The Goodbye Girl

by Angela Verdenius

  Friends who didn’t want her for only what they could get. They were real friends.

  Turning her head, she looked at Nick. He was watching her with a mixture of warmth, patience, and concern.

  This man loved her for herself, plus-size knickers, a pair of batty Siamese cats, different ideas and all. And he’d definitely been concerned when she’d fallen into the creek, seeing to her safety and comfort before his own.

  “I’ve just had an epiphany,” she stated.

  “Oh?”

  “All my real friends are here.”

  “You know a lot of people apart from here.”

  “Yes, but no one really close. I was never truly at home until I came to Whicha, never really had friends I could confide in until I came here. Never had a job I was so comfortable in until I came here.” She smiled slightly. “I did meet a nice soldier boy I wrote to, and then guess what?’

  His eyes were warm. “You met him here.”

  “Good guess, and correct.”

  His gaze drifted across her face. “I have good mates in the Army, but no one I was really close to until I met Alex. Then I came to Whicha and I made friends, good friends. And I met you.”

  “Whicha is a good place.”

  “It is.”

  “The best place I’ve ever been to.”

  “Yep.”

  “Meeting you here makes it even more special.”

  Picking up her hand, he kissed the back of her knuckles. “The town may be special, but home is where the heart is, and my heart is with you. Wherever you are, is home.”

  That had a lump rising in her throat. “Oh crap, now I’m going to cry.”

  He grinned crookedly. “Guess I can’t even get the romance right.”

  “Sweetie, you’re the best at it.”

  “Not hard to do with you.”

  “You know, you’re the only person who ever thought I was special.”

  “Your Mum must have told you.”

  Bree glanced down to where he still held her hand, his thumb stroking gently over her knuckles. “Mum was…unique.” She fell silent.

  Mark came over. “Refill? Something to eat?”

  Nick looked questioningly at Bree, who shook her head. He smiled up at Mark. “Thanks, but no.”

  Mark nodded and walked back to the counter.

  Nick gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “What say we go for a little stroll, stretch our legs?”

  She smiled. “Sounds good to me.”

  She waited for Nick outside the café while he paid the bill. Ever the gentleman, he’d insisted on paying for her coffee and she wasn’t going to argue, it wouldn’t have made any difference.

  “Bree!”

  She looked up to see David and Charlotte hurrying across the street, their expressions excited, and she wondered if they’d both seen the lights the previous night.

  Charlotte stopped, practically bouncing in her sensible shoes. “Did you see the lights last night?”

  Hmmm. To lie or not to lie? It would be for the greater good, right? “No.”

  “Are you kidding?” David’s eyes widened. “I saw them from my bedroom!”

  “Really?” She feigned mild interest.

  “Yeah. Two lights, zipping across the sky. I don’t know of any planes that can fly like that.”

  “You sure about the lights?”

  “Yep. Saw them with my own two eyes.” He pointed at his eyes to emphasize.

  “Uh-huh.” Man, she hated doing this, but for the greater good, right? “Like those lights behind the hill?”

  “No! This was the real thing!”

  “Not like your lights at all, huh?”

  “No.” He flushed guiltily. “Ummm…”

  She raised both eyebrows.

  “Fine,” he muttered. “I was just having a bit of fun that time, you know? Harmless.”

  Charlotte smacked his arm. “Getting people stirred up over nothing. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, boy.”

  “It was just a joke, no harm done.”

  “You know the story of the boy who cried wolf,” Bree drawled. “By the time you see the real thing, no one is going to take notice.”

  A little sulkily, he shoved his hands into his pockets. “But I did see those lights last night, those two UFOs.”

  “Maybe you did and maybe you didn’t, but how many people are going to believe you now they know the first light and laser beams were a hoax?”

  “How is everyone going to know?” he demanded.

  “Hate to tell you, David, but I think everyone knows it was a hoax by now.”

  “Well, I’m telling you, I did see it!”

  “I believe you.”

  Almost instantly his expression grew hopeful. “You do?”

  “Hey, I believe in UFOs, remember?” Bree held out her hands, palms up. “But I can’t say I saw something I didn’t. But I believe that you believe you saw something.”

  “That’s not acknowledging it.”

  “Not a lot I can do about that.”

  Disgruntled, David turned and walked off.

  “Rude.” Charlotte gave a small sniff. “Those serious about the unexplained have to learn to take the highs with the lows. Not everything is going to be provable.”

  “Isn’t that the truth.” Bree watched David walk away.

  “I’m considering joining a UFO group.”

  Bree looked at her. “Are you serious?”

  “Absolutely. Out with fellow hunters, hot thermos of tea, sandwiches. We’ll sit on blankets and watch the skies for lights, plot the courses.” She practically beamed. “It’ll be so much fun.”

  “Huh.” Bree slid her hands into her pockets, rocked back and forth in her purple sneakers. “Sounds great.”

  “I know!”

  Time to bring reality back. “Sounds great, but serious hunters don’t sit on blankets under the stars sipping tea, Charlotte.”

  “Of course they do, dear. How else do they watch the skies?”

  “I stand corrected. A bit. The truth is sometimes they sit in their cars, sometimes on a blanket, but as soon as a light is seen, serious hunters will pursue it. That means through fields, bushes, over fences, in the mud and dust, in the rain. And after all that, you’re lucky if you get a clear photo.” Bree paused. “The really unlucky ones fall into creeks on stormy nights.”

  “I’m sure it’s not always like that.” Charlotte flapped her hand. “Anyway, I’m joining this select group of seniors who have decided to take up UFO watching. We’ve even got our own name, ‘Seniors on Watch’. What do you think?”

  “You do realise the acronym for that is SOW?”

  “Very apt, don’t you think? Snappy, go-getter type acro-thingie title.”

  “Mmmm.” Bree could do nothing but nod.

  “We’re having our first meeting at the café next Sunday,” Charlotte continued. “Decide what we need, which won’t be much. Cameras, chairs, blankets. It’ll be so much fun.”

  “Just promise me you’ll be careful.”

  “Now, dear, don’t you worry.” Charlotte patted her arm. “We might not be spring chickens, but we’re tough enough to sit outside and watch the skies, take notes and photos.” With that, she gave Bree’s arm another pat and walked away.

  “How to influence your friends and family,” Nick drawled from behind her.

  Glancing over her shoulder, she took in his amused face. “Don’t you start. Can you imagine the seniors out on cold nights, catching colds? If one of them fell into the creek-”

  “Don’t sweat it, honey.” Coming to her side, he took her hand in his and started strolling along the footpath, matching his stride to her shorter one.

  “You’re not the one going to be lynched by their families when the seniors die on the frozen moors.”

  “There are no moors around Whicha. Besides, it won’t go that far.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because Alex told me.”

  “Alex? When did he hear
about it?”

  “He picked me up this morning from your place-”

  “I wondered how you’d gotten home.”

  “I gave him a call to see if he was heading our way. Luckily he was driving to the service station to get the Sunday papers.”

  “Ah.”

  “Anyway, he mentioned that Alfred from the Seniors Club had told him about his plan to get this SOW thing going. Alex said he knows the seniors in that club, and they’re more into social events. This is a social event for them.”

  “Sitting in the cold?”

  “Honey, some of them have bad arthritis. I doubt they’re all going to be sitting on a blanket sipping hot tea, not in winter. However, summer might be a different story, but I think the UFO craze might have disappeared by then.”

  “You think?”

  “If they see nothing for several weeks at a time, do you really think they’re going to sit in the cold and freeze their backsides off?” Affectionately, he bumped her shoulder with his arm. “Not everyone is a dedicated hunter like you.”

  Bree inhaled the fresh country air, tipping her head back to indulge in the scent of rain-freshened earth. “Maybe not so dedicated.”

  Nick looked down at her.

  “I lied to David.”

  “I heard.”

  “Spying on me?”

  “Finished paying for the coffees and stepped out of the café, actually.”

  “Huh.”

  “And I like spying on you.”

  “Because you’re military.”

  “Wait until I start interrogating you.” His voice dropped, became huskier. “I have some very devious, depraved, sexual positions that will make you talk.”

  Bree fanned her face with one hand. “I don’t think I’d be able to even squeak.”

  “You’ll scream.”

  That had her cheeks flaming even while she laughed. “Pervert.”

  “Absolutely, “ he agreed cheerfully. “So, back to David. That’d have something to do with not wanting hunters here.”

  “Yep.”

  “Good cause.”

  “I thought the end justified the means.”

  “So what are you feeling guilty about?”

  “Guilty?” She cast him a surprised look. “I don’t feel guilty.”

  “No?”

  She looked up at him. “Another facet of my not-quite-so-sterling character. I can lie for a good cause and never feel guilty.”

  “Hmmm.” Nick looked straight ahead, expression thoughtful.

  Wondering whether she’d touched a nerve, she hesitated. “Um…did I just commit a crime?”

  “Pardon?”

  “Is lying on your ‘no’ list?”

  “Honey, I hate to tarnish my good boy image, but everyone lies at some time.”

  “So you don’t mind?”

  “Not if you believe it was for a good reason. The only thing I don’t want…” Drawing to a halt, he turned to look down at her. “Is lies between us. Truth is important in a relationship.”

  “I agree.” She met his gaze steadily. “I’d never lie to you.”

  He raised one eyebrow.

  “You don’t know me well enough yet,” she reasoned, “I get that. But you know, I don’t know you well enough, either. I’m going on blind trust here and let me tell you, I don’t trust easily.” And that was the total, honest truth.

  His hand slipped up to cup her cheek. “Then I’m honoured.”

  He said the sweetest things. She smiled up at him.

  “Bree, I’d never betray your trust, ever. What you see with me is what you get, and I know it’s the same with you.”

  “Two pieces of a puzzle.” At his slightly quizzical expression, she said, “Something a good friend told me not so long ago. Basically, when you love someone and its right, it’s like two pieces of a puzzle fitting together.”

  “Wise friend.” Nick bent down to kiss her with a tenderness that just wrung her heart. With a smile he pulled back, pressed a kiss to her forehead and taking her hand once more, resumed walking.

  Falling into step beside him, Bree remarked, “I like your style, soldier boy.”

  “That’s why we fit so well together, hunter.” Nick entwined his fingers through hers, tugging her close to his side. “So, are we going hunting again tonight?”

  “I thought we could sit inside and watch a movie instead.”

  “Really?” Surprise was evident in his tone. “But what about those lights?”

  “Yep. That’s what I mean about not being so dedicated.”

  “You don’t believe in UFOs? After last night?”

  “So you admit it was UFOs!”

  “I admit it was unidentified lights. That doesn’t mean its aliens.”

  Bree laughed. “You don’t cave easily.”

  “I probably never will.”

  “No biggie.”

  “You really mean that, don’t you?”

  “Sure. No skin off my nose if you don’t believe. Heck, people all over the world believe in things other’s don’t. It’s nothing to get in a frazzle over, depending on the couple and the disagreement, of course.”

  “You are something else, Bree Ford.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  “Honey, it was meant as one.”

  She squeezed his hand.

  He returned the squeeze.

  “Anyway, the dedication,” Bree continued as they crossed the road. “I’m dedicated, I believe. But I don’t let it rule my life, not like my Mum did, and not like a lot of other hunters who make it their entire career, living and breathing it.” They started ambling down the other side of the street back in the direction they’d walked. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just not for me. Been there, done that, over it. I like to go spaceship spotting if there’s something nearby, but I’m not fanatical about it. It’s just a hobby now. Some people like to knit beside the fire, I’ll go on a hunt if I believe its valid. If I really don’t feel like going out, I won’t. After last night, I’m thinking a cosy night in is much more appealing.”

  “Agreed,” he said.

  “But I believe. I totally believe. The greys, the talls, the aliens. They are out there somewhere, near or far, they’re visiting our planet for their own purposes.”

  “You don’t believe they come in peace?”

  “Nick, really.” Bree wrinkled her nose. “If those aliens had come in peace they’d be walking amongst us now. I think they study us, as abductees will verify. For what purpose I have no idea.”

  “You’d think being so advanced that they’d have learned enough about us over all those years of experimenting,” he commented.

  “Exactly! That’s what I don’t get. Being so advanced, why the continued experiments? You know what I think?”

  “I’m really going to enjoy hearing this theory.”

  That comment deserved to be ignored. “I think they experiment on us to take the results back to their own planets to benefit them. We’re the guinea pigs.”

  After a few seconds silence, he murmured, “You might have a point there.”

  Satisfied, she nodded.

  “So maybe it’s just a pervert thing they have of probing.”

  Amused, Bree replied, “You and your probing.”

  “It’s nothing to laugh about, honey. Probing is deadly serious stuff.”

  “I’ll protect you from the probing, all right?”

  “But who’s going to protect you from the probing?”

  “I don’t get probed.”

  “You will tonight.”

  That had her missing a step.

  Laughing, Nick steadied her.

  “What did you say?” she asked, astonished.

  “Tonight.” He winked. “I’m going to probe you.”

  Her mouth fell open. Did he really just say…?

  “I’m going to eat dinner first, then feast on you. Then I’m going to probe you really decadently and-”

  �
�Hey, hey, hey.” She held up one hand. “Let’s get this straight. I’m not into the whole anal probing.”

  It was his turn to look stunned. “What?”

  “I’m sorry, but if we’re going to be truthful-”

  “Jesus. Bree, I didn’t mean anal probing.” He started laughing.

  “I’m just saying.” Placing her hands on her hips, she frowned up at him. “What?”

  “Oh Bree.” Slipping his arms around her, he drew her against him. “Oh God, you make me laugh at the most unexpected things.”

  She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing right now. “Nick-”

  “Okay, let’s get this straight. I’m not into anal sex.”

  “Thank goodness for that.” She slumped against him.

  “Oral sex, however, that is definitely on the cards.”

  Holy crap. Bree’s cheeks flamed at the matter-of-fact way Nick calmly stated it.

  “And as for sex positions, there are quite a few I like and will definitely enjoy showing you.” He dropped a kiss on top of her head. “Oh hell yeah, will I ever.”

  “Just keep holding me,” Bree muttered.

  “My pleasure.”

  “I just can’t look at you right now, so…”

  Nick started shaking with laughter.

  “Laugh it up, soldier boy. I-” Bree halted, realisation dawning. Tipping back her head, she met Nick’s twinkling eyes. “Someone has been spilling secrets!” At his innocent expression, she accused, “Bloody Sarah has been shooting off her mouth.”

  “Actually, Paul told us what was being discussed at the hairdressers the other day. Honey, you are such a raunchy bunch. I’ll never be able to walk in there without feeling sexually harassed.”

  “You dill.” Reaching around, she pinched his backside, not an easy job with the jeans he was wearing.

  “I promise you, Bree, I’ll only let you sexually harass me. In fact, I insist on it.” Grinning, he kissed her lightly.

  Feeling happier than she could remember, she resumed walking beside him down the street. “Ditto, soldier boy, ditto.”

  ~*~

  Tall, thin and dead quiet, Bill sat in the chair eyeing Bree in the mirror while she flipped the cape around him.

  Picking up the water bottle, she sprayed his hair. “So, how’s life treating you?”

  “Fine.”