They all nodded.
“I just meant to comfort her. Kissed her on the forehead. Done it heaps of times before. Kiss on the cheek, the forehead, doesn’t mean anything, just a friend giving comfort.”
“You’ve never kissed me on the forehead,” Simon pointed out.
“Never bloody will, either.”
“Forget dickhead,” Scott said, thumb jerking in Simon’s direction. “Then what happened?”
“I don’t know.” Ryder shook his head. “It just….it kind of…look, before I knew it I was kissing her. On the mouth.”
There was silence around the table.
Ryder thought back, remembering the feel of Dee against him, all soft curves, warm, silky lips, honeyed mouth. She’d fit so perfectly into his arms, so perfectly against him, pressing close, holding on- “She kissed me back.” Half elated, half appalled, he blinked and refocussed on his friends.
When he didn’t add anything further, Scott gave him a ‘go on’ gesture of the hand.
“Then she got upset and left,” Ryder finished.
“She left?” Scott frowned. “Just like that?”
“Would it have been because of the expression on your face?” Simon queried.
“What expression?” Ryder replied.
“Like the one you’re wearing now.”
They all looked at him. Scott’s frown grew, Simon regarded him mildly, and Kirk, as usual, was inscrutable.
“What expression?” Ryder repeated.
“Disgusted. Shocked.”
“I look disgusted?”
“Mate, you look like you could scrub your mouth out with a toilet brush. Was the kiss that bad?”
“Shit, no. It was that good.” Realising what he’d said, Ryder blinked. “Uh…”
Amazingly, none of his friends seemed surprised.
“So why the disgust?” Simon queried.
“I don’t know.” Ryder took another mouthful of tea. “I guess it was… Dee’s my friend. You don’t stick your tongue down the throat of your friend, right?”
“So the disgust wasn’t at Dee?”
“Shit no.”
His friends exchanged glances. This time Ryder growled, “What? What?”
“Bet she thought you were disgusted at her,” Scott answered. “Or at the thought of kissing her.”
“I was. I’m not. I mean, I wasn’t disgusted at kissing her, I was just - I don’t know. Surprised.”
“Oh yeah, big surprise,” Simon drawled.
“Look, I was disgusted that I’d done it.”
“Because she’s so hard to kiss?”
“What? No!”
“Then you better make it clear with us before you try to explain to her, because I’m telling you, mate, you’re doing a shit job of it. If I was her and you gave me that explanation, forget a whack on the arse, I’d hit you over the head with a shovel.”
Exasperated, Ryder flung one hand into the air. “Don’t you understand? Friends don’t kiss like that!”
“You sure you’re just friends?”
“Yes. Or we were.”
“A kiss like that wouldn’t destroy a friendship.”
“So she’ll understand,” Ryder said hopefully.
“God save me.” For the first time Ryder could remember, Simon was exasperated. “You dumb bastard.”
“You’re right. I just need to go over there, explain to her it was a mistake, it shouldn’t have happened, it was a spur of the moment thing, it meant nothing and we can just laugh about it and go on as normal.” Great. Awesome. Ryder felt heaps better.
“You bloody dumb bastard.”
Before Ryder could even ask what Simon was getting so annoyed about, the fire station alarm went off.
Simon and Scott shot to their feet, food forgotten.
In unspoken understanding, Ryder and Kirk left the station, returning quickly to their respective jobs - Kirk to the police station, Ryder to the ambulance station - in case they were needed.
As the fire truck roared down the street, sirens blaring, Ryder double-checked the ambulance even though he knew it was fully stocked and ready to go. He might be a drongo where women were concerned, but nobody could say he didn’t do his job properly.
When Kirk pulled out of the police station with his siren on, heading out of town, Ryder wondered what the hell was going on, especially when he wasn’t called out. But he stayed put, alert for a call.
Two hours later the fire truck was back followed by the small tanker, all the fire-fighters grimy and reeking of smoke from a bushfire that had started at a nearby camping ground. Ryder didn’t see Kirk return, but he could have and gone back out or continued on with something else.
The remainder of the afternoon passed quietly, but Ryder was more than aware of the newsagency not far down the street. People came and went from there, but he didn’t see Dee come out.
For sure he would see her when she closed the shop and his shift ended. There was no way he could let another day go past with this lying heavily between them. One thing he didn’t want to lose was Dee. She was an integral part of his life, a childhood mate he’d laughed with, grown up with, and shared the woes of acne with, though to be fair he hadn’t had much trouble in that department, but still, teenage years spent together with all its woes and uncertainties forged close bonds.
He certainly didn’t want those bonds with Dee to be broken, so he had to fix this, and fast.
Chapter 6
Dee again checked the inside of the black envelope. It was empty, the contents lying on the counter. Burrs. She had no idea what the official name was, but basically nasty little prickles that got hooked into everything and were a bugger to get off.
What was it with the half dead flowers full of thorns and now prickles?
“What’s that?” Del looked at the prickles.
“Burrs.”
“I can see that. Why would someone send you burrs?”
“Haven’t the foggiest.” Sweeping the burrs into her hand, she dropped them and the black envelope into the bin.
Del watched her. “Someone has it in for you.”
“You think?” Dee asked sardonically.
“Who’d you piss off?”
“I don’t know. I have a long line of people I’ve pissed off, all waiting for a piece of me. I don’t know where to begin.”
“Anyone recently?”
“That’d be at least a quarter of the line. Doesn’t narrow it down a whole lot.”
“Hmmm.” Del smoothed her hand over the counter. “So, about Ryder-”
“I told you and the girls already, he got better, we had one of our tiffs, I left. End of story.”
“What happened?”
Annoyed, Dee looked at her cousin. “You’re about to become another pissed-off person in that line.”
“Not much you could do to make me join that line.”
“I’ll punch you.”
“You’re all bark, no bite. I’m not worried.”
That was the whole problem, Del wasn’t worried. Dee picked up a feather duster and started industrially dusting the shelves. “Exactly what I told you.”
“It’s more than that.”
“It’s all you’re getting.”
“What really happened?”
“If you don’t want this feather duster to be inserted forcefully into an orifice it was never meant to dust, you’ll leave. Now.”
“Not happening.”
Spotting a scowling customer walking into the shop, Dee grinned. “Yeah, it is.”
“I’m not going-”
“Look, Del, when are you opening up your blasted shop?” Jill folded her arms. “I’ve had three people come into my bookshop asking me. Three.”
Del turned and considered her. “Only three?”
“All tourists. Your sign said you’d open up ten minutes ago.”
“Wow, look who’s watching the time.”
Dee smirked. “Looks like you better move it unless you want your busines
s to get a bad rep.”
“The only one here with a bad rep is you. Besides, they’ve probably left now and-”
“They’re waiting for you,” Jill announced in satisfaction.
Del scowled. “Damn it.” Her gaze swung to Dee. “We’re not finished.”
“Hell yeah, we are. Go earn a quid.”
Del left, but Jill lingered.
“Something you wanted?” Dee asked, as if she didn’t already know. She’d been getting it all morning.
“Heard you stayed at Ryder’s house.” Jill smiled slyly.
It had to happen. “Yep.”
“So…?”
“So what?”
“You and Ryder, alone.”
“Me with soup and Ryder snotting. That was the whole sum of it.”
Jill was tenacious, Dee had to give her that, the woman wasn’t ready to give up. “His Aunt Rose-”
“Before we go any further with this, I’ll tell you exactly what I told the other five nosey parkers who came in here this morning. His parents are away, his sister is so allergic to germs she was ready to fumigate the house, his Aunt Rose was sick, and so I looked after him. End. Of. Story.”
“Huh.”
Turning back to the shelves, Dee resumed dusting. She should have seen this coming, damn it. When she said nothing further, Jill gave an annoyed huff and walked back out the door. As soon as she left, Dee stopped dusting to drop her forehead against the shelf, her shoulders sagging.
Damn it, she should have seen this coming. Everyone knew she’d stayed at Ryder’s house, and everyone presumed something must have happened even though he’d been sick as a dog and she’d simply nursed him back to health.
The phone rang and glad to have a diversion, she crossed to it and answered. “Hello, Gully’s Fall Newsagency, Dee speaking.”
“Dee,” her mother replied, “I want a word with you.”
Cripes.
“You were alone at Ryder’s house with him. Night and day.”
“Yep.”
“No young lady does that.”
“I did. Look, Mum, nothing happened. His parents and Boyd only came back last night, you know what Moira is like, his Aunt was sick, his other Aunt is unwell. Geez, I just helped out a friend!”
“You could have rung me.”
Dee rubbed her forehead. “Truthfully, Mum, that thought didn’t even cross my mind. He was sick, I was there.”
“You could have rung.”
“So could you.”
The silence that greeted this wasn’t comforting, but damn, she was so tired of everyone picking at her business. Not to mention her own sore heart.
“Look, I’ve got a customer coming in,” she lied. “I’ll call you later.” Before her mother could protest, Dee hung up.
And winced. She wasn’t going to live this down. No doubt her father would be along at some stage to sort her out gently, or one of her brother’s. That was just great. Maybe she’d sort them out first.
Dialling Vic’s number, she said as soon as he answered, “I don’t care what Mum tells you, you come near me asking questions and I will punch your lights out.”
There was silence for several seconds before a totally different voice to the one she’d expected said, “How about I get Vic?”
Shit. Shit shit shit. She smacked her palm against her forehead in time to her silent swearing. Just her dumb luck, she’d get one of Vic’s workers. As soon as Vic answered, she snapped, “Why did you give one of your workers your mobile?”
“Well, hello to you, too. What’s got you in a snit?” There was a pause and she could hear the smirk in his voice when he added, “Or should I say, who’s got you in a snit?”
“Don’t even start. Mum is probably going to call you to have a word to me. You try it, you’re dead.”
“I see. Is Mummy upset with you for sleeping with Ryder?”
“I didn’t sleep with him, you nong, I slept at his house while he was sick!”
“Separate beds?”
“I will find you, Vic, and I will rip your head off. Is Bill there?”
His laughter came down the line. “Yeah. Want to speak to him?”
“No. You pass the message.”
“How about Dad?”
“Dad’s there?” For all her bravado with her brothers, her Dad was a whole other ball game. “Umm - no, I-”
“Hi, sweetheart,” her Dad said.
Freakin’ Vic had passed the mobile to her Dad. The sound of his sniggering was so clear she felt it to her toes. Bloody brothers.
“Hi, Dad.” She strove to sound cheerful. “Listen, Mum rang here and she was asking questions, I kind of got a little, umm…listen, everything is all right, I didn’t sleep with anyone, and please, don’t come here to sort me out.”
The silence was very telling. She could imagine him tipping his head forward as he thoughtfully surveyed his work boots. Lifting one hand to her mouth, she nibbled worriedly on a nail. This could go either way.
“Dee,” he finally said.
“Yes?”
“Your Mum just rang me.”
Cringe factor. “Oh.”
“I just want to know a couple of things.”
Oh geez. “What?” She nibbled her nail harder, breaking it off.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes.”
“Is Ryder better?”
“Yes.”
“Did you try to call anyone?”
“Moira was freaked as usual by the sickness, and his Aunt Rose was sick and his Aunt May isn’t well and…I only nursed him better, Dad. Nothing happened.”
No sir, nothing freakin’ happened. Nothing except a hot kiss and a broken heart, but hey, she could handle it. Had to. Didn’t want to. Was going to.
She started biting another nail.
More silence as he digested her hurried explanation, then, “Okay.”
His reply surprised her. “Okay?”
“Told your Mum when we first heard you were over there that you were big enough to make your own decisions.”
“You did?”
“Yes. You and Ryder.”
Dee stiffened. “We’re just friends.”
Heavy-laden silence.
“Just friends, Dad. Okay?”
“Sure, sweetheart. You all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“Don’t worry about your Mum, I’ll talk to her.”
Relief had her shoulders relaxing. “Thanks, Dad.”
“You know there’s a bit of gossip going around?”
“Apparently so.” She sighed. “Good deeds never go unpunished.”
“Maybe it’s for the best,” he said cryptically.
“Huh?”
“Nothing. Gotta go, sweetheart. Look after yourself.”
“Yeah, I will. Thanks Dad.” Hanging up the phone, Dee stared at it, her mind whirling in relief and curiosity.
Her father had given in fairly easily, which surprised her. She’d expected more questions, maybe a bit of a lecture, but then he was used to having four head-strong kids, it was only her Mum who continued to try and steer them in the right direction, or what she saw as the right direction. For parents, their kids never seemed to grow up. Heck, she’d only stopped telling Vic, Bill and Sally what to do once they got married.
Sally!
Picking up the phone, Dee dialled hurriedly.
It took awhile before someone groggily answered, “Hello?”
“Cripes, you sound bad.”
“Got the flu.”
Yes! “Sorry to hear it.”
The sound of her sister blowing her nose sounded clear. Her voice, unfortunately, wasn’t as clear. “I want to talk to you.”
“Like that? Seriously?”
“No. Once I’m better.”
“If it’s about my good deed that’s bitten me on the arse, forget it.”
“You won’t confide in your own sister?”
“Nope.”
“But I’m sick.”
“I know where you live.”
“You keep your flu-ridden body locked away.”
“But you looked after someone else when he had the flu.”
A thought truck Dee. “How sick are you?
“Sick enough.”
Geez. Now she felt bad. “Don’t worry, I’ll ask Pete to look after the shop and come right around-”
“No need. Des has taken time off to look after me.”
“Are you sure?” Concerned, Dee glanced out the window. “I don’t mind.”
“No, I’m fine.” Cough, cough, wheeze. “Look, I need to stop talking. But when I’m better, I’m coming looking for you.”
“How about I make you and Des some soup?”
“Mum has loaded us up with soup and casseroles. In fact, she’s been around several times already even though I told her not to because I didn’t want her catching it.” Sally sighed. “I finally had to sic Dad onto her.”
“You know Mum, we’re her babies until the end.”
“I know.” She gave a hacking cough that made Dee wince. “Catch up with you later, okay?”
“Okay.”
Hanging up the phone, Dee resumed staring out the window. Man, the flu was going around but at least it gave her a reprieve from her sister. Sally could be like a dog with a bone. Like Del. One thing Dee wasn’t going to confess to her cousin or anyone else, was that she’d wanted to look after Ryder and hadn’t made much effort to ring anyone else.
And look where that had gotten her - lightly and playfully smacked, kissed and hurt. Talk about a naughty daydream, heart’s desire and reality all mashed into one big, humiliating mess.
But she had a good idea her humiliation wasn’t over yet. Ryder would come looking for her as soon as his shift finished and her shop was shut. She wasn’t ready for him, no way. Call it cowardly, but she wasn’t planning on being around when he came by.
To ensure it, she shut and locked the front door a full fifteen minutes before closing time, did the cash register and EFTPOS balance in record time and was out the back door and driving off before any of the other shops had shut.
Going the back way, she drove out to old Miss Duncan’s house to deliver her magazines, then swung out to Old Jack Stanton’s farm to drop off the order of paper reams and farm magazines he’d placed earlier in the week. Normally she’d have done it all on a Saturday afternoon, but it was a good excuse to be away when Ryder turned up. She even lingered to have a chat and a cup of tea with Old Jack, enjoying his homemade biscuits even if they were a little dry, nothing a good dunk in the tea wouldn’t fix. And bless Old Jack, he never asked her a thing about Ryder.
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