Happy Mother's Day! (35 page)

Max’s wide mouth broke into a blindingly white smile. ‘Fabulous, so this will be a quick meeting. Siena, I have been
more than pleased with the result of our recent teaser campaign featuring your face in billboards across Australia. It seems yours is a face that gives consumers confidence.’

Oh, God here it was—he was about to ask her to stay!

But what would she say if Max offered her the permanent job as face of MaxAir? Would she beg him for Rome? If he said no, would she quit?

She suddenly had no idea.

But she did know that something in her felt changed, and she did know that, no matter what Max offered her, she would not go back to the regular old routes that a few days before had been fine. A few days ago they had been ample. They had been great. They had been enough.

But now she wanted … more.

Siena’s fingernails dug into her hot palms as she watched and waited. Her heart thundered in her chest.

‘You may have heard that our Rome/Paris run,’ Max continued, ‘the leg that MaxAir began with ten years ago, the run of my heart, has been taking a beating from some of the other bigger carriers over the past year. As such I want you there. I want an injection of delightful Australian youth. I want you to turn Rome on its head.’

Siena waited for the other shoe to drop, the shoe that was all about promotions and Cairns and staying put, when a waiter in a white suit appeared from nowhere with a fresh Martini for him and a pitcher of ice-cold lemon-flavoured water and a tumbler for her.

‘I will be basing you out of Rome,’ he said after the waiter disappeared as quietly as he had arrived, ‘putting you up in your own apartment. I like my Rome girls to be fresh so you need not work more than three days out of seven and two
months out of three. I look after my Rome girls, Siena, so if you thought you were flying high now, you have no idea what you are in for.’

Her thundering heart dropped to her stomach, creating a hollow ache deep behind her ribs.

Rome.
After all her worrying and concern and soul-searching, Max was actually giving her Rome—her dream, the pinnacle, the position that would prove to all and sundry that she had really made it.

‘Why me?’ she asked, suddenly unable to stop herself from looking as stunned as she felt.

Max smiled at her ingenuous question, though it never quite reached his eyes.

‘In all of our market research, you were consistently the number one most recognised face of all the boys and girls we have used over the spring. Your performance reviews have been consistently excellent. You have changed routes, crews, positions over and again without blinking an eye, without taking family concerns or boyfriends, or any of that jazz, into consideration as many of my girls have.You probably have no idea that you’ve only had—’ he looked down at a piece of paper that Siena hadn’t even noticed was there ‘—two sick days in seven years.’

It hit her as if he had just thrown the pitcher of ice-cold water in her face—the reason she’d never said no to a challenge was because, whereas her colleagues had been living well-rounded lives, she’d never
had
family concerns, or boyfriends, or any of that jazz to consider. Since the day she had run away from home she had kept on running and somehow she’d found herself employee of the millennium.

And suddenly she wasn’t sure
why
she wanted to be that person after all.

When she didn’t answer, Max’s eyes narrowed and his smile broadened. He unfolded a piece of paper on MaxAir baby-blue stationery, grabbed a gold pen from a hidden pocket in his smoking jacket, made a few alterations to the page, then slid it over to her face up. ‘This is my offer.’

Her head told her not to look, told her that it would be too good to be true and that she would drop to her knees and kiss his toes, while her heart told her to think on it.

But she was a sticky beak of the worst sort. Always would be. So she looked.

The money was double what she earned now. She would have free airfares with MaxAir anywhere any time for the extent of her contract. She would continue to have a driver—which Rick and Rufus would both be thrilled to hear!—and a moving allowance to take her to Rome within the week, which was why she hadn’t been emailed a new schedule.

The deal was so good a mighty swear word slipped loudly from her mouth.

Max grinned. ‘Do I take that as a yes?’

Siena’s mind was tripping. Overloaded. The deal was something that most people would have accepted without a second thought. It was a deal that a week before
she
would have accepted without a second thought.

For all Max’s kind words about loyalty, she was suddenly proving herself hard work. Trouble. Inconsistent. Just as Rick had accused her of being all these years.

She took the piece of paper, folded it twice and popped it into her handbag. ‘How long do I have to think about it?’

Max’s smile faded, but only slightly, before beaming back at her ever brighter. ‘Twenty-four hours ought to do it.’

She nodded. A day. She had her last day in Cairns to think about it. ‘I’ll have an answer by this time tomorrow.’ Max stood and shook her hand.

Siena felt a presence behind her. Rufus was back. She realised that meant it was time to go.

She grabbed her handbag and followed Rufus, wondering how he survived in a three-piece suit on a day such as this. She was sweating and weak under the heat of her cream summer-weight tweed. Or maybe she was trembling because she had just been handed her dream on a platter and found she needed time to think about it.

‘How did it go, Ms Capuletti?’ Rufus asked when they reached the huge marble lobby.

‘Perfect,’ she moaned.

He shot her a sideways glance, his beady eyes burning into her, and again she wondered if he was only moonlighting in this job until the army needed him for some special operation.

‘How do you feel about Rome?’ he asked and she was no longer surprised that he knew everything before anyone else did.

‘I love Rome. I adore Rome. The Trevi Fountain, the shopping, the cappuccinos, the prestige … It’s what I’ve always wanted. And I told Max I have to think about it. Am I nuts? Should I run back in there now and tell him I was kidding and yes please and thank you and I’ll pack the minute I get home?’

Rufus held open the limo door for her. ‘No,’ he said. ‘Make him wait. He doesn’t get that nearly enough.’

He smiled, and it highlighted a long crazy scar on his right cheek, but Siena still smiled back. She had long since decided Rufus was a good person.

‘Max’s new training facilities are on the property,’ he said. ‘He thought you might like a tour while you’re here.’

She nodded, thankful that she had a bit of time to collect herself. Rufus drove her to the training rooms which were located in a big blue and white office building just outside the security gates.

Inside they were glossy, retro-looking and state-of-the-art. And, despite herself, she was impressed. Seven years before, she had done her training in a rented office block on the outskirts of a dodgier suburb of Melbourne. She and Max had both come a long way since then.

‘You are Siena Capuletti, aren’t you?’ someone asked from behind her.

Siena turned to find a group of bright-eyed, bushy-tailed trainees, all clones of Jessica of the bendy straw and juggling fascination. ‘Yeah, I’m Siena.’

‘When those new ads started running,’ the blondest one said, ‘we had bets going that you weren’t really a sky girl for MaxAir. None of us had seen you on our runs. So are you really one of us?’

‘Seven-year veteran at your service. I’ve done mixed overseas runs for the last three years, so maybe that’s why we haven’t met.’

‘I would just die to get an overseas run,’ Blondie said, her eyes misting over all dreamy.

And then Siena noticed the tiny diamond glittering on the young woman’s left ring finger. She felt a momentary shot of empathy for the poor girl. That was never going to happen.

A flight attendant’s life was transitory. Living out of a tiny suitcase. Working odd hours. No opportunity to settle down. All things which had attracted Siena in the first place. But for a young woman in love?

A MaxAir girl’s version of love was getting pinched on the
backside by a commuter. Or being offered gifts of lost property by baggage handlers. Or having a guy in every port …

‘I know this seems silly,’ Blondie said, ‘but could I grab your autograph?’

‘Sure.’ Siena signed away. She didn’t have the heart to tell the girl how hard it was going to be.

‘Happy trails,’ the girls called out in unison as Rufus beckoned her to the entrance.

‘Same to you,’ Siena said before walking off into the bright afternoon sunshine, feeling strangely sad, as if the trail beneath her feet was like a pure beach after high tide.

The only set of footprints on her beach to date were hers.

A
S
R
UFUS
took Siena through bright, cheerful downtown Cairns, she strove to remind herself why she hated this place so much.

They drove alongside the boardwalk, past market stalls, happy shiny people in bikini tops, short shorts and flip-flops, and the massive created lagoon perched amidst parklands on the water’s edge. Sleek tanned tourists lolled about on brightly coloured towels while young families splashed about in the shallows. Eye-catching restaurants and cafés and shops lined the beachside road.

The place had really changed in seven years. And so, she was beginning to realise, had she.

She wasn’t the rebellious, confused, angry teenager she had once been. She had forged a great life for herself, a wonderful career, friends the world over, yet something was missing. Her wanderlust had taken her this far, but now her feet didn’t feel itchy any more; they merely felt weary.

When they neared a familiar T-junction on the outskirts of Cairns, Siena called out, ‘Rufus.’

‘Change of plan, Ms Capuletti?’

The guy was a mind-reader! ‘Actually, yes. I need you to do me a favour. I need to go shopping.’

A half-hour later, they pulled up outside Fourteen Apple Tree Drive. The large oak tree in the front garden now had a big hole in the side where Rick’s car had crashed up against it. Tyre tracks had made a mess of the perfect green lawn. And her rose bush had been cleared away.

‘Did you have something against that tree, Ms Capuletti?’ Rufus asked.

‘I wouldn’t be surprised if you knew the number of times I fell from it as a kid, Rufus.’

He smiled at her and she thought it best not to test him on it.

‘Thanks, Rufus, you’ve been very patient with me.’

‘It has been my pleasure. I’ll see you again tomorrow, Ms Capuletti.’

She tried to tip him but he refused, merely wishing her good luck with a tip of his cap and driving away.

So she was left standing on the suburban pavement of her old home—James’s home—in her Dolce suit, make-up glamorous enough to outdo any movie star, and her heart on her sleeve.

She wheeled the brand-new BMX bike she had just bought up the driveway, eyes focused on nothing but the front door, until she found herself rapping on carved wood with an antique lion’s head knocker that she had bought her father for his sixtieth birthday.

Voices on the other side of the door came closer until the door was opened. Matt, of the long grey ponytail stood staring at her.

‘Well, if it isn’t Siena Capuletti, sister of Rick Capuletti, defensive driver and one time inhabitant of this house.’

‘Matt,’ she said, her voice overly breathy. ‘Hi. Is … is James about?’

As if he had come to the whisper of his name, James backed around the far kitchen doorway, a tea-towel over his
shoulder, in old jeans, a fitted blue polo shirt, endearingly torn at the collar, and bare feet, talking to someone he had left behind in the kitchen.

‘James, you have another visitor,’ Matt called out before fading into the next room.

James turned, saw her and stopped talking. His eyelids flickered, his mouth twitched, then all of a sudden, as though someone had flipped a switch on inside him, his whole face lit up.

He didn’t even try to hide the fact that he had feelings for her. She had feelings right back. And that was all it took for her to know that she wasn’t feeling torn up for nothing.

‘Siena, hi,’ James said, coming to her.

‘Hi,’ she said, feeling terribly small in the large open doorway. She shuffled from foot to foot. ‘I have a present for Kane.’ She motioned to the bike so obviously positioned by her legs.

His grey gaze trailed slowly to the bike via her red high heels, fancy suit and glamour make-up and she suddenly felt ridiculous. And the bike was so obviously only a ploy to get her to his side that it felt more like an albatross at her feet.

But when his gaze locked back on to her eyes, all feelings of ridiculousness just slipped away. The smile in his eyes was real. Utterly lovely. And important.

His hand rested against his heart. ‘You look … amazing.’ He reached out to take her by the tips of her fingers so he could look her over again. Then his smile slipped ever so slightly as he asked, ‘Your interview—you’ve been?’

She nodded, her mouth dry as she found herself melting under his tender gaze. It had been so very long since she had known tenderness, if ever. The true warmth of a human touch,
being looked upon as if she was something precious; it really was addictive.

‘I know Kane is at school still, but I thought I should drop this off while I had the means to do so. The limo Max sent for me was huge. It seemed a waste not to take advantage.’

‘You shouldn’t have,’ he said.

‘Yeah. I should,’ she returned and she wondered if they were both talking about something other than the bike.

‘Right. Then come in. Please.’ He took the bike and leant it against the wall in the entranceway, and then he took a grip on her hand, tugging at her. Siena felt his thick calluses rubbing against her soft palm and she had to suppress a shiver.

She heard a woman’s laugh ring out from the kitchen and hesitated.

‘No, really it’s okay,’ she said. ‘I shouldn’t have come without calling. I don’t know what I was thinking.’

Well, she had been thinking of him, and he would have to be as thick as a plank not to know it. And James was anything but thick. The moment he had seen her he’d known; he was just too much of a gentleman to gloat.

‘Rubbish, and it doesn’t matter,’ James said to both of her statements, and he stepped through the doorway to join her outside so that they were within inches of one another beneath the trellis.

Siena was suddenly reminded of her first kiss with … what was his name? Some boy she had dragged home for just that reason in the hope that Rick would find her and blow his top so that she could triumph like a right little teenager. She and what’s-his-name had kissed. It had been all too brief and nicer than she had expected; Rick had been none the wiser
and she had spent the next month catching a different bus home from school to avoid the poor guy.

She’d never been good at commitment, even then.

‘Siena.’ James’s deep voice washed over her and she gazed up into his heavenly grey eyes. ‘There is plenty of food and they are old friends whom I would love you to meet, so please come in. Join us.’

He twirled her hand until it hooked into his elbow, a place it was fast becoming used to, and he drew her inside.

She slipped off her shoes outside as though she had done it a hundred times before and, suddenly feeling small and delicate next to his strong, towering form, she followed where he led.

When the door shut behind her, the voices in the kitchen stopped and two unfamiliar faces popped around the corner of the kitchen wall.

‘Dave, Cate, this is Siena.’

Cate’s eyes glinted. ‘Aah. Kane’s princess in shining armour.’ ‘Who?’ Dave whispered.

‘The one with the green car and the green eyes, who cleaned up his scrape,’ Cate said through her teeth while coming forward and holding out her hand.

James released Siena from his secure grip and she found herself swept up in the tide as Cate drew her outside to where the gang had a barbecue heating up.

During the afternoon Siena allowed herself to see what it might feel like to be a part of James’s world, a world of car-pooling, soccer fixtures, school PTA meetings and even dreaded piano lessons.

Considering her PDA was filled with the names of dry cleaners, pedicurists and cab companies around the world, she found herself floundering to join in. But then she would catch
James looking at her with an affectionate smile lingering deep within his eyes, or he would lean across her as an excuse to rub his arm against hers, and the suburban world beneath her feet would solidify once more.

As the afternoon heated up, Siena had ditched her jacket in favour of her cream lace camisole and skirt. While Dave and Matt fought over the barbecue tongs, and Cate sat on the edge of the pool dangling her feet into the cool depths, she and James found themselves alone at the long wooden outdoor table, cool in the shade of the pergola.

She took a long drag of a Corona, relishing the lick of lemon at the end of each sip.

‘Beer never tastes better than when it is drunk on a hot summer’s day in the tropics,’ James said, mirroring her thoughts exactly.

‘Who are they?’ she asked, watching as Cate flicked pool water over her husband’s bare legs.

‘Old friends. From when we were kids. I haven’t seen them in months. Entirely my fault. I’m just lucky that they were stubborn enough to come a-knocking after all this time. It seems this weekend is a lucky one for me all around.’

Siena took a deep breath through her nose and slowly, slowly eked the bubbles of beer down her tight throat.

‘So tell me about your interview,’ James said, saving her from commenting. He straddled the bench seat so that he was facing her, and she felt the whole world fade away until there was no one else of import bar her and him.

Images of Max and his white satin trousers and ridiculous house swam to the fore, but she knew that wasn’t what he wanted to know. Heck, he’d probably been there more times than she had.

So she bit the bullet and answered the question he was really asking.

‘He offered me Rome,’ she said.

James felt as though his legs had been kicked out from under him and if he hadn’t been sitting he would have been in trouble. So much for this being his lucky weekend.

‘Rome, eh?’

Siena nodded, biting at her inner lip in that way that gave him ideas.

The words
don’t go!
fought to escape from behind his clenched teeth. But that wasn’t his place. He barely knew her. She barely knew him. What right did he have to tell her what to do? Or even to ask her? Especially when she had that stubborn look in her eye that told him that if anybody told her what to do she would be out of there as fast as the words left his mouth.

‘That’s what you wanted, right?’ he asked, amazed he could even say the words.

She blinked, her brow furrowing. ‘It was. It is. But still I asked him to give me time to think on it. He gave me twenty-four hours. So, by this time tomorrow, my fate will be sealed one way or the other.’

And like that, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. She had come straight from the interview to him. Not to the mechanic shop. Not to Rick’s house. And not to the airport.

This time
she
had come to
him.

Suddenly this wasn’t all conjecture any more. This wasn’t a slow awakening by a beautiful woman who made him feel again. This had nothing to with any steps he had to take, twelve or otherwise.

Something big was happening between them. Both of them. Something unexpected and life-changing.

‘Dude,’ Matt called out, walking to James with the phone in his hand. James hadn’t even heard it ring. He was used to being so attuned to it just in case it was Kane or—

‘It’s the school. Kane needs you.’

James was on his feet and running before Matt had finished talking. At the kitchen door he turned to Dave and Cate. ‘Stay if you like. Have a swim. Eat. The school’s not far. We’ll be home soon.’

Dave and Cate waved him away. ‘No, mate,’ Dave said. ‘It’s time we left too.’

He shifted his gaze to find Siena sitting primly on the corner of his old outdoor bench, looking so beautiful, so elegant, so worried, and so real. Despite all the ‘what ifs’ rocketing through his mind, he wasn’t finished with her yet.

‘Come,’ he said, holding out a hand.

And his heart clenched in his chest at the light that shone in her eyes at his simple request.

When she stood and came to him he knew that he had no choice. By the end of that day he would be asking her to stay.

James drove to Kane’s school and, though he kept to the speed limit the whole way, Siena still felt tension behind every gear change.

He looked across at her every moment that he could, and the smile in his eyes made her melt, but the moment he looked ahead his attention was focused on getting to Kane, and it made Siena wish she hadn’t come along for the ride.

His first priority would always be his son and every minute she sat in the car only rubbed it in deeper.

They pulled up in front of the school and James even held the door open for her, taking her hand in his as he loped up
the school steps. He moved slowly enough for her to keep up in her pencil skirt and high heels, but he jogged all the same.

Siena passed classrooms filled with kids at multicoloured desks positioned not in alphabetical rows as she had known but in circles, or with no desks at all as kids sat with their teachers on the floor. Again she felt the winds of change that had swept through the place since she’d left.

A woman about James’s age, wearing a neat navy suit, with her long blonde hair pulled into a tight high ponytail, met them in the empty hall. James’s hand slipped out of Siena’s as he rushed to the blonde’s side.

‘James, I’m so sorry to have called you, especially with the school day almost over,’ she said, laying a hand on James’s upper arm.

Siena felt overwhelmingly proprietorial. Nothing that belonged to her gave her such a sense of ownership. Heck, her foreign sky girl friends who crashed at her apartment in Melbourne spent more nights in her bed than she did.

‘Don’t sweat it, Mandy. Really,’ James said. ‘You know the deal. If he needs me I’ll be here. No matter what.’

Naturally Mandy chose that moment to notice Siena standing there looking like a wallflower at a school dance. She felt herself blushing as it slowly dawned on the teacher’s pretty face that
she
had been James’s ‘no matter what'.

‘Hi. I’m Siena. A friend of the family,’ Siena said when James didn’t.

She held out her hand and Mandy had to let go of James to take it. Siena had to fight back a victorious smile.

‘Nice to meet you, Siena. Kane mentioned you in show and tell today.’

‘Oh, my. What did he show?’ she asked.

‘His scar,’ Mandy said, pinning Siena with that scary teacher stare they learned at university. ‘Pretty impressive. Now, shall I take you to him?’