by Pene Henson
They eat out on the deck. “It’s quiet up here,” Lien says.
A flock of sulfur-crested cockatoos wheels above the trees, screeching like frightened pterodactyls. Claudie laughs.
“You know what I mean, though,” Lien says.
“You have time to think.”
“Exactly. And today I realized I don’t miss my phone. I mean, don’t get me wrong.” She holds up her hands. “There are a million places I want to post updates. And I’d love to show everyone pictures of this place, too. But I haven’t missed all that contact as much as I thought I would.”
“Maybe you’re getting used to it up here.”
“Maybe. Yeah. But it makes me wonder if—” She frowns for a second. “You know, I write a lot. I submit a couple of short pieces every day. Plus all the social media updates. It’s a lot. It keeps me busy and working and pays the bills. And it’s fun. But I don’t know if it’s long-term.”
“And you don’t know if it’s everything you want,” Claudie says. It’s a question Claudie doesn’t ask herself, most days. “What options do you have?”
“I’m not sure. All these people support me. They’ve been great. But sometimes—”
“It’s hard to get a hold on what you want when everyone’s waiting for something from you.”
“I know I don’t want to let them down.” Lien meets Claudie’s eyes.
“You wouldn’t be letting them down if you found something better.”
Lien nods slowly. “Maybe.”
After dinner, Claudie grabs her guitar. They sit on the small sofa, close together in the fading warmth and with the last, late sunlight angled on the floor. Lien’s thigh is pressed alongside hers.
After the second song she puts the guitar down. Lien’s turned around and is sitting cross-legged facing Claudie. Claudie leans forward to kiss her. Lien stretches out beneath her, but the sofa is too small. They have nowhere to fit themselves.
“Do you think it might be bedtime?” Lien says on a giggle as they rearrange limbs.
“Definitely.”
Lien slips out to stand, holds out a hand to Claudie, and leads her to bed.
They spend the next day between the bed and the deck: reading in the sun and talking over food and taking time to know one another’s skin. Every touch sparks between them. The cabin is filled in a way it’s never been in Claudie’s years here.
In the afternoon, it’s easy for Claudie to find the guitar in her hands again. They’re outside on the deck. The sun’s dropping behind the mountains, leaving the air gold and warm.
Lien leans back on the railing. She’s silhouetted in yellow-gold as she contemplates Claudie.
“What’s up?” Claudie keeps playing, but it’s a simple strum pattern so she can keep her eyes on Lien and not mess up on the rhythm.
Lien speaks fast. “God, Claudie. You’re meant to play.”
“What?” Claudie slows the strum and stops.
“I watch you and—I can’t not say it.” Lien’s voice is choked. “It’s so clear that you’re meant to perform, Claudie. You’re meant to sing and play and be a huge rock star up on the stage.” She stands upright and lifts her hands and keeps talking. “I can’t understand why you’d lock yourself away up here. Loads of people can be a park ranger. But I’ve never heard anyone play the way you do. Or sing—” She trails off under Claudie’s scrutiny.
Claudie’s chest is tight, as if everything inside could turn to stone. “That is none of your business.” Her voice is tight, too.
Lien opens her mouth as though she’s going to speak. She closes it, then opens it again. “I know but—Claudie.” Her eyes are pleading.
“You don’t know, Lien. You don’t know. You don’t know what happened to take me away from it.” Claudie takes a breath. “Your dream was soccer—”
“But this is different. It’s different for—”
Claudie interrupts. “In what way?” The words are clipped. The blood whooshes in her ears.
Lien stumbles on the words. “You can still play. You can still sing. Your hands and your voice—they work. Beautifully. It’s not like that for me.” There are tears in her eyes, but her fists are clenched. “My knee is done. I can’t play soccer any more. Ever.”
“It’s no different. My hands and voice might work but there are things I can’t do. And you really don’t know anything about it. Fuck, Lien.”
They stare, silver gray eyes into sparking dark. Lien deflates. “You’re right. I don’t know. I’m sorry. I just—I’m sorry.”
They have nowhere to go. They’re caught in this small space under the big sky. Outside the world changes color as it shifts between day and night.
Over dinner things re-balance. Claudie’s quiet at first, but Lien tells a story about a dress-up party at her place. Despite the tension between them, Claudie’s laugh is loud as she throws her head back in the outback and the silence. After dinner, after dishes, the cabin is dark. They no longer need candles, but they keep the lights low, as though they’re saving energy for something else.
“Are we okay?” Lien asks.
“Yeah. We’re good.” Claudie reaches to flick at Lien’s braid.
Lien steps close to Claudie. She moves Claudie back against the bench and then she kneels on the wooden floor. She measures her words. Even looking up Claudie’s body, it’s harder to say than she anticipated. “Can I go down on you? Here.”
Claudie’s eyelids flutter. She swallows.
Lien reaches up and undoes Claudie’s fly button by button. She tugs her jeans and her underwear down over her legs. She runs a hand up Claudie’s inner thigh. Claudie shifts her legs apart and holds still. Her skin is soft; her leg is smooth up to her upper thigh. Lien strokes a thumb across her pubic hair. Claudie’s shiver is thrilling. She spreads Claudie’s folds apart and buries her tongue in the salty tang of Claudie’s slit. Claudie’s hips buck forward, and Lien smiles against her, letting her teeth press against Claudie’s skin. Claudie wriggles. Lien presses in farther with her tongue and buries her nose in Claudie’s soft fur while lapping at her.
The room is silent, save for Claudie’s breathing and her soft, nonsensical murmurs of encouragement. Claudie’s knees buckle, and she shifts her bottom back against the bench. Lien moves closer, stretches her neck, and hums against Claudie’s clit. She draws Claudie into her mouth and sucks.
“I need more, I need more,” Claudie murmurs and drops down, lowering herself to the floor. Lien tugs her away from the bench and lets her lie down, then kneels between her legs and buries her face deep in Claudie. She holds Claudie’s hips at an angle to the ground to get a better position and she thrusts her tongue deep inside, then returns to sucking her clit.
Soon Claudie is arching off the floor against Lien’s face. She keens as she comes. She pants through a smile as she drops her hips to the floor. Lien crawls over her body to wrap her up in Lien’s touch.
8
Claudie wakes to another clear day. The weather’s heating up. For a second she’s disappointed. Clear days mean the floods will abate, the water will shrink away, and Lien will leave. Then all this surprising chatter and brightness and sex and sunshine will disappear.
Claudie shakes the thought away. This is fun, sure. It’s a nice break. But things will go back to normal when Lien’s gone. Claudie will have her silence and solitude back. She’ll be able to look over the bushland without hearing someone making tea in the kitchen. She’ll be able to play her guitar without anyone’s intent focus on her.
She stretches in the bed. It’s not as if she’s suddenly accustomed to sharing it. But Lien’s asleep beside her, asleep on her back like a kid; her face is restful and pretty and her breath is innately human and fragile. For a second Claudie is drawn toward her warmth. It’s terrifying. It’s also sweet; it’s a welcome Claudie forgot she was missing.
Lien str
etches and rolls to one side to face Claudie. “Hi,” she says, and her smile across the sheets makes Claudie’s heart stutter. She blinks. Lien’s too pretty to look at directly for long.
Claudie reaches out to Lien’s bare shoulder, watching to be sure of her welcome. Lien moves closer into her arms. However warm the weather, Claudie wants her there.
“How’s your knee?” Claudie says.
Lien furrows her brow. “It’s a bit better. I think. A good bit better.”
“Okay.” Lien won’t be here long. There are things Claudie wants to show her. “Can you walk?”
“I can walk across the room pretty comfortably. Not sure I’m up to a marathon yet. Why?” Lien asks.
“I’d like to take you somewhere. If you can walk to the driveway I can drive you.”
“We can drive out of here already?” Claudie can’t quite read how Lien feels about the thought of getting out of the cabin.
“Well, not out of here. We can’t get across to the campsite or the town yet. The road’s still under water that way. But we can drive up the fire trail behind us. The place I want to take you isn’t far.”
Lien grins. “A mystery adventure. Of course I want to come.”
Lien dresses in her little olive green all-in-one now it’s clean and dry. It’s adorable and it’s ridiculous. That combination comes with the Lien territory. Claudie pulls on shorts and a T-shirt.
Even going down the staircase is tough on Lien’s knee. Lien winces every second step. Her breath is tight.
“We don’t have to go,” Claudie says. “It was an idea, that’s all.”
“No way. We’re going, Claudia. I’ve almost made it down. And I want to. It’ll be nice to get out into the open. I was getting a little stir crazy.”
Claudie nods. She shouldn’t want Lien to be happy trapped in her tiny cabin; it’s hard to be reasonable, though. Claudie shakes it off. They climb in the car. Lien puts a light, sure hand on Claudie’s thigh as Claudie drives. Claudie sweats beneath it.
Higher up on Iron Pot Creek, the rocks have created a series of small swimming holes, breaking up the tumbling water. The surrounds are leafy; the sky is bright summer blue. Beneath it the pools are clear green; their pebbled floors are touched by the sunlight.
With the roads blocked, this place is more secluded than ever. The air is heavy with summer, and the cicadas are shrilling on and on.
“Let’s go in.” Claudie takes off her clothes and walks in to her waist.
Lien hovers at the bank.
“You should join me. The water’s gorgeous.” Claudie smiles. “And some non-weight-bearing exercise is just what the doctor ordered for your knee.”
“Yes. Definitely…” Lien shifts her weight. She’s nervous. Claudie might have taken this too far. “Um. Are there crocodiles here?”
Claudie breaks into a grin. The pool is too small for even freshwater crocs. “One day I am going to teach you a little more about Australian wildlife.” Lien’s answering pout is endearing so she adds, “I’ll let you teach me about haute couture, if you like.”
“Deal,” Lien says. But she hesitates. “So that’s a no on the crocs.”
“A big no on the crocs. Trust me.” She won’t tell Lien about the other animals that live around here. Almost all of them are too frightened of humans to make an appearance anyway. “I won’t let anything eat you out here. Except me.”
Lien coughs out a laugh, then nods as though she’s convinced herself. “Okay.” She strips off her clothes and lets them drop to the warm rock where she stands. She tests the water with one foot, then steps in.
She’s gorgeous in the dappled light. She moves easily. The water shifts around her naked thighs. Claudie could watch her forever. Instead Claudie dives and lets the water wrap between her legs and support her breasts. When she surfaces, Lien is standing still with her eyes on Claudie.
“Come here,” Lien says. Her voice is certain but her teeth press into her lower lip.
Claudie doesn’t hesitate. She swims over to her, then stands. She can see the drops of water on Lien’s skin. She steps close, almost skin to skin, and buries her toes in the pebbly floor. She licks water from Lien’s collarbone. Her tongue traces a path to the tendons that run down Lien’s neck. Lien lifts her arms and tangles them around Claudie’s neck. She curls her fingers into Claudie’s hair. She lifts Claudie’s head so they can kiss.
Lien’s body is wet. Her skin is alternately cool and hot. As Claudie presses against her, Lien begins to rub herself on Claudie’s upper thigh. Her soft strip of pubic hair is rough against Claudie’s skin.
“I could come just doing this,” Lien says.
Claudie reaches around to cup her ass cheeks and urge her forward, faster and tighter against Claudie’s thigh. “Do you want to come?” she asks. “Right here?”
“God, yes. Please.” Lien arches her back as though she can’t help it, then buries her tongue in Claudie’s mouth. Their kisses are messy and primitive. Lien’s hips thrust forward into Claudie, getting more frantic as she works herself, pressing a wet trail against Claudie. Her breath comes in harsh grunts.
“Come on, sweetheart,” Claudie says.
Lien keens and thuds her head against Claudie’s shoulder. She shudders as Claudie strokes her back.
“Let me,” says Lien once she has breath. She reaches between them and rubs tight circles against Claudie’s clit. Claudie is close already. She comes, gasping for air, with her head thrown back and her leg muscles shaking.
They hold one another, legs weak, caught in one another’s gaze. They stand thigh deep in the green pool, surrounded by birds and trees with the wind and sky above them.
Lien blinks up at Claudie. Claudie kisses her softly and they half walk, half stumble to sit on the sun-warmed rocks. They dry in the heat, bare-skinned and easy. They take their time to dress.
“I’m glad you brought me here,” says Lien. She waves a hand to encompass the bright sky, the clear pool, the rocks and the great trees around it. “It’s unforgettable.”
Back at the cabin, Lien sits on the deck. The railings are lit burgundy-gold in the evening sunlight. She’s plugged Claudie's phone into the amp. The first song is quirky folk, summery and rich with voices. Claudie brings two glasses of water and joins her outside; she dangles her long legs from the deck.
“Let’s eat outside,” Claudie says later. Lien’s happy with that. They’ve cooked pasta and sauce again. But everything tastes good with a view. She’ll have to remember that. She doesn’t stop herself from thinking that everything tastes good with Claudie there, too.
The deck holds a bench and a lounge chair. They both sit in the lounge chair, sharing the space despite the vast expanse of world that’s right there. Once their meals are finished, Lien places their plates on the deck and leans back against Claudie’s broad chest. Claudie wraps her arm around Lien with her hand on Lien’s ribs. Claudie runs her thumb across the underside of Lien’s breast. Lien’s skin is alight with nerve endings. They breathe together.
They both jump when Claudie’s phone vibrates in her pocket.
Lien huffs out a giggly breath. “I’d no idea they had vibrate functions on phones that old.”
Claudie glares at her, then tugs the phone from her pocket and frowns at the tiny screen. “It’s your boy. Tell him to be quick.” She holds out the phone.
Lien scoots to the edge of the lounge chair to take the call. “Beau. Hi.”
“Hi, love, how’s it going?” he asks. His voice is so familiar it warms Lien. She wants to tell him everything, of course, right now. But this is not the time, with Claudie so near they could touch. She mouths “sorry” to Claudie.
“Good. Really good. I mean, everything’s good.”
Beau laughs at her. She imagines his eyes squeezed tight with bemused entertainment. She’s not usually inarticulate. “That good, hey
? What, are things heating up with your ranger?”
Lien turns away from Claudie as the blush steals up her face. “Hush,” she says. “We’ll talk soon.” She looks up at the clear sky. Soon it’ll fade into night. “Hey, aren’t the stars amazing out here?”
“Awesome,” Beau agrees. “Unbelievable. I told you we should get in touch with our country.”
“Claudie reckons the water’s subsiding.”
“Claudie reckons, does she?” Beau’s teasing again. Lien stands and steps away from Claudie as he goes on. “Well good, lovely. I miss you.” He pauses. “We all do.”
“Me too.” She’s used to talking everything through with Beau. Of course, isolation has advantages, especially when it comes to skinny-dipping, but it leaves her untethered, too.
“So what’s gonna happen next, then? Once it’s all cleared, we’ll drive over and pick you up and bring you into town?”
“I guess.”
“Then we’ll all head to Rivers Fest, as planned.” He pauses. “And next week we’ll go back to Sydney—”
“Dude.”
“What?” She wants to thump him. He’s being obtuse on purpose.
“Just… don’t. I don’t want to talk about that right now.”
There’s a pause, and then Beau exhales. “Okay. Sorry. It’s like that, is it?”
Lien turns and props herself on the railing of the deck. She kicks a gumnut off the deck with her bare foot. Behind her the plates clatter as Claudie picks them up and walks into the kitchen. Lien sighs. “It’s like that. Yeah. Moving on. How’s Annie?”
She can almost see his cheeks flush and his eyes light. “Good. Yeah. We, uh… Yeah good.”
It’s Lien’s turn to laugh at him. “Excellent, babe. Well, as things are going so smoothly, I’ll leave you to it. I can’t wait to see you, though. And really talk.”