by Beth Sadler
Chapter 2
Joe Grant exited the plumbing supply store grumbling mildly under his breath as he pushed a trolley full of pipes, connections and bottles of glue towards his truck. His long legs and powerful shoulders making short work of the job.
“Why the hell does she want so much gear?”He wondered to himself as he continued to read the items on his sister’s list. “Surely they have hardware stores wherever she is.”
“Hey, Joe,” yelled a voice from behind him in the store. “You forgot the compression fittings that Halli ordered.” A short, elderly man appeared in the doorway behind Joe holding a large box in his hands. “You’ll be in big strife with Halli if you forget part of her order. She won’t be connecting too many pipes without these.” Joe sighed and shook his head in disgust at his mistake.
“Thanks Ben, don’t know where my head is today.”
“Big night, eh?” Ben laughed. “You need to stay off the grog for a while and get more sleep,” he joked.
“No grog, sadly. Just a long night of meetings over the next building project up in Brisbane. All finished now though, thank goodness.” I’ve got six weeks off to relax before my part of the job starts.” Joe breathed deep, expanding his massive chest even more as he filled his nostrils with the fresh, salt air, wafting up from the beach on the late afternoon breeze.
He grinned cheerfully back at Ben. “I’m going to spend a month doing nothing but, surf the waves out the front of my unit and another two weeks doing even less.
“Aren’t you going to help Halli build her new house?” Ben queried. “I always thought that was the agreement between you young ones. You were going to help each other out when it came time to build your own homes.” Ben shook his head in confusion. “Have I got it wrong? Aren’t these parts for Halli’s house?”
“To be honest I haven’t got a clue what job the parts are for. I came home late last night and found this list and a letter from Halli under my door. She says she needs these parts urgently and that a friend of hers would be arranging the transport and payment etc.” Joe frowned in confusion. “I hadn’t thought that it might be gear for Halli’s own house, now you’ve got me wondering.”
“Didn’t the letter say where the job is or why she’s in such a hurry?” asked Ben.
“All I know is that the friend’s name is Darial and that he’s got permission to stay in Daniel Smith’s unit for a couple of days. I left for work early this morning so I haven’t connected with him yet.”
Shaking his head in confusion he continued. “I don’t know what old Dan’s up to these days but, he sure makes a lot of friends who use his unit. Now it looks like he and Halli have mutual friends.”
Shrugging his shoulders, Joe took the box of connectors from Ben and threw them in the back of the truck before sliding into the driver’s seat. “Thanks Ben, you’ve saved my hide. Halli in a temper is a frightening sight.”
Ben roared with laughter. “That five foot nothing little darling has sure got you men all worked out.” Ben, still laughing uproariously, was the last thing Joe saw in his rear view mirror before he pulled out onto the highway and headed home to his beach front unit.
Driving home Joe finally had the time to think about the contents of Halli’s letter. He’d been so late getting home last night that he’d done no more than quickly skim it, checking to see that she was well and happy. Today, he’d been too busy at work to do more than concentrate on her shopping list. Now he had time to think, and Ben had got him wondering.
Daniel Smith owned the block of units on the beach front that Joe lived in and managed. Dan and Joe had been friends for fifteen years when, out of the blue, he had offered Joe a unit to live in rent free, just to keep an eye on the place and do a little maintenance. Then, Daniel Smith, of the plodding, boring, hardworking life, had upped stakes and gone on a world surfing safari. His sudden departure had shocked his friends, no one had ever thought of Dan as the adventurous type. He’d been gone now for nearly a year, and only kept in touch by email.
Dan had been indirectly responsible for Halli meeting Callem. Dan had kept his own unit empty and constantly lent it to the friends he made in his travels. Joe would just get an email from Dan saying to expect such and such, and they would turn up, most times with a key to the unit or a request for Joe to give them access. One of the friends had been Callem.
Halli and Callem Radinor had met five months ago, and immediately fallen in love. They had married two weeks later to the shock of Joe and all his family. At first the family had worried that it was all too rushed but, just seeing them together had lulled their fears. It was obvious that Callem was just so much putty in Halli’s little hands. Halli, however, was so much in love with her big handsome husband that she never dreamed of taking advantage of the fact.
They had married swiftly so that Halli could accompany Callem to his next job somewhere in Iceland. Callem was a geologist and linguist who was much in demand around the world. Halli emailed the family at least twice a week and seemed perfectly happy. However, Callem’s job kept them constantly on the move to out of the way places, so the family hadn’t been able to speak to, or see Halli, since her marriage.
Halli hadn’t mentioned her life-long dream of building a home on the beach since she left. Could these materials be what she needed for her own home? He wondered. Had she and Callem finally found a beach block to build their home on?
Two hours later Joe exited the shower, wrapped a thick, fluffy towel around his slim hips and headed to the fridge for a beer. Using his fingers, he raked his soaking wet blond curls back from his face. “Ah!” He sighed contentedly out loud, as he downed half the bottle of beer in one swallow. “Life is so damn good.”
Strolling into the lounge area he flopped into his recliner chair as he simultaneously raised the footrest and thumbed the remote for his big screen television. If life got any better than this Joe had no idea what it would be. He lived rent free on the beach, worked at a well paying job that he enjoyed, surfed nearly every afternoon after work and enjoyed as much social life as he could handle. Yep! Life was perfect.
The sports news had just started and Joe was heading back to his chair with a fresh beer, when the door buzzer sounded. Damn it! He just knew he was going to miss the footy replays now. Padding barefoot past his chair, he tightened the towel around his hips and swung the front door open wide, framing his huge, near nude body, in the doorway.
Darial felt the tingle start in her fingers then flash like lightening up her arm, warmth settled into her chest signalling that love had arrived and would stay forever. A Teeronite was born knowing the signs. If they tried to bond without the hand tingle, the bond always failed. Many Teeronites stayed alone all their lives rather than risk a partnership without this blessing. Darial, at twenty eight, had begun to suspect that she would be one of them.
Now, Hail Hera, her life-mate stood before her and she had no idea what to say to him. Oh, help, she thought.