooking soon, they’d be eating them en route to school and work. ‘Thanks for the invite, Travis.’
‘No problem.’
The excitement about the night ahead was enough to pull Dee through a day of paperwork searches. She’d been emailing back and forth with head office requesting the location of spreadsheets that were either missing or outdated.
Winter in Mason Valley Page 12