Secret (Peters Junction Series Book 1)

by Nicola Sinclair

  Chapter Twelve

  Lachlan escorted her to the elevator, then through the lobby to the check-in desk. He didn’t say a word the entire time, but his grip was firm on her shoulder, his fingers digging into her skin, telling her clearly without words just how much he didn’t want to let her go. Every step she took felt like her feet were made of stone, and each step was harder to take than the last.

  She didn’t want to leave him. Especially when she knew he wouldn’t contact her again, not after she tossed his love back in his face. She wished with all her heart that she could hold onto him and say the things he wanted to hear. But it was impossible. She couldn’t tell him her reasons, not without risking Marie.

  When they emerged from the lobby Lachlan finally dropped his arm from her shoulder and halted. She turned to look at him and sucked in her breath. His eyes were dry but within them she could read the extent of his devastation. She resisted the urge to reach out and kiss it all away. It wouldn’t be fair to either of them.

  “I guess this is goodbye.” His voice cracked.

  She tried to speak but words wouldn’t come. Instead she only nodded her head.

  “Take care.” Abruptly he turned away, walking swiftly back into the hotel and out of her life.

  On auto pilot, April climbed into the car and a moment later they had joined the busy traffic on the way to the airport. April refused to think about Lachlan, instead she conjured up images of Marie and tried to summon some excitement at seeing her sister. She had missed her sister so much this this past week but not even the thought of seeing Marie improved her mood. Besides, she still had four more days of loneliness before Marie returned home from camp.

  Unbidden, the broken image of Lachlan standing in front of the hotel came to mind and she tried to push it away. Another image of him in his dinner suit took its place and she pushed that away too. But no matter how many images she pushed away, more took their place until he filled her mind with his presence. She couldn’t shake him, he was everywhere.

  April found herself sitting in the business class cabin of her plane. She wasn’t entirely sure how she’d paid for the taxi and checked in, or even how she’d passed security, but she must have or she wouldn’t be sitting there. The hostess presented her with a hot towel and she accepted it with a brief smile, but the movement felt strange on her lips. She wasn’t sure she would ever be able to smile easily again. April unfolded the towel and used it to cleanse the tears that continued to snake their way silently down her cheeks in moments when she lost control.

  Much later, after her food had been served and then cleared away from her untouched, April finally succumbed to her emotional exhaustion and fell into a restless sleep.

  Arriving in Adelaide, April grabbed her car from the long term car-park and drove home. For three hours she felt numb, barely acknowledging her surroundings as her mind moved on autopilot. It wasn’t until she passed the miniature steam train that marked each entrance to the town of Peters Junction that she felt some of the tension leave her body. Peters Junction was her home, her safety net. When she had decided to settle there with Marie ten years ago, she’d thought it a good place to hide out, somewhere where she could live quietly and not draw attention to herself.

  Of course, being from the Brisbane, she hadn’t anticipated how much gossip a young, apparently unemployed and single woman who was also taking care of her six-year-old sister would generate in a town of only two thousand people. It had frightened her in the beginning, but then the town had opened its arms and embraced her into the fold, making her one of their own. Now, she couldn’t imagine leaving or living anywhere else. This was home.

  She pulled into her driveway and before she could even get out to open the gate, her elderly neighbour John hurried over. She wound down her window, a blast of cold air hitting her in the face, forcing her to catch her breath.

  “April. You’re home. Did you have a good holiday?” April smiled at the elderly man. As always, his pants hung as loosely around his hips as his skin hung from his jaws. His presence was reassuring in its familiarity. He was the closest thing to a grandfather she had ever known and he took that responsibility to heart.

  “It was great John, but I’m a little bit tired.” She opened her door but he quickly stopped her.

  “I’ll get the gates,” he declared, hurrying to open them for her.

  She drove in and parked her car under the carport, then slowly stretched her legs as she climbed out. Her body felt stiff but the relief at being home was soothing and she couldn’t wait to run herself a bath.

  “Well I’ll let you get some rest then,” John said as he came up behind her and gave her a quick peck of greeting on the cheek, “I’ll come around tomorrow for a cup of tea and you can tell me all about your trip. How are your friends?”

  She had told John that she was visiting old friends in Sydney while Marie was at camp. She hated lying to him, but no one knew her as A.D. Pope so she couldn’t tell them her real reasons for going. Early on, when she first moved to the area and didn’t look for work, the locals speculated about how the two sisters were paying their bills. Someone had asked if they had been left an inheritance by their parents and April had latched onto the explanation. She’d never mentioned her writing.

  “They’re great John,” she said slipping into her coat and wrapping it tightly around her. Looking around, she noticed her garden needed a bit of tending. She would have to get into it tomorrow.

  After saying goodbye, John let himself out, pulling the gate shut behind him, and April made her way into the house. As soon as she dropped her bags, she went to the small bathroom and turned on the bath taps, sprinkling in her favourite minerals beneath the stream of water. While her tiny bath filled with jasmine scented bubbles, she took the time to warm some milk in the microwave. Hopefully, a hot chocolate and a long soak would warm the coldness she felt inside.