Always With You

by Hannah Ellis

  ***

  Work was pleasantly uneventful, and I was amused to find Kai hard at work at the Croc when I arrived back. My flowerbed was finally getting its plants.

  “Stan’s not gonna pay you for that, you know?” I called.

  He looked up from patting the soil down around the plants. “Thought I may as well make myself useful.”

  “I hope he at least gave you money for the plants?”

  “He did!”

  “You might get a beer if Stan’s feeling generous.”

  “Sounds good. You off for your swim?”

  “You know me so well,” I said. “You coming?”

  “I think I’ll finish up here.”

  “Great! Now I’ll have to help.”

  “I’ll manage,” he insisted.

  I was happy to help though, and it was more fun working on it with someone else. We had a break when Stan brought us beers but quickly got back to work. Kai was even more enthusiastic about the place than I had been when I first arrived. The afternoon flew by, and we were busy sanding down the tables when Joe arrived. Kai was convinced the tables were good-quality wood and would come up nicely once they were sanded down and varnished. I wasn’t quite so sure and was approaching exhaustion.

  “Help me!” I said to Joe as I collapsed on my back on the grass nearby. “He’s working me to the bone.”

  “No swimming today?” Joe asked.

  “He wouldn’t let me leave,” I complained theatrically.

  “Not true!” Kai said. “It would’ve been nice to get on with things without your constant chatter.” He wandered away, muttering about beer.

  “You okay?” I said when Joe sat next to me.

  “I don’t know. My head’s a mess. I just wanna get drunk and forget about everything.”

  Kai’s timing as he returned was perfect. “Cheers!” he said, passing out beers.

  “You ready for a night at the Tav?” Joe said to Kai.

  “I’m expecting great things!”

  “Yeah,” I said with a laugh. “Have as much fun as you can before you start your new life!”

  “What is up with you?” Kai asked as I giggled away on the grass.

  “Nothing!” My confused emotions had made me oddly hyper. “I just think it’s going to be a fun night.”

  “But probably not so much fun when you have to get up for work in the morning,” Joe remarked.

  “I’ll worry about that in the morning.”

  ***

  “You should forget about Miss Darwin and just stay here with us!” I said loudly to Kai at the end of a night filled with beer and laughter, dancing and joking. I suddenly loved my merry little gang so much and was compelled to tell them. Repeatedly.

  The Tav had closed, and we were standing out on the road with a few other groups of people doing the same as us: trying to drag the night out just a little longer. “I don’t want you to leave us, Kai,” I went on. “I feel like you’re family already. You need to stay with us!”

  “Definitely stay,” Cam said, pointing a finger at Kai and stumbling off the curb when he lost his balance.

  I could feel my eyelids drooping, but I didn’t want to go to bed. “I love you guys,” I said again, leaning into Joe.

  “You’re so drunk,” Joe said, laughing.

  “I’m just a bit tipsy,” I insisted. “Tiny bit! But I do actually love you all and this place. And everyone.”

  “How are you gonna get up for work tomorrow?” Kai asked.

  “The question we ask most Fridays!” Leslie said.

  “And I always manage it!” I said, slurring my words.

  “C’mon,” Kai said, taking my arm. “I’m going to do you a favour and take you to bed.”

  A leery cheer went up around our group.

  “Told you we could get him to forget all about Darwin!” I called as Kai and I stumbled across the road, waving goodbye as we went.

  “Don’t go sneaking off tomorrow when I’m at work, will you?” I said to him when we reached my room. “Make sure you say goodbye.”

  “Promise,” he said, heading off to his own room. “Good luck getting up in the morning!”

  I fell onto my bed. “Night!” I mumbled to the gecko, who I could’ve sworn rolled his eyes at the state of me.

  Chapter 23

  EVELYN – August 1994

  “Wakey-wakey!” The overly cheerful voice pulled me from my black hole of sleep the next morning. The banging on my door that went with it pained me so much that they might as well have been banging directly on my skull. “Come on! It’s a beautiful day and I’ve brought you a present.”

  I groaned as I opened the door to be hit by the evil sunlight and ungodly heat. Why do I have to work on Saturdays? Retreating quickly, I fell back on my bed. Joe followed me in. “I brought coffee.”

  “I love you,” I said, taking the mug from him.

  “Still? Even in the sober light of day?”

  I blinked him into focus and had the urge to kiss him. My cheeks flushed as thoughts of dragging him onto my bed filled my mind. He’d never been in my room before. He looked amazing, perched on the edge of my bed, his boyish smile making my head swim. These sorts of thoughts will get me nowhere. He has a girlfriend.

  I smiled back at Joe. “I’m probably not sober yet, to be honest. How do you look so fresh?”

  “I’m just better at drinking than you!”

  “This is not fair. Do you want to do a job swap this morning?”

  “You think you can do my job hungover?”

  The thought was actually really nice. Mick would take good care of me, and it would be a piece of cake.

  “Do you wanna do something this afternoon?” Joe asked. “Make it through work and I’ll buy you a beer.”

  “Oh, please don’t use that word around me,” I said as nausea swept up from my stomach. I breathed deeply through my nose until it passed.

  “Shall I round everyone up for a trip on the boat?” he suggested.

  “Why not? I can sleep on the boat.”

  “Come in the shop after your shift?”

  I stuck my bottom lip out. “I don’t want to work. Why do I do this to myself?”

  He grinned and left me alone with my coffee and a debilitating hangover. I wasn’t sure I could dress myself, never mind spend several hours cleaning. I just prayed I didn’t bump into any of the Kingstons. It was a struggle to deal with them at any time; with a hangover, they were impossible.

  Unfortunately, I met Todd as soon as I reached the hotel – he was lingering in front of the door. I could’ve sworn he was waiting for me. I had a vague memory of seeing him the previous evening. “You look like death,” he said.

  “I feel like it.”

  “I saw you dancing in the Tav.”

  “I may have overdone it with the alcohol,” I confessed.

  “Get yourself back to bed,” he said, suddenly sounding confident. There was an arrogance to his tone which didn’t suit him. “I can find someone to cover your shift.”

  “I’ll be fine,” I said, but my stomach was churning and I wasn’t sure I could manage to do my job at all.

  “I insist.”

  “Really?”

  “It’s my hotel,” he said. “If I say you can have a day off, you can have a day off.”

  “Yeah, but . . .” I was about to point out that it was actually Arthur’s hotel, and he’d probably have something else to say about the matter. Since my hangover seemed to be getting steadily worse, however, I decided I should keep quiet and take him up on his offer.

  “I’ll get Tania to cover,” he said. “You go and sleep it off.”

  I gave him a heartfelt “Thank you” and turned, thrilled to be able to sleep for the morning instead of cleaning up after strangers. I hadn’t gone far when a thought occurred to me: Tania worked on my days off, but she worked at Walkabout Hostel on Saturdays so she wouldn’t be able to take my shift. For a moment, I was torn between the idea of going back to bed and going ba
ck to make sure Todd didn’t get into trouble on my account. Annoyingly, my conscience got the better of me and I turned back to the hotel. Todd was trying to be nice; I couldn’t let him get into trouble because of me.

  I was in the bar area when I heard raised voices coming from Arthur’s office. Creeping nearer, I caught Todd’s voice.

  “What was I supposed to say? She’s ill and can’t work. It’s not her fault. And it’s the first time she’s missed a day.”

  “You really believe she’s crook?” Arthur shouted. “She probably just drank too much last night and thinks she can sweet talk her way round you.”

  “She’s got food poisoning,” Todd insisted. “Why are you making such a big deal about it?”

  “Because you need to start acting like an employer around here instead of trying to make friends with the staff. You’re an embarrassment.” He paused. “Get Evelyn on the phone and tell her to be here in half an hour or she’s fired.”

  “You can’t fire her because she’s crook,” Todd said desperately. Bloody hell, losing my job over a hangover is ridiculous. It was tempting to reveal myself and tell them I’d be fine to work, but I had the feeling that might just make things worse.

  “Well you can be the one to tell your mother she has to do the rooms today. Because there’s no one else to do them.”

  “I’ll do them,” Todd said, only just loud enough for me to hear from my spot behind the door. “It’s not a big deal.”

  “You’re going to clean toilets?” Arthur asked, disbelievingly. “And you reckon you can run this place one day? You’ll be the boss and you think it’s okay for you to be cleaning toilets?”

  I slipped quietly out of sight when I heard footsteps. The door flung open and Todd stalked out. He walked quickly across the courtyard, and I watched him go with mixed feelings. I pitied him; my dad had always been pretty detached and unfeeling, but at least I’d had my mum on my side. Todd had probably never known any affection from his family. My respect for him rose dramatically; he’d been kind to me even though he must have known it would cause him problems. Deciding it would hurt his pride if he knew I’d heard his confrontation with his dad, I slipped quietly out of the hotel.

  A few hours of sleep did me the world of good and I felt much more human when I emerged from my room for the second time that day. Kai was standing in the middle of the lawn with a hosepipe in his hand. Turning, he sprayed water in my direction with a cheeky grin.

  “Fancy coming out on Joe’s boat with us?” I asked.

  He glanced at his watch, frowning. “I should probably hit the road.”

  “Let’s not pretend you’re leaving today,” I said, jovially.

  “Fine,” he said. “But I’m leaving before sun up tomorrow.”

  “Sure you are! I’ll be back in five,” I told him.

  Joe was chatting to a customer about fishing tackle and gave me a quick nod when I walked into the shop. I browsed while I waited for him. Fishing was a serious business in Kununurra, and it was a good fifteen minutes before the guy left. By that time, I’d decided to try out a camping chair hidden away at the end of the shop and was nice and relaxed when Joe came back to find me.

  “Sorry, I thought he’d never leave.”

  “That’s okay. I’m comfy!”

  “What happened? Shouldn’t you still be at work?”

  “I didn’t manage to work today,” I told him. “I’m going to have to tone down my Friday nights.”

  “You didn’t lose your job, did you?”

  “No,” I said cautiously. Hopefully not.

  “Dad should be here in an hour and I can leave then. Cam and Leslie are keen for a boat trip. Do you want to invite Kai?”

  “I already did,” I told him with a cheeky grin. A thought crossed my mind. “Would you mind if I invited Todd too?”

  He looked surprised. “It’s fine by me. The others might not thank you.”

  “It’s your boat,” I pointed out.

  “It’s my dad’s, actually, but I see your point. Invite him if you want. I thought you weren’t keen on him though?”

  “I might have been too quick to judge him.”

  Joe looked curious as to my sudden change of heart but didn’t question me further.

  When I called Todd and asked him to join us, he seemed surprised but agreed, and he arrived at the boat ramp in Celebrity Tree Park just after me and Kai. The place always made me laugh; celebrities had supposedly planted the trees, but I’d wandered around reading all the plaques and only recognised a couple of names.

  Leslie and Cam were helping Joe with the boat, and we waited by the water for them.

  “Thanks for this morning,” I said to Todd, casually. “I hope I didn’t get you into trouble.”

  “Of course not,” he said. “It wasn’t a problem.”

  He blushed when I thanked him again. “I promise I won’t make a habit of it.”

  “Good!” he said, managing a smile. “Here comes Joe.”

  It didn’t take me long to regret inviting Todd. When Joe pushed the boat off the trailer into the water, Todd looked over at him. “I could’ve brought my boat,” he said. “Will we all fit in that little thing?”

  I cringed. Sometimes it was as if he were possessed by Arthur. The Kingstons all seemed to have the built-in desire to point out that they were better than everyone else. It made me want to shake Todd.

  Everyone turned to look at him.

  “We might be one person too many,” Cam said pointedly.

  “It’s fine,” Joe said. “It’s nice and cosy!”

  The day went on like that; Todd just didn’t fit in, and I watched as my friends continually bit their tongues at his remarks. When Cam reeled in a huge barramundi, all Todd could do was tell us about the time he’d caught one way bigger. A bigger fish, a better boat, we get it, Todd, you’re a better person and we should all bow down to you. I had to bite my own tongue at that point and remind myself of how he’d stuck up for me to his dad. He wasn’t all bad. His comment went ignored; no one was willing to be brought down to his level. We revelled in Cam’s fishing success and Todd slinked off to the back of the boat to put his line in the water.

  I correctly predicted that I would get a talking to later about why on earth I’d invited Todd. Back on dry land, he left, saying he had to get to work, and the rest of us hung around, helping Joe with the boat and finishing off the beers.

  “He’s lucky I didn’t throw him to the crocs,” Cam remarked as Todd’s car pulled away.

  Leslie nodded along. “I’m always telling myself he’s not such a bad guy . . . and then I spend more than five minutes with him and realise how wrong I am.”

  “Give him a break,” Joe said. “He’s battling some bad DNA. And if you grew up with those parents you’d be socially awkward too.”

  “Please don’t invite him out again,” Leslie pleaded with me.

  “Okay, okay!” I laughed as they all glared at me. “He was nice to me at work today and I took pity on him, that’s all. But I won’t invite him again.” I wobbled as I walked away from the water, the alcohol giving me a glow and making everything seem hilarious. “You need to get some better celebrities,” I declared, looking round the park. “I only know Princess Anne and Rolf Harris. You should get someone better to come and plant you a tree!”

  “Hey!” Joe said. “There are a lot of local celebrities. They’re the best kind.”

  “Do you think I’d pass as a local celebrity?” I said, highly amused. “I could plant you a tree. We all know I’m good at gardening!”

  “That’ll be the day,” Cam said, slinging an arm around my shoulders. “We’ll know things have really gone wrong when your name’s on a plaque here.”

  “I might be a big celebrity one day,” I insisted. “Then you’ll be begging me to plant you a tree!”

  ***

  The following weeks were strange ones. Beth arrived back from Sydney and made the official announcement that she and Joe would be moving dow
n there. Plans weren’t final but she was adamant that they’d move by the new year, if not before. I desperately hoped it wouldn’t be before then. I wanted him around as long as possible.

  Joe didn’t speak to me about it, but there was a heaviness to him that I’d never known before. His smile didn’t reach his eyes any more, and he seemed to struggle to focus on anything; he was always lost in thought. Occasionally, I felt sorry for him, but mostly I was angry with him. He should have had more of a backbone and told Beth how he really felt instead of just going along with her plans.

  At work, I made a concerted effort to talk to Todd. Sometimes he could be sweet. Most of the time, I wondered why I even bothered. The arrogance that was the Kingston family trait was hard to overlook. Eventually, I decided we were destined to be acquaintances rather than friends; he was such hard work.

  I did have one new friend though: Kai. He didn’t leave Kununurra, and I was so glad. He was such a positive addition to our group. It felt like we’d always been friends. It turned out the girl in Darwin wasn’t as keen as he was; she worried that things were moving too fast and she was too young for such a big commitment. Kai kept talking about going back to Broome, but I knew he wouldn’t. He was like me; he fitted right into life in Kununurra and had no real desire to leave. Plus, Stan had agreed to employ him at the Croc.

  Chapter 24

  LIBBY – August 2017

  We took a Greyhound bus north and I absorbed local knowledge from the friendly driver. Fields of sugar cane lined the road, and we caught glimpses of the snaking rivers which made up the Burdekin region. We covered three hundred kilometres in less than four hours. The huge distances we were covering along the coastline amazed me. The country was vast, and I struggled to get my head around the amount of space; it just seemed to stretch on forever.

  At Townsville, we waited to board the ferry to Magnetic Island. When I saw how many others were going the same way, I was glad Simon had called ahead to reserve rooms at a hostel.

  Andrew had been suspiciously quiet on the bus ride, and I was waiting for him to try to talk to me. I had the feeling he was dying to ask questions.