The Model Wife

by Tricia Stringer

“You’re sure there’s accommodation for me?”

  “Yeah. Aunty Rosie said it’s busy up there but there’re some empty rooms. You’ll be right.”

  “Great,” she said and, remembering his pleasant interactions with the staff who had clearly known him well, she swallowed her anxiety.

  They followed the highway out of town, passing four-wheel drives towing every kind of caravan from monster-sized to compact pop-tops. Thick bush crowded to the edge of the road, so different to the scattered scrub at home. Home! Natalie dug in her bag for her phone. She hadn’t sent a text and she’d told Milt she would.

  “I forgot to ask if there was phone signal at your community,” she said.

  “Yeah, no problems, but along the way it’ll drop in and out.”

  “I’ll send my family a message now then. To let them know I’m on my way.” Just in case things went awry someone else would know where she was.

  A signpost indicated Cape Leveque and Gabe turned north, the bitumen stretching out long and straight ahead of them. Natalie typed a message, deleted it, retyped and re-read it then pressed send and watched the signal fade from her phone and change to emergency only. For the first time in her life she wondered how that actually worked.

  The vehicle bounced and this time, when she looked up, the road had changed to red dirt. It billowed around them, a stark contrast to the green vegetation and the brilliant blue of the almost cloudless sky. The car had been coated in red dust inside and out when she’d got in. Now she knew why.

  The vehicle dipped and then continued to bound up and down, giving the feeling they were in a boat zooming over waves. She glanced across at Gabe, who was focused on the road. Too late to turn back now, she thought, and gripped the armrest tightly.

  “Do you go home often?” she asked.

  He took his time answering and she thought perhaps he hadn’t heard her. Finally he glanced her way.

  “No. Most of my family’s in Perth.” His look was reflective then he grinned again. “I told you. Too quiet for me up here. Maybe when I’m an old man I’ll come back to stay.”

  Natalie considered that. She guessed he was around fifty. A long way from being an old man.

  “Are you on holidays from work or just getting away from your family?”

  “Both,” she said before she had time to think.

  “What’s your work?”

  “I’m a teacher.”

  “Little kids or big?”

  “Year three.”

  “I loved school when I was that age.”

  She glanced at him. “But not when you were older?”

  “No. Didn’t want to be there.”

  “Well, you seem to have done okay.”

  “Thanks to Aunty Rosie.”

  She waited for him to go on but he didn’t elaborate and they lapsed into silence. Roadworks slowed their progress intermittently.

  “The bitumen will go all the way from Broome to the Cape soon,” Gabe said while they waited at a stop sign to let traffic pass in the opposite direction.

  “That would be an improvement, wouldn’t it? Easier access?” Natalie thought of the dirt roads at home she had to drive over and how happy she would be if someone bitumenised them but it was unlikely to happen.

  “Better access is good for the people who live there – they can come and go more easily, especially in the wet – and good for the tourists.” He kept his gaze focused ahead as they bounced over corrugations. “At the moment this road is really only four-wheel drive access and not many caravans try it, only the true off-roaders.”

  Natalie thought about the vehicles they’d seen. He was right, not many towed anything and if they did it had been camper trailers, with only the odd caravan crawling along.

  “It’s called progress,” Gabe said. “I work in the tourism industry but I’m not sure if people are ready for how big it will get once the new road is complete. At the moment they manage the small number of tourists who come but once the road is finished it will mean almost all-year access and a lot more people wanting to visit. It could mean more jobs for our community but I’m not sure we’ve got the infrastructure to cope with a big increase. And there are those who don’t like the visitors we have now.”

  Natalie thought about what he’d said as she stared out at the passing landscape. All she could see were trees and red dirt, different to home and yet not. She wasn’t sure what the attraction was for tourists but she kept that to herself.

  The road changed from red dirt back to bitumen but there was still little to be seen other than the bush and trees that hugged the edges. At last, just as Natalie was beginning to think they surely couldn’t go much further or they’d end up driving off the end of the peninsula, Gabe slowed and turned off the highway. Then once again the bitumen ran out and they sliced through a soft dirt track. Up ahead a roofline appeared through a gap in the trees, and then another and then a clearing with houses and sheds, workman-style huts and a couple of camper trailers set up on grass. Every structure was coated in red dust. They came to a stop in front of a building that had Office marked on the door.

  “Gabe.” A young woman rushed forward and drew him into a hug as soon as he got out. “Great to see you.”

  “Hey, Tika,” he said.

  Natalie stepped out, stretched, looked around. There was red dirt as far as she could see and no sign of the beach Gabe had promised.

  “Natalie, this is my cousin, Tika. She works here in the office.”

  Tika shook her hand. “Not usually at this time on a Sunday.” She gave Gabe a playful pat. “I’ve been waiting for you and Natalie. Come in and fix up for your room, Natalie, then Gabe can take you down there. All the cabins are booked but you can have the lodge to yourself. It’s got an outside bathroom and a camp kitchen.”

  “Thanks, that’ll be fine,” Natalie said with more enthusiasm than she felt. Tika seemed friendly enough but was keeping her distance. Was she one of the locals who didn’t want strangers visiting her community?

  Natalie paid for her accommodation and picked up a couple of brochures while Tika printed the receipt and organised keys. Outside again Tika locked the door behind her.

  “You take Natalie down and get her settled then get yourself over to Aunty Rosie’s quick smart,” she said. “She’s got a big barbecue planned for tonight.”

  Gabe groaned.

  “You know everyone wants to see you.” She waved and walked away without another look at Natalie.

  “Hop in,” Gabe said and they set off again, following the red dirt track between buildings and finally pulling up beside a metal-clad dwelling with a verandah stretched across the front.

  Natalie stepped out onto more red dirt. The bricks of the paved verandah were ingrained with it; even the walls had a kind of rusty red glow. She unlocked the door and stepped inside. It was hot with a musty closed-up smell, basic but neat. She was relieved to see no sign of the red dust inside, at least. Gabe helped her carry her things to the door then hovered on the verandah.

  “Will you be right?” he asked.

  “Fine.” That word again.

  “Aunty Rosie’s expecting me.”

  “Of course.”

  “I can show you around tomorrow.”

  “Thanks, but don’t worry about me. You go be with your family.”

  He went to leave then turned back. “I’m going for a kayak in the morning down at the creek. It’s pretty good down there. Would you like to come?”

  “I’ve never kayaked before.”

  He smiled. “It’s easy. Out with the tide then in with the tide. We won’t have to paddle.” He started to walk away. “I’ll call past around seven. See if you want to come.”

  He jumped back into the vehicle and drove off, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake.

  Natalie put on the air conditioner, relieved to find that in spite of its looks it was soon blowing lovely cool air through the room. She unpacked, found the bathroom, winced at the sign saying keep the toilet lid dow
n to keep out the frogs, took her food to the well-equipped camp kitchen then sat on her verandah taking in her surroundings. It was peaceful here. Birds called, and there was the odd noise of a distant vehicle but other than that so quiet. She wondered where the beach was, found the map Tika had given her with the keys and realised the road that went past her door led there.

  A swim would freshen her up. She’d become used to her daily sojourns in the water. Wearing her new bathers under her cover-up and lathered in sunscreen she stuffed her phone and the striped Turkish towel she’d bought at a little shop outside the supermarket back in Broome into her bag and set off along the track. She was slowed down by the soft red dirt, tried to find firmer ground and eventually made it to the edge of the sandhills where her struggling steps continued on over stark white sand.

  By the time she got to the top of the first hill she was puffing hard. The sea was a thin blue line in the distance. She caught her breath and set off again and at the top of the next ridge of sand she stopped again, puffing harder. The distant blue line looked no closer. She struggled on for a few more metres then stopped. Behind her came the sound of a vehicle labouring up the sandhill. Perhaps she could catch a ride. She caught a glimpse of a four-wheel drive roof then it veered off, heading away from her on one of the many trails that had split from the main track. She recalled the words printed on the map: visitors were to stick to the main beach track. Access to other roads was prohibited.

  She stumbled on for a few more steps, then her feet sank in a deep patch of sand and she fell to her knees groaning in frustration. Even if she managed to make it to the beach she’d have to come back and already she felt exhausted. What had brought her to this point? She’d been so determined to do something different, turn her back on Milt, and…what? Prove she didn’t need him? So much for Faye’s declaration of independence. Tears rolled down Natalie’s cheeks. A breeze cooled her skin and rippled the sand. It was already hard to see her footprints in the sand behind her and she’d forgotten to put a bottle of water in her bag. She struggled to her feet and began to labour back across the stark white landscape, batting at the tears that continued to flow.

  Inside the cool cabin she flung her bag down in disgust, took a swig of water from her bottle and slumped into a chair. Her stomach gurgled and she realised she hadn’t eaten lunch so she set about cooking herself an early dinner, chicken shasliks and salad. It had smelled inviting as she cooked it but she ate it with little enjoyment. Around her the late-afternoon sky turned to gold and a flock of screeching white cockatoos whirled overhead and found themselves a roost in the spreading arms of a towering tree. Vehicles moved in the distance, doors banged, laughter carried across the still evening and then the sound of music. Natalie was often on the property by herself but she never felt so alone as she did here even though there were people not far away.

  She cleaned up her dishes, had a shower then went back to her room and shut herself in. It was too cool now. The air conditioner had done its job. She turned it off, set the fan going over the bed and slid under the sheet. In the relative quiet she heard the music again and raised voices. It was a happy sound, heightening her sense of loneliness. Is this how life would be if she left Milt? And where would she go? Not into town. Perhaps the city, but she had no connection there any more. She could move to Victor Harbor, be closer to her sister and her parents. An image of her mother’s self-satisfied look popped into her head.

  Her parents had never wanted her to marry Milt in the first place. She’d still been going out with her childhood sweetheart, Tony, when she got her first teaching job in the country and met Milt. She recalled the first time she’d seen him like it was yesterday. It had been at a tennis club fundraiser cabaret: tables made up of people from each club in the district and beyond, everyone brought plates of food, plenty to drink and there was a toe-tapping band. He’d asked her to dance and they’d stayed together all evening. He’d been charming, funny and she’d enjoyed the sensation of his arms around her as they danced. Everything about him had seemed solid, from his strength to his commitment to courting her. Love had developed quickly over the next few weeks, so different to the love she’d thought she’d felt for Tony, which was a schoolgirl crush in comparison.

  Her parents had loved Tony. She hadn’t realised they still did until her recent trip to Victor. He’d been the son they’d never had and they’d been devastated when she’d come home for a visit and broken it off with him. She’d felt terrible, of course. Tony hadn’t taken it well either but she’d known she and Milt were meant for each other and less than a year later they were married. She rolled on her side, curled into a ball. Life together had been wonderful until the babies. Not that she blamed her girls. She loved them more than life itself, but when they were born it had been different. She’d been depressed, she knew that now, and a part of her had blamed herself when Milt had strayed.

  She put one hand to her head and gripped it tightly. Coming here had not helped. There were other tourists here but she still wasn’t sure she was welcome. Gabe hadn’t said how long he was staying. She wondered how quickly she could get a ride back to Broome. She could book those tours she’d liked the look of, be with other people and keep herself so busy for a few more days she would be too tired to think about home.

  Twenty-Two

  Natalie awoke in a dark room. She squinted at her surroundings until her brain cleared and then remembered where she was. She found her phone and looked at the time. It was six-thirty already and Gabe had said he’d call by at seven. She flicked on the light and dressed while she waited for the kettle to boil. Once more, nervous energy coursed through her. At some point before sleep had claimed her she’d determined to go on the kayak trip but now she worried how she’d manage. She had little experience on the water other than swimming and going for the occasional boat ride with friends when they stayed at the beach over summer. Sitting low in the water in a kayak was a totally different thing.

  By the time she heard a vehicle coming down the track she’d drunk her coffee and eaten a banana, smothered herself in sunscreen and put shorts and t-shirt on over bathers. Gabe was in a different vehicle. This one had a roof rack and two kayaks strapped to the top. A young man sat beside him; there was a sullen slump to his shoulders and he didn’t look Natalie’s way but in contrast a woman smiled and waved at her from the back passenger seat.

  “Ready to go?” Gabe called. “Charlie and Aunty Rosie are coming with us.”

  Natalie climbed into the back seat and the smiling woman extended her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Natalie. I’m Rosie.”

  She squeezed Natalie’s hand. Her touch was gentle and warm like her smile and Natalie relaxed.

  “And this bundle of laughs is Charlie.” Rosie gave the lad in front of her a gentle poke. He half turned to Natalie, nodded, but didn’t make eye contact.

  “Did you sleep all right in that room?” Rosie asked. “Sometimes it can get a bit hot.”

  “The bed was very comfortable and the fan was enough to keep me cool.” When Natalie had finally fallen asleep it had been deep and restful.

  “I hope you don’t mind us tagging along,” Rosie said as they bumped forward along the track. “I haven’t been out in the kayak for ages and Charlie wants to give it a go.”

  Charlie said nothing to confirm or deny this statement.

  “I’ve never been.”

  “You’ll love it.”

  Leaving the red dirt behind, they ploughed up the first of the sandhills Natalie had struggled to walk up the previous afternoon. At the top she got another tantalising glimpse of the water in the distance.

  “I started walking to the beach yesterday,” she said.

  “It’s a bit of a hike,” Gabe said.

  “One kilometre it says on the brochure.”

  “Hmm.” He scratched at the stubble on his chin, not so neatly clipped today. “That might be right.”

  Rosie chuckled. It was a warm friendly sound. “But it’s throu
gh sandhills. Hard enough in a vehicle. We can go that way when we come back, can’t we, Gabe? Show Natalie the beach.”

  “Sure.”

  Natalie settled back with a feeling of anticipation rather than the unease that had plagued her the night before. The idea of having another woman along instead of being out alone with Gabe was reassuring. When she realised she was to share a double kayak with Rosie she was even happier. It would have felt quite intimate sharing the small space with Gabe and she was glad he and Charlie took the other.

  Once they got the kayaks in the water there was very little paddling to do. As Gabe had said, they arrived on an outgoing tide, which carried them to an exposed reef. Rosie walked her across it pointing out all kinds of rock pool and reef life while Gabe and Charlie snorkelled. Gabe had a spear gun that he was showing Charlie how to use. They speared a fish each. Obviously it was something Gabe had done before but the whoops of delight from Charlie when he brought his wriggling fish to the surface brought smiles to all their faces.

  “I’ve got lunch, Aunty Rosie.” Charlie held the fish aloft, his face beaming with pride.

  “He grew up in Perth.” Rosie’s eyes shone as they watched the lad’s excited romp through the water to put his fish in the bag Gabe had brought. “He’s never done anything like this before.”

  They all gathered around the bag, looking in. It now contained two large bluefish. Gabe gave Charlie’s hair a playful ruffle but nothing could wipe the wide smile from the lad’s face.

  “Gabe can show you how to cook them,” Rosie said.

  Gabe looked down at the water lapping at their feet, which was now coated in a dirty scum. “Tide’s turning.”

  They climbed into the kayaks and were swept along back towards the creek entrance, passing over an octopus, huge stingrays with tails as long as the kayak and reef sharks that darted after fish of every description. They even spied a distant sea turtle. Charlie’s cries of delight echoed Natalie’s pleasure. The sea life was abundant and amazing to view from where they sat, only centimetres above the water in the kayak. She was sorry when the tide eventually nudged them to the edge of the creek. Like the tide that had turned, she felt as if something inside her had changed direction. She’d forgotten her worries and lost herself in the sheer delight of observing the abundance beneath her. A sense of calm had enveloped her, something – she realised as she settled in to the back of the four-wheel drive again – she hadn’t felt in a long time.