She felt the relief slide over her. ‘That’s nice.’
‘How about you? Plans to be a mum down the track?’
She nodded. ‘Yeah, I’d like to.’
‘That’s equally nice.’
Marcus appeared next to them and pulled up a chair. ‘Aww. Look at the cute little family,’ he said.
‘You’re the one who just got married.’
‘Yeah, I know. Bianca’s mum has already started doing the whole “nudge nudge wink wink, when are you two going to have a baby” thing with us. So, I’m using you two as an outlet.’
‘Oh great,’ said Georgia, at the same time as Luke said, ‘Bring it on.’
Marcus raised his eyebrows at Georgia and she looked away, simultaneously embarrassed and delighted.
Aaron and Troy came and joined them. ‘Guess what?’ Troy said, ‘Mum’s wasted. And I mean proper scuttered.’
‘She is not,’ said Georgia. ‘She told me she wasn’t going to drink tonight because the Prosecco’s not organic.’
‘Yeah, well, she’s currently trying to teach Pete how to waltz but it looks more like an excuse to get him to hold her up. It’s only a matter of time until she’s sick.’
‘Nice introduction to our family for Bianca,’ said Georgia. She accidently slurred a bit on the word ‘introduction’ and Aaron, Troy and Marcus all zeroed in on it at once.
‘Littlest Fitz is scuttered too!’
‘Cut it out, I’m fine!’
Pete seemed to have escaped from Susan because he suddenly appeared next to them, followed closely by their dad. ‘Quick! The baby! I need the baby. She can’t make me keep dancing if I’m holding the baby.’
Luke allowed Emma to be scooped out of his arms by Pete, who then took a seat, holding the baby close to his chest like she was a shield.
‘Shit,’ said Graham, ‘I was coming to ask for the baby too.’
‘You guys are terrible,’ said Georgia, standing up and pulling Luke up by the hand. She swayed a little. Annoyingly, her brothers were right, she was fairly tipsy. She’d thought sitting down would stop the light-headedness, but instead she was worse. ‘Come on, let’s go outside for a bit. I need some fresh air.’
‘Sure,’ said Luke, while her brothers all made knowing faces at her.
They weaved their way through the marquee, Georgia grabbing her small silver clutch on the way past their table. They headed out into the gardens where they found a small bench seat between fairy-light-covered hedges. Georgia leaned back and sighed.
‘You okay?’ Luke placed his hand on the back of her neck and stroked her skin with his fingertips.
‘Yeah, just . . . over-indulged a little.’ She opened her clutch to look for some chewing gum and noticed a message on her phone. She pulled it out and opened it. Unknown number.
You think blocking my number is going to make me go away? I miss one date and you treat me like a fucking nobody. So, who’s the evil bitch here? You are, you fucking whore.
‘Oh my God.’ Georgia’s hands were shaking as she handed the phone to Luke. ‘Look at this. Look at this horrible message.’
‘What the hell?’ said Luke as he read it. ‘Who is this prick?’ His voice sounded dangerously low, and for a moment Georgia was afraid he was going to be upset with her for not having told him sooner. She rushed to explain. ‘It’s this guy. This absolute dickhead. Remember how on the night we met I was stood up by a Tinder date?’
‘Yeah, of course.’
‘He texted me, like a week later or something, asking me to give him another chance. I ignored him and he got really nasty.’
Luke’s voice softened. ‘No way, that must have been awful for you. Why on earth didn’t you tell me sooner?’
She shrugged. ‘Because it kind of paled in comparison to your Cadence issues. And anyway, I blocked his number so I thought that was the end of it.’
‘And now he’s using a different number to contact you. What an arsehole. Listen, if anything like this ever happens again, you need to know I’m here for you, okay? You should never have to deal with crap like this on your own. I’m going to let him have it,’ he added, going back into the message and starting to tap out a reply.
‘No, no, don’t do that. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of a response. I just want to ignore it.’
‘Are you sure?’ Luke was still holding the phone. ‘Maybe I should call the guy? See if I can scare him off for you.’
‘Honestly, I think it’s better to leave it.’
His shoulders relaxed and he nodded, passing the phone back. ‘Okay, but any hint of him trying to contact you again and you let me know.’
‘Deal. Listen, can I ask for the biggest favour in the world?’
‘Glass of water?’
‘No. Cigarette.’
‘What for? You don’t smoke!’
‘I know I don’t, but sometimes I get random cravings, and just one cigarette would really relax me right now. That message shook me up. You could try Grant, or I’m pretty sure Bianca’s mum smokes.’
‘If it’s something you really need, then I’ll see what I can do. But can I be honest? I don’t think you should let that absolute dickhead be the reason you take up smoking again, okay? You’re stronger than that.’
Luke stood and disappeared back inside, and Georgia couldn’t help feeling like she’d disappointed him. He had a good point: she shouldn’t lapse into old habits because of one nasty message. She leaned back and looked up at the stars.
‘What are you doing out here all alone?’
Georgia brought her eyes back down from the stars and fixed them on Grant.
‘Getting some air. Drank too much.’
‘It’s a wedding, that’s what you’re supposed to do.’ He sat down next to her and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from inside his jacket.
Maybe she could smoke one quickly before Luke came back? It was just one, after all. It wasn’t like she was actually going to start smoking full-time again. ‘If you don’t take two smokes out of that pack and give one to me, I’ll throat-punch you, just by the way.’
‘Message received.’ Grant handed her a cigarette, lit it for her and then lit his own.
‘You all right?’
‘Yeah, why?’
‘Oh, I don’t know, talk of throat punches and whatnot, thought something might be up.’
‘Nah, I’m good. Just pissed and thinking about stuff, that’s all.’
‘Is it the typical “sister at her brother’s wedding” stuff?’
‘And what the hell would the typical “sister at her brother’s wedding stuff” be? And if you say jealous sister wants to get married, I really will throat-punch you.’
Grant touched a hand to his throat. ‘Jesus, stop talking about throat punches, it’s getting hard to swallow. No, idiot, I mean the emotional, “my big brother is all grown up” stuff.’
‘Ah, fair enough. No, it’s way more selfish than that. Just some horrible boy problems. Don’t worry about it.’
‘What’s Luke done? You need me and Marcus to take him out back and beat him up for you?’
‘No! It’s not Luke! Luke’s great. It’s this other idiot. This Tinder date I was supposed to have before I met him. This guy won’t stop messaging me now. Anyway, as if you’d ever beat anyone up. You and Marcus were all talk when you used to threaten my boyfriends in school.’
‘I know. Remember when we tried to have a go at that wanker in Year Seven after he made you cry?’
‘Yes! You ended up asking him to join your footy team.’
‘Our intentions were good. So, what’s the deal with this guy texting you?’
‘It’s nothing really. He’s just being a troll.’
A shadow appeared across Grant’s face and Georgia turned around to see Luke holding two glasses of water. ‘Oh, you found a cigarette.’
Dammit, he definitely sounded disappointed. Georgia wished she’d stopped herself.
‘I was coming ba
ck to tell you I hadn’t been able to track one down yet,’ he continued. ‘It’s way harder to find someone who smokes than it was in the nineties. Everyone’s so health-conscious now.’
‘Tell me about it. Smokers are a dying group — pun intended,’ Grant said as he stood and put out his cigarette. ‘All right, there’s a bridesmaid in there who already told me she wants to share an Uber home with me. Better get back before she changes her mind.’
Luke took Grant’s seat and Georgia stubbed out her cigarette as well, even though it wasn’t quite finished. ‘Thanks for the water,’ she said. ‘Don’t tell Grant I wasted one of his smokes. A couple of drags was more than enough. You were right, I don’t want to start smoking again.’
‘Your secret is safe with me. I’m glad you don’t want to take it up.’
Georgia leaned in to Luke and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. ‘Hey, you had any more calls or messages from Cadence this weekend? I keep forgetting to ask.’
‘A few. I’ve been deleting them and not responding though.’
‘You know, I’ve never had an ex try to get me back after we split up.’
‘You sound like you think that’s a bad thing.’
‘I just mean that as much as she’s being awful, it shows how much you must mean to her — the fact that she won’t give up.’ Georgia shivered involuntarily. Was Cadence ever going to give up? She pressed herself into Luke.
‘Does it? Or does it show that she’s deluded?’
As if on cue they both felt the buzzing of Luke’s phone through his jacket.
‘Maybe I should answer it.’ Georgia made to reach for his pocket but he pressed his hand over the top of hers. ‘No way. I’m not subjecting you to her ranting. Ignore it, it’ll stop.’
Georgia looked back up at the stars again. Luke leaned in and kissed her cheek. The music floating out into the garden switched from a fast dance track to a slower song. ‘Only You’ by Yazoo. Luke stood and pulled Georgia to her feet, then he wrapped his arms around her and they swayed slowly together.
She found herself wishing she could somehow press pause on this moment. She didn’t want to go back to Sydney and reality tomorrow. She didn’t want to keep looking over her shoulder, wondering if Cadence was somewhere, lurking, waiting to pounce, waiting to ruin the most perfect relationship she’d had in a very long time. She was going to do whatever it took to protect it.
THE ELEVATOR
Cadence swung around to face her. She ran her hands through her hair and then her fingers tightened and she was pulling at it, pulling and pulling. She took a step towards Georgia and Georgia slid sideways along the back wall of the elevator, crumpling into the corner.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Georgia took a moment to lean against the side of the flatbed truck and drink from her water bottle. Her hair was frizzing from the light rain. It had been such a dry winter that Luke hadn’t actually seen her how frizzy her hair could get yet. She imagined him returning from inside her building, taking one look at her and saying, ‘I’m sorry, it’s over. I had no idea your head could look like that.’
She tried to smooth it down but it was a losing battle. Besides, Luke was going to see her at all of her worst stages now that he was moving in. Arriving home from nightshift — bleary-eyed and smelling of Betadine and latex. Early evening bedhead — when he arrived home from work she’d be waking up from a day sleep with a drool-stained pillow and stale coffee breath (she always wound down from nightshift with a decaf on her way home). No more presenting her best self only — he was going to see it all.
But then again, she was going to see it all from him as well, wasn’t she? The good, the bad, the ugly. She couldn’t really imagine him looking anything but drop-dead gorgeous though. Even with his hair flattened from sleep and pillow creases on his face he looked irritatingly handsome.
Luke reappeared from the front door of her building and grinned at her. ‘Slacking off on the job,’ he said as he walked right up to her, placed one hand on her hip and then leaned in and kissed her, pushing her back against the ute.
‘Kissing in the rain,’ she said as he eventually broke away. ‘Tick that one off.’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that’s the first time we’ve kissed in the rain.’
‘It is not, is it?’
‘Yep, it is. This is the first time it’s rained in ages. And I’m not slacking off, thank you very much. I just lugged your bloody bedside table up three flights of stairs. I deserve a breather.’
Luke had only brought a few pieces of furniture over to her place, saying he was happy to leave most of it with Cadence and start fresh once he got his own place. But with no elevator in her building, it was still hard work getting it up to her apartment.
He reached both hands around and squeezed her butt. ‘Ah yes,’ he said, ‘I can feel the difference in your glutes from all those stairs already.’
‘Shut up!’
He leaned back and looked at her. ‘Check out this curl,’ he said, touching her hair, ‘right in the middle of your forehead.’
‘There was a little girl, who had a little curl . . .’ Georgia recited.
‘I love it, you’re fucking adorable.’
‘First of all, it’s not a curl, it’s pure frizz, and second of all, it’s hideous.’
‘I respectfully disagree. I love your hair like this. Hey, let’s go out. We can celebrate the fact that we’re getting Cadence off our backs.’
‘Sounds like a plan. What was she like as you left today? How did she cope with you taking all of your stuff?’
Georgia hadn’t gone with Luke to collect his things from his apartment; they’d both agreed that her meeting Cadence would be a bad idea.
He twisted his mouth and Georgia sensed he was trying to come up with a diplomatic way to answer the question.
‘It’s okay,’ she said. ‘You can tell me if she was bad.’
‘Okay, she was bad.’
‘What did she say?’
‘There was a lot of yelling and screaming. There were some tears. She even threw a vase against the wall. Not sure if my head was the target and she’s not a great shot or if she was only trying to be dramatic.’
‘Far out, that is full on.’
‘Yep, it wasn’t much fun.’
‘Don’t suppose you asked her . . . do you know if it was her behind me last week when I was driving home from work?’
‘Yeah. I mean, I didn’t come right out and accuse her, because I thought she’d shut down, but I tried to hint at it and see if I could maybe catch her out.’
‘And what do you think?’
‘Honestly, I’m still not a hundred per cent sure. When I tried to talk about you she got tight-lipped. But there was something about the look on her face when I mentioned your name, this sort of smug expression. It bothered me. But look, hopefully me moving out is going to be the end of it all and you’ll never have to stress about a red car behind you again. That said, let’s both keep an eye out for the next little while. I don’t want her anywhere near you.’
Or near you, Georgia thought. She wondered if this really was going to be the turning point with Cadence. Would moving out actually make her stop? Or would she step up her game instead?
*
They walked to a local pub, huddled together under an oversized umbrella. The rain had increased to a steady downpour. Georgia had showered and slicked her hair back into a tight ponytail — no need for him to continue to see how frizzy her hair could get in adverse weather. Luke had joined her in the shower and kissed her under the running water. ‘Now this we’ve definitely already done before,’ he’d whispered in her ear. Shower sex was his favourite. But she’d used all of her self-restraint and pulled back before they could get too carried away.
‘I’m starving. If we start now we’ll never make it to the pub.’
At the pub, they took a booth and ordered beers and a couple of chicken schnitzels. While the
y waited for their meals, Luke reached across the table to hold her hands. ‘Right,’ he said, ‘here’s your chance. Any house rules you want to impose on me before it’s too late?’
‘Isn’t it already too late? You’re in. Your workout gear is taking up half my living room and your nerdy Transformers collection is taking up most of my shelves.’
He gave her a mock look of shock. ‘Nerdy? That collection’ll be worth millions one day.’
‘Doubt it. There’s a Megan Fox action figure in there. You can hardly call that a classic collector’s item.’
‘Are you insulting my Megs, woman?’
‘Oh, so she’s your Megs, is she? So why aren’t you shacking up at her place instead of mine?’
‘You’re hotter.’
‘Excellent answer.’
Their Coronas appeared on the table in front of them, each with a wedge of lime stuffed into the top of the bottle. They pushed the limes inside then clinked the beers together.
‘Cheers to being Cadence-free,’ said Luke.
Maybe he was right. Maybe they really were about to be free of her.
‘Cheers. Here’s to sex on tap,’ she replied, winking at him.
*
The two of them were smashed. That hadn’t been the plan. It was supposed to be a couple of beers and dinner and then home for an early night after a long day of work and moving. But after the beers they’d decided to share a bottle of wine over their schnitzels, and then after the wine they thought they’d follow it up with some spirits. Next thing, they’d somehow made friends with a trio of German tourists up at the bar and the five of them were all doing shots to celebrate Luke moving in with her. It helped that their new-found friends were insisting on shouting the rounds.
‘Another round!’ Georgia shouted, slapping her hand down on the bar. ‘On them!’ She was a loud drunk. Always had been.
Luke laughed. ‘Georgia, you have to wait for them to offer.’
‘They don’t mind, do you, boys?’
‘Of course not,’ said Jake. Or was it Nick? Georgia couldn’t be sure; she kept getting those two mixed up. ‘It’s a celebration. You two are becoming verschmolzen.’ He laced his fingers together to indicate the two of them becoming one.
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