‘No way.’ Lena held up both her hands. ‘I’m not sleeping on dirt and breathing in this stench all night long.’
‘Me neither,’ Sharon agreed. ‘I think we should try and get the van back to Karratha since it’s closer than Wickham. Why don’t we just wait for the engine to cool a little and then try and start it up again?’
As no one had a better plan, they did just this. Lena and Sharon sat on the back doorstep of the van while the boys finished their tinnies. Lena thanked heaven that was the last of them.
After ten minutes that seemed to last a century Lena roused the troops. ‘Come on, we better try that engine again. Everyone back in the van.’
It was like rounding up a classroom of children. They dawdled, they ran away, they giggled and swatted her hands until Lena was ready to just leave them behind. She told them as much and wished she’d made the threat sooner because they finally boarded the vehicle.
Lena hopped into the driver’s seat again and Sharon into the front passenger seat. With a little prayer, she turned the key. The engine made an awful gagging noise before dying.
‘Try again,’ Sharon urged. Her voice was desperate, not that Lena needed much encouragement.
She turned the key a second time. This time the engine didn’t even gag. There was just stone-cold silence.
‘Are you turning it?’ Sharon demanded.
‘Yes,’ Lena replied impatiently. ‘Nothing’s happening.’
‘Okay, nobody panic,’ Fish slurred as he fell out of the van onto the dirt again. Lena jumped out of the driver’s seat and slammed the door behind her.
‘What’s left to do?’
‘There’s no need to get cranky.’ He gave her a reproving glance and then burped. ‘All this needs is a little male intervention. Since Carl and I are the senior members of staff on this road trip, we’ll fix the engine.’
‘What?’ she said at the same time as Carl said, ‘Huh?’ He too exited the van, practically falling on top of Leg as he did so.
Sharon put a hand to her forehead. ‘God save us.’
In his drunken haze, Carl appeared to notice her doubt and, much to Lena’s annoyance, it seemed to give him an incentive.
Please! Now you want to impress her?
Carl lifted his chin and with new determination drained his can before pitching it into the back of the mini-van.
‘Ow!’ The can had hit Harry in the head.
Carl laced his fingers together, flexed them and gestured imperiously for Fish to follow his lead. Seeing the seriousness the operation required, Fish also drained his can and pitched it into the back of the van.
‘Hey, watch it!’
‘If we do this right,’ Carl said to Fish in lowered tones that she suspected were supposed to be highly knowledgeable, ‘this will be a fuckin’ piece of cake, mate. Fuckin’ piece of cake.’
Fish nodded.
Lena bit her lip, wishing she hadn’t been so hasty in showing them her frustration. ‘Are you sure this is a good idea?’
‘Damn straight it’s a good idea,’ Carl promised and then took five minutes just to figure out how to open the bonnet.
With a bang, the bonnet flew up and Lena and Sharon stumbled back as they were assailed by a much stronger stench of dead and still-cooking kangaroo.
Completely undeterred, Carl and Fish peered into the engine. Lena didn’t know how they managed to see anything because the van headlights pointed outwards and they didn’t have a torch. But what really had her worried was that even though she was standing a few feet away she could feel the heat radiating off the engine. Scenes from various action movies involving exploding cars began to flicker through her mind.
‘Er . . . maybe you two shouldn’t do that,’ she cautioned. ‘What if you burn yourselves?’
‘Relax.’
‘What if the van explodes?’
‘It’s not going to fuckin’ explode.’
‘This is why.’ Fish clamped a grease-stained hand on Carl’s shoulder. ‘Men like us: we don’t tie ourselves down. Women will always try to hold you back from who you can be.’
With a frown, Carl shrugged off Fish’s grip and returned to his task. Lena noticed with satisfaction that there was a perfect black imprint of Fish’s hand now stamped upon his shoulder. When she glanced at Sharon, her friend’s eyes were dancing.
Their attention was pulled back to the men, however, when Carl advised Fish to look in the corner because he thought he might have found the cause of the problem. It was then that they started pulling out all sorts of bits and pieces from the engine. Bits of fanbelt, rubber and other metal pieces flew over their shoulders.
‘Don’t need this.’
‘Don’t need that.’
‘Hey!’ Lena cried as a piece of rubber just missed her shoulder. ‘Be careful.’
She could barely see their faces now as both heads were practically buried under the bonnet. They were chatting excitedly to each other like a pair of monkeys but she couldn’t make out what they were saying.
‘They’re ruining the van more, not fixing it,’ Sharon observed as another piece of something flew over their heads. ‘This is a complete waste of time.’
Fish emerged holding a thing that looked a bit like a fan with a wire attached to it. ‘Hey, Carl,’ he enquired, ‘do you know what this does?’
Carl straightened, looked at it, scratched his head and replied, ‘Well, it’s not doing it any more, is it?’
Fish nodded. ‘Yeah, you’re right.’ And he chucked that on the side of the road as well.
‘Okay, that’s it,’ Lena called out. ‘You better stop. This is crazy. There is no way you guys are helping that car.’ She rubbed her arms. ‘And the mozzies are starting to bite.’
‘We can’t stop now,’ Carl said, with one hand still inside the engine. ‘Not when we’re so fuckin’ close.’
‘Close to what?’ she demanded. ‘Getting hurt?’
Fish waggled his pointer finger at her. ‘You know, your lack of faith is really not helping matters at all.’
‘Fuck yes,’ said Carl. ‘Why do you keep thinking something is going to go wrong? Don’t you –’
Suddenly he began to shake violently. The hand resting inside the car seemingly stuck there as he tried to get it free. His eyes rolled back into his head and gurgling noises erupted from his slack mouth.
‘Carl! Carl!’ Sharon and Lena screamed and ran towards him. Abruptly, he let go of the engine, laughing so hard he was fit to burst. As he stumbled backwards, clutching his belly, he tripped over a tree log and fell on his bum. The abrupt impact, however, did nothing to steady his amusement. He rolled and continued to laugh harder. Fish shamelessly joined in till they were both holding their sides from the pain of snorting.
Lena’s blood boiled. ‘That was not funny!’
‘You scared us half to death,’ Sharon cried. ‘We thought you were dying!’ The distress in her voice seemed to sober Carl. He choked back the last laugh and sat up.
‘Sorry, love. Just couldn’t resist.’
The endearment distracted Lena for a moment because it was so out of character. But in a second the moment was gone. Carl was up on his feet again, dragging Fish by the scruff of the neck back to the engine. After a bit more rummaging, he announced that he was going under and laid down on the side of the road beneath the car. When he finally emerged again, his shirt was covered in oil.
‘Er, think I’ve worked out what the problem is. The fuckin’ roo stuck its head in our radiator. Looks like we can’t fix it.’
Lena looked heavenwards. ‘You don’t say.’
Carl ignored her sarcasm, stood up and whipped a mobile phone from his pocket. ‘Better ring Mike; he might be able to come pick us up.’
Lena was so angry she saw spots. ‘You ha
d that thing this whole time and you didn’t tell us!’
He blinked at her. ‘We didn’t need the mobile before. Fish and I were fixing the engine.’
A number of rude responses hovered on the tip of her tongue; only the fact that he was her boss held them there. As she calmed down, Carl got busy on his mobile.
She never thought that one day she’d be grateful to Mike or that she’d ever value his intelligence above Carl’s. But it looked like she was going to be wrong on both counts. She listened hopefully to Carl’s end of the conversation and was pleased to note that Mike was agreeing to come get them. In fact, the conversation seemed to be going quite smoothly until Carl went and ruined it.
‘Oh and just one more thing, Mike. Can you bring a carton? The boys have drunk all the piss and the Esky –’ He broke off and pulled the phone from his ear to look at it. ‘He fuckin’ hung up.’
‘He better still be coming, Carl,’ Lena warned. ‘’Cause if he’s not . . .’
‘He’s fired, that’s what he is,’ Carl finished for her, putting his phone back in his pocket. ‘Fancy hanging up on your boss, little prick.’
Lena sent up another prayer that Mike would come but without the carton. After that, there was nothing they could do but wait and hope it wasn’t in vain. They lapsed into a companionable silence that was broken once or twice by Fish trying to crack a funny joke or two to keep them amused.
Eventually, Lena heard the faint sound of a car approaching. She stood up and went to the roadside. There were headlights in the distance. Someone was definitely coming. Regardless of whether it was Mike or not, she had already decided to flag them down.
Radar and Leg remained in the van but the rest of the group stood on the side of the road, jumping up and down and waving their arms. The ute didn’t hesitate in pulling over beside them. It was Mike after all.
When he exited the vehicle, however, his expression was thunderous. A second later Lena found out why. The front passenger door opened. Blind drunk and waving a glass of bourbon in one hand, Gavin staggered out. She slapped a palm to her head.
‘You’ve got to be kidding me. Gav?’
‘I was in the bar when Carl called and he was there.’ Mike glared at Lena. ‘The dropkick insisted on coming. Short of knocking him out, couldn’t leave without him.’
‘You needed me,’ Gavin slurred. He stretched his arms wide, sloshing a bit of his whisky on the dirt. ‘They all need me.’
Oh brother.
‘Did you bring the carton?’ Carl demanded.
‘No.’ Gavin stumbled, almost dropping his glass. ‘Didn’t know you wanted one. But it doesn’t matter. I’m going to do you one better than that.’ He looked at Sharon and flicked his chin as though to say, ‘You’ll wish you hadn’t rejected me when you see this.’ He swung his arm at the mini-van, sweeping the entire vehicle with this unsteady but all-encompassing gesture. ‘I’m going to fix that engine for you.’
Sharon and Lena immediately barred his path. ‘No way!’
As it turned out, Mike had to do about three trips with his ute to get them all back to Karratha Resort. He also called a tow truck to get what was left of the van back there too. Lena thought he was about as furious as she had been half an hour earlier by the end of it. The difference was his rage wasn’t directed at the group but at only one person.
Her.
How the ruination of his entire evening was completely her fault was beyond her. Like she could have predicted they’d hit a kangaroo and get stranded on the side of the road. Hell, if she had been able to do that, she would have cancelled the whole event before it even started.
By the time they got back to the hotel, it was two-thirty am and they were exhausted. The reward was well worth the pain though. Sharon and Lena were both looking forward to spending a night, company paid, in the most luxurious hotel in town. The modern decor, the shiny bathrooms, the scented towels. As soon as they entered their room, Lena breathed it all in with a shiver of delight.
‘Now this is more like it.’
The two of them fell into bed twenty minutes later and slept without interruption until the shrill sound of their telephone erupted in the silence.
Sharon groaned, pulling her covers over her head as Lena groped for the receiver.
‘Hello,’ she croaked into the mouthpiece.
‘Lena.’ The low baritone was unmistakable. ‘Are you okay?’
Lena’s eyes, which seconds ago had felt glued shut, flew open. ‘Dan?’
Like a meerkat suspecting danger, Sharon’s head popped out from behind her covers again.
‘Yeah, it’s me. I saw Carl in the lobby this morning trying to organise some cars for you guys and he told me what happened.’
‘Oh.’ Lena licked her lips.
‘It looks like you’ll be at the hotel for most of the day. There aren’t any cars until three this afternoon.’
Lena looked at her watch. It was only just past ten. Five more hours in this resort? Who was she to complain? ‘Sounds great.’
‘Just wondering if there’s anything I can do.’ Dan paused. ‘I mean, I do have a car here, so if you two want to get back to Wickham earlier . . .’
Lena glanced wryly at Sharon. ‘Somehow I think we’ll manage at the resort a little longer.’
‘Okay.’
There was an awkward silence and Lena clutched the phone like it was a lifeline – willing Dan to speak.
‘I guess I’ll leave you to it then,’ he finished finally.
‘Dan, wait,’ she rushed out, unable to bear it any longer. ‘I need to talk to you.’
‘About what?’
‘I don’t like the way we left things last night. You didn’t let me explain.’
There was a ragged sigh. ‘There’s nothing for you to explain.’
Lena glanced at Sharon, who was watching her with some concern. As much as she trusted her friend, she didn’t really want to have this conversation in front of her.
‘Can I see you this morning? How about breakfast?’
‘That’ll be difficult considering I just left Carl and your other two colleagues in the restaurant. You know what will happen if we’re seen together.’
Lena chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip. ‘Okay, what about the gym?’
‘Mike’s wife has a work-out there every morning. I know, because usually so do I.’
‘Down by the pool then?’
She could hear the frustration in Dan’s response. ‘It’s in complete view of the restaurant. Listen, Lena, I really don’t think –’
‘The spa isn’t.’ She interrupted him, holding her breath at the boldness of this move.
‘What?’
‘The spa is almost completely hidden by a ring of palms. No one will see us talking in there.’
Dan’s voice was gruff. ‘Now that’s really not a good idea.’
‘I only want a minute of your time.’ She glanced at the clock beside the phone. ‘I can be there in thirty minutes. What about you?’
‘Lena, there is nothing more to say.’
‘I think there is. Please be there.’ She hung up the phone before he could deny her again.
‘Lena.’ Sharon’s tone was distinctly disapproving. ‘What are you doing?’
I don’t know, I don’t know, Lena cried nervously in her head, though she made no reply.
‘Lena,’ Sharon repeated urgently, ‘talk to me.’
Lena threw off her covers and swung her legs out of bed. ‘I’m going for a swim.’
‘You’re going to meet Dan: that’s what you’re doing.’
‘Last night,’ Lena tried to explain, ‘we spoke about what happened but he did most of the talking. I never got to say much. I feel like it was unfinished.’
Sharon’s eyes wi
dened. ‘Are you thinking about having a relationship with him?’
‘No!’
‘Then don’t you think maybe what you need is distance?’ Sharon also threw off her covers.
‘What I need,’ Lena stood up and walked into their bathroom, ‘is closure.’
‘But you don’t have any bathers,’ Sharon protested.
Lena grabbed one of the hotel toothbrushes above the sink. ‘I’ll buy some from the gift shop.’
Unfortunately, the hotel gift shop did not sell bathers but they directed her to a surf shop across the road that did. She bought a one piece and headed back to Karratha Resort.
Only a few people populated the pool area and they were all sunbaking rather than swimming. She headed for the palm trees and stepped into the shaded alcove nestled in their centre. The spa was big, deep and steaming. It was also empty.
Perfect.
Without further ado, she walked down the three steps into bubbling ecstasy. Warmth seeped into her bones as she sank up to her neck. The frothing jets gently massaged her body, easing some of her nerves.
Fifteen minutes later, however, Dan still had not showed up and she was beginning to suspect that he wasn’t coming. She shut her eyes. Should she really be that surprised? He had said he didn’t want to meet her.
Even as the thought pushed through her brain, she heard a slight splash and looked up.
It was Dan, but he didn’t look happy.
‘I wasn’t going to come,’ he said. ‘But I didn’t want you to think I didn’t care.’
‘Oh,’ she faltered, still trying to get over the first sight of him, naked to the waist, muscles shifting as he waded swiftly across the pool to sit opposite her.
‘Is this really worth the risk?’ he demanded as he turned and sat down. ‘Does your career mean so little to you?’
The question snapped back her attention like a mouse trap. ‘You’d be surprised how much my career means to me.’ She lifted her chin. ‘I know you’ve never had much faith in my ability but you can’t fault my willingness to give it a go.’
He looked startled. ‘I have never doubted your ability, Lena. Just your common sense.’
The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots Page 25