One Summer Between Friends

by Trish Morey

  ‘I can’t wait for that.’ He pulled her into his kiss.

  Yep, life didn’t get much more perfect than this. Little had she known when she’d been railroaded into going back to the island that she’d actually find something—someone—to make her trip worthwhile. She had Lord Howe to thank for Noah. And then another thought struck her and she chuckled in the midst of his kiss.

  ‘What’s so funny?’

  ‘I was just thinking, if my mother hadn’t broken her hip, I wouldn’t have had to go to Lord Howe and I wouldn’t have met you.’

  ‘Why’s that so funny?’

  ‘Only that I might actually have to thank her.’

  He chuckled too. ‘I might have to as well.’

  On Saturday they hiked a stretch of the coastal walk that in places reminded Sarah of Lord Howe Island, and then Noah took her to the cute Tacking Point Lighthouse. On the drive back to his place, he surprised her by pulling into a supermarket.

  ‘Big night planned?’ she said with a wink. ‘Stocking up on supplies?’

  He grinned. ‘Nah. Come on, I’ve got someone I want you to meet.’

  Noah’s mother was pint sized next to her rugby player–sized son, but Sarah could see where he got his readiness to smile. Sylvia was warm and welcoming and delighted to meet Noah’s friend.

  ‘Do you always take your girlfriends to visit your mother?’ Sarah asked when, hand in hand, they walked back to the car.

  ‘No,’ he said, leaning down to kiss her. ‘Only the important ones.’

  Warmth bloomed in her chest.

  That night he took her to a posh restaurant overlooking the serpentine Hastings River where they dined on premium Riverine beef. ‘My mother sent me a text,’ he said, putting his phone down when she returned from the bathroom. ‘She likes you.’

  ‘I like her too.’

  ‘She thinks I should snap you up, before some other lucky guy does.’

  ‘She said that?’ It was way too early to be suggesting anything of the sort, even if she was secretly thrilled that Noah’s mother approved of her. ‘So what did you say?’

  ‘I said, “why buy a book when you can join a library?”’

  She punched him on the arm. ‘You did not!’

  He rubbed his arm like she’d actually done some damage, and smiled before his eyes turned serious. ‘No. But you are important to me, Sarah. I can’t wait for there not to be an ocean separating us.’

  She sighed. ‘Me too. Not long now and I’ll be back.’

  On Sunday, Noah pulled out the pièce de résistance: lunch at a French restaurant tucked inside a winery with a driveway lined with mature jacaranda, poinciana and magnolia trees. They dined on Basque-style chicken and slow-cooked lamb shanks.

  It was there that Sarah admitted her first regrets about leaving Lord Howe: that it was almost sad to be going when she was finally enjoying the new beginnings of a friendship with Floss. That’s when Noah asked about Jules.

  Sarah sat back in her seat. ‘Jules is in a different category.’

  ‘I guess.’

  And because he sounded like he didn’t quite believe it, Sarah said, ‘I didn’t tell you what happened this week. Jules asked to see me again. She actually asked me if I’d be guardian to Della, her daughter, if anything happened to her.’

  ‘Wow,’ he said.

  ‘I know,’ she said, ‘how mental is that? As if she can sweep the past under the carpet and pretend it never happened.’

  He leaned back in his chair. ‘Then again, she’s trusting you to bring up her child if she’s not there to do it herself. That’s a pretty heady responsibility. That’s kind of special.’

  ‘She’s trying to buy me off.’

  He picked up the bottle of wine and poured a little of the ruby-coloured cabernet sauvignon into each of their glasses.

  ‘She is trying to buy me off—you do see that?’

  He shrugged.

  ‘Hey,’ she said, adding a bright smile to her upturned hands, ‘whose side are you on?’

  ‘Why do there have to be sides?’

  She snorted, picked up her glass and downed a swig.

  ‘Can I tell you something?’ Noah said.

  ‘Only if you’re not going to tell me what I should do.’

  ‘No, not at all. It’s about my father. I went looking for him when I turned eighteen. I got wind of him living in some kind of commune near Byron Bay.’

  ‘Really? I didn’t realise you’d ever met him. What was it like, meeting up with him for the first time?’

  ‘It went better than I expected. He seemed genuinely happy to meet me. We hung out at the beach. Went surfing together. It was cool.’ He took a sip of his wine. ‘For a while.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘I woke up one morning to find him gone. Along with my Subaru and my wallet and my faith in human nature.’

  ‘Wow, that’s awful. That must have really twisted you up in knots.’

  ‘It did for a while. But then I realised he didn’t care, and the only one hurting was me.’

  ‘What did you do?’

  ‘I let it go, Sarah.’ He looked levelly at her. ‘I forgave him.’

  ‘Just like that? After what he’d done to you?’

  ‘I was sick of shouldering it all and feeling bad. And I decided that it might have happened, but I wouldn’t let it rule my life.’

  She knew where this was going and she didn’t want to hear it. ‘I’m sorry that happened to you,’ she said, getting to her feet. ‘Excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom.’

  She stared at herself in the mirror as she washed her hands, feeling disconcerted. She didn’t know what Noah’s story had to do with hers but there was one thing she knew: nobody understood. Not Floss. Not her father and certainly not her mother. Not even Noah seemed to understand. What happened between his father and him—it wasn’t the same thing at all.

  Forgive and forget. What a joke that was. She couldn’t forget. Every time she thought about Jules or Richard, every time she saw Jules or Della, the past slapped her in the face.

  If she couldn’t forget, how the hell was she ever supposed to forgive?

  Five stages of grief, her father had said, probably equated to five stages of forgiveness. She took a deep breath and jiggled her shoulders up and down to release some tension. Even if her father was right, you had to want to get there first.

  It was hard saying goodbye again to Noah, but it would only be a few weeks and she’d be back permanently. She flew into Sydney on Sunday evening and trained it across the city to the North Shore, so it was late when she let herself into her house.

  ‘Welcome home,’ she said to herself, as she crossed the threshold of the Kissing Point Road house she’d bought with Richard. ‘The worst house in the best street,’ he’d said. ‘It’ll be a great investment. We’ll do it up and make a killing.’ So they’d polished floorboards and built a big deck overlooking the big back yard, before adding two more bedrooms and doing up the kitchen and it was worth something like four times what they’d paid for it. Her house now. Richard had signed it over to her when he’d walked out. She thought about having Noah here. Hmm. Maybe it was time to think about cashing in and getting something smaller. It wasn’t like she needed a family home.

  Her university student house sitter wasn’t home. She’d warned Kylie that she’d be staying a couple of nights, and the girl had taken that as a hint and gone to stay with her boyfriend. Sarah looked around. If the place was always this clean and tidy or whether she’d had to panic clean, Sarah didn’t care. There was a bunch of fresh flowers in a vase on the table, so Sarah had to hand the girl extra points for that.

  She headed for her bedroom, which she’d simply shut the door on when she left. Tomorrow she had to look corporate professional. It was time to go digging through her wardrobe for something to wear.

  Monday at noon the sushi bar was bustling, filled with serious men in dark suits and women who looked like they’d just stepped out of the
boardroom of one of the big four banks—and probably had. Frankie had been clever enough to snaffle a booth. She waved and Sarah wove her way past the crowded bar to get to her. She air kissed Frankie and then flopped down with a sigh of relief. She wasn’t used to wearing heels, even workaday mid-heels that used to be her comfortable go-tos. Even one of her favourite suits felt foreign. She’d grown slack while on the island. She was going to have to get used to power dressing again.

  ‘You look great,’ said Frankie. ‘Island life must suit you.’

  Or the hot sex, thought Sarah. A weekend of hot sex with a gorgeous bloke would put a sparkle in anyone’s eyes. ‘How are you?’

  ‘Good. Apart from work. You’ve been sorely missed.’

  Sarah smiled. She doubted it, but it was nice to hear it anyway. ‘What’s going on?’

  Frankie rolled her eyes. ‘Where to start? The tax department is a mess.’

  ‘Oh?’ It had been running fine when she left. ‘Why?’ And then she held up one hand. ‘Actually, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know anything about the office.’ She wasn’t interested. She was handing in her resignation today and then heading to Chatswood for her interview. Meanwhile there was a sushi lunch to be enjoyed. They ordered green tea and chose a selection of dishes and got stuck in.

  Sarah swallowed down her prawn dumpling and let her head fall back with a sigh. ‘You have no idea know how much I’ve missed our lunches.’

  Frankie smiled and poured more tea. ‘Me too.’ She took a sip. ‘So how’s it going over there? You surviving? You weren’t that keen on going at first.’

  Sarah thought back to all the reasons she hadn’t wanted to go back to the island and all the things that had happened that had proven her concerns right. ‘It hasn’t exactly been a cake walk,’ she said, ‘but Mum’s getting stronger. She won’t need me in a few weeks.’

  ‘So tell me about this job you’re going for.’

  Sarah filled her in, unable to keep the excitement from her voice. The job sounded perfect for her and she was going to do her damnedest to get it.

  Twenty minutes later, Sarah sat back, hand on her belly. ‘Oh my god, I am so full. I’m going to have to undo the button on my skirt.’

  Frankie laughed. ‘But what a way to go, eh?’

  ‘True.’ They gathered their things while the waitress totted up the bill. ‘I’ll come back to the office with you. I’ve got a date with Philip.’

  ‘Good luck with that.’

  ‘Thank you. They’re probably half expecting it. But no doubt he’ll make me feel guilty for thinking about leaving, or something like that.’

  Frankie laughed. ‘That, or tell you how ungrateful you are after all they’ve done for you.’

  Philip answered her knock with a ‘Come.’ He whipped off his reading glasses and jumped up from behind his desk to greet her. He held her hand between his and smiled widely. ‘Sarah, so good of you to come.’ He gestured towards his conversation table and chairs. ‘So how goes it on Lord Howe Island?’

  ‘Good. Mum’s doing well. I’ll be back late December.’

  ‘Excellent. That is good news.’ He looked at his watch. ‘Simon should be joining us in a moment.’

  ‘Oh, there’s no need for that.’ Sarah just wanted to hand over her letter, discuss her termination details and catch a taxi to her interview. But then Simon was there and heartily pumping her hand too. Okay, so they’d both hear the news at the same time.

  ‘The reason I asked to see you,’ Sarah started, reaching for the envelope in her bag after they’d all sat down again.

  ‘Before we get to that,’ Philip said, exchanging a glance with Simon, ‘I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s been a bit of a shemozzle in the office.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘And we find ourselves with a vacancy,’ Simon said.

  She said nothing. Little did they realise they were about to have two.

  ‘Yes, young Dillon didn’t work out quite as well as we expected.’

  Go figure, she wanted to say, and in spite of his amazing golf average and Twitter skills. ‘Really?’ she said instead.

  ‘Well,’ Philip said, his pen twirling so frantically in his fingers Sarah figured it must be punch drunk, ‘the thing is—’

  ‘We made a mistake,’ Simon said.

  ‘Yes,’ Philip said, frowning as if the words were unfamiliar, ‘we made a mistake. But that’s in the past.’

  It was like watching a tennis match, Philip serving one over the net and Simon lobbing it back.

  ‘And so,’ Simon added with a smile, ‘you coming in today was inspired.’

  She smiled weakly. ‘Well, that’s good then.’

  ‘Because,’ Philip said, ‘we’d like to offer you a partnership. Congratulations, Sarah.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘It should have been yours all along. What do you say?’

  Sarah blinked, totally blindsided. ‘I don’t know what to say.’

  ‘You could say yes,’ Simon suggested.

  ‘I’m sure we’d even accept a thank you,’ added Philip.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said with a smile, because she could say that. She thought about the letter of resignation burning a hole in her bag. ‘I’ll think about it.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me Dillon was gone?’ Sarah said to Frankie when she stopped by her desk to tell her the news on the way out.

  The other woman grinned. ‘You were the one who said you didn’t want to hear about work.’

  Sarah sent her a death stare. ‘What happened to him?’

  ‘One of the big clients arrived home to find Dillon giving his wife a little extra help in the—’ she made quote marks in the air with her fingers, ‘—insolvency department.’

  Sarah’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Doing a bit of overtime, was he?’

  Frankie snorted. ‘He was asked to hand in his resignation. Kevin from tax was asked to take over his duties, but that’s left tax short. Looks like they’ve found just the person to clean it all up. Are you going to take it?’

  ‘I told them I’d think about it.’

  ‘They’re lucky you didn’t tell them to shove it where the sun don’t shine. Good luck with the interview. Let me know how you get on.’

  49

  ‘Coffee or tea?’ Floss asked.

  ‘Coffee.’

  ‘White with one, right?’

  ‘Spot on,’ said Jules, flashing a smile as her knitting needles click-clacked. ‘Don’t forget to ask for my discount.’

  Floss had picked up Della from Pru’s house and they’d met Jules at the museum café when she’d finished her shift. Della and Mikey were busy at a kiddie table, colouring in together and getting on well.

  ‘They’ll both be at school before long,’ said Jules when Floss returned. ‘It’s nice they’ll know each other a bit better.’

  ‘That it is. Sorry I didn’t bring Mikey to play group. It was a bit—’

  ‘It’s okay, Floss. I know. And you were busy with all the stuff you have to do. I don’t know how you do it all.’

  ‘You get used to it, I guess,’ Floss said with a shrug. ‘You squeeze the hours for all they’re worth. Which makes it all the nicer when you stop for ten minutes.’ She smiled. ‘Like now.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Jules said. ‘Again.’

  ‘Hey, forget it.’ It was so lovely to be on speaking terms again. You couldn’t have too many friends, Floss figured, that you could afford to lose any of them.

  Their coffees were ready so Floss went to collect them, sorting out an argument over the red pencil between Della and Mikey on the way.

  ‘You’re so good with kids,’ Jules said on her return.

  ‘Hah. You have five and see how good you get.’

  Jules grimaced. ‘I didn’t think I’d have one.’

  ‘Yeah.’ Floss looked over at the table where the kids were hunched over their pictures. ‘But look at how gorgeous Della is. You’ve done an amazing job, Jules, for someone who never wante
d kids.’

  Jules stopped knitting to gaze at the woman opposite. ‘Why do I feel the need to keep saying thank you to you?’

  ‘Because I’m the good fairy, of course,’ she said, holding out her hands. Then she chuckled. ‘I wish you wouldn’t, though, because that makes me feel like I was a total bitch to you all those years.’

  ‘Oh no, don’t think that.’

  ‘I can’t help it. Wasted years. I’m sorry, Jules.’ She sighed. ‘I just wish Sarah could be with us.’

  Jules shook her head. ‘She won’t meet with me again. She won’t forgive me. I’ve tried.’

  ‘Maybe she just needs more time?’

  ‘I can understand it though. Would you forgive me, if I’d slept with Andy and got pregnant when you were desperate to have a child and couldn’t have one?’

  Floss was staring at the table, struck dumb. She’d always planned on being a mum, but the very idea that she couldn’t have kids and that Andy and Jules might have—god, that rammed Jules’s point home.

  ‘You see? So why would she forgive me? Why should she?’ Jules sucked in a breath and found a smile to paint on her lips, no matter how thin the coat was. ‘But it’s okay. Nobody can say I haven’t tried.’

  For a moment the prospect of the three of them never being friends again weighed heavily on Floss’s heart. It didn’t seem right that they had come this far and there was still this final bridge, this final stage to broach. But maybe Jules was right. Maybe the triangle of their friendship was irrevocably broken.

  But that didn’t mean she couldn’t be friends with Jules. ‘Oh hey, did I tell you I’m going to be a grandma?’

  50

  Sarah had such a good feeling about how the interview had gone she almost floated out of the office. The two principals—a man and a woman (imagine that!)—were both in their early forties and looked like the kind of people Sarah would mix with at tennis. They were only interviewing three candidates for the senior role that was designed to be a stepping stone to partnership, and they’d undertaken to get back to her within forty-eight hours, but they’d given her the impression that she was at the top of the list.