Romancing the Girl

by Camryn Eyde

“I’m good.” Letting go of Justine’s hand, she took a box down from the shelf.

  “Oh, Christ,” Gav moaned.

  “You know, this isn’t sounding particularly appealing right now,” Justine muttered to Aimee.

  “Trust me, it’s fine.”

  “I’ll go get the mattress,” Gav said, departing the shed.

  “Mattress?”

  “Landing pad,” Aimee explained, heading outside and in the direction of the water tank.

  “Umm…I suddenly remembered I have a shoot to prepare.” Justine turned and began to walk away the moment Aimee strapped a harness on herself and looked up to the top of the water tower they walked towards.

  “Hey!” Aimee grabbed her back. “It’s fun. Trust me.”

  “Well, how about you go first and I’ll judge from that?”

  Aimee narrowed her eyes but conceded. “Fine, but you have to climb up with me with a harness on.”

  Ascending the ladder to the water tank’s base, Justine gripped on tight as the ground looked small beneath them. Across the yards, Gav had put a mattress against the side of the machinery shed, and Aimee clipped something to a cable linking the shed and the water tank.

  By the house, Sally held back her cheering children and Miss Gerhardt looked up at them with a bored expression. The film crew gathered with their cameras at the commotion.

  “God. This is insane!” Justine complained as Aimee hooked herself to the cable.

  “No. It’s fun, and Joey only lets me do it once a year.”

  Justine just shook her head.

  Grinning, Aimee said, “So I’ll go, then you follow me down. Okay?”

  Justine shook her head. “Nope.”

  “Or…” Aimee said, pressing Justine against the water tank and kissed her while linking their harnesses together. “Or,” she said, pulling back. “We go together.”

  Justine looked down. A single loop held them together.

  Aimee raised her eyebrows to prompt an answer from Justine.

  “Fine. Together.”

  With Justine hands on Aimee’s hips, she moved them around Aimee’s waist and held tight.

  As Justine buried her face against Aimee’s neck, Aimee said, “Ready?”

  “No,” Justine whispered. A few moments later, Justine added, “Just get this over with.”

  Aimee wrapped her arms around Justine and fell backwards off the tower.

  Justine screamed the entire way down the zip line.

  Trying not to go deaf, and holding the woman tight, Aimee enjoyed the ride down right up to the moment they hit the mattress. Hitting it with her back, Justine’s weight pushed the air from her lungs and she was sure something snapped. Justine tried to back away, but tethered to Aimee, all they managed was to topple over one another. Whatever damage Aimee had done burned as she landed on Justine.

  “Oh, my God, I’m alive,” Justine muttered to herself as Aimee tried to unhook the harness with a grimace on her face.

  “What the hell is wrong with you!” said Joey as Aimee rolled off Justine. “You could have killed her!”

  “Whatever you do, don’t over exaggerate,” Aimee said to him as she got to her feet, holding her hand out to Justine to help her up.

  “What were you thinking!” Joey yelled at her before turning to Justine. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “See, she was perfectly safe,” Aimee said, trying to stand tall and ignore the pain in her ribs.

  “You are bloody insane!” Joey screamed. “You’re lucky that cable held you both up,” he said, pointing to a cable that had been joining the water tower and the machinery shed for two decades. “As of now, it gets taken down. I can’t have you taking this stupid risk every year.”

  “Well, excuse me for trying to have some fun.”

  “It’s suicidal.”

  Aimee rolled her eyes. Wrong move.

  “What has gotten into you,” Joey snapped, shoving a finger in her face.

  Noticing the way Justine stepped closer to her, Aimee said, “Back off, Joe.”

  “I will do no such thing. You can’t just push someone off the tower. Enough is enough.”

  “Or what?”

  “Or you’re off this property.”

  Aimee scowled at him. “Do whatever you like, Joe. We both know you’re going to anyway.”

  “And what the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “Figure it out,” Aimee said, storming off and trying not to cradle her ribs like she wanted to.

  Joey mimicked his sister and stormed off in the other direction, leaving the witnesses blinking with shock.

  Ah, what just happened?” Justine asked Sally.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Of course.” Justine smiled. “That was terrifying, but rather exhilarating.”

  Breathing out a sigh of relief, Sally looked in the direction of her siblings and bit her lip. “If you’ll excuse me for a moment, I need to talk to Joey.”

  Justine moved aside to let her pass, and Sally could hear the excited tones of one of the cameramen behind her as he talked to Justine.

  Chapter Ten

  Joey paced the verandah, beer in hand, as he tried to calm the storm inside him. Aimee had gone too far this time. Going in tandem from the tower was a stupid move and she should know better. What was worse, moments before he discovered what Aimee had done, he’d had a heated argument with Gav about everything that was being neglected, and found himself lacking. How had he let it get this bad?

  Growling, he turned to find Sally behind him.

  “Christ!”

  “Here, a fresh can.” She handed him another drink.

  “Thanks.” Cracking the can, he sat heavily in the cane chair nearby. “What are we going to do with her Sal?”

  “With who?”

  “Aimee!”

  Sally nodded. “As far as I can tell, no one got hurt.”

  “She nearly killed Justine!”

  “Hardly. Aimee would never have done that little trick if she didn’t think it was safe. She’s safety obsessed, you know that.”

  Joey scrubbed his face with a hand. “That’s not the point. She’s being a brat and I’m fed up with it.” He huffed out a breath and leaned his head back. “Why can’t she just grow up already?”

  “Joe, she is grown up. She’s twenty-four. She’s an honours student. She’s independent. She’s smart and she’s an asset to the station. She’s everything we raised her to be.”

  “I don’t recall teaching her how to be a bitch.”

  “Joseph!”

  “What? She’s being difficult and rude. What did Justine ever do to deserve that the attitude she’s been chucking about? Or the girls for that matter. Or me!” He groaned. “Maybe she should get off the property for a while. Get some perspective.”

  Sally took a long breath in. “I’m not sure—”

  “I can’t have her carry on the way she is. Her behaviour is unacceptable, and while I don’t want to lose her, I think it’s time she spreads her wings.”

  “By forcing her off the property? Oh, smart move, Joseph.”

  Curling his lip at Sally’s sarcastic tone, he said, “She needs to re-evaluate herself.”

  “At the expense of her free will?”

  “Bloody hell, Sal. You’re making it sound like I want to disown her.”

  “That’s exactly how she’ll see it. Why don’t you try talking to her instead of giving her ultimatums? You’ve both hardly spoken since the circus rolled into town.”

  “I’ve been busy.” Joey bit down hard on the inside of his cheek. His excuse wasn’t going to ride for much longer when his sisters discover how much he’d let everything slide. Aimee had only uncovered the tip of the iceberg. Thank goodness she hadn’t looked at their finances too closely.

  “We always are.”

  Joey stood. “Look, Sal, the fact is, Aimee has a to learn and a lot to offer at school. Maybe I should have suggested she go back to uni full time befor
e this lot got here. I could have done without her constant attitude.”

  Sally followed her brother to her feet. “She’s protective, Joe. That’s all. If you just take a moment to think about it, you’ll see she’s trying to make sure nothing goes wrong.”

  “I’m the one that does that, not her. I’m the manager here, not her. If she has an issue with the way the film crew is operating, then she comes to see me. She doesn’t, however, get to whine and pout like a spoiled child and drag people off of water towers.”

  “That’s not—”

  “Save it.” Joey turned on his heels and walked away from his sister. Sally was forever coming to Aimee’s defence like the clichéd good-cop-bad-cop routine. Yes, Joey was proud of Aimee, but she could be a downright cow when she put her mind to it. Shaking his head, he crossed the darkening yards looking for Justine, finding her in the back of her van in front of an array of televisions.

  Headphones on, she was staring at footage of the flying fox calamity of earlier.

  “Ah, hello?” he asked loudly, rapping on the van door.

  Justine jumped and threw her headphones off. “Oh, hi, I didn’t hear you.”

  “You were working.” He gestured to the screens.

  “Uh…yeah. I was about to go through this morning’s footage.”

  Joey nodded. “Right. Umm…I just wanted to make sure you’re okay, you know, after earlier. I’m really sorry about what Aimee did.”

  “She didn’t do anything. She had my permission.”

  Joey frowned. “Oh.”

  Justine gave him a thin smile and raised her eyebrows. “So?”

  “So…” He scratched his head.

  Justine cleared her throat. “Any ideas on something you’d like to do with Amber?” she asked, picking up a notepad. “I need some video of private interactions with her, plus a date, and then on Friday we need to discuss which woman you’re going to ask to leave.”

  Joey cringed internally. The show had seemed like something easy and fun to begin with, plus he had the added bonus of meeting sophisticated women he would otherwise never have met. The problem was, they were turning out just like Aimee predicted…unsuitable for station life. Two of them had already asked him how much the place was worth, and whether he’d consider selling.

  “Ah, yeah, sure. Umm…I was thinking of taking Amber out to the ruins.”

  Justine straightened in her chair. “You’re sure?”

  “Uh, yeah. It’s nice out there.”

  She nodded. “It is, but…isn’t it more of a private place. Historical and, well…special.”

  Joey cocked his head. “Sally told you that’s where the plane came down?”

  Justine nodded.

  He took a deep breath. She was right. Shame washed through him. He had all but ordered Aimee to take Justine out there, and on her birthday of all days. He sighed. Maybe Aimee had a right to be pissed off right now.

  “You okay?” Justine asked.

  “Yeah, just…” He looked over at the screen finding himself glaring and pointing at Aimee.

  Justine followed his line of vision. “Aimee?”

  “Umm…maybe the billabong out on Roper Creek will be a good place to take Amber.”

  Justine winced. “It’s not going to be a repeat of your date with Brittney is it?”

  Joey laughed. “No. I promise we’ll avoid the bugs this time. The billabong has a raft and definitely requires daylight, so maybe we can go out there for a picnic lunch or something?” He looked down at the vinyl floor of the van, thinking about the days Tracey and himself would meet up there as teens.

  “It sounds wonderful.” Justine flipped a page in her notepad. “Where is it?”

  “Southeast. There’re no tracks out to it,” Joey said, realising they’d have to use horses or bikes to reach it. The road had washed out a decade ago.

  “How far?”

  “About ten minutes on the bike.”

  Justine nodded and made notes. “Okay. I’ll think of a few conversation starters, and maybe you could tell her a bit about your parents? An anecdote from the time you spent at the billabong with them perhaps?”

  Joey nodded.

  “Any chance of looking at the scene before lunch?”

  Joey nodded again and scratched his head. “Only thing is, I’m going to be up at the yards with the shearers with most of the workers. Sal is heading into Roper Creek in the morning and Danny is out with the rest of the guys rounding up the next flock for shearing.”

  “Oh. Well, that’s okay, maybe we can head out early or something. No big deal.”

  “Well…Aimee will be around. She works with the horses Thursdays.”

  “Oh?” Justine raised her eyebrows.

  Joey grimaced. “Yeah, sorry, I know you and her don’t really get along, and I can imagine you’d rather sue her for damages, but I promise, she’ll look after you.”

  “I have no doubt. By, oh, I meant, she works with the horses?”

  “Oh, right. Yes. She trains them and so forth, but tomorrow she’s supposed to be trying to get the stallion on the fillies. That’s if her bloody horse didn’t completely ruin him.”

  Justine’s eyes crinkled in question.

  “Her horse, Kite, the one that trotted off on her the day you arrived?”

  Justine nodded.

  “Well, Handsome Boy, the stallion, mounted her and hasn’t looked at any of the other horses since.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry.”

  Joey frowned. “For what? It was hardly your fault. Just another stellar Aimee moment.” He huffed out a breath. “I’m sorry about her. I really am. She’s not been herself this week. I’ve never seen her so riled up at someone like she is with you.”

  “I must agree. She has a way of getting under my skin also.”

  Joey nodded. “I’m going to send her away. That will make it easier on everyone involved.”

  Justine gasped. “What?”

  He shrugged. “She asked for it.”

  “By doing what? Trying to have fun and protect everyone’s welfare?”

  “Protect everyone? She threw you from a water tower.”

  “I was strapped to her, I was safe.”

  Joey scoffed and pointed to the screen. “You don’t look happy.”

  Justine shook her head. “That was simply fear and adrenaline. I believe her constant disputes have more to do with ensuring the people she loves remain safe while outsiders play pretend at fitting in.”

  “You’ve been talking to Sally.” Joey huffed. Bloody women, always sticking together.

  “No, but I have been talking to Aimee. She’s worried about you.”

  Taken aback, Joey blinked. “Worried about me?” A larger realisation occurred to him. “Wait. You’ve been talking to Aimee? Civilly?”

  Justine smiled. “Yes.”

  “Huh.” Joey narrowed his eyes, trying to picture the two fiery women speaking without a healthy serving of snark. “Well…she’s around tomorrow. If you want to go out to the billabong in the morning, ask her.”

  Justine nodded. “I’ll have the film crew go with you and the contestants in the morning. I need more sound bites and captures of their reaction to the work.” Putting down the notepad, she looked at her watch. “For now, would you mind if I use your phone. I promised someone a call.”

  Joey smiled, reading between the lines. “A special someone, hey?”

  Justine nodded and gave him a closed-lip smile. “Something like that.”

  “Well, right this way,” he said, holding out the crook of his arm.

  ***

  Tired of her self-isolation and her one-sided internal argument with Joey, Aimee finally finished picking up all the screws Mitsy managed to knock over the moment they entered the shed, and made her way out to find Justine. Walking into the large quadrangle between the station buildings, she saw Justine with her arm hooked around her brother’s. What the…?

  Following them, she remained in the shadows for the sole purpose
of avoiding Joey as he led Justine to the door to the office.

  “You can call him in here,” Joey said, giving Justine a wink.

  “Thanks,” Justine said, smiling politely. “I promise I won’t be long.”

  “Take all the time you need to talk to your special someone,” Joey said, waving her off.

  Special someone? Aimee took a deep breath and clenched her teeth.

  “Hi, sweetheart,” Justine’s voice drifted from the open door.

  Aimee sighed, planning to turn around and leave Justine in privacy. Unfortunately, the movement tugged at what she suspected was a cracked rib, and made her pause and grimace for a few moments.

  “Aaron! Don’t you dare,” Justine said before giggling. “I’ll tell your mother on you,” she added.

  Ugh. The playfulness was sickening. Aimee clutched at her torso and slowly moved away, wishing the wind would stop carrying the conversation in her direction.

  “Yeah, I know honey, but I’m working. I’m not sure you’d be allowed to come out here. Yes, I know it’s just for the weekend. Okay. Yes. I’ll check.”

  Aimee stood up straight and almost cried out in pain. She was going to ask to bring this mystery man out here?

  “Look, I said I’ll ask okay, but I’m not promising anything. Can I call you back later?” A pause and Justine chuckled. “Good. Now get back to work, sweetheart, you can’t afford to get fired. I love you.”

  Aimee’s stomach sank and she slumped making her ribs complain again. Quickly hobbling out of sight, Aimee held back a hiss as Justine exited the study. Aimee rubbed the ache in her chest, blaming the battered ribs and not the muscle still beating below her hand.

  Justine made her way along the verandah to the kitchen door as Aimee held vigil against the tall stone pillar at the other end of the house. Emerging a short while later, Justine waved goodnight to whoever was in the kitchen after presumably checking if the boyfriend could have a booty call. In two minds about discovering what Sally’s answer might be, curiosity got the better of her and like a Band-Aid, it was best to rip it off fast.

  “Hey, there you are,” Sally said when Aimee walked in, finding Joey in the kitchen with her.

  “Have you apologised to Justine yet?” Joey asked.

  “Apologise for what?”