Nobody but Him (18 page)

Lizzie regarded her with wise eyes. ‘And here you are, right back where you started.’

‘It’s not like that, Lizzie. We know what we’re doing.’

‘Really? Have you told him you’re going back to Melbourne?’

Julia shrugged. ‘He knows.’

‘So what’s your plan? You going to walk away and break his heart a second time?’

‘It was just a one night thing. We were struck by nostalgia. By both being here at the same time. By memories. By hormones. That’s all it was.’

‘Yeah? A one night thing?’

‘Exactly.’

‘Then riddle me this, Batman. When did he leave? Immediately post-shag or was there a time delay? Any all-night snuggling?’

Julia was taken aback and she felt her brow crease in bewilderment. ‘What does all-night snuggling have to do with anything?’

‘Because it does,’ Lizzie replied authoritatively. ‘Confess. How long did he stay?’

Julia bit her lip. ‘Until this morning.’

‘Oh no.’ Lizzie shook her head, grimaced.

Julia didn’t dare tell her friend that Ry had turned his car around and come back just to kiss her. Because that would give weight to Lizzie’s theory and Julia just couldn’t think about Lizzie’s theory right now.

Mid morning the next day, Julia found herself playing tour guide to local real estate agent Kevin Higgins. When he’d knocked on her door, she’d
done a double take and grinned. He greeted her with a huge smile and a hug.

‘Julia Jones, as I live and breathe.’

‘Kevin, you haven’t changed a bit.’ What a relief to know that her first boyfriend hadn’t gone to pot. He was still cute, his body awesomely surf fit. ‘I need your help. I’m selling Mum’s house.’

Kevin nodded. ‘It was really sad about your mum, Julia. She was a beaut lady.’

‘Thank you Kevin.’ Julia took a deep breath to stop the tears. ‘I appreciate that.’

‘It was a really nice funeral too. If you can call a funeral nice.’

She stilled. ‘You were at Mum’s funeral? I’m sorry I didn’t realise you were there.’ Julia couldn’t believe it. No one she knew in Melbourne had been able to be there to support her. Not one. And Kevin, whom she’d kissed once or twice in high school, had honoured her family by paying his respects.

He patted her shoulder. ‘No worries, it’s a hard day burying a parent.’

The thoughtfulness of Kevin’s words touched her and she managed a sad smile back at him.

‘So, I see you’re slapping on a coat of paint.’ He looked around the room in ways only people in real estate did, seeing things she would never have noticed. He held a clipboard in the crook of his arm and began taking notes.

‘It really needed a spruce up so I’m using neutral colours on the walls and I’m going to de-clutter some of the old furniture and personal things.’

‘It’ll look great. With a little dressing for the photos, of course.’

‘I’m onto that,’ Julia told him.

Kevin glanced up at the ceilings. ‘No signs of water damage there, so that’s good. And you say the gutters are being replaced this week?’

‘Yeah, Lizzie put me on to Shane Hogben. I couldn’t believe it was the same guy from the footy team at school. He played like a Brownlow Medallist, didn’t he? I can’t believe he never left Middle Point for a club.’

Kevin’s tanned face creased into a smile.

‘Our kids all go to school together now. That’s a nice thing. You see, some of us were happy to stay here. I have to surf every day or I get cranky. Ask the wife.’ He winked at her.

It seemed so simple, she thought. Stay. Get married. Settle down into
the summer sun and winter winds routine. Live a life full of simple pleasures, childhood friendships, memory upon memory building on strong foundations in the town. For others it had been enough. It had never been enough for her.

‘So, Kevin, what do you think? Will people be whipping out their cheque books when you list it?’

Kevin scratched his head. ‘Do you want the real estate answer or the mate’s answer?’

‘They’re different?’

‘As an old mate, I’ll be honest. You’ve got a brilliant location here. But it’s not the newest house around and even the brand-spanking-new ones are taking some time to sell. There are a few other vacant blocks along the esplanade and they’re not moving either. It could take six months or more to shift.’

Six months? So much for cutting ties with Middle Point as quickly as possible.

Kevin made a note on his clipboard pad. ‘Pitching the price right will make a big difference. It’s not that people don’t want to move here … they just can’t afford the prices.’

Julia knew Kevin was right. Fifteen years away and the difference in Middle Point was stark. The place was being slowly knocked down and recreated, built anew, like a theme park instead of a town. All the character and history was being replaced by pop-up homes and fly-by-night residents.

Julia bit her lip. ‘If we don’t sell, is there any chance we might rent it out instead?’

‘Middle of winter? Not right now, but we could look at that as we head towards summer. Look,’ he threw an easy arm about her shoulder. ‘I don’t want you to worry too much. It’ll be great when you finish sprucing it up. What say we put it on the market and see how we go.’ He named a price range and Julia nodded. ‘I’m sorry the news isn’t exactly what you wanted to hear.’

‘Kevin, I appreciate your honesty. I really do.’

‘I’ll drop by with the paperwork on Monday?’

Julia threw her arms around him for a hug.

‘I like this real estate thing you’ve got going on, Kevin. The suit, the tie.
It looks good on you. Although not nearly as good as your old board shorts.’

They grinned at each other as he stepped out onto the front veranda.

‘They were good days, Julia.’

She sighed and smiled back. ‘Yeah, they were.’ And then remembered she hadn’t asked. ‘Hey, who did you marry?’

‘Michelle Eckert, from school.’

Julia’s mouth fell open in shock. ‘Michelle the maths nerd?’ She’d been the girl
least
likely to run off with a surfer dude like Kevin.

Kevin’s beaming face told her everything she needed to know about how happy he was to have won her heart.

‘She’s an accountant in Victor Harbor. We’ve got two kids. They’re little grommets, already out there surfing with their dad.’

‘That’s fantastic. You must be very happy, Kevin.’

‘Too right I am. What’s not to love? I’m married to an angel and I live in Middle Point. It doesn’t get better than that.’ He waved goodbye from the front yard. ‘I’ll see you Monday.’

Julia closed the door behind him and leaned against it, suddenly overcome. Tears welled in her eyes and she quickly wiped them away. She had no idea where they had come from. Things were going exactly as she’d planned and the place would be officially on the market in a few days.

She couldn’t possibly be sad about that, could she?

Julia spent the day hard at work and, by nightfall, the living space had been transformed. All the walls had two coats of fresh paint; everything looked lighter, cleaner and newer somehow. She’d carefully washed out the brushes and rollers and had them drying over the kitchen sink. The drop sheets had been folded into a pile and the empty paint tins were stacked under the carport ready to be taken to the dump.

Julia resolved to shower, scrub off the paint freckles splattered all over her hands and arms, become re-acquainted with her flannelette pyjamas and her ugg boots, and have a glass or two of wine. A perfect reward for all that work, she figured. Oh, and perhaps some chocolate.

She flipped on the heating so it would be toasty warm when she returned and stripped off her clothes, leaving them in a pile on the bathroom floor. Leaning in behind the stiff plastic shower curtain, she twisted the hot water tap and let herself think about how good it would feel when
the soothing spray ran down her back and her aching arms.

The sound of the pounding water echoed in the bathroom and she slipped her hand in and out of the spray to judge when it had warmed up enough to hop in and adjust the cold tap.

And she waited. And waited. There was no change to the icy chill of the water, which had begun to numb her hand.

Damn it to hell.
The hot water system. She imagined it had only been a temporary problem when it ran out of hot water the day before, but this looked permanent. Cursing, she turned off the tap and stomped to her bedroom to drag on some clothes.

‘Damn stupid house,’ she muttered. And then felt a pang of disloyalty. ‘Stupid freaking winter.’ She dived into her handbag for her mobile and pressed Lizzie’s number. It went through to her message service.

‘Lizzie, are you there? My ancient hot water system has blown and I can’t have a shower. I’m stinky, dirty and covered in paint. Can I come over to your place? Pretty please? Can you call me back?’

Fifteen minutes later, Lizzie hadn’t returned the call. Julia felt sticky and disgusting and just knew there was no way she could go to sleep feeling like this. She grabbed her phone, her wallet, a change of clothes and a towel, slipped on her ugg boots and took a chance.

Barbra Blackburn opened the door to Ry’s house with a glass of red wine in her hand and a question creasing her brow. When she saw it was Julia her face lit up with a huge grin.

‘Well hello, darling, come in!’

Julia gratefully stepped inside and Barbra closed out the cold. The warmth of the place hit her like a gust of north wind, warming her right to her bones. The faint sound of world music thrummed a beat throughout the room and the aromas of cooking wafted towards her. The place felt like heaven on a stick.

‘Barbra, I’m so sorry to bother you.’

‘Darling, no interruption at all. I’ve got the whole place to myself tonight. I’d love some company. As a matter of fact, I’ve just cracked a bottle. Can I interest you in a glass?’

‘Eventually I’d kill for one, but I need to ask a really big favour.’

Barbra regarded Julia with wide-eyed concern. ‘Of course. What is it?’

‘My hot water service is shot. Yesterday, I thought it was a one-off that
I’d just run out of hot water. It seems the thing is cactus. Would you mind terribly if I use Ry’s … your bathroom?’

Barbra threw an arm around Julia and gave her a squeeze, taking care not to spill her wine.

‘Of course you bloody well can. Head up the stairs and use Ry’s ensuite. But forget about a shower. Check out his enormous bathtub. Go and have a decent soak and I’ll pour you a glass of wine.’ Barbra eyed her suspiciously. ‘Have you been working on the house all day?’

Julia nodded, suddenly overcome with a wave of tiredness just thinking about it.

‘So I don’t suppose you’ve eaten, either.’

Julia shook her head, a smile plumping her cheeks. She knew what Barbra was thinking and, in that moment, she fell a little bit in love with Ry’s mother.

‘Might you be in the mood for Italian osso bucco and couscous sprinkled with a little lemon gremolata?’

Julia sighed just at the sound of it. ‘It sounds absolutely divine.’

She shooed Julia in the direction of the staircase. ‘Up the stairs, on the right. Take all the time you need.’

An hour later, Julia was tucking into her steaming bowl of veal shanks and savouring the delicious flavours of wine, tomatoes and rich broth. She was freshly scrubbed, thanks to the lemon-scented handmade soaps and foaming bath wash she’d discovered in the cupboard under the sink. Her hair was still slightly damp, but she didn’t care. A warm glow was spreading from her belly right through her body with every taste of the scrumptious meal and every sip of the full-bodied McLaren Vale cabernet sauvignon Barbra had opened.

Julia looked around the room and felt a kind of thrill that she was experiencing Ry’s house without him in it. She hadn’t quite known what to expect when she’d ascended the staircase and found Ry’s bedroom. She’d scrabbled on the wall for the switch and wasn’t disappointed when the lights came on. The bedroom wasn’t huge but when she took the dozen or so steps to the windows and saw the glimmering lights of houses across the water in the distance, she realised it didn’t need to be. The best thing
about the bedroom would surely be the view. Maybe she’d get to see it one day.

Next time, my place.

Julia’s heartbeat thumped in her chest when she remembered Ry’s parting words to her that morning. She took in the size of the bed and realised it was about the right size for a man of Ry’s height. It was neatly made with white cotton sheets stretched tautly across it. They wouldn’t stay that neat for long, judging by their efforts the night before. Unless they didn’t make it up the stairs before ravishing each other. Because that’s what it had felt like: primal, unrelenting, urgent, as if invisible strings were pulling them closer together, so strong that they couldn’t resist the urge to touch and be touched.

She’d shaken off the feelings, stripped off her clothes and eased herself into the steaming tub. Lying back on the inclined end, she’d let the heat surround her, her muscles soothed with the warmth of the water. The scent of the soap and the sound of splashing and burbling water had lulled her into a trance. With her eyes closed lazily, a slideshow of images from the past week flicked over and over in her head. Ry in her bed last night, his hands on her, his mouth on her nipples, teasing them into peaks. The feel of his body, heavy and strong, on hers. The shock of him being inside her again, realising how different it was this time, how much more real it felt. Him in his suit this morning, kissing her senseless at the front door. How she ached to hear his voice again.

Damn it to hell. She was falling for Ry, hard and fast.

‘Julia?’

The hazy images in front of her disappeared and there was Barbra, fork in hand, looking at her, her brow furrowed.

‘Are you all right, darling?’

Julia willed herself to speak. ‘Sorry, Barbra, did you say something?’

Barbra’s wry grin made Julia feel exposed. God forbid Ry’s mother should guess what she’d just been thinking about.

‘Tell me about yourself.’

Julia gulped. ‘Me?’

‘Ry tells me you grew up here but you live in Melbourne now?’

‘Yes, that’s right.’