The Girl in the Yellow Vest (14 page)

Behind her unit, indeed behind all the units, was a central courtyard, populated by a few large shady palms, park benches and picnic tables. In the very centre of the community area was a large fenced-off pool with water that sparkled like crystal. Around it were ten white deck chairs, gathered in pairs sharing large blue and white beach umbrellas.

At four-thirty that afternoon it seemed like the perfect spot to relax and think.

Half an hour later she realised that was a misguided assumption. They appeared slowly in twos and threes, a couple carrying Eskies between them. Before long there were at least twenty men standing around the pool. She couldn’t help but notice that none of them were wearing bathers and she was feeling decidedly naked in her blue bikini.

She got out of the water and, with as much dignity as she could muster, walked from the pool steps to the deck chair where she had laid her towel. Her legs wobbled as the air thinned and twenty pairs of eyes locked onto her arse like missile-launchers.

She heard the ‘pssst’ of several cans opening around her as she snatched her towel off the chair and quickly wrapped it around her trembling body. With bare legs and shoulders, she still felt only mildly protected from wandering eyes. The men took a swig and then one of them spoke to her, ‘Hey.’

‘Er, hi,’ she said tentatively, trying to relax under all the attention.

‘How about a drink?’

She waved a nervous hand in front of her chest. ‘Oh, I don’t –’

He pushed an open beer can into her hand anyway. It was all icy wet and slippery. She nearly dropped it.

Nearly.

What did fall was the towel that had been held up under her armpits.

When this covering suddenly pooled at her feet, a few whistles flew round the courtyard. The guy who had slipped her the drink was slapped a couple times on the back.

‘Yeah, mate, she likes
you
!’

She hastily picked up her towel, trying to rewrap herself with one hand, sloshing beer everywhere.

‘Doesn’t hold her drink too well though,’ another man laughed. ‘
Literally
.’

There were guffaws all round. Emily put the beer down and righted herself. The group had now doubled in size. There had to be close to fifty guys in that courtyard – where had they all come from?

‘Are you having a party?’ she asked the man who had given her the drink.

‘Nope.’ His eyes twinkled at her. ‘Just a small gathering. This happens every night.’

Every night.

‘Well, maybe I’ll just leave you to it.’ She put the beer down on the table next to her and was about to move forward when he barred her path. ‘No way. It’s not often we get a lady along. Stay awhile. Brighten our evening.’

And so the introductions began. She lost track of the names and the winks that went with them. Emily had nothing against being popular but the men seemed to be as friendly as they were mocking. They switched between talking
to
her to talking
about
her as if she wasn’t there at an alarming rate.

She wanted to go but couldn’t seem to achieve it, short of being blunt to the point of rudeness and telling them all to leave her alone and get out of her way. Fear and frustration made standing in wet bathers even colder. She was just about to bite the bullet and risk angering them when a friendly female voice surprised her.

‘Hey, Emily.’ She turned quickly to see the resort owner, Charlotte, walk up to the group. She had met the woman briefly on the evening she’d first arrived. Several men took a step back.

‘Take cover!’ someone yelled. ‘It’s the landlady.’

‘I suppose it’s a waste of my breath to ask you to pack up your booze?’ she said to the gathered crowd.

Many laughed uproariously and one guy, who had just finished his drink, threw his can at the bin and missed it by a mile. It was clear many others had been attempting the same target practice and failing dismally.

Charlotte returned her eyes to Emily, ignoring the obvious provocation. ‘Just wondering if you’re free for me to take a look at your air-conditioning unit now?’

Air-conditioning unit?

‘You said it wouldn’t switch on.’

‘I –’ Then she realised what the woman was trying to do for her. She clasped her hands together gratefully. ‘That would be perfect.
Thank you.
’

‘Great.’

Under a barrage of protests, which they successfully ignored by focusing on each other, Charlotte and Emily took off out of the fence gate and down the brick path to Emily’s backyard. They ducked through her sliding door, shut it and drew her blinds.

Phew!

Em’s gaze flew to her rescuer. ‘Thank you so much, Charlotte.’

Her friend laughed. ‘No problem at all but please, call me Lottie.’

‘Well, Lottie,’ Emily grinned. ‘You have no idea how grateful I am that you came along just at that minute.’

Charlotte nodded. ‘I saw you through the back window of my house and thought you could use an excuse to leave.’

‘Good call.’ Emily nodded. ‘Can I get you a drink? It’s the least I can do.’

‘Well . . .’ Charlotte glanced at her watch. ‘I suppose I’ve got a little time.’

‘Tea, coffee, soft drink, water?’

‘A tea would be great.’

As Emily walked into her kitchen, Charlotte sat down at the little dining table in front of her counter. ‘So you’re from Perth, are you?’

‘Born and raised.’

Charlotte smiled. ‘There seem to be as many West Australians on this project as there are Queenslanders.’

‘I’m just enjoying the opportunity,’ Emily responded enthusiastically. ‘I think tomorrow, though, I’ll check out Salonika Beach in lieu of the pool.’

Charlotte winced. ‘Do you have a stinger suit? It’s jellyfish season.’

‘A stinger suit?’

Charlotte laughed at what must have been the comical expression of dismay on her face. ‘Sorry, love, the ocean’s teeming with nasties this time of year. Believe me, you wouldn’t want to get stung.’

‘Oh.’

Can somebody please give me some good news?

‘I’m sure you’d be able to pick up a full body suit in town,’ Charlotte suggested. ‘That is, when you have some time off.’

Emily brought around the tea and sat down. ‘Well, that’s not happening any time soon. Not that I’m complaining. This is the best job I’ve ever had, even with all its warts.’

‘You’re kidding.’ Charlotte wrinkled her nose.

Emily’s phone, which was sitting in the fruit bowl between them, buzzed. She plucked it out and quickly scanned the message, then laughed. ‘My friend Will just warned me not to go to the pool.’

Charlotte also laughed. ‘I like Will; he’s good value.’

‘You know him?’ Emily asked casually, surprised at the irrational flood of jealousy and suspicion that suddenly pricked her.

‘Not well,’ Charlotte acknowledged, ‘but he stands out. He’s one of the few guys on this job who actually respects my property.’

Emily shot her a sympathetic look. ‘Damn, that’s no good.’

‘Tell me about it,’ Charlotte sighed. ‘So I take it you met Will when you arrived?’

‘No.’ Emily shook her head as fond memories resurfaced. ‘We go way back – known each other for years. I can’t even remember the day we met . . . No, wait, yes, I can.’

She smiled as the memory materialised in her head.

It had been first year, third week of semester one. She was sitting on the steps outside their lecture theatre trying to work out the answer to a tricky assignment problem. He had been leaning against a pillar behind her and, unbeknownst to her, reading over her shoulder. She hadn’t even realised he was there till he said, ‘It’s two hundred and thirteen kilo newtons.’

‘It’s what?’ She glanced up from her calculator and swivelled around to look at him. ‘Did you say something?’

‘It’s two hundred and thirteen kilo newtons.’ He smiled in the only way Will could, with enthusiasm and a complete lack of guile.

She pursed her lips. ‘And you know this because . . .?’

‘I worked it out last night.’

‘You could be wrong.’

‘I compared my answer to Jake’s and Caleb’s this morning,’ he shrugged. ‘It’s two hundred and thirteen kilo newtons. Do you want to know the angle as well?’

‘No,’ she retorted. ‘I’ll work it out myself.’

‘Then I wouldn’t put that force vector there.’ He bent down and ran his finger on the page against her free body diagram. She remembered a sudden zap of awareness. He was close enough for her to breathe in his scent, which was grass and sunshine. Will had always loved to lie on the lawn between lectures, reading his notes. That or shoot a footy across the oval with a few of his mates.

‘Are you always this tenacious?’ she demanded.

‘Actually not really. My name’s Will, by the way.’ He’d come down the steps then, folded his tall, lean body and sat down beside her.

‘Emily.’

‘Nice to meet you.’

She recollected liking his smile immediately and the way his hair flopped into his eyes. The stubble that gave him the just-rolled-out-of-bed look was extremely sexy.

‘May I?’ He indicated her pen.

‘Sure,’ she shrugged, ‘why not?’ She handed it over and he corrected a couple of her formulas.

‘There, that’s better. You almost had it right.’

‘Thanks,’ she murmured and retyped the new numbers into her calculator. The answer flashed up on the screen. ‘Two hundred and thirteen kilo newtons.’

‘What did I tell you?’

‘Thanks for your help,’ she murmured, meeting his eyes with a shy tilt of her lips.

‘Any time.’ He stared back, holding her gaze for what felt like just a second too long.

A throat had cleared beside them and they’d both jumped.

‘Sasha. Hey!’ Will exclaimed, leaping up to greet the pretty, dark-haired girl who had just joined them.

‘Hey.’ Sasha responded to his peck on the lips but had her eyes trained on Emily. ‘Sorry I took so long.’

‘That’s all right.’ Will turned back to her. ‘Emily, this is my girlfriend, Sasha. Sasha, this is Emily.’

‘Oh hi,’ Emily stood up. ‘Nice to meet you.’

She remembered swallowing her disappointment with a smile before packing up her bag and hastening away from the couple. It was strange how only now she was recalling that her first reaction to Will had been attraction. Or perhaps not so strange, given the effect he’d had on her in the portable toilet the other day.

Was it poor timing that had kept them only friends for so long? She’d met Trent through Will eighteen months later and the law student had asked her out immediately. By the time Will had broken up with Sasha, she’d been well and truly entrenched in her own relationship.

‘What’s the matter?’ Charlotte asked.

Emily looked up and blushed. She’d zoned out while the other woman was still sitting there. Shame on her.

‘Nothing, sorry, just lost in the memory. It’s strange how much things change over time.’

‘Life does have its twists and turns,’ Charlotte agreed, sipping her tea.

Emily’s phone buzzed again. ‘Sorry. I’ll just turn this off.’ She picked it up to do so when she noticed the new text message wasn’t from Will.

It was from Trent.

‘Go ahead and read it.’ Charlotte sipped her tea again. ‘You look like you want to.’

‘It’s from my ex.’ Emily frowned. ‘So I do and I don’t. We only broke up about a month ago.’

‘Oh,’ Charlotte nodded. ‘You must have some mixed feelings.’

More like conflicted and dissatisfied.

With sigh of resignation, she clicked the message open.

It was a mere three words.

I miss you
.

She groaned. ‘Now what am I supposed to do with that?’ She showed the message to Charlotte before turning the phone off.

‘Does he want to get back together?’

‘Who knows? One thing I’m not very good at is playing games. I’ve always preferred being upfront. So shoot me.’

Charlotte held up her hands. ‘No arguments from this end, babe. I think, if you can’t be honest, then why are you in the relationship in the first place?’

‘Exactly.’ Emily put her chin in her palm. If she and Trent got back together, things would have to change, that’s for sure. She was only just realising how much of a doormat she’d been in that relationship – letting him call all the shots.

She was having so much fun here, free from his influence. Today she’d gone on a safety induction and learned all about what
not
to do on a construction site. She could see now why Caesar had been so angry with Will for taking her out without proper training. Still, it had been worth it. The wharf was a majestic wonder, the sight of which had given her a confidence boost like no other. Of course, it didn’t explain her strange reaction to Will in the loo, where her hormones had taken a giant leap to Planet Crazy.

What was that about?

Pressed up against him, she’d started having all these insane thoughts. Even now just the memory made embarrassment creep up her neck. They’d had a brother/sister relationship for years. He would laugh if he knew what she’d been thinking.

She took a deep breath and plastered a smile on her face. Now was not the time to be mulling over that.

‘So,’ she focused on Charlotte, ‘tell me what I can do here without a stinger suit on. I’m dying to explore Queensland.’

Charlotte grinned. ‘Well, lucky for you, it’s pretty big.’

They sat there chatting for ages. Before Emily knew it, an hour had flown by, and then another. When they’d exhausted the sights of Queensland, they spoke about the project and then about the men. They swapped stories about some of the funny characters they’d met and the harassment they’d endured.

‘You know, if I was a man,’ Charlotte complained to her crossly, ‘I wouldn’t have to put up with all the crap going on out there right now. They’d listen to me when I asked them to clean up their act. They wouldn’t dare make a mess of my property like that.’

‘If I were a man,’ Emily mused, ‘my high-visibility vest would fit me.’

Charlotte chuckled.

‘I wouldn’t be sitting practically under the photocopier
and
I’d have real work by now.’

‘We should start a club.’ Charlotte grinned. ‘We could call it Sisters on Site.’