“It was nothing,” she says, sniffling. “Now let go, all of you. I’ll have to go take off my face and start all over. I’ve got a hot lunch date today, I’ll have you know.”
We release her with a laugh and return to our usual morning routine while Nana floats off to her bathroom to fix her face with Archer trailing behind, talking snake bites and the best first aid methods for treating them.
“Hanging out with your new friends today?” I ask Abby in between the chat messages she’s shooting off to friends.
She replies with a shrug, followed by a sigh. “Most of them have gone back home. They were only here for the holidays.”
“Oh? You didn’t meet any kids you’ll be going to school with?” I was under the impression most of the groups she was with all summer went to the local high school. It’s why I was a little more relaxed on my curfew, so she’d have friends once school started.
She puts her phone down for a second. “The locals don’t hang out with the tourists, Mum.”
“But you aren’t a tourist if you’re going to school here.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t know that at the time. Some of the kids saw me coming out of these apartments and thought I was rich like them.” She puts her head down and concentrates on her thumbnail.
“So, you just let them think that?” Suddenly a lot of her behaviour makes sense. Not only was she grieving, she was also pretending to be something she wasn’t. It must have been exhausting.
She meets my eyes for a second and shrugs. “I didn’t think it would hurt. I didn’t think we’d stay, either.” Her mouth pulls up at the corner, and I feel so out of touch with her while at the same time feeling relieved that we’re sitting here having an actual conversation. I’m caught between wanting to jump for joy and being concerned. But I think the point here is that Abby is talking to me. She’s sharing her problems. Cheering is definitely something I’ll be doing the moment I’m on my own.
“I can’t say I’m happy you were pretending to be a rich kid, but I can understand how it happened.”
“I didn’t lie. I just didn’t correct anyone.”
I press my lips together. “It’s kind of the same thing, really.”
She shrugs. “Maybe.”
“Well, what about Niall next door? Does he know you’re staying here long-term and that you’re not rich?” If he does, I hope he wasn’t an arsehole to her about it because that would have been really stressful. I hadn’t had many interactions with him—I’d actually gone out of my way to avoid him since he insinuated I was geriatric—but he did give off that entitled vibe of a kid who’s never known any real struggle. It’s hard for me to reconcile his personality with Leo’s when Leo is so easy-going and down to earth. If it wasn’t for their similar looks, I’d struggle to believe they were related.
She shrugs. Again. “Niall’s fine.” That didn’t even come close to answering my question.
“Fine, meaning?”
Suddenly she frowns and I know this conversation is running out of steam. She’s back to finding me annoying. “He wouldn’t say anything, OK? Leave it alone.”
I lift my hands. “OK. I’m just checking on you. Being an outsider is hard. Especially when people think you’re something you’re not. Hopefully when school starts, you’ll meet some of the local kids so that next holidays, you won’t have to pretend. You’ll be able to relax and have fun, and we can forget this ever happened.” I’m really not happy about this pretending to be rich thing, but I think I can let it go as long as it doesn’t become a recurring problem.
She shrugs yet again, flipping her phone about in her hands. “Do you think we can go back to Bairnsdale? Just for a visit. Gemma is having a sleepover with everyone this weekend, and since it’s the last one in the holidays, she’s asking if I can come. If you don’t want to drive me, I could always catch the train and Aunty Jo can collect me from the station.”
“You’re not catching a train all that way on your own.”
“So, what, I can’t go?” Here comes the attitude…
“I’m not saying that. If you want to go, I’ll take you. We’ll visit Aunty Jo and Granma while we’re at it, and if there’s anything you need from the old house, we can stop by the storage unit on the way home.”
“Home,” she repeats. “Meaning here?”
I nod. “Do you think you can handle that? Stop giving me so much crap?”
With a heavy sigh, she rubs one hand up and down her forearm before she nods. “Yeah, Mum. I get why we’re here. I’m not super happy about it, but I like the beach, and if I can visit Bairnsdale sometimes, I think I’ll be OK. I’m going to miss my friends though.”
“Come here,” I say, holding my arms out. She shifts on her seat and stands to give me a hug. “I love you, OK? Don’t ever forget that.” I hold her tight, rubbing her back and feeling about a thousand times lighter after this morning’s conversation.
“I love you too, Mum.”
I close my eyes. Music to my ears. The day Kevin walked out of our lives seems like a lifetime ago now, and I feel like we’ve finally turned a corner. I think we’re going to be OK.
THIRTY-SIX
LEO
On the Friday before school goes back, Darcy stops by the workshop so I can show her the shitshow that is my office. I like a tidy workspace, but since I spend as little time in the office as possible, it isn’t kept to the same standard. I’m quite embarrassed frankly.
“Wow,” she says when she steps in and looks around.
“It’s horrible, isn’t it?”
She turns to me and laughs. “Not at all. I was expecting cobwebs and big spiders hanging over yellowing piles of paper. This is a neat stack of archive boxes and an unorganised desk.”
“Try and find an invoice from three years ago,” I say. “Then you’ll understand what I mean.”
Placing her hands on my shoulders, she smiles up at me. She’s so damn pretty. Her blonde hair is pulled into a ponytail, and she’s wearing a pair of dark blue jeans and a flowery tank top. I want to sit her on this desk, yank that hair tie out, and peel those jeans from those delectable legs of hers. But I’m trying to be professional. I’m a man of my word, so I’ll only fuck her on our lunch breaks.
“I’ll have this all filed away in no time.” She pushes up on her toes and plants a kiss against my lips. “See you on Monday, boss.”
“Whoa.” I catch her by the wrist before she can get away from me. “Where are you going in such a hurry? And why aren’t I seeing you until Monday?”
She tilts her head slightly to the side. “I’m supposed to be picking up a parcel at the post office, so I can’t be away long. And I’m taking the kids to Bairnsdale this weekend, remember? I told you about it on our walk this morning. I’m going to see my mum and Jo, pick up a few things from the storage unit. Plus, it’s time I faced my mother’s judgement over the whole Kevin thing.” Oh shit. Now I remember. I was busy calculating the time and distance while wondering how I was supposed to get through that without knowing she was only a few walls away. I’m beyond attached to this woman.
“Hmm. I think I blocked that from my memory because I’m not looking forward to a full weekend without you.”
Reaching out, she runs her fingers down the centre of my shirt, stopping to play with one of the buttons. “I’ll send you Snapchats.”
“Promise?”
She nods. “Naked ones.”
“Videos?”
She laughs. “If I get enough time alone.”
I groan then hook my finger in the front of her top, pulling it open so I can salivate over her gorgeous hard-on-inducing cleavage. “Just a peek to tide me over,” I say as she giggles and play slaps my hands away. I slip my hands around her waist and pull her against me, kissing her hard until she whimpers in my mouth. I love that sound. The little noise she makes when her body succumbs to my touch. It’s heaven. “If we had more time, I’d bend you over that desk and take you right here.”
Darcy mo
ans and my dick comes to life.
A throat clears not far from us.
I snap my head up, the hairs on the back of my neck bristling as I find the last person I expected to see standing in the doorway, leaning casually on the door.
“Tash?” What the fuck?
My dick instantly deflates. Nothing like the sight of your ex to be the cold spoon to your erection. I clear my throat as I straighten Darcy’s shirt.
Tash smiles, her overly plumped lips struggling to fully curve, but I’m pretty sure I see a forked tongue poke past them. “Nice to see you too, Leo. I went by your apartment and no one was there,” she explains with a shrug.
“Well, you found me. What do you want?”
Ignoring me, she turns her attention to Darcy. “This must be the Darla I’ve heard about. Niall told me Leo’s got a new plaything.”
“She’s not my plaything,” I correct. “And it’s Darcy.”
“Of course.” Tash holds out her hand to a slightly rattled Darcy, who reaches out and takes it, giving it a timid shake. “Voracious in the sack, isn’t he?” Tash’s eyes flash as a malevolent grin takes over. Darcy snatches her hand back and frowns.
“Tash.” There’s warning in my tone. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh,” she says, her eyes staying on Darcy, sizing her up. She stands a little taller when she’s done, her dark hair falling in long fake waves cascading over her bone-thin shoulders as she pushes her fake breasts forward. It’s like she’s the peacock and all this so-called ‘enhancement’ she’s had is the plume that makes her the most beautiful of all. I’ve got news for her… “I was in the area so I thought I’d pick Niall up and bring him home before school.” No. That’s not it. I know this woman, and my guess is she came here to do exactly what she’s doing right now: try to intimidate Darcy.
I narrow my eyes. “His school doesn’t go back until Wednesday. I have him until Sunday. We agreed I’d bring him to you.”
She waves a manicured hand in the air as she looks around the office as if all of this is beneath her. “Well, I’m here now.”
“I should probably go,” Darcy says, pressing her hands against her thighs before picking her handbag up from the desk where she dropped it.
“Don’t leave on my account, Dana.” Tash places a hand on her chest to show ‘true’ concern.
“It’s Darcy,” I grind out. I really need her to shut the hell up and go away.
Darcy’s mouth becomes a thin line. “I’m not leaving because of you. I’m leaving because I have somewhere else to be.”
“Oh, of course, Daisy.” Tash nods.
“Darcy,” Darcy and I correct at the same time, although mine is more of a growl.
“I don’t know why that name can’t stay in here.” She taps her head lightly and laughs.
Darcy’s eyes narrow. “I think it’s because you’re purposely trying to belittle me, Tilly, I mean, Tanya. I mean, Taylor… See? I can do it too.” I’m so happy right now, I want to clap. Then—and I couldn’t admire her more—, Darcy does the best possible thing by smacking a goodbye kiss against my lips. My entire chest is bursting with pride. Darcy is more amazing to me every day. “I’ll text,” she says, giving me a secret smile.
I want to grab her and kiss her face off, but I settle for smiling back and waving as she saunters out of the workshop, her head held high as she gets in her car.
“Jesus, Leo. What the hell do you see in her?” Tash spits, reverting back to her venomous self the moment her audience is gone.
I see strength. Honesty. Passion. Trust. Beauty. Everything I don’t see in Tash.
Leaning back on the desk, I fold my arms across my chest and grin. “My heart.”
THIRTY-SEVEN
LEO
“I’d rather stay,” Niall says as he stretches his long legs out in front of him, taking up way more couch space than necessary.
Tash’s mouth falls open. “Are you kidding me?”
Niall shakes his head. “Dad’s taking me skydiving on Sunday. I’m not missing that.” I get that he’s only staying because he wants to skydive, but he just called me Dad. It’s been a really long time since he’s called me anything but Leo so internally, I’m doing backflips. Today is the best fucking day.
“So I wasted my time? I thought you hated it here?”
“I just told you. Skydiving.”
Tash huffs. “Jesus bloody Christ.”
She looks to me like maybe I’ll help her but I simply shrug. She’s trying to cut into my time. Time I paid her handsomely for, mind you. “What can I say? I promised him.”
Pinching the bridge of her nose, she lets out a slow breath before lifting her hands in defeat. “Fine. Come back Sunday.” She looks at me, head to toe then back up again. I don’t enjoy having her eyes on me. They’re cold and make me feel as though she’s searching for cracks in my armour. “Since I’m here, do you think we could go somewhere and talk?” She softens her expression, tilts her head to the side, making me even more wary than I was about two seconds ago.
“What about?”
“Important grown-up things that our child doesn’t need to hear.”
“I’m seventeen, Mum. I’m not a kid any more,” Niall says.
“Still,” Tash says. “Can we go for a walk or something? I could do with stretching my legs after all that driving.”
“You live twenty minutes away, Tash,” I reply.
“I came from set in Nunawading,” she says, as if that makes it so much worse. Nunawading is only forty minutes away.
“After you then.” I gesture for the sliding door and follow her out, knowing that the fastest way to get this conversation over is to go on this walk. I don’t trust her. She’s being far to amenable right now.
I start walking along the footpath and Tash insists we need to walk along the beach path because the air is fresher there. I don’t particularly want to walk that path with her because it’s something I do with Darcy, but I want Tash gone. Her presence is eating away at my good mood.
“Can we talk now?” I press after she’s commented on the weather and state of the waves in the bay.
“Niall tells me you want him for the Easter holidays too.”
“We called a truce and it was part of our settlement agreement,” I state, my hands in my pockets as I kick at a small stone on the path.
“I was planning on taking him with me to London. I’ve got business in the UK and I thought he’d enjoy the change of scenery.”
“I see. And how much is it going to cost me for you to let him stay with me instead?”
She stops walking and smiles that wolfish grin of hers. She’s always working some angle. “Come now, Leo, I’m not always after your money.”
“You sure about that?”
“I was actually going to ask you to come with us. We can set aside our differences for a couple of weeks, have one final family holiday before Niall is all grown-up.”
I actually laugh. “Because we regularly have family holidays?”
“You know what I mean.”
“No, actually, I don’t. What’s your angle? Is this because of Darcy?”
“What?” She laughs. “I couldn’t care less about you slumming it with your neighbour. This is purely about us and our little family.”
“There is no us, Tash. And you’ve gone above and beyond to destroy any sense of family we could possibly have. Cut the bullshit.”
Hugging herself, she steps off the path and walks towards the water, stopping before she hits the tideline.
With a heavy sigh, I follow her. I feel like I’m in a scene on her soap and she’s preparing herself for some dramatic moment. “What’s this about?”
“I might have to relocate,” she blurts out.
“To London?”
“Yes,” she says, an edge to her voice. “They’re writing me out of the show. There’ll be a fire at the Lassiter’s Complex and I’ll die. Do you understand what that means? There’s no coming back from that
kind of exit, Leo. I’ll have no choice but to do the pantomime circuit in the UK or I’ll go broke.”
“Well, you’re not Susan, Tash, you had to know your time on the show would come to an end at some point. Didn’t you save in preparation for this?”
“No. And what’s so special about bloody Susan? My character was rich and diverse and well loved.” Diverse? “This is all because they were too cheap to pay me what I’m worth when my contract came up for renewal. I make that show, Leo. The ratings will plummet when I’m gone. They’ve made a huge mistake. I can’t believe this.” She puts her face in her hands and sobs in front of me. At first, I stand there, but then she basically falls against me so I catch her and give her back a slight tap in sympathy before I push her away.
“You’ll be fine, Tash,” I say. “You always land on your feet.” She engineers the fuck out of that landing though.
She looks up at me, fisting my shirt, her cheeks streaked with tears, her makeup remarkably in place. “You really think so?”
“Yep. You’ll work it out.”
“Then you understand why I have to take Niall and why you need to come too, to keep the family together.”
“No,” I say, dropping my hands to my side as she straightens up.
“What?”
“He’s under eighteen and you can’t take him out of the country without my permission. I’m not leaving my life here, and I’m not OK with you relocating him to the other side of the world in his final year of school. It’s too disruptive.” I feel like my mother’s voice is coming out of my mouth. She’d say exactly the same thing.
Tash’s eyes go wide. “But—”
“No, Tash. You can’t manipulate your way out of this one. I won’t change my life for you, and I won’t allow you to change our son’s.”
She pats at her crocodile tears with the pads of her fingers. “What if he wants to go?”
“Then he can join you after his exams. If you can’t wait until the school year is over, then he can stay with me until he graduates. You aren’t doing this to him this year. His school is too important.”
Love is a Beach: a romantic comedy Page 24