by Meg Buchanan
“Daddy, ‘tar,” she said. I had heard someone get up, and there had been kettle boiling sounds. Jess’s mum poked her head out the door.
“She all right with you, Isaac?” she asked.
“Yeah.” We could have lost her yesterday. I don’t know how anyone could cope with that. Those few minutes when I didn’t know where she was felt like an eternity. I kept playing. Jess’s mum’s head popped back in. I guessed she was on her way back to bed. Maybe Isabelle didn’t sleep all night last night.
Isabelle came and sat on the steps beside me.
“Couldn’t sleep either?” I asked. She looked up at me and grinned.
We almost lost her. Weren’t careful enough. From now on, I’m not going to let her out of my sight.
I gave Old McDonald a whirl just for her then went back to my stuff. Isabelle put her elbow on her knee and her chin on her fist. Funny about little kids, ask them to put their hands on their heads they can hardly reach, but when they sit like that it works.
She didn’t seem to mind what I was playing. She just sat there listening.
She likes music.
Maybe she’ll be the rock star.
It’s back to work next week for me.
Chapter Twenty-One
Sunday April 24th
I watched Luke come into the loading bay with Steve. Most of the kitchen units were loaded. Just the top to go, then we could cover it and take off.
“The top is still fifteen minutes away,” said Luke. “They were held up. They met road works just out of Hamilton.”
“Okay. Are we waiting?” I leapt down off the back of the truck.
“Yep.” It was the first time Luke had been put in charge of a whole job. He’d coordinated everything for this kitchen from its first measure, to the ordering, to the construction, and now the last thing—installation. We had two days to get it installed because on Saturday we’re going to Hamilton. We’re big at the pub now. Harry loves us. I guess with the crowds we’re pulling, he’s selling more drinks.
“We can use the time to load the gear,” said Luke.
“I’ll get the installation kit.” Reg headed for the storage racks.
Steve wandered back into the office. He didn’t look like he was planning on helping. But then, Steve’s the foreman and over the last few months he’s watched the boss’s son being given more and more responsibility.
“Do you want your whole toolbox?” I asked Luke. Most of the time we just take the installation kit, but this installation could get tricky. We haven’t taken the old kitchen out yet.
“Yeah, take everything. We won’t know what we’re dealing with until we’ve demolished the units.”
I nodded, then heard a car pull up outside factory. I looked out past the truck. A girl I didn’t know was driving the car.
Luke saw the car pull up too. “Shit,” he said. “Back in a minute.” He wandered over trying to look casual and leaned against the door.
The girl wound the window down. I went back into the factory and grabbed Luke’s toolbox.
When I got back to the truck, Luke was still talking to the girl. Then she tilted her head as if she expected him to kiss her.
Can’t be here to buy a kitchen, I thought. Luke checked behind him then went in for a brief brush of the lips.
“I hope you’re planning on doing better than that tonight,” she laughed as she put the car into gear.
“I’m at work,” said Luke.
“No kissing when you’re work. I didn’t know that was a rule,” she said.
Luke laughed and waved her off. He came back to where I was standing in the loading bay.
“Who was that?” I asked.
“Tara.” Luke looked at his watch. “I hope those tops aren’t too much longer.”
“Didn’t I go to your engagement party a few month ago?”
“Back off,” said Luke, “or I might notice the girl in Temptation, sounds a lot like your sister-in-law.”
“Jesus.” I slammed the door shut. Bloody Luke kept that little gem to himself for a while. “Isn’t Tessa going to find out? This is a small town.”
“I figure I’ve got until the next Christmas holidays to make up my mind,” said Luke.
“You’re planning on juggling two girls for nearly a year?”
Luke shrugged. The van with the benchtops came around the corner. I helped Luke and Reg load the tops, tie it all down and then cover it. The house we were putting the kitchen into was only just out of town, but the installation would take all day and a bit of the next day to finish.
I watched Luke stare at the top lying across the units we’d just installed. His lips formed ‘fuck’. But he didn’t say it out loud because, just like me and Reg, he knew the owner was in the next room. But, it’s hot, it’s four thirty, and the top didn’t fit. The bench top was too narrow for the units on one wall.
I saw Reg lean against the architrave of the ranch slider distancing himself. He rolled a smoke. I stood back too. If Luke’s dad was in charge today, this was about when he’d get shitty and start casting around for someone to blame.
Luke picked up the folder with the job sheets and opened the plan, a plan all three of us have looked at a thousand times in the last fortnight. I tried to work out what had happened too. The bloody thing should have fitted. Luke checked the dimensions on the order sheet and measured the top.
“Match?” I asked.
He nodded. He did the final site measure and gave the measurements to Jenny the kitchen designer. She would have drawn up the top and ordered it.
He went back to the plan and checked the depth of the cabinets designed for the wall.
His lips formed ‘fuck’ again. I guessed he’d found the problem.
Reg stepped onto the deck and lit up. Luke gave up looking at the top and followed Reg outside.
At this stage. Luke’s dad would be yelling. That’s the way it goes with his father. How much was Luke like his old man? I joined them on the deck.
“What happened?” I asked.
Luke leaned his elbows on the railing and looked out over the paddock.
I heard the back door open and the owner call out. “I’ll be back in an hour or so. Will you be finished tonight?”
“Probably not. Still fair a bit to do,” Luke called back. It was a relief when we heard the car back out of the drive.
Luke exhaled. “My first kitchen, the first time Dad has left me completely in charge of a job, and it’s a balls-up.”
“You figured why?” Reg flicked the ash into his hand and stuck it in his pocket.
Luke nodded. “Jenny designed the cabinets at 540mm. She drew the them narrower for better access. I made them the standard width, 590 mm.”
“Shit. How come we didn’t pick that up?”
“My mistake,” said Luke. “I set the kitchen up without checking the dimensions. I cut it out. I let it be loaded without fitting the top onto the units first. Basic mistakes. Breaking all the old man’s rules.”
Now considering all three of us made the thing, and none of us picked up the mistake, it probably wasn’t all Luke’s fault.
Luke breathed out again. “I have to fix this somehow. Preferably without anyone knowing what’s happened.”
I ran through the options in my mind. None of them were good. The mistake was going to take time and money to fix. Luke lost all ways. He looked incompetent. The job ran at a loss, and he’d get the blame.
“Do you want a smoke?” Reg asked. He was holding one out to Luke.
Luke stared then turned away. “Not if it’s just tobacco.” He waved at the half-installed kitchen. “Any suggestions, you two?” he asked abruptly.
“Only the obvious one,” I said. “We take the units and toe bases back to the factory and cut them down and remake the corner unit. If you want to do it tonight, I’ll help.”
Reg drew on the cigarette and released a plume of smoke from his mouth. “Me too.”
“And try and install it all tomorrow
?” asked Luke.
I nodded. It meant we’d have to work most of tonight.
He considered the idea. “I could probably put the plumber and electrician off until the afternoon. It means the owners will still only be without power and water in the kitchen for one night.”
It was a good idea except the working all night. But if we waited and did the rework the next day, everyone finds out. We wouldn’t get finished before we had to head for Hamilton, and the owner would have no water and power for the weekend.
Luke looked at the tray of the truck. It was covered in the old broken kitchen we pulled out. We were going to take it to the dump on the way back to the factory.
“That could be compacted to make room for the units,” he said.
Reg nodded and took another puff, “The factory will be closed by the time we arrive back. We should be able to get it done without anyone knowing.”
It was just like when Luke and I first started our apprenticeship. Reg was helping us cover up our mistakes again.
“Thanks.” Luke said in the end. “You still got those smokes?”
Reg opened the tin of tobacco and pulled out the extra roll-your-own. He handed it to Luke. “Want one Isaac?”
“Nah.”
Reg flicked the lighter.
Luke breathed in the smoke.
Reg leaned over the balcony and dropped the ash onto the grass this time. “It happens to everyone,” he said. “Sometimes you see what you expect to see. That’s all. Let’s just get it fixed.”
Luke nodded. “Okay. I’ll talk to the owner, make a few phone calls, and sort things out.”
Reg was wrong about one thing. Although it was Thursday, and six thirty by the time we arrived at the factory, Steve was still there.
“Did you get it all in?” asked Steve as Luke walked into the office and went through to the loading bay to open the doors.
“No, still more to do,” said Luke. “We’ll go back tomorrow.”
“Had to straighten up a few walls,” I lied and followed Luke through the door.
Reg came next. He took the tobacco out of his pocket. “You wouldn’t believe how far those walls were out.” The cigarette paper was already on his lip.
Luke was reluctant to take the covers off the tray before Steve left. We waited him out. When the roller doors were open, Reg and I tidied up the tools in the back of the truck.
Steve tidied up the papers on his desk then followed Luke out to the loading bay. He stood watching us all doing very little. “See you tomorrow,” he said after a while. He went to his ute, climbed in, and waved as he pulled out onto the road.
Reg finished his smoke. “That was close.” He went to help Luke take off the covers.
“What he doesn’t know won’t do us any harm.” Luke leapt onto the back of the truck. He handed the first unit down. I carried it into the workshop. Reg took the next one.
We finished rebuilding the units then dumped the old kitchen in the skip at the back of the factory. We loaded the units onto the truck, covered them, tied them down, put the truck in the loading bay and left. It was three in the morning.
Chapter Twenty-Two
It took even longer to finish the kitchen than we thought it would. All Friday, then a bit of Saturday. Luke and I took off in my car for Hamilton late Saturday afternoon. Cole and the others were going to make sure everything was ready.
I changed gear, ready to slow for the turn onto Swamp Road.
“What tipped you off?” I asked Luke.
“About what?” Luke looked out the window and checked for traffic. “Nothing coming.”
“Laura.” I’m curious. I really thought no one had any idea except Jess’s dad.
We’d gone another kilometre or so before he answered. “A guess. Didn’t know for certain until right now. I was at your place before Isabelle was born, and Laura was helping you with something. Jess was somewhere, and you and Laura looked pretty cosy.” Luke stared out the window. “You two still cosy?”
I shook my head. “Got sprung.”
“Who by? Jess is still around.”
“Jess’s dad.”
“Fuck, that would have been fun.”
“Yeah, fun.”
Luke checked his watch. “We should get there with minutes to spare.”
Then he runs his hand through his hair. “How did my life get so boring? I’m going to marry a girl I went to school with, take over Dad’s business and live in the town I grew up in. And I’ll probably come over here to play the same stuff every Saturday night until I’m dead. I think I’ll bugger off.”
I can understand feeling like that. I snort again. “One installation goes wrong, and you’re ready to chuck it all in?”
Luke grinned and shrugged.
“Where’s Tara from?” I ask.
“She works in town. She’s a hairdresser.”
“How did you meet her?”
“Went to get my hair cut.”
“Does she know you’re engaged?” Luke gave me a get real look. “Or that you’ve slept with pretty much everyone we went to school with?”
Luke nodded. “She knows that bit. Chantelle told her.”
“Chantelle?”
“That girl with the red hair?”
“Yeah, the one that did your hair. She told Tara about Tessa too. Chantelle’s got a big mouth. Tara took some convincing that I’m a one-woman man now.”
“Aren’t you staying with Tessa tonight?”
Luke wiggled his hand in a maybe, maybe not gesture. “I might come home with you. I can’t decide. When I’m with Tessa, I like her the best. When I’m with Tara, she’s the one.”
I gave a snort. “You’re going to get in the shit.”
“Like you did?”
I shrugged.
We are on the outskirts of Hamilton now. Luke sighed. “Be this or that. Choose this girl or that one. Why can’t I have it all?”
I didn’t comment. I turned off Cobham Drive and headed for the pub.
Then Luke asked, “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Don’t you wish things were different?”
“No. I’ve got everything I want.”
“Bullshit.”
“Seriously. If I’ve got Jess and Isabelle in my life, it’s all good.”
Luke snorted. “Yeah, right. Did you practice saying that in front of the mirror? Remember, I sing the lyrics you write.”
No answer to that.
We arrived at the pub. The parking lot was packed, and we could see people going in and out of the entrance doors. Inside looked packed too. I hauled the two guitars and the violin off the backseat. I handed a guitar to Luke.
“How late are we?”
“Just cutting it fine.”
We headed for the service door.
Cole was in the side room.
“Where are Adam and Noah?” Luke looked around the room. Everything we use on stage was gone, so it was probably all set up ready to go.
Cole nodded his head at the main bar. “In there, still setting up. We’ve lost the cord to the one of the amps.” He looked around the mess of stacked chairs, spare tables and old signage, spotted the cord on the top of a stainless serving trolley. “I was starting to wonder if you two were going to make it.”
“Did you have a chance to do a sound check?”
Cole showed him the lead from the amp. “You’re kidding, right? We’ll just have to hope everyone’s had enough to drink they can’t tell the difference.”
On stage Luke held the microphone and waited for me to plug in the violin. He turned and spoke to Noah.
“Ready?” The main body of the bar had been dimmed, and I could only see the faces of the kids close to the stage. Further out, it was all moving shadows and dim shapes.
Luke got a nod from Noah then checked Adam, Cole and I were set.
The crowd roared. We have fans. The Saturday night crowd had doubled, then trebled, then doubled again in the last couple of
months.
Luke lifted the microphone as the haunting ascent of the violin introduced “Stardust”. We still lead in with “Stardust”. It seemed to be what everyone expected. His voice came in under the wail of the violin then soared over the music. Everything else dropped away, and we became the performance. I could feel the crowd engage as Luke’s voice wrapped around them. He made the sound rise over their heads and then draw in close and intimate.
God, I loved it. My voice and Adam’s came in under Luke’s, and he drew back. Then the keyboard took over. It all worked like magic, and we pulled the audience into our world.
After an hour we took a break. We sat in the side room in amongst the junk. Bottles of beer and water had appeared. Harry looked after us pretty well now. His takings on a Saturday night must have quadrupled over the last few months.
“You get whatever you needed to do done?” Cole took the cap off a beer and handed the bottle to Luke. I went for the water. I still had to drive home. I was still being good.
“Yep, all finished. Who’s here?” Luke waved his beer at the main hall.
“Tessa and a few hangers on.” Cole perched on a table and crossed his boots. “There’s a party at the flat after the pub closes.”
“Which one are you with at the moment?” asked Luke.
“Amy.”
“The new flatmate?” I asked.
Cole shrugged. “Yeah, she seems nice.” I remember thinking how the hell does Cole do it? Milly left nearly two years ago, and Cole has gone back to moving seamlessly from one girl to the next without causing any resentment like he used to when we were at school. He must do something right.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I got home from Hamilton at about two in the morning. The kitchen light was on, so Jess was up. Usually she’d be asleep when I got home. Something was wrong. I got the guitar out of the car, locked the door and went inside.
Jess was standing in the middle of the kitchen holding Isabelle in her arms. She stared at me, frantic, as I came through the door.
“She’s burning up, Isaac. I’ve given her the baby paracetamol, but it hasn’t done anything.” The tears started rolling down her cheeks like she had just been keeping it together until I arrived home.