Return to Stringybark Creek

by Karly Lane

  It wasn’t that he wanted to get out of seeing Hadley—if anything, it was the opposite. He’d spent so long trying to accept Hadley would never be his, and now suddenly the possibility, slim as it was, was raising its head again. It was playing havoc with his state of mind. Of course, even though Hadley might unofficially be back on the market, it didn’t mean she would be remotely interested in him. So basically there was absolutely nothing for him to peg any of his hopes on. Only, he was.

  It would be so much easier if he could do what he’d always done—stay away from her. Then he couldn’t be tempted to do or say something stupid that might jeopardise whatever kind of friendship they had. With a sigh, he pushed open the door and climbed out of the ute.

  Griffin came across to shake his hand as he stepped onto the verandah, handing him a cold can of beer and then slapping him on the shoulder. ‘It’s about time. Couldn’t you decide what to wear?’

  ‘Yeah. Right. Denim or denim.’

  ‘Seriously, if women just stuck to jeans and T-shirts, they wouldn’t take two hours to get ready,’ Griffin moaned, giving a startled oomph, as Olivia came up beside him and slapped at his midriff.

  ‘Was that directed at me by any chance?’

  ‘No, dear,’ he said with forced meekness.

  ‘I don’t know why people say it’s so hard to train a potential husband,’ Olivia shrugged, smiling sweetly at her fiancé.

  Ollie shook his head at his best friend woefully. ‘Dude, you’re a disgrace to men everywhere. Don’t let her get away with that.’

  Griffin slid his arms around Olivia and grinned over her head at him. ‘I’ll be sure to show her who the boss is later …’ He winked.

  ‘Oh, gross. That’s my sister you’re talkin’ about.’

  ‘Are they being nauseatingly happy again?’

  Ollie turned and felt his mouth dry up as his gaze fell on the small woman with shining golden hair. When his eyes met hers, his heart gave a lurch. An honest to God lurch. Christ. He was such a goner. He forced himself to snap out of it as she leaned in and hugged him, and for the briefest of moments his eyes closed as he caught the clean, sweet scent of the perfume she wore. On second thoughts, it could just be her. Whatever its origins, it was uniquely Hadley and it never failed to send him into hyperdrive.

  ‘Hey, Hads. How are you?’

  ‘I’m great,’ she said with a bright smile. ‘Couldn’t be better.’

  Ollie frowned a little as he caught the slight slur of her words and, from the corner of his eye, saw his sister and Griff exchange a look.

  ‘Who do I have to sleep with around here to get a drink?’ she said a little too loudly and giggled when a few conversations nearby paused. ‘Oops, I probably shouldn’t have said that.’

  ‘Come on, Hads, let’s see if your mum needs any help,’ Olivia said, smoothly crossing to her friend’s side.

  ‘I thought this was a party,’ Hadley complained.

  From across the verandah Ollie spotted Harmony sitting rigidly in her chair, watching them, and he groaned inwardly. He had a very bad feeling about tonight. What was Harmony even doing here? He supposed she’d had as little say about it as he had. If she wanted to play things cool, she couldn’t very well not turn up to a family function … and yet, Jesus, she had some kind of hide.

  He didn’t really have a relationship with Harmony—never had. She was older than the rest of them and had pretty much left home when he was still a kid. He couldn’t believe she’d gone and had an affair with her own sister’s husband though. That took a certain kind of self-centred arrogance. Maybe if it’d been only the once, he could possibly have understood it. A drunken, bad decision—God knows he’d made his share of those over the years—but from all accounts that wasn’t the case here.

  Maybe she deserved to be happy too. The thought seemed to come from nowhere and it shocked him. No. He didn’t even feel a little bit happy that Harmony had played a part in Mitch and Hadley’s break-up. That would be … well, like betraying Hadley, and yet was it really such a terrible thing if it put an end to something even Blind Freddy could see was a disaster waiting to happen?

  Lavinia called everyone to the table and Ollie breathed a sigh of relief that a potential crisis had been averted.

  There was a clatter of cutlery and chairs moving across the timber floorboards as people settled themselves in seats around the long tables that had been joined together to fit everyone in.

  ‘Sit beside me, Ollie,’ Hadley said, taking his hand and leading him to a pair of free chairs.

  Ollie hoped his eyes hadn’t popped out of his head, cartoon-like, at this uncharacteristic request. ‘Everything okay, Hads?’ he asked quietly as they sat down.

  ‘Absolutely,’ she beamed up at him, but he could see the tension around her eyes.

  He wanted to tell her that he understood. That he knew why it was all so weird, but it wasn’t the right place or time. Why was it that there was always some kind of drama unfolding lately? He took a long drink from his can of beer and wished that just once the Dawsons and Callahans could have a normal and uneventful get-together.

  ‘Everyone, I have an announcement to make,’ Hadley said, tapping the side of her wineglass.

  Apparently tonight was not going to be that night.

  He glanced across the table where Olivia and Griff were watching Hadley warily, then moved on to Harmony and saw her sitting stiffly, eyes fixed on her plate. He almost felt sorry for her. Almost.

  ‘Before we start, I want to clear the air once and for all, because I know everyone’s been walking around on eggshells and I don’t want that. Yes, it’s true, Mitch and I are getting a divorce. There will probably be some reporters trying to contact you for an inside story. Feel free to make up some great gossip for them,’ she grinned. ‘Maybe it’ll make entertaining reading that way.’

  ‘Ah, actually,’ Griff said, cutting in, ‘Hadley’s joking. It’s probably best not to say anything,’ he said, sending his younger sister a serious look across the table. ‘If it’s too entertaining they may never give up.’

  Hadley waved her hand dismissively and took another sip of her wine. ‘Whatever! I really couldn’t care less at this point. Anyway, let’s make a toast,’ she said, holding up her glass quickly, making the contents slosh alarmingly. ‘To family,’ she said, smiling widely, her gaze travelling around the table, coming to rest on her older sister’s pinched face. ‘And loyalty and love,’ she finished, without taking her hardening gaze from Harmony, who managed to mould her mouth into something resembling a smile.

  ‘To family,’ Ollie said loudly, taking a large gulp of his beer, relieved when the rest of the table followed suit, thankfully diverting attention away from the two women and the obvious tension between them.

  ‘Eat, everyone, before it gets cold,’ Lavinia called out, probably as anxious as he was to head off any potential awkwardness. Drunken speeches were a sore point. Olivia still held the crown for most awkward drunken speech, at Hadley’s wedding reception, and would probably be grateful if Hadley took the title from her.

  ‘You’re a smart man, Ollie,’ Hadley said, tucking into her meal with surprising gusto. Maybe it was the alcohol talking, or maybe she was just putting on a brave face for everyone, either way he could see through it. He knew she was hurting.

  ‘You think?’ he said, somewhat cautiously. He wasn’t quite sure where she was headed with the conversation.

  ‘Absolutely. You’re the only one of us who’s stayed single,’ she said, pointing her fork at him as she chewed her roast. ‘That’s smart.’

  ‘Yeah, that’s me. It’s been my plan from the start. Stay single,’ he said, although she seemed to miss the sarcasm, nodding earnestly in agreement.

  ‘Marriage is a joke. It’s all a lie told to little girls to make them believe there’s this big, happy-ever-after waiting in the future. It’s like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny,’ she said almost mournfully.

  ‘Not all marriages are like that.
Look at your parents. And mine,’ he added, nodding his head towards the other end of the long table.

  ‘They’re from another era. It doesn’t count.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Ollie said. ‘I think it’s the person not the era that’s the problem. You just have to find the right person.’ Hadley gave a scoff that was a little too loud, causing a few eyes to swing her way. ‘That’s like playing Russian roulette. You just can’t trust anyone anymore.’

  She had him there. He didn’t believe that personally, but he could understand how her faith in humanity may have taken a pretty hard knock after finding out who her husband had been cheating with. She had a right to be angry for a while.

  ‘I know that you know, Ollie,’ she said, breaking the silence between them.

  ‘Know what?’ he said, genuinely confused.

  ‘Who Mitch was cheating with,’ she said quietly, holding his startled gaze.

  He opened his mouth to deny it, but she just shook her head slowly, before lowering her gaze to the plate. ‘Liv already told me she told you.’

  So much for his sister threatening to do him bodily harm if he spilled. Thanks, Liv.

  ‘Thank you.’

  He eyed her warily. ‘I didn’t do anything.’

  ‘You always could keep a secret,’ she said, sending him a small smile.

  She had no idea just how well. ‘It’ll get easier, Hads,’ he said softly.

  Hadley stopped eating to look up at him, and for the first time all evening the fight had gone out of her eyes. Ollie felt a tightening in his chest as he looked down into the sad face beside him.

  ‘When, Ollie? When does it get easier?’

  He couldn’t answer that and, if he were honest, he knew no one could. ‘How long are you home on holidays for?’ he asked, hoping to change the topic and distract her.

  ‘It’s not exactly holidays. I was sent home to make sure I didn’t say anything I wasn’t supposed to say,’ she scoffed, returning her attention to the meal before her. ‘We wouldn’t want any rumours getting spread about the wholesome Mitch Samuals,’ she said, raising her voice pointedly. While she didn’t look at her sister, Ollie noticed Harmony’s grip on her cutlery had tightened and her mouth was a taut line.

  ‘I know Liv’s glad you’re here,’ he said, and his smile slipped a little when she turned her blue eyes up to his expectantly. ‘She could really use some help with her wedding planning.’ As soon as he said it, he wished he could pull the words back, but to his surprise and immense relief, she just nodded and continued eating.

  Across the table he saw Gran elbowing Griffin and hid a grin as his friend poured something from a small flask into his grandmother’s tea. Catching his eye, Gran sent him a wink and mischievous smile, before gleefully taking a sip from her cup.

  ‘I hope I’m as outrageous as Gran when I’m her age,’ Hadley said with a chuckle.

  ‘I thought your mum said she wasn’t supposed to be drinking whisky anymore,’ Ollie said, trying to keep a straight face.

  ‘You seriously think anyone’s going to tell Gran what she can and can’t do?’

  She had a point.

  ‘Mum only half-heartedly protests to keep Gran’s doctor happy.’

  After the main course was finished, they moved away from the table to sit and chat and let the meal settle before dessert. Ollie made a cup of coffee and took it across to Hadley. ‘Here, I thought you might be able to use this,’ he said.

  ‘I don’t remember you being this much of a killjoy, Ollie,’ she muttered. ‘I’m pretty sure if ever there was a time to get drunk, this would be it, don’t you think?’

  ‘You’re probably right,’ he agreed lightly. ‘But maybe not the right place.’

  She gave an unimpressed grunt at that, which he took as reluctant acknowledgement.

  ‘But no one said you can’t find a better place, right?’ he added, and she looked up from her cup hopefully.

  ‘Now you’re talkin’. I’ll meet you out the back. Do you remember where we went that time we tried to smoke?’

  Remember? He often wished he could forget. They’d been barely ten when the four of them—Hadley, Griff, Olivia and he—had snuck away from a party and decided to make their own cigarettes from newspaper and hay.

  ‘Give it five minutes before you leave. And make sure no one sees you go,’ she whispered.

  ‘Roger that, 007,’ he said, adding a sloppy salute.

  He managed to keep a straight face as she attempted to unobtrusively take a bottle of wine and hide it under her shirt before leaving the party. He hoped to God her career never required her to do anything remotely undercover.

  He gave her three minutes’ head start, not sure he trusted her to make it five minutes in the dark alone. She was waiting in the back of the shed, seated on an old dray left over from when the Callahans had used a horse before tractors came on the scene.

  ‘I can’t believe we didn’t burn this place down that night,’ he said, running his hand over the back of the aged timber cart and shaking his head at the memory of them huddled around a lit piece of newspaper rolled into a cigarette.

  ‘I don’t think I’ve ever coughed that much in my life since,’ she added, a triumphant smile appearing as she popped the cork from the bottle she’d been working on when he came in.

  ‘We should have invited Griff and Liv down here to relive our youth,’ he said.

  ‘Nah. They’re too happy.’ She took a swig of wine and grimaced. ‘Not that that’s a bad thing, mind you,’ she said, searching Ollie’s eyes. ‘Do you think I’m a bad person, Ollie?’

  ‘Of course not,’ he said, taking the bottle from her. ‘Why would you think that?’

  ‘Because I wanted a tiny minute alone without seeing their goofy smiles and love-sick looks and that’s why I’m going to hell.’

  Ollie bit back a chuckle, knowing she was deadly, if drunkenly, serious. ‘You’re not going to hell for that.’

  ‘See, I knew you’d understand,’ she said, looking at him. Where she sat put her pretty much on eye level with him and he took a small step closer. ‘You always got me.’

  ‘It’s not that hard to understand, Hads. You’ve been through a really shitty time. It’s natural you wouldn’t want to be around people in love.’

  ‘Exactly,’ she said with a baffled shake of her head as she searched his eyes. ‘This is why I love you, Ollie,’ she said, and Ollie froze. ‘You’re my best friend … other than Liv, of course, because, you know, she’s Liv … but you’re my second-best friend and I love you,’ she said with a huge sigh and reached out towards him, almost falling forwards. Ollie reached out and took hold of her before she lost her balance completely, and she pulled him close.

  Ollie’s mind short-circuited for a split second as his body registered that he was standing very close to her; he felt her jean-clad thighs either side of his hips and the warmth from her body pressed against his stomach.

  Just as he was trying to untangle the battle raging between his wayward arousal and a pretty pathetic attempt to be chivalrous, he felt her body start shaking against him as huge sobs racked her. His arousal all but curled up and died as he felt her tears seeping through his shirt. He felt like the worst kind of arsehole. She was in pain and here he was allowing himself to get his hopes up, not to mention other things, when he should have realised that she was in no state to know what she was doing.

  ‘It’s going to be okay,’ he said, rubbing her back gently.

  ‘I feel like such a loser,’ she said between sobs.

  ‘You’re not a loser. You’re the furthest thing from a loser that I know of. You’re brave and you’re smart and you’re beautiful,’ he said, gently easing away from her so he could look down into her face, but then he lost track of what he’d been saying as the sadness in her eyes tore at his chest.

  ‘How could he do it? How could she do it?’ she demanded, looking at him helplessly.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Ollie said sadly as she rested
her head back on his shoulder. How could Samuals just throw away this woman like that? Why couldn’t he see what he had? Clearly he didn’t deserve her. Ollie had known that the first time he’d met the idiot.

  After a while he noticed her sobs had stopped and he realised she’d fallen asleep. With a reluctant sigh, Ollie gently roused her enough to walk her back to the main house.

  ‘Get some sleep,’ he said, holding open her bedroom door for her. He turned to walk away but stopped when he heard his name being called softly.

  Hadley leaned against her doorframe, her head tilted slightly. ‘Thank you for being here.’

  ‘I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,’ he said and meant it. There was nowhere else he’d rather be. The irony, though, was that he knew she meant she was glad he was here … as a friend.

  Sometimes it really sucked to be the good guy.

  Five

  Ollie heard his phone ringing and, after he’d made the sweep at the end of the row, he grabbed it and answered.

  ‘Have you heard?’ Josh said without a hello.

  Ollie frowned.

  ‘About Patto,’ Josh added.

  He couldn’t explain it, but before Josh even filled him in, he knew it was something bad.

  Josh took his silence as a no and gave a long sigh. ‘He’s dead,’ he said without preamble.

  Ollie felt his mouth open but was sure he’d misheard. ‘What?’

  ‘Topped himself sometime last night. His old man found him this morning.’

  ‘Bullshit,’ Ollie snapped. This wasn’t funny. His temper erupted at the thought of anyone making up something so stupid.

  ‘’Fraid not, mate. Mum’s over at the Pattersons’ now with his parents. They’re a bloody mess.’

  Ollie couldn’t remember if he said goodbye to Josh before the call ended. He stared down at the phone numbly. It couldn’t be right. Luke dead? He’d only just seen him at the pub the other day.

  His phone let out a burst of music, making him start slightly, and he saw Griff’s name flash.