by Annie Seaton
‘I guess it’s because we all get caught up in our careers and our lives. What about you, Inga? Is this your first trip here?’
‘I’ve been working over at Airlie Beach for six months, in a coffee shop. I’ve fallen in love with the place—the people, the atmosphere, but more than anything, the beauty of these islands. When I save enough each week, I take a day cruise out to the islands on my day off. I’ve travelled a lot of the world, but I have never seen anything as beautiful as here. It is a place I would like to live. If I won the lottery, I would live on a boat like this.’
Liv smiled and looked around as the yacht motored into the bay. On one side was a small beach dotted with large rocks, and along the inner circle of the bay were mangroves. On the northern side, a high volcanic peak shaded the bush. The morning sun was still low in the sky; the trip around from Hamilton Island had made good time, with the strong wind in the sails. The verdant green of the bush contrasted with the white sands and the light-coloured rocks on the ocean side of the ominous peak. In some places, the forest of trees went right to the edge of the deep azure-blue water.
‘It’s breathtaking.’ Liv couldn’t take her eyes off the island. There were no buildings in sight and it appeared to be uninhabited.
‘Wait till we get to the lookout and you see the view from there,’ Sonia said as she walked past. ‘As soon as we pick up the mooring, please make your way to the back of the boat. Captain Jay will bring the tender in as soon as we’re secure and we’ll take you in to the beach.’
The passengers near the bow moved back as Sonia and the deckhand leaned over with a large boat hook and picked up the mooring.
‘We’re secure, captain,’ Sonia called. Captain Jay turned around and gave her the thumbs up, his smile wide. Liv looked away as he vaulted over the back of the boat into the tender.
The passengers were divided into three groups to take the short trip to the beach in the inflatable tender. ‘We’ll be walking to the lookout, so make sure you have your cameras with you.’
Liv wasn’t used to having such a lazy day. As she waited, her fingers went automatically to her pocket, feeling for her phone to do her hourly email check, before she remembered she’d locked it in the safe in the hotel room. A day without technology at her fingertips was rare; she smiled as she leaned back, relaxed.
As she looked out over the water, she wondered again why this area had been chosen as the site for a coal loader. The proposal outlined the advantages of the deep-water bay, where ships could come in beside the coal loader, and extolled the advantages of the proximity to the proposed coal mine. Surely, though, there were other suitable locations, further from the islands? She hoped the revised location and the revised rail route were as a result of those factors being considered.
But on the other hand, enhanced employment for the local area was one of the key features of her presentation on Monday. The more she saw of the islands and the Whitsunday Passage, the more her stomach churned with uncertainty. Surely the impact on tourism would take away any other economic benefit provided by enhanced employment? Liv chewed on her lip. She would revisit that part of her talk tonight. Her gut feeling was that her presentation—the presentation and the figures she had been given—wasn’t going to go down well at the community meeting.
Monday loomed ahead like a black shadow, and Liv couldn’t wait for it to be over. Since she’d arrived in the islands, this whole project was making her ill at ease.
She jumped as the motor revved and the inflatable tender turned in a wide arc, coming in close to the back of the yacht.
‘Last group, come on over,’ Captain Jay called. He held out his hand to each passenger as they stepped from the back of the yacht into the small boat that was bobbing about on the waves. ‘We only take eight at most.’ He looked up and caught Liv’s eye and gave her a broad smile. ‘The fewer passengers in the tender, the higher we are in the water, and the more chance of everyone staying dry.’
She shook herself mentally as she waited her turn to step down into the small boat. His hand was warm and his grip strong as he helped her into the boat, and the little shiver that went down her back annoyed her.
The front of the tender rose and fell in the small waves, and the passengers stayed dry as they crossed from the yacht to the shore. All went well until the boat stopped in the shallow water near the rocky beach. Captain Jay held it steady as the passengers swung their legs over the side and waded the short distance in to the beach.
‘No!’ The cry was full of fear. A young Japanese woman refused to step into the water. Her husband was out of the tender and stood in the water, waiting for her to climb out. He held out his hand but she didn’t move. She sat with her arms folded and shook her head. ‘Irukandji.’
Captain Jay stood in the back of the boat and let the motor idle, but the boat was being pushed closer to the rocks with each wave that pushed in.
‘It’s safe to walk that short distance. No jellyfish will get you, you’ll only be in the water for a few seconds.’ Liv sensed a note of impatience in his voice, but his smile held sympathy.
The woman’s eyes were wide with fear and she shook her head again. ‘No. Crocodiles too.’
Her husband raised his hands in frustration. A short conversation ensued, and Liv caught Captain Jay’s eye as the woman sat back with her arms folded.
No amount of persuading from her husband or Captain Jay would entice her to get out of the boat, and the woman was blocking the way out for Inga and Liv.
‘I don’t suppose either of you can drive a boat?’ Captain Jay turned to them, his voice low.
‘Actually, I can.’ Liv held back a laugh when he raised his eyebrows. ‘I’ve done a lot of boating on Sydney Harbour.’
Another point to me, captain.
‘Great.’ He pointed to the throttle arm of the motor and gestured for Liv to take his seat. ‘Just keep it idling. If the waves push it too close to the rocks, do you know how to put it into reverse?’
She nodded and took the throttle from him. Before she could speak, Captain Jay jumped over the side, and walked around to the back of the boat. He held his arms up like a cradle, and then gestured to the shore.
The woman nodded. He leaned over, scooped his arms beneath her legs and back before carrying her to the shingly sand, and putting her down beside her husband.
‘I wonder if I pretend to be scared too, will the beautiful captain carry me,’ Inga said with a smile before she climbed over the side. By the time she was at the beach, Captain Jay had jumped back into the tender and taken the throttle from Liv.
‘Thank you. A WHS nightmare, but I appreciate that you helped out.’ For the first time, his voice seemed sincere. ‘You jump out now and I’ll drag the boat up.’
‘She’s right, you know.’ Liv looked over into the clear, shallow water. ‘I recall reading a newspaper article quite recently, where somebody was standing in ankle-deep water, and bent down to wash the sand off their face, got stung and ended up in Mackay hospital for a week.’
His voice was laconic. ‘You’d have to be pretty unlucky.’
‘But it could happen,’ Liv persisted.
‘It could.’ As she stood to get out of the tender, his gaze caught hers. ‘I guess there’s a serpent in every paradise, Ms Sheridan.’
* * *
The rest of the day on the Lady May was relaxed, and Liv managed to forget her concerns and enjoy herself as they snorkelled and explored the island. Captain Jay left Liv alone after his ‘serpent in paradise’ comment. In fact, he’d let the rest of the crew look after the passengers and steered the old sailing boat around the north side of Whitsunday Island with no time on the microphone. A couple of times, Liv caught him watching her. She’d looked away. After they’d snorkelled at Blue Pearl Bay, Sonia told them the history of the islands as the sails filled with wind and they almost flew over the water.
It was exhilarating. Liv tipped her head back, enjoying the wind rushing past her face. The variety of t
he sea life and coral had amazed her. When she had hefted herself over the tender and handed the flotation noodle to Nick after snorkelling in the bay, she’d raved about the colours she’d seen. Inga smiled at Liv as they dried their hair back on the boat.
‘I cannot believe you have not been snorkelling before!’
‘That was incredible.’ Liv couldn’t keep the smile from her face. ‘Will you come again?’ Inga asked.
‘I will. As soon as I can take a holiday,’ she replied as she tied her sarong over her wet swimming costume.
‘We must exchange phone numbers. I could show you around the town if you come back here,’ Inga said shyly.
‘I’d like that.’ Liv crossed to the side of the boat and listened to the commentary coming over the speakers as they travelled back to Hamilton Island.
The wind was brisk and the return trip was a fast sail, but Liv didn’t mind. As they rounded Langford Island and headed out into the Passage, they turned south. The yacht rolled in the swell as waves rose up in the open water. Liv jumped as a firm hand gripped her elbow and she turned around. Captain Jay was standing very close to her.
‘Take care there, Liv. We’re about to turn into the wind. I’d hate to see you go overboard.’ As he spoke, the boat slewed to the side and Liv stumbled. She gripped the rail firmly with both hands.
‘I’m fine, thank you. I have my sea legs now.’
He let go of her arm. A slow glance dropped down to the bare legs beneath her short sarong and she lifted her chin. It must have sounded as though she was trying to get him to look at her legs. She bit back a smile as he nodded.
‘And very nice sea legs, I must say.’
He’s certainly a player.
Liv had always been impatient with the whole male–female flirting thing. She’d been working too hard to have time for any of that since she’d left university. She stared towards the mainland and ignored him. He moved close again and lifted his arm to her shoulder and she waited, but he extended his hand and pointed without touching her.
‘See the second hill north of the township?’
Liv followed the direction he was pointing in and nodded. ‘Yes.’
The sun was low in the sky and a small island appeared to hover over the horizon, burnished in a golden bronze. Several inlets cut narrow bays into the far hills that seemed to drop all of the way to the edge of the water.
‘Follow that around and then cross to the next fold in the hills. See the hill with the small clearing at the top?’
She nodded again.
‘That’s the head of Double Bay.’
Liv nodded. ‘Is it?’
‘Oh, it is, darlin’. Double Bay East and Double Bay West.’
She looked back at the township and then to the inlet that he had pointed out. Double Bay had been the original proposed site for the development and she couldn’t believe it was so close to the town, not to mention the islands.
‘And your point is?’ She stared at him but there was no friendly smile on his face now.
‘I just wondered if you are aware of how close Double Bay is to Airlie Beach.’
‘I guess I am now, seeing you’ve so kindly pointed it out to me, but—’
‘But?’ His gaze was intense and Liv noticed the unusual colour of his eyes; deep green flecked with gold.
‘But I’m on a day off. I’m here to enjoy a day on the water. If you want answers, and reassurance about the project, I suggest you come along to the community meeting on Monday. That’s a more appropriate place to have your questions answered.’
‘Oh, I wouldn’t miss it for the world, sweetheart.’
Suddenly, all of the pleasure from Liv’s day was gone. A cloud crossed the sun, and the bright blue water looked dark and murky. When she got back, she was going to call her father. She wasn’t just going to be the pretty face. If he wanted her to be able to persuade the community that this was of such benefit to them, she needed to present more information about the site relocation. He wanted the process to be seen as open and transparent so the community could feel well-informed, he’d said.
Why was Earlando Bay a more acceptable location?
CHAPTER
6
Liv threw her phone down onto the table in disgust. Her father was always available, all hours of the day and night—his PA had joked once that he’d still be answering his phone at his own funeral. He was overheard and dismissed—and she couldn’t understand why he wasn’t picking up his phone tonight.
As soon as she got back to the hotel room, Liv opened the file she’d downloaded before she brought up Google Maps on her Mac Air. The names of the bays were familiar now and she could picture many of them now after being out there today. The new location for the coal loader was only one bay north from Double Bay. She shook her head; it was still very close to the tourist town and the charter routes that she’d seen so many yachts and powerboats on today.
The new location was in a small mangrove-edged bay called Earlando Bay. Liv chewed her lip as she traced her finger over the map. There was a small island, Grassy Island, at the front of the bay, and even she could see that the coal ships would have to come in south of the island to access the coal loader. It was way too close to the main islands, and as she looked more closely at the map, she noticed there was another resort area not far to the north at Cape Gloucester.
How the hell were they going to persuade the community that a coal loader would go smack-bang in the middle of a busy tourist destination? And supposedly have no impact on tourism or the environment. She chewed on her lip as her eyes scanned the bays again.
Liv picked up her phone and hit redial. It went straight to her father’s voicemail again. As she put the phone down, she sighed and flicked her braid over her shoulder. Her hair was stiff from swimming in the salt water, and in need of a shampoo and a good dollop of conditioner. She’d been tempted many times to have her waist-length hair cut short but had managed to resist so far. Confining it to a braid most of the time made it easy to look after.
Heading to the luxurious marble bathroom, she set the bath taps to run and perused the shelves recessed into the wall, choosing the orange blossom fragrance bath oil.
Liv glanced at the table beside the door. There were two messages propped up on a small wooden stand. She picked up the first note and unfolded it.
Tried to ring you, darling. Hope the island is beautiful. Have a great time, and don’t let your father bully you. Love Mum.
She smiled. Mum had told her last night that she worked too hard.
And she was right. Lately, her job satisfaction at Sheridan Corp had been nonexistent. If she was honest, it had never been satisfying and she was beginning to accept that working hard to please her father and to get some recognition from him was a waste of time. Here she was: thirty years old, working long hours with no time for holidays to enjoy places like this and not even moving up any higher in the company.
Why do I do it? Is it really worth it? She’d never listened when Mum or Gran had tried to tell her. Mum’s words were a little bit more restrained, but Gran’s opinion of Andrew Sheridan was as low as it could go. Ever since Gran and Pa’s farm had been resumed by a coal-mining company and they’d lost the farm that had been in the family for generations, Gran’s words about her former son-in-law had been vitriolic.
‘I hate that you work with him, Livi. He is a low-life, conniving bastard and I told your mother that before she married him. But like her, you won’t listen.’
‘Gran, don’t worry. I’m good at my job and I know what he’s like.’
‘You might think you do, but trust me, sweetheart. I hope you will never know personally what he is capable of. He is a very dangerous man.’ Her grandmother had snorted with disgust. ‘With your education, you could get a much better job. And not with a company that’s destroying the environment with every new project they take on.’ Poor Gran had never got over having to move off her family’s farm to make way for an open-cut coal mine. The stor
y went that she’d chained herself to a bulldozer and wouldn’t budge, but Liv wasn’t sure if it had really happened. Gran was not one to talk about the past.
Maybe it was time to think about a move. Seeing the beauty of these islands had been a huge wake-up call. Thinking about them being compromised made Liv realise that she didn’t want to be involved with the sort of developments that Sheridan Corp contracted. She sighed as she reached for the other message.
Please call Byron Ellis. As soon as you can. Many thanks.
This was his second message. She hadn’t had a chance to call him back yet. There was a mobile number on the message slip. Liv glanced at the time as she picked up her phone, but the call answered immediately.
‘Byron Ellis speaking.’
‘Oh hello, Byron. This is Liv Sheridan. We met briefly yesterday at the marina with your aunt.’
‘Hi, Liv. Thanks for returning my call. I hear you went on a charter today?’
The front desk must have passed on her message to him. ‘Yes, on the Lady May. It was most enjoyable.’
‘I’m pleased to hear that. We like to see the visitors to our islands enjoying themselves.’
‘Yes, I did. You asked me to call?’
Byron’s voice was concerned. ‘Yes. I actually have quite a favour to ask you.’
‘Yes?’ she said slowly.
‘Just hear me out first and see what you think. Aunty Tat has been distraught since she saw you yesterday. We can’t get her to settle and she didn’t sleep at all last night. She usually lives alone but we’ve had to stay over. My wife was up with her most of the night, and then I took over so she could get some sleep. Sorry, you don’t need all the details, but she’s really upset.’
Liv stood and walked into the bathroom, flicking the taps off as she listened.
‘So, I was wondering if you were planning on visiting the mainland at all,’ he said. ‘I … we were hoping you might come and visit her.’