Call Waiting

by Dianne Blacklock

  “He’s probably just growing a nice healthy ulcer on the quiet.”

  Meg leaned forward in her seat. “So tell me, Jamie said you up and left everything. How did you manage that?”

  “We just did it,” John shrugged.

  “It wasn’t quite as simple as that,” Libby explained. “John had been ill. And every time he went back to work, he just got worse. We had to do something.”

  “When we looked at the amount we had saved,” John continued, “and the equity in the house and whatnot, we realized we were sitting on a goldmine. Storing up all our wealth for some distant day when we’d retire. If I stayed alive that long!”

  “So we sold up,” said Libby. “It wasn’t such a hard decision to make in the end.” She looked at John fondly. “In fact it was the only decision we could have made.”

  “Is that when you bought this place?” Meg asked.

  “Not right away,” Libby said, refilling Meg’s glass.

  “We took off on an adventure first,” said John, reaching for Libby’s hand and grasping it firmly. “We traveled across Europe and Asia, staying in youth hostels—in our forties!” he laughed. “We had the time of our lives. We should have done it years before, but we were too busy building careers, slowly killing ourselves.”

  Meg sipped her wine thoughtfully.

  “Have you done any traveling, Meg?”

  She shook her head. “Only once overseas, just a short, organized tour.”

  Their honeymoon. Eighteen days. London–Paris plus a stopover in Bangkok for duty-free shopping on the way home. One of those “it’s Tuesday today, this must be Notre Dame” trips. Most of it was spent on a plane.

  “Make yourself a promise, Meg, that you’ll get out and see the world while you’re still young enough to enjoy it.”

  “Problem is, I’ve got a little boy now.”

  “How old is he, Meg?” Libby asked, interested.

  “Not even two.”

  “Well, that shouldn’t stop you,” said John. “He’s portable at this age. You can take him anywhere.”

  “I suppose so.”

  John looked at her. “But still she hesitates?”

  “It’s not just my little boy. There’s the mortgage, the house, the job…”

  “Think about it long enough Meg, and you’ll come up with more excuses than you’ve got years left in your life. Get rid of the clutter, you’ll breathe easier.”

  The afternoon passed in easy conversation. A cool breeze wafted up from the river, while the steep wall of the valley shaded them from the hot afternoon sun.

  “Who would like coffee?” Libby asked after a while. She started to clear away the dishes and Meg jumped to her feet to help.

  “Don’t worry, Meg. Sit, take it easy.”

  “No, it’s fine.”

  Meg followed Libby out to the kitchen. She started rinsing off plates while Libby made the coffee.

  “I should apologize for my husband,” Libby said.

  “Why? He’s terrific.”

  “Yes, but he has an almost religious fervor for our lifestyle.”

  “It’s understandable though.”

  “Maybe, but he forgets sometimes that he didn’t jump, he had to be pushed.”

  “Do you ever have regrets about not doing it sooner?”

  Libby shook her head. “I try not to have regrets. Life takes you in many different directions, and you can learn from all of them.”

  Meg nodded wistfully.

  “There’s one thing I do regret, though, and the only thing I would change if I had my time over.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Not spending enough time with my children when they were little.”

  “How many did you have?”

  “Just two. A son and a daughter. But I worked all through their childhood.”

  “I work three days a week.”

  “That’s nothing,” Libby dismissed. “I was putting in at least sixty hours every week, as well as bringing more work home on the weekends.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I was a corporate lawyer.” Libby laughed at the surprise on Meg’s face. “I didn’t dress like this then! It was another lifetime. We had a live-in nanny—she more or less raised the children. They seemed to grow up overnight. One minute you’re tying shoelaces and the next they’re asking for the keys to the car.

  “I just wish I’d stopped and watched them more often.” Libby paused. “I make sure I do that with my granddaughter now.”

  “You have grandchildren?”

  “Just the one at the moment. Our son has a little girl, Sophie, she’s nearly three. I can while away hours just watching her play. It’s such a joy. Treasure it, Meg, it passes in a heartbeat.”

  * * *

  “Don’t be a stranger,” Libby said as she hugged Jamie goodbye. She turned to Meg. “It was lovely meeting you, Meg, I hope we see you again.”

  John and Libby stood waving them off, their arms wrapped around each other.

  “They seem happy,” Meg commented as they drove away out of sight.

  “That’s because they are happy.”

  “Libby said John was ill. What was wrong with him?”

  Jamie took a breath. “He had cancer. He probably still does. But he’s been in remission for a long while.”

  He reached over and turned on the radio. Meg gathered he didn’t feel like talking about it, and they drove on for a while in silence. There wasn’t much traffic heading back into Sydney at this time of the afternoon, but northbound was a different matter. The other side of the freeway was clogged with commuters leaving the city behind them for the weekend. Possibly going to places like they’d just left. Meg felt as if she’d been away for a week. Which reminded her, she’d better check her messages.

  Jamie glanced over as she pressed buttons on the phone.

  “Sorry,” said Meg. “I really should check in.”

  He shrugged. “It’s your life.”

  A message came up on the screen from Chris.

  Don’t pick up Harry. Everything organized for tonight. See you at home.

  Of course, it was Friday. Beano night. Meg sighed audibly.

  “Everything alright?”

  “Mm, I don’t have to pick up Harrison after all.”

  “That’s your boy?”

  Meg nodded. “So, where do you need to be now?”

  Jamie smiled. “Nowhere in particular.”

  “No, I mean to drop you off. Where are you living?”

  “Bondi.”

  “Oh, we’re just up the road, at Watsons Bay. How long have you lived in Bondi?”

  “I’m just crashing at a friend’s.”

  “How come?”

  “I don’t tend to take out leases, they tie me down.”

  Meg smiled. “I guess that’s one way of looking at it.”

  When they drove into Bondi, Campbell Parade was clogged as usual. Jamie pulled the car over to the side of the road, double-parking.

  “You right to jump across?”

  Meg realized he was about to get out of the car. This was it. When would she see him again?

  “You live here?”

  “Up the road, but this’ll do.” A car honked its horn behind them. “I better go before you get hassled. See ya.”

  Meg sat shell-shocked for a moment, watching him disappear into the throng of people along the footpath. Then another honk made her jump. She climbed across into the driver’s seat, and turned the key. It made that awful scraping sound, Jamie had obviously left the engine running. Meg released the handbrake and pulled out into the flow of traffic.

  What was wrong with her? She was a married woman, for heaven’s sake. And she was feeling all wounded that he hadn’t made another date with her.

  So far she had done nothing wrong, and it was best to leave it that way. They were friends. It was no different to meeting a woman at work and getting to know her.

  Who was she trying to kid?

  * *
*

  Chris opened the front door as Meg was about to push her key into the lock.

  “Hi, honey. I thought you’d be home sooner.”

  Meg swallowed guiltily as he bent to kiss her.

  “Where’s Harrison?” she asked, walking through into the hallway.

  “He’s at Mum’s. Didn’t you get my message?”

  “Yes, I thought you were picking him up,” she said vaguely.

  “No, Mum’s having him overnight. Don’t you remember, we’re going to the Tullys?”

  Meg’s face fell. “I forgot.”

  Frank Tully worked with Chris and was the most pretentious man Meg had ever encountered. He was only outdone by his wife, Andrea. If she was asked to pick the last people on earth she felt like seeing tonight, she would have chosen them.

  “I thought you might have forgotten,” Chris was saying. “I tried to ring you at work, and they said you wouldn’t be back this afternoon, and then your mobile was off.”

  Meg held her breath. She looked up at Chris’s face. Not a hint of suspicion. He wasn’t even going to ask her where she’d been all afternoon. What a dear man. He was too good for her.

  “What’s the matter, Meg? You look winded.”

  She sighed. “I’m just tired.”

  “Why don’t you go and have a bath?”

  “But what time do we have to be there?”

  He held her by the shoulders and turned her around in the direction of the bathroom. “You’ve got time to soak for ten minutes, it’ll make you feel better.”

  Meg tested the water temperature and turned off the taps. It was still hot this evening so she kept the water barely lukewarm. She sank down to her shoulders and closed her eyes. There was a tap at the door and Chris appeared, drink in hand.

  “I thought you could use this,” he said, passing it to her.

  Meg smiled up at him. “You’re too good to me.”

  “Never too good.”

  She reached for his hand and pulled him down to kiss her.

  “I love you,” she said. “You know that, don’t you?”

  “I know,” he smiled, settling himself on the side of the bath.

  She considered him for a moment. “How was work?”

  “Fine.”

  “No, really. How was work?”

  “It was fine,” he repeated. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”

  “Do you ever get tired, or stressed?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  She shrugged. “Well. It’s just that you’re in a very high-pressure environment. You should make sure you watch for signs of stress.”

  “Have you started a new campaign on workplace health and safety or something?” He grinned.

  “No,” she denied. “I just heard a story today about someone, a stockbroker, and anyway, he ended up with cancer—”

  “Meg, I don’t think a job can give you cancer.”

  “The thing is, he and his wife just sold up everything and took off around the world.”

  Chris looked blankly at her. “What’s your point?”

  She shrugged, staring at her glass. “I don’t know.”

  “We’re going to have to get on and plan that holiday, aren’t we?” he said, leaning over to kiss her on the top of her head. He stood up. “Take your time. We’ve got half an hour before we have to leave,” he said, walking out and closing the door behind him.

  * * *

  Meg complained of a headache and they left the Tullys before eleven, and not a moment too soon. The conversation had revolved around golf handicaps, new lamps for the living room, bathroom cleaner and interest rates. And they were the highlights. If someone had handed her a gun, Meg would happily have shot herself before she died of boredom.

  She climbed into bed and snuggled back against Chris.

  “Can we pick up Harrison early tomorrow?”

  “You don’t want to sleep in?”

  “A little, but I miss him. I feel like I haven’t seen him much this week.”

  “Okay, I’ll call Mum in the morning. She’ll have him ready.”

  Meg looked over her shoulder at him. “Maybe we could go somewhere all together then?”

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “Nothing special. Just the park, or the beach. Somewhere we can just watch him play.”

  Chris leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the lips. “Whatever makes you happy.”

  Late January

  “Alaska!”

  Ally turned around with a start. She was on the main road in the middle of Bowral, and she was sure she had just heard someone call Alaska. Maybe she was imagining it.

  “Alaska!”

  She looked across the road. Matt was waving frantically to attract her attention. She couldn’t help smiling at him.

  “You cannot be trusted, Matthew Serrano,” Ally declared after he had crossed the road to join her.

  “Why?”

  “I told you my name in the strictest confidence and now you’re blurting it out in public.”

  “Well, let me buy you a drink to make up for it.”

  Ally looked at her watch.

  “Come on, you stood me up once already. My ego can’t take another rejection.”

  Ally grinned. “Okay, maybe just one.”

  They started to walk up the street.

  “I didn’t stand you up, by the way,” Ally said. “The truth is, I fell asleep that afternoon and didn’t wake up till late.”

  “That’s why you didn’t hear me knocking?”

  Ally eyed him curiously. “You came to the house?”

  He nodded. “I realized my phone was out of range most of the day, so I came by, just in case you’d tried to call.”

  “I did try, earlier on.”

  “I’ll just have to take your word for it,” he winked.

  He led her up to the Grand Brasserie and into the bar area.

  “What would you like?”

  “A glass of chardonnay, thanks.”

  Ally sat down at a table and watched Matt at the bar exchanging friendly chitchat with the barman. They obviously knew each other. Did he come here often? Was he usually on his own, or did he sometimes bring someone? Maybe the someone he took to Queensland?

  Okay, that was pathetic.

  “When did you get back?” Ally asked when he brought their drinks to the table.

  “Yesterday.”

  “How was it?”

  “Good, thanks.” He sipped his beer. “So, how do you like working at Birchgrove?”

  Ally got the impression he didn’t really want to talk about his holiday.

  “I’m having a wonderful time.”

  “Is that right?”

  She nodded. “I don’t know if it’s just the change of scenery. But it’s so nice to deal with happy, relaxed adults all day, instead of smart alec, bored adolescents.”

  “So, what do you actually do?”

  “Well, I was only supposed to be filling in for Nicola, in the restaurant. But I’ve been taking the morning shift as well, helping Evelyn with the breakfasts.”

  “That’s a pretty full schedule, early morning into the night?”

  Ally shrugged. “It’s fine, really. I get afternoons to myself, and besides, I wanted to give Lillian a rest. She didn’t recover all that well from the trip to Melbourne.”

  “Oh?”

  She nodded. “She seems, I don’t know, frail? I’ve never seen her like that before. She’s always been so energetic, so capable.”

  “I guess it’s harder to bounce back at her age.”

  “I’m trying to encourage her to sleep in for a while in the mornings, or at least not to get up and about so early.”

  “That’s good of you.”

  “No, honestly, I’m enjoying myself,” Ally insisted. “I didn’t expect to. It’ll make it all the harder to go back to teaching.”

  Matt was watching her intently. “So why don’t you stay?”

  Ally looked at him, startled. “I ha
ve a job back in Sydney.”

  “That you hate, as I recall.”

  “I don’t exactly hate it.”

  “But you’re not happy.”

  “Still, I have an obligation.”

  “To whom?”

  “The school, of course.”

  “No offense, but I don’t imagine they’d have a problem finding another teacher. And it is the start of the year, wouldn’t that be the perfect time for a replacement to step in?”

  Ally hesitated. She wasn’t sure what to say. “You don’t just get up and leave something on a whim.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because you don’t,” Ally insisted. His attitude was annoying her. “Not if you’re a responsible adult, at least.”

  He glared at her. “Oh, I see, so you’re a responsible adult if you hate what you’re doing but stick it out anyway?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “I’ve done that, I learned the hard way. Doing the ‘right thing,’ ‘sticking it out,’ because that’s what’s expected of you.” He stared at his glass. “It doesn’t get you anywhere in the end.”

  Ally wondered what he was talking about. There seemed to be a certain bitterness in his voice that she had never heard before. She decided not to push it.

  “The thing is, I have no job here, nowhere to live.”

  “What about your grandfather’s place? You could live there.”

  “Have you heard about hell freezing over any time soon?”

  Matt grinned. She smiled back at him. The tension that had crept into the conversation had just excused itself for interrupting and crept quietly back out.

  “So, where do you live in Sydney?” he asked.

  “Um, well, I’m between places. I’ll stay with friends when I go back, until I find something.”

  He looked at her curiously. Then he shook his head.

  “What?”

  “It doesn’t seem like you’re going back to much. You could rent just as easily down here.”

  “And how do I pay the rent?” Ally raised an eyebrow.

  “Work at Birchgrove.”

  “I don’t even know whether Lillian could afford to put me on.”

  “Then try another guesthouse, or a hotel. You said you like the work.”

  “But I don’t have any qualifications, and barely any experience.”

  “Lillian would give you a recommendation. That would hold a lot of weight down here.”