by S R Silcox
I totally ignore the jealous part because I don’t want Riley to focus on it and instead pick up on the fact that she’s dated someone else before me. “So I’m not your first?”
The corners of Riley’s mouth twitch. “No,” she says. I feel like the way she says it, she’s challenging me to be upset about it, and the stupid fact is, I am. “I’m not your first, am I?” she asks.
“No.”
She stretches her hand out toward me and I scrabble to grab her fingers with mine. We pull our pool lounges closer and Riley says, “So we both had practice runs.”
“I guess.”
Riley leans across and kisses me and as I lean into her, the mattresses flip out from under us and we plunge into the water. We swim over to the edge of the pool and look at each other, laughing.
“I almost forgot,” Riley says. “I finally got a chance to talk to Dad about the security guard. He said he’d sort it out.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. He was actually quite angry about it.”
“Thanks,” I reply.
“No worries,” Riley says. She wraps her arms around me and kisses me. Man she’s a good kisser.
Someone clears their throat behind us. We look up to see Julie standing by the pool gate. “Riley, your father wants to see you at his office. He’s got something he wants to show you.” I’m guessing that since she didn’t say ‘Hi Brooks’ or ‘Sorry to interrupt’ that she’s not happy to have busted Riley and I kissing in her pool.
I pull myself up onto the pool deck. “I should get going anyway.” Riley follows me up via the steps. I quickly wipe myself down and pull on my shorts.
Riley kisses me on the cheek and says, “I’ll call you later.” She either hasn’t picked up on Julie’s coldness, or she just doesn’t care.
Julie holds the pool gate open, and as I walk through, I can feel her disapproval as she watches me leave.
As I walk through the door at Uncle Pete’s, my phone vibrates in my pocket. I smile. Riley must miss me already. I swipe the screen and it lights up with missed calls. They’re all from Rosie. I wonder what’s so important. I check my voice mail, and on the first one, Rosie sounds upset and just asks me to call her back ASAP. In the second one, Rosie is frantic, and I can’t make too much sense out of it at all. It’s got something to do with the turtles, I can understand that much, but she gets cut off. I listen to the next one, which isn’t Rosie at all, but one of the volunteers. “Hi, Brooks. This is Eric. Something’s destroyed three of the turtle nests. Can you please call Rosie as soon as you get this? She needs your help.”
I immediately call Rosie back. “Hey, Rosie. Sorry I missed your calls. I was at work most of the day. What’s happened?”
“Brooks,” she says, and I can tell from the waver in her voice that she’s upset and about to start crying. “I don’t know what happened. The nests are absolutely destroyed.”
“Goannas?” I ask, though I’m pretty sure I know the answer already.
She takes a breath. “No, we don’t think so,” she says. “There are paw prints on some of the wet sand near the high water mark. We surveyed for foxes a couple of months ago and we thought there were none. I don’t understand it. Maybe we missed something on that last one.”
I can feel my jaw clenching. “No. You didn’t miss anything. It was a dog.”
“A dog?” Rosie asks. “But, who would have a dog on the island?”
“I know exactly who it was,” I reply. “I’ll sort it out. You just go and see if you can protect the other nests and I’ll see you later tonight.”
“Okay. Thanks, Brooks. I’ll see you later.”
I’m fuming by the time I hang up the phone. I don’t even bother to have a shower or get changed. I grab my scooter keys from the key tray in the hallway, and head straight to Scott Fisher’s office.
Twenty Seven
Riley
Dad’s receptionist, Trudy, sits behind a high desk where you can only just see the top of her head. There are a couple of uncomfortable chairs to sit on and the 3D plans of the glamping project are in the corner. I wonder what Dad wants to show me? Julie never said anything to me about it after I got out of the pool. In fact, she never said anything at all to me, and I know it’s because she disapproves of Brooks. I sent Brooks a text to apologise for Julie being rude, even though it’s not my fault, but I still haven’t heard back from her. I’m thinking of sending her another one when the front door bursts open, and Brooks storms in. To say she looks angry is an understatement. I leap up off my seat and Trudy jumps up from behind her desk.
“You can’t just barge in here like that,” Trudy says.
Brooks ignores her. “Where’s your dad?” she asks me. Her face is red and her jaw is clenching.
“He’s in a meeting,” I reply.
“I need to see him, right now,” Brooks says.
“You can’t,” Trudy says. “You should leave.” She’s surprisingly calm. Maybe she’s used to people barging in to Dad’s office going off about his projects.
Brooks is defiant. “I’m not leaving until I see him.”
I put my hand on Brooks’ arm. “What’s wrong?”
“That guard’s dog destroyed the turtle nests.”
“Oh no.” I don’t know what else to say.
“Your dad let this happen,” Brooks says, pointing at me. “Your dad let those turtle nests get destroyed.”
“Why is it his fault? He said he’d sort it out.”
“He lied,” Brooks replies.
“No,” I say. “No, Dad said that the dog would be gone.” Before I can say anything more, the door of Dad’s office opens and Brooks’ mum walks out. Their conversation trails off when they see Brooks.
“Brooks,” her mum says. “What are you doing here?”
Brooks rounds on her. “I knew this would happen. I knew I couldn’t trust you.”
“About what?” Brooks’ mum looks stricken.
Dad takes a step forward. “What’s going on?”
“Your security guard’s dog destroyed turtle nests last night. You said they wouldn’t have dogs on the island. It was all bullshit, wasn’t it?” Brooks goes to step towards Dad but I put my hand on her arm and she stands still. “You just have no intention of sticking to anything you say you’re going to do, do you? What else are you hiding?”
Dad doesn’t answer her. Instead he says, “Get out.” It’s low and menacing and makes the hairs on my neck stand on end. “Get out of my office before I call the police.”
Brooks’ mum walks over and takes Brooks’ arm. “You won’t get away with this,” Brooks yells as her mum pulls her out of the office.
I turn to follow them out but Dad says, “Don’t you go after her.”
I turn to face him. “Why not? She’s upset.”
“Because,” Dad says. “She’s trouble, that’s why.”
“Because she’s upset that a dog belonging to a security guard that you hired destroyed turtle eggs that she’s passionate about protecting? That’s why she’s trouble?”
“I wouldn’t put it past her and her bloody protest group to have done it themselves.”
“How can you even think that?” I ask. “I was there, Dad. I watched the turtles come in and lay their eggs and I saw how important they are to Brooks. There’s no way she’d deliberately destroy those nests.”
“What, you don’t think she’d destroy a couple of turtle eggs just to make me look bad?”
I’m horrified that Dad can even think that of Brooks. “It’s not just a few eggs, Dad. There would’ve been hundreds of eggs destroyed.”
“I can’t help that,” Dad says.
“You just don’t care do you?”
“Riley—”
“No, Dad. All you care about is your stupid development and making money. You don’t care about anything, or anyone, else, do you?”
“Wait a minute—”
All of a sudden, this changes from just being about Brooks and the turtles.
It’s everything. “You didn’t care when she got diagnosed with cancer.”
“Riley, that’s not true.”
“Isn’t it? You could ditch a meeting to stop Jason from being expelled but you couldn’t even call me back when I left you all those messages about Mum.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I know all about it, Dad. Jason told me.”
“Jason? I don’t—”
“And you didn’t even come to see her before she died,” I cry, cutting him off. “She wanted to see you, and you couldn’t even leave your stupid office to come and see her.” Hot tears are streaming down my face now and Dad’s not angry anymore, but I don’t even care.
“Riley, it wasn’t like that.”
“You weren’t there when she needed you. You weren’t there when I needed you. And you don’t even care now, when I’m telling you that this matters.”
“Riley, that’s not true.” He steps towards me, his arms out, but I pull away.
“You know the only one who’s asked me about Mum since I got here? Brooks! Brooks is the only one who cares enough to even ask me how I’m feeling.” I can see the anger flash across his face. I turn to walk out the door.
“I don’t want you to see her anymore, Riley,” Dad warns.
I don’t even turn around. “You can’t tell me who I can and can’t see.”
“I’m your bloody father,” he replies.
“You haven’t been my father since you stopped letting me visit.” I push open the door and run outside.
I try calling Brooks but she doesn’t answer. When I get home, Jason and Damo are moving the last of the boxes out of the guest room and into the shed.
“Look out,” Jason says when I almost run into him coming out of my room. “What’s wrong?”
“I just had a major fight with Dad.”
Jason shifts the box he’s holding onto his hip. “Everything okay?”
“No.” I squeeze my eyes shut against the tears that I do not want to come. “I haven’t got time to explain anything. I need to find Brooks.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“She’s really angry about something and I need to find out if she’s okay.”
“Have you tried her phone?”
“She’s not answering.”
“Well, if you tell me what happened, I might know where she is,” Jason says.
I take a breath to calm myself down. “A dog destroyed some turtle nests on the island and Riley had a major blow-up with Dad about it. He kicked her out of his office and then told me I couldn’t see her anymore.”
“Wow. That’s massive.”
“Yeah. So do you know where Brooks will be?”
He thinks about it for a bit. “Well, if she’s pissed off with Scott about something to do with the development, she might be with her protest group.”
“Protest group?”
“Yeah. She didn’t tell you about that?”
“No. She didn’t.” No wonder her and Dad don’t like each other.
“If she’s anywhere, then she’ll most likely be with them. Probably cooking up some way to get back at him.” For some reason he smiles at that. I wonder why he thinks that’s funny.
“So,” I say, trying not to get impatient. “Where will the protest group be, if that’s where she is?”
Jason dumps the box on the ground and grabs my arm. “I’ll take you there,” he says.“Come on.”
Twenty Eight
Brooks
To say Jo was surprised to hear from me was an understatement, especially when I told her to contact everyone she could get a hold of to convene a special meeting. When I walk in to the lounge room at her place, I’m not surprised to feel the temperature drop in the room.
“What’s she doing here?” Sam asks, obviously not caring about the fact that I can hear him.
“Just, hear her out,” Jo says.
“Why should we? She’s the one who wanted out.” Sam crosses his arms and looks away. It hurts me just a bit that he’s angry with me, but I can’t think about that right now.
“I need your help,” I say.
Albie protests but Jo stops him. “Just listen to what Brooks has to say and then we can decide what we want to do.”
I can see she’s definitely in charge now and as much as that annoys me, I really do need their help. I think about what are the most important parts to tell them. The ones that will get them angry and wanting to do something. “A dog destroyed a heap of turtle eggs on the island last night. Hundreds of them probably. A dog that Scott Fisher allowed to be on there when he told Rosie straight to her face that his security wouldn’t have dogs.” I can see I’ve got their attention. “If he lets that slip through, what else is he going to do? Ignore the part in the plans that says he can’t build closer than fifty metres off the dunes? Or the one where he’s not allowed to clear random trees?”
“What do you want us to do?” Sam asks.
“I’m not sure yet. That’s why I came to you. I thought we could come up with something that would really show him that we’re not just a bunch of kids making trouble.”
“We could blockade the barge and stop more machinery getting across,” someone suggests.
“That will just slow them down and won’t really make any difference,” Jo says.
“What difference does it make? Scott will be so busy with the Minister on Monday he probably won’t even notice,” Albie says from where he’s standing in the back.
Jo and I both look at each other and it seems by the smile she gives me, the exact same thought has just occurred to us both.
“We’re going to take this to the next level,” Jo says. “We’re going to disrupt the Minister’s visit.”
“How?” Albie asks.
“We’re going to get across to the island and chain ourselves to the machinery,” I say.
“I love it,” Sam says. “Only one problem. I reckon Scott will have ramped up his security ready for the Minister, so how do we get in to the site without anyone noticing?”
“And how do we not get arrested,” someone else asks. “My parents would kill me if I get arrested.” There’s a murmur of agreement around the room.
“Yeah,” someone else says. “I don’t want to do anything illegal.”
“Like sabotaging the barge wasn’t illegal?” Jo asks.
“Are you going to be doing it with us, Brooks?” Albie asks. “Because you’ve been noticeably absent the last couple of protests. How do we know that you won’t organise all of this and then let us do it and end up in the lock up?”
I don’t have time to argue with them anymore. I just want to make Scott Fisher pay, and if I have to do that by myself, then I will. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly before I answer. “You know, what? I don’t care if you don’t want to help. You lot have gone on and on over the last few months about making a difference and standing up for what’s right. Now you get the chance to do something more than just sabotage a barge or stand out the front of an office with signs and you don’t want to do it? Well, fuck you guys. I’ll do it myself.” I turn to leave and walk straight into Riley.
“Whatever it is you’re planning,” she says, “I’m in.”
After the meeting, Riley and I are standing out the front of Jo’s house, and she tells me about her dad saying she couldn’t see me anymore and I feel really bad about dragging her into the middle of our fight. “It’s okay if you don’t want to do this,” I say. “I mean, it might take a few months to calm down and then we can maybe sneak a few late night visits in or something when the dust settles.”
Riley takes my hand. “This is important to you, so it’s important to me. Besides, I just don’t think Dad gets what you’re saying. Maybe if I protest with you he might pay more attention.”
“So what are you going to do now?” I ask. “He’s going to try to keep you at home. He might even change the locks on the guest house so you can’t get out.”
Riley
laughs. “He’s not that bad. He’s just angry, that’s all. Besides, I don’t think I want to go home yet. I don’t have a clue what I’d say to him.”
Before I can even think about what I’m doing, I say, “You can stay at my place. We have to get up early on Monday morning anyway to get across to the island, so it would be easier for us to leave from my place rather than you trying to sneak out without your dad or Julie seeing you.”
“That’s a great idea,” Riley says, smiling. “I’ll have to see if Jason can bring me some clothes though. Somehow I don’t think a sun dress would be appropriate attire for chaining myself to a tree.”
I laugh and squeeze her hand. Jo comes outside, and I can see her eyes drift down to my hand holding Riley’s but she doesn’t say anything. “So we’re all organised?” she asks.
“Yeah. We’re just about to head off actually.”
“Okay. Well,” she says, looking just a little uncomfortable. “I guess I’ll see you Monday morning then.”
“I guess so.” I hand Riley the spare helmet and she jumps onto the scooter behind me. “See you on Monday.” As I drive off, I glance in the side mirror. Jo’s still standing in the driveway watching us. I feel a twinge of sadness for her, but then Riley’s arms wrap around me and I feel her rest her head on my back and I forget all about Jo.
Twenty Nine
Riley
On Sunday morning, Jason drops a bag of clothes off for me at Brooks’ place, and I’m surprised he’s even packed my toiletries. I love how he’s not even embarrassed to go through my things. When he hands me the bag he says, “Just so you know, the cleaner comes tomorrow and she’s pretty thorough. So if there’s anything you don’t want her to touch, I can let her know.”
“Thanks.” I take the backpack and toss it over my shoulder. “Can you just put the wooden box on my bedside table in a drawer? I don’t want it to get broken.”
“I can do that,” Jason says. “Anything else?”
“That’s all. Thanks.”