by Fiona Lowe
She opened her mouth under his and tasted caramel, chocolate and desire, and then his arms were around her waist pulling her close and the gap between them vanished.
The world stood still. All that existed was his heat, her breath and their bodies filling each other’s dips and curves. Her hands slid under his T-shirt, pressing against smooth skin stretched over hard muscle. He groaned and returned the favour, his fingers running lightly up her spine. Stars spun in her head and every cell in her body screamed for his touch.
Breathing hard, Lachlan suddenly broke the kiss and then his hands were resting gently on her shoulders, holding her slightly away from him. Disappointment rushed in along with cool air.
‘What?’ It was the only word her fuddled brain could manage.
It took a second for his glazed eyes to focus. ‘That was amazing.’
‘It was. Why stop?’
‘Didn’t want to move too fast on a first date.’
She’d felt his body against hers and knew exactly how fast he’d moved. She narrowed her eyes at him, searching for the truth. ‘You’re terrified Helen’s going to walk in on us.’
‘You got me.’ He grinned and held out his hand. ‘Want to snuggle up on the couch and watch the rest of the movie?’
She swayed slightly, swamped by a barrage of emotions. Lachlan had arrived unannounced on a date he’d spent money on and planned so they could be alone. He’d told her she was gorgeous and sexy and kissed her until neither of them could think straight, but instead of sex, he was suggesting they cuddle on the couch. Jade didn’t know if this was amazing, devastating or something else entirely.
Flummoxed, she laced her fingers through his and followed him back to the couch.
CHAPTER
33
Helen surveyed the freshly painted walls of Bob’s open-plan living area. ‘Are you sure you’re okay with me sticking paper on the walls?’
‘If I had a problem with it, I wouldn’t have suggested it,’ he said. ‘But I can see you’re worried, so use the windows.’
‘Good idea. They’re much easier to clean.’
It was Saturday morning and Bob had suggested the four of them meet at his place. Now they were seriously searching for any information that might incriminate Andrew Tucker, the mayor and the male councillors, the library was no longer a safe space. ‘Anyone can walk past, glance in and relay information, which would put the kybosh on anything we find,’ Bob had said. ‘Plus there’s more room for Milo at my place.’
Jade was now looking sceptically at an old wooden playpen that Daisy was sniffing. ‘Are you sure this is safe, Bob?’
‘Hey, that was mine,’ Lachlan said.
‘Yeah, and look how you turned out,’ Jade said.
Helen hid a smile at the good-natured teasing. Not that she thought Jade and Lachlan had much of a chance given the obstacle of Milo, their very different upbringings and the fact she wasn’t convinced Corey Noonan was completely out of the picture. But if in the short term Jade learned there were better men out there than Corey, Helen would do whatever it took to help that along.
‘I got it out of the shed, gave it a good clean and checked all the wood,’ Bob said.
‘You did all that for Milo?’ Jade’s voice was husky.
‘And I added some padding on the corners for us. Saves bruises for the less coordinated members of the team.’ He winked at Helen.
She bristled. ‘I’m not uncoordinated.’
‘Never said you were. Lachlan’s the one sporting a bruise on his neck.’
Jade kept her head down, settling Milo into the playpen, while Lachlan shot his uncle a warning look. But Bob just grinned.
Helen wondered if she should suggest he didn’t tease them, especially as they’d only had one sort-of date and she and Bob had no idea if they were dating or just friends. Although going on the lovebite, perhaps friends with benefits.
Daisy settled next to the playpen, her head on her paws and watching Milo. Lachlan fired up his laptop and Jade sat next to him at the table and opened Bob’s.
‘Can I check my mail first?’ she asked.
Helen opened her mouth to say, ‘No, we’ve got a job to do,’ but Bob said, ‘You’ve got five minutes while I organise coffee.’
Helen was pressing butcher’s paper onto the windows when Jade squealed. Helen dropped the sheet and her hand thumped her chest. ‘What on earth?! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?’
‘Sorry.’ But Jade was grinning widely. ‘The Shepparton News read my article and they want to send a photographer to the garden.’
Lachlan shoulder-bumped her. ‘That’s awesome!’
‘And I’m starting to get claps on Medium.’
‘Claps?’ Helen asked.
‘They’re like “likes” on Facebook.’
‘Ah. Well done, you. Now will you believe me and your old English teacher that it’s an excellent article?’
Jade fiddled with her ponytail the way she always did whenever she was uncertain about things.
‘Oh, for heaven’s sake!’ Helen said. ‘Do you need a parade?’
Jade poked out her tongue. ‘A trophy will do.’
‘In that case, I’ll frame Mrs Kastrati’s email and highlight sharpshooting, insightful and worthy of publication.’
‘What about almond croissants?’ Bob put a platter of the buttery treats on the table along with a coffee pot.
‘You should start investigating uni courses for next year,’ Helen said, excitement skittering at the prospect of helping Jade choose. ‘I could—’
‘I need a job, not a useless degree.’
‘You need a degree to get a secure and well-paying job so you can provide for Milo.’
Jade’s eyes flashed. ‘And that worked out so well for you.’
The shot hit and stung like venom, despite Helen telling herself that Jade was only lashing out because she hated being told what to do.
‘That’s more to do with age than education,’ she said. ‘You’re young. At least university offers you a place where you can argue to your heart’s content.’
Jade stood abruptly and shoved the plate of croissants at Helen. ‘Sorry. I know you’re trying to help.’
Bob squeezed Jade’s shoulder. ‘How about we talk about careers after we’ve looked for a pot of money?’
‘I guess.’ Jade, who was never demonstrative, suddenly flung her arms around Bob and hugged him. ‘Thanks.’
Bob threw Helen a surprised but gratified look over Jade’s shoulder. Of course he was happy about a public display of affection. He was an old softie.
She rubbed at an odd empty feeling under her sternum, not certain if it was because she missed being touched or because Jade was more comfortable around Bob than she was.
She pulled the lid off a marker and wrote Andrew Tucker in the middle of the butcher’s paper, then scrawled all the councillors’ names around the edges. ‘We know about the events Tucker’s been to. We need to know what he’s offering and to which councillors.’
‘He might not be offering them anything,’ Bob said, playing his usual role as the voice of reason or devil’s advocate. Helen was never exactly sure.
‘Going on past history, the role of “property developer” is up there with snake-oil salesman, insurance companies and used-car dealers,’ she said.
‘True, but Tucker’s hardly going to turn up in Boolanga with a suitcase of money,’ Lachlan said.
Helen snorted. ‘A Chinese businessman flew into Melbourne with eight hundred thousand dollars in a bag.’
Lachlan’s jaw fell open. ‘Wow. Okay. I don’t get out of Boolanga enough. Do we know if any of the other councillors, besides the mayor, have been splashing money about?’
‘To be fair, you wouldn’t notice with Craig Dangerfield,’ Bob said. ‘Old money.’
‘Even so, the market’s been down and he bought a Tesla,’ Lachlan said. ‘That’s a triple-figure chunk of change.’
‘Craig’s always been a su
cker for cars—he’s got a shed full of them. And he probably didn’t buy it, but leased it.’
‘Nothing’s coming up on any of them other than the events they’ve attended or what they’ve said at council,’ Jade said.
‘The internet’s good but local gossip’s better,’ Bob said.
‘Good. I was starting to wonder if you were on our side,’ Helen said.
‘Of course he’s on our side,’ Jade said stoutly. ‘It’s just you’re not very good at recognising it.’
Helen opened her mouth to object, but Jade added ruefully, ‘Neither am I.’
Sometimes Jade’s observations astonished her. ‘There might be a certain truth to that.’
Bob laughed. ‘I was in Stevenson’s Electrical the other day asking about sound bars. Brent mentioned that Don DeLuca’s installed a home theatre with surround sound and wired the entire house for music in every room. Apparently those Bose speakers don’t come cheap.’
‘Where’d dodgy Don get the money for that?’ Helen wrote home theatre under DeLuca’s name.
‘I also got chatting with Erica at Boolanga Travel,’ Bob said. ‘Told her I wanted to get away from it all and really treat myself. She recommended an exclusive island in Indonesia at seven hundred dollars a night that came highly recommended by Birdie Rehn. By all accounts, being a councillor’s very stressful and Aki needed to get away and switch off.’
‘Seven hundred dollars a night? Fa—far out! That’s what I live on for a month,’ Jade said. ‘We have to nail these pricks.’
‘Steady, Jade.’ Bob’s tone was mild. ‘Remember, it’s not a red flag unless we can prove this holiday was something out of the ordinary for the Rehns.’
While Jade typed furiously, her eyes darting across the screen, Lachlan said, ‘Aki was in the Boolanga Bards’ production of Mamma Mia. He teaches drama at the high school.’
‘And his wife works two days a week in a gift shop,’ Jade said. ‘There’s a photo of their kids playing in the waterpark at the All Seasons Holiday Park in Mildura earlier in the year.’
‘How on earth did you find that out so quickly?’ Helen asked.
Jade grinned. ‘Birdie’s not up to speed with her Facebook privacy settings.’
‘What about the other councillors?’ Lachlan asked. ‘Pretty sure Mum mentioned Messina bought an apartment in Docklands for Greta to live in now she’s at RMIT.’
‘Messina’s daughter and her two flatmates are paying rent, which covers the mortgage,’ Helen said.
‘Isn’t Vivian renovating?’ Bob asked.
‘Yes, but unlike the Rehns’ holiday, it’s not an out-of-the-blue thing. She’s been talking about those Italian glass tiles for two years.’
‘What about Cynthia?’
Helen shrugged. ‘She’s quiet. She got onto council with a platform of motherhood statements. She tends to be more of a follower, which is fine by me because she’s supportive.’
‘It’s the quiet ones you’ve got to watch,’ Lachlan said. ‘She has to declare who donated to her campaign, doesn’t she? We should look at it and see who really got her elected.’
‘Assuming she declared it,’ Jade said. ‘Politicians are always getting exposed for conveniently forgetting that a crime boss came to their fundraising dinner and ate lobster.’
Milo, who’d been content throwing toys over the side of the playpen, suddenly squawked. Daisy barked and picked up a toy in her mouth.
Lachlan stood and scooped up Milo, who was waving his arms. ‘Jailbreak time is it, squirt?’
‘I doubt Cynthia’s a Tucker plant,’ Helen said firmly.
‘Do you want me to take him?’ Jade asked Lachlan.
‘No, all good. You’re faster on the computer.’ He sat and gave Milo the plastic hammer to hit against the table.
Helen pressed on. ‘If Cynthia’s a plant, why would she have told me three times that she’d vote for the housing project? The mayor’s far more likely to be dabbling in bribery and corruption.’
‘Or are you blinkered because you want it to be Geoff?’ Bob asked.
‘I don’t want it to be anyone, but there’s a pattern emerging and I’m facing facts.’ She uncapped a red pen, circled the male names and drew lines between them. ‘When I started this project, all the councillors met with me except the mayor. His secretary always had an excuse. Right from the start, the female councillors were enthusiast and supportive, but the men vacillated saying things like “We’ll certainly give it serious consideration” and “We need to think about it in the broader context of the shire’s social responsibilities”.
‘Geoff Rayson gave Vivian a verbal “in-principle” agreement and since then he’s consistently backed away from the project, removed me from my job and kicked me out of the cottage. We have photographic proof that all these men have met with Tucker and all of them have gone cold on the tiny houses project. On the other side, we have three female councillors who have only been in the same place as Tucker at the business awards and he hasn’t approached any of them.
‘After I told Vivian how many times Tucker’s been in Boolanga this year, the three women requested a meeting with him. He told them Riverfarm was too small for his company to consider building a resort, but we think it’s a smokescreen.’
‘It’s less hectares than across the river,’ Lachlan said.
‘Not if they incorporate the community garden,’ Jade said. ‘I know you hate Judith, Helen, but should we give the garden committee a heads-up? They might come on board if their garden’s under threat.’
‘Outside of this group, I don’t think we should be telling anyone anything,’ Bob said. ‘Not until we’ve got real evidence.’
Helen tapped the marker against the butcher’s paper. ‘I know Bob thinks Craig has the money for the Tesla, whereas the other two appear to have had recent cash windfalls. But in my mind, that money shines a spotlight on the Tesla.’
‘According to Google, the Tesla dealership’s in Melbourne,’ Jade said.
‘I might take a drive,’ Bob said.
Helen tried not to roll her eyes. ‘You might know everyone in Boolanga, but Melbourne’s a different kettle of fish. There’s no way you can just walk in and find out if Craig paid cash or if someone else did.’
‘People are people, Helen. If you take an interest in them, they tell you all sorts of things. Besides, I’ve always wanted to test-drive a Tesla.’
‘I’ll come.’ Lachlan’s eyes sparkled with enthusiasm.
‘Not this time, son. I’m thinking an old duffer from the country might get a bit more information than a young buck.’
‘You’re nothing like a duffer, Bob,’ Jade said.
Lachlan laughed. ‘Yeah, but he can act the part when it suits him. He’s conned me more than once.’
‘We could post a photo on Facebook of the Rehns’ island holiday,’ Jade said. ‘It’s not like it’s illegal. It’s sitting right here unprotected on Birdie’s page.’
‘That would be like firing a flare and the others would scramble,’ Helen said. ‘Our power comes from being able to implicate all four at once. Now we’ve found evidence of money, we need to track it to the source.’
Milo threw the hammer for the third time, enjoying how Lachlan took him with him as he bent down then straightened up.
‘Now that child’s conning you, Lachlan,’ Helen said. ‘Might be time to wise up.’
Bob’s phone buzzed. ‘Oh, good, lunch is ready. Jade, Lachie, can you duck down to the bakery and pick it up? You can leave Milo here if you like.’
As soon as they’d left, Helen said, ‘Don’t push them so much.’
‘All I’m doing is providing some opportunities for them to have a bit of time on their own.’
‘A ten-minute walk to the bakery and back?’
‘Magic moments.’
‘It’s not real though, is it? Milo exists.’
‘I don’t follow.’
‘It’s my observation that many blokes are put off by other m
en’s kids.’
‘It’s not like Lachlan got to know Jade first and then discovered Milo. He knows they’re a package deal.’ Bob sounded as close to belligerent as she’d ever heard him.
‘Yes, but does he know the deal includes Corey?’
Bob frowned. ‘Lachie only made his move because he thought he was off the scene.’
‘He’ll always be Milo’s father.’
Bob pondered that for a minute. ‘The course of true love never did run smooth.’
‘O brawling love, O loving hate,’ Helen countered.
‘That was Romeo on Rosaline, not Juliet. Don’t be so bleak.’
Helen was about to say that Corey Noonan generated bleak wherever he went when Bob added, ‘Can you keep an eye on the little chap for a sec? I need to use the facilities.’
Bob disappeared and Daisy followed. Milo voiced his objection from under the table.
‘Don’t worry,’ Helen told him. ‘Your biggest fans will be back soon.’
Milo crawled out with the hammer, pulled himself up and handed her the toy.
‘Thank you.’ She gave it a gentle toss a few feet away.
His sky blue eyes widened in surprise and then he chortled in delight before babbling what was probably, ‘Do it again.’
‘Go and get it.’ He stared at her. ‘Bring it to me and I’ll throw it again.’
He babbled some more and her attention drifted back to the butcher’s paper. When he shrieked, she glanced around and was surprised to see him standing on his own halfway between her and the hammer. She was used to seeing him pull himself up to stand next to objects, but never standing on his own.
‘Milo, did you walk there?’
He turned at her voice and promptly sat down.
An unexpected thrill shot through her and she pulled him to his feet. When he was steady, she let go of his hands and picked up the hammer, holding it out towards him. ‘Come on, Milo.’
His usually cheery face frowned in concentration and his chubby left foot moved forward, followed by his right. In two more steps, he was snatching the hammer.
‘You’re walking! You clever, clever kid!’
It was the most natural thing in the world to hug him and his achievement. He snuggled in, his body warm and soft against hers, his curls tickling her nose, his scent a combination of baby shampoo and banana.