Meet Me in Bendigo

by Eva Scott

  ‘You’re happy in part.’

  ‘I suppose I am. Some things could be better, like the business, and I’d love to know what I’m supposed to do with my life because I’m not sure hardware is it.’ She slid the locket back and forth on its chain as she spoke.

  Ed shifted in his camping chair, and it creaked in protest. ‘Maybe one day you’ll work it out.’

  ‘Maybe,’ she said. Right now, the status quo of her life suited her fine. Nothing exciting happened, and nothing bad either. She needed even and smooth, even if it was boring sometimes. Ed was single-handedly providing more excitement than she’d had for years.

  ‘That’s a pretty locket you’re wearing. Did your mum and dad give it to you?’

  She dropped it as if it burned her fingers. ‘No, my boyfriend. Ben gave it to me before he …’

  How did you explain to the man you were flirting with that your boyfriend was killed in a motorbike accident several years ago and you still wore the locket he gifted you because it made you feel less lonely and not destroy the vibe?

  ‘I mean, he’s not … around … anymore.’

  ‘Oh, sorry.’

  At least Ed knew better than to pry, for which she was grateful.

  ‘What about you, what do you need to do to get happy?’ Back to the subject at hand.

  He looked into his empty cup as if expecting to find the answers there.

  ‘Wait a minute.’ She had an idea that drove her to her feet and back into the kitchen.

  Grabbing her favourite vintage wine glasses and a bottle of chilled pinot gris from the fridge she hot-tailed it back to the courtyard.

  ‘I don’t usually drink white.’ She was a little breathless as she handed him a glass, and she hoped he thought she wasn’t particularly fit rather than have guessed the truth. ‘This bottle was part of a raffle I won at the RSL. I put it in the fridge and forgot about it.’

  She cracked the top and poured some of the pale liquid into his glass. ‘I figured this conversation needed some support.’ For her, rather than for him.

  ‘Thank you.’ He took a sip. ‘That’s really nice.’

  Annalisa settled back into her chair. ‘You were saying?’

  ‘What do I need to do to get happy?’ Ed visibly relaxed with wine in hand, and she sensed him opening up in the same way she’d sensed him shutting down on her earlier, as if she were already attuned to his moods.

  He sighed heavily. ‘I guess it comes down to the fact that I am working in a job I don’t like, for people I don’t much respect even if we are related, and I miss working outside in the soil. I miss working with plants. I miss being part of a team.’ He hesitated, as if there were more he’d like to say.

  ‘Go on.’ She needed to hear what that was.

  ‘I guess I miss me,’ he said so softly that Annalisa wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly.

  ‘You miss you?’

  ‘I feel a very long way from who I was before the pandemic started. I miss that guy. I’m not sure I like this version of me so much. I know that probably sounds pretty nuts.’ He took a gulp of wine.

  ‘I don’t think you sound nuts at all.’ He’d revealed a vulnerability; now it was her turn. ‘I feel that way myself sometimes. The person I was before … all that happened … she was much more optimistic and carefree. Some days I feel as if I’ve aged a hundred years and I’ll never be the same as I used to be.’

  Before Ben died, Annalisa had been full of laughter and life had seemed lighter, easier to carry. Fast-forward and her life had less joy, less laughter and weighed heavy on her shoulders.

  ‘I want to get back to the old version of me,’ he said. ‘I feel like such a phoney these days, like everything is an act. I tell myself it’s because I’m waiting for the right moment to relaunch but that point in time never seems to show up.’

  Annalisa nodded her understanding. ‘Sometimes it’s hard to get traction. I keep promising myself that I’ll make a plan for my future and the years roll by with nothing changing.’ She gave herself a shake. ‘God, we’re getting glum. Have some more wine and let’s cheer ourselves up.’

  She topped up his glass, conscious of his eyes on her face, aware of the boundaries she’d carefully constructed becoming flimsier by the minute.

  ‘Tell me about that paddock out there.’ He nodded in the direction of where the wildflowers grew. ‘Why plant one field full of flowers? Why not all of them?’

  Annalisa swallowed her mouthful of wine. ‘Good question, and a much cheerier topic. My great-great-grandfather planted them for my great-great-grandmother. Family legend says he did it as a romantic gesture and I’ve no reason to doubt the story.’

  ‘Can we take a look?’ Ed rose out of his chair.

  ‘Of course.’ She led him down the gravel driveway, past the ancient workshop, out to the fence line. Her blood warm and her limbs relaxed from the wine, it was as though she were floating. Maybe she should have eaten some lunch.

  They stopped to admire the early blooms bobbing on their stalks in the afternoon breeze as swallows darted about catching their dinner on the wing.

  ‘I think your great-great-grandfather was a man after my own heart,’ said Ed, as he raised his glass to Annalisa’s long departed relative.

  ‘So, what happens next?’ Annalisa leaned on the top rail of the fence, her back to the wildflower field—better to watch his face in the waning light.

  He turned his attention from the flowers to her. He said nothing, simply held her gaze until she was quite sure that the warmth she felt in her body had nothing to do with the wine.

  Ed moved closer.

  She stopped breathing, sure he’d noticed the shift too. Sometime in the last few seconds the air around them had become charged.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ he said, as she inhaled the scent of him. Sage and sea salt. ‘But I know what I’d like to happen.’

  Her heart pounded with increasing intensity. This delicious man, a man she’d known for only two days, was about to kiss her. Please let him kiss her. Suddenly, nothing mattered more than the sensation of a man’s arms wrapped around her and the tenderness of a kiss. She’d been so long without those things, unaware until now how physically lonely she’d been.

  ‘Me too.’ She closed the distance between them, gambling that she’d read his signals right.

  And she had.

  The first touch of his lips on hers sent a current all the way to her toes. She’d almost forgotten how sweet a kiss could be. Ed’s lips explored hers tentatively, gently, as if he were issuing an invitation and waiting for her response.

  Annalisa closed her eyes and lost herself in the moment, surrendering to his touch.

  Then her wine glass tilted.

  ‘Oops.’

  He caught it with an uncanny reflex, saving the glass from breaking. But the moment was lost.

  ‘Wow, you are good.’ She placed her hand on her heart to try and slow it down. Between the kiss and nearly losing her favourite wine glass, her adrenaline had gone wild.

  ‘Why, thank you, ma’am,’ he said, with the kind of wicked grin that told her they weren’t talking about his reflexes. He handed her the glass.

  ‘I should probably be heading off,’ he said. ‘Maybe I’ll come back and visit again.’

  She caught the question disguised as a statement. ‘I think you should. The old guys would love to see you … and so would I.’

  He smiled properly then, his full megawatt knock-your-socks-off smile, and her knees went weak. ‘Then you can count on me.’

  GardenerGuy94 TUES @ 7:45 PM

  Hello! Had a busy day. How about you? Did anything interesting happen today?

  GoldfieldsGirl TUES @ 7:52 PM

  I’m exhausted—I had a busy day too. I drove around the countryside putting up posters for my doll houses and leaving flyers for the macramé classes. It took me hours. I had no idea how tiring driving is. Totally worth it though. Or at least I hope it will be. Tell me that I’m doing the right thi
ng and that loads of people will want my services.

  GardenerGuy94 TUES @ 7:56 PM

  Don’t worry. Your doll houses rock and people are going to love them. Have you got a website yet? Facebook page? Instagram?

  GoldfieldsGirl TUES @ 8:01 PM

  Do I have to? *groan*

  GardenerGuy94 TUES @ 8:07 PM

  Yes, you do. You need to get your business in front of people and this is how you do it. Try an Etsy storefront too.

  GoldfieldsGirl TUES @ 8:10 PM

  That’s what my nonna says! How come I feel like the only person in the universe who doesn’t get this? I need to lift my game.

  GardenerGuy94 TUES @ 8:13 PM

  Feel free to send me through the links to your social media when you’re ready. I had all that stuff when I was running my business. It’s a great place to show off your talents. Instagram worked best for me but you need to try all avenues.

  GoldfieldsGirl TUES @ 8:15 PM

  I realise I’ve never asked you what your real name is or what you do.

  GardenerGuy94 TUES @ 8:20 PM

  As you know, I used to have my own business. Before that, I lived overseas for a while. I headed to London after uni and just stayed. Best time of my life. Sadly, my dad had a fatal heart attack so I came home. Then COVID-19 crashed my business and here I am working for my family.

  GoldfieldsGirl TUES @ 8:22 PM

  I am so sorry to hear that. My mum and dad died when I was a kid. I know the kind of hole that blows into your life. Do you think you’ll ever start over?

  GardenerGuy94 TUES @ 8:25 PM

  I want to, more than anything. I am extremely unhappy in my current situation. I keep telling myself it’s not for much longer but some days it feels as if it’s never going to happen.

  GoldfieldsGirl TUES @ 8:28 PM

  I’m trying to save my business and you’re trying to start yours. We are on opposite stages of the journey. I don’t know what will happen after Carpenter’s Warehouse opens. At first I didn’t think it would be a problem but I’m beginning to understand that once these big chain stores open there’s not much hope for the mum-and-dad businesses. It’s depressing. They’re nothing more than a DIY supermarket selling cheap tools.

  GardenerGuy94 TUES @ 8:31 PM

  Chin up! You never know what opportunity might come out of this. I have faith in you. If anyone can make this work, it’s you.

  GoldfieldsGirl TUES @ 8:35 PM

  I feel so much better for having talked to you. Thank you xx

  GardenerGuy94 TUES @ 8:37 PM

  You’re welcome. I’m always here if you need me.

  GoldfieldsGirl TUES @ 9:05 PM

  Do you think maybe we should meet?

  CHAPTER SIX

  Annalisa had to start over. Again.

  This was the third time she’d had to count the screws. At this rate she wouldn’t finish her stocktake until Christmas. Her eyes kept sliding to her phone, as if on some continuous loop of action she couldn’t control. Around and around, every ten seconds she had to look, hoping a message from GardenerGuy94 had dropped in. So far, nothing but crickets.

  She’d barely slept for nerves; she’d lain there overanalysing their conversation, their relationship and whether or not she was delusional.

  His silence told her that it must be way too early in their relationship for them to meet. Could he not want to meet her at all? Maybe she was just a faceless online friend to him. He’d never told her his name and he had never asked for hers.

  She sighed and took the boxes of screws off the shelf and put them on the floor. Annalisa sat, placing her phone in the back pocket of her jeans where she couldn’t see it and began again. ‘One, two, three …’

  Why did she ask to meet him anyway when she’d spent the afternoon flirting with a gorgeous guy who flirted right back?

  Ed’s animal magnetism had wiped all thoughts of GardenerGuy94 out of her mind, temporarily at least. Yet GardenerGuy94’s friendship sweetened her soul. He gave her encouragement, made her laugh, let her ramble about her boring life and made her feel safe. Something she hadn’t felt for a very long time.

  On the other hand, Ed made her feel things she hadn’t felt for a very long time too. Physical things. Tingly, fabulous, exciting things. Just thinking about him gave her a shiver of pleasure.

  ‘Stop it,’ she muttered, having yet again lost count of her screws. The only way to find out what she truly felt was to meet GardenerGuy94 and see if they had a spark between them. If they did, then she’d figure out what happened next. If they didn’t, then they could remain friends and she could explore the possibility of Ed a little more.

  The idea of exploring Ed sent her head off on a fantasy, until the bell over the shop door rudely interrupted. She scrambled up from her cross-legged position and brushed herself off.

  ‘Where are Joe and the boys?’ Nonna dumped her handbag on the counter like it weighed a ton.

  ‘They took the morning off to go lawn bowling. Kinda quiet without them.’ She missed them, although she’d never tell them that. Their daily presence kept the ghosts at bay.

  ‘I have news,’ said Nonna.

  ‘Good news or bad news.’

  ‘This,’ she said as she pulled a copy of the local newspaper out of her bag and shoved it at Annalisa.

  She looked at the picture on the front page and had to read the headline twice. ‘But that’s …’ Her tongue, paralysed, refused to form the words.

  ‘I know,’ hissed her grandmother. ‘That snake in the grass, sneaking in here and casing the joint.’

  Annalisa frowned. ‘I don’t think he was intending to rob us.’

  ‘Not rob us, destroy us. Take us down. He wanted to know what competition he had. He tricked us all into thinking he was a nice guy when the entire time he was the devil in disguise.’ Nonna crossed herself as if she believed that just by simply talking about evil she’d summon it.

  Annalisa looked at the photo. Three men smiled back at her. One of them clearly Ed, the man she’d been secretly lusting after. The man who, if the newspaper was to be believed, had the last name of Carpenter.

  ‘Ed Carpenter.’ She tried the name out, hoping that by saying it out loud the whole thing would make sense.

  ‘But he …’ she began hopelessly.

  ‘I know,’ said Nonna, crossing her arms over her chest.

  Annalisa shook her head. ‘He seemed like such a nice guy.’

  ‘Nice guy?’ Nonna snorted with derision. ‘He came in here all charm and fooled us with his cream donuts and his flirting.’

  ‘I … we …’ Annalisa blushed at the realisation Nonna had noticed her crushing on Ed.

  ‘Don’t deny it, Annalisa. We all know you have the hots for him.’

  ‘Oh, god. Was it that obvious?’ Mortification, big time.

  ‘Who are you kidding? You’ve been like a nun for years, then this devil turns up and it’s like someone switched you back on.’

  ‘It didn’t mean anything,’ she muttered. ‘Just lust.’

  ‘Just as well you didn’t do anything about that lust.’ Nonna had taken up her battle stance, arms akimbo and feet apart, ready to fight.

  Delicious Ed—no Ed Carpenter—smiled up at her, delighted to be announcing the opening day festivities for Carpenter’s Warehouse, the company’s first store for this part of Victoria. He looked smug, as if he were bestowing a favour upon the community instead of putting people out of business.

  ‘How could he spend time here and never say who he was?’ Annalisa frowned and shook her head as if the combo might refocus the image into someone else. Someone not Ed.

  ‘He was checking out the competition. Why else would he come?’

  ‘Yeah, why else?’ Annalisa’s shock dropped to the pit of her stomach, where it transformed into hollow disappointment.

  He hadn’t been interested in her. A man like that wouldn’t give a girl like her the time of day out there in the real world. He’d just been charming her to get infor
mation, to see if Cappelli’s Hardware were going to give him any trouble. And she’d let him kiss her! Of all the low-down, double-crossing moves!

  How dare he use her like that!

  Anger began to brew, hot and rich, in her gut. Nonna was right, Ed had swanned in here all charm and baked goods only to betray them. He was probably sitting in his designer office somewhere laughing at them while eating cream donuts with his cronies. Poor country bumpkins, never saw us coming.

  ‘Well, I’ll show him.’ She pulled off the store apron she had on and handed it to Nonna. ‘Can you mind the place for me? I need to drive out there and see for myself.’

  Nonna took the apron. ‘I drove by on my way over. They’ve well and truly started preparations for opening. There’s a site office on the adjacent block with a white ute like his parked out the front. I bet that’s where you’ll find him.’

  ‘I may not be able to stop this store from opening but I can certainly give him a piece of my mind.’

  ‘Wear your gumboots if you’re going out there. The rain would have made the field a mud pit.’

  Ten minutes later, fuelled by a rage which, to be honest, was generated largely from the humiliation that suffused her every time she thought about how much she’d longed to sleep with Ed Carpenter and how damned good that kiss had been, Annalisa grabbed her car keys and marched out the door.

  Her hands on the wheel, trying to concentrate on the road ahead, she vacillated between righteous anger and deep embarrassment. He had no right to sneak in and pretend to be someone he wasn’t. The way he cosied up to the old guys, acting like he enjoyed their company and taking advantage of their kindness.

  What about the moment they had outside the bakery when he’d tucked her hair behind her ear? Did he mean that, or was that an act too? She’d liked him and he’d made her feel like the feeling was mutual. All the time he’d had an alternative agenda. How dare he play her for a fool.

  Then there was the whole kiss scenario. Every time she tried to look at that memory head-on, a kind of petrifying mortification took hold of her. How could she have been so stupid to fall for his act?