The Right Time (20 page)

‘Ms Cosgrove, we always give customers a lift home,' he said, ‘or to the train station, or even to work, whatever's most convenient for them. It's part of the service, I'm not doing you any special favours. Didn't your original mechanic ever give you a ride home?'

‘But I live over in Petersham,' she said. ‘It's not really in your area.'

‘All the more reason you need a lift, I reckon.' He opened the passenger door for her and was standing patiently, watching her. This was starting to get ridiculous; that is, her stand-off was starting to get ridiculous, particularly as a follow-up act to her outburst earlier. She should just accept the lift graciously and show this man she wasn't a complete lunatic.

‘Okay, thank you,' she said, walking towards the open door. She got in and he closed the door for her. She was about to tell him that she could do it, but she had a feeling that might sound petulant, and she had been petulant enough for one day.

He returned to the driver's seat and pulled out into the traffic. ‘So where to?' he asked.

Ellen gave him her address, then settled back and tried to relax. She wasn't the best of passengers. She put it down to the fact that Tim was not the best of drivers – he was absent-minded and
easily distracted, and Ellen felt as though she had to be constantly vigilant when he was behind the wheel. Fortunately, this man seemed to be an alert, competent driver, not surprising considering his line of work, she supposed. And he wasn't speeding, Ellen hated speeding.

‘Listen, Ms Cosgrove,' he said after a while. ‘I want to assure you that I'll do everything I can to keep costs under control. I'll reuse parts where possible, and as for the more major parts, I should be able to get good, reconditioned alternatives in most cases. It just might take a bit longer.'

She groaned inwardly. ‘That really is very kind of you,' she said. ‘But I can't expect you to do that. This isn't your problem.'

‘It is if you can't pay,' he said, glancing across at her with a grin.

Ellen felt embarrassed. ‘Look, I don't want you to worry about getting paid. Of course you'll be paid. I'm not someone who doesn't pay her bills.'

‘I didn't mean to imply that,' he said. ‘It was just a joke.'

She really needed to ‘chill', as Sam would put it. She took a breath.

‘The thing is, I just don't think I can do without a car for very long.'

‘Okay . . .' He seemed to be mulling that over. ‘Well, if it's any help, I can probably organise a loaner for you, say, by the end of the week.'

Ellen looked at him. ‘A loaner?'

He nodded. ‘I have an arrangement with a local smash repairer. They have a couple of old cars on hand to lend to customers when jobs go over a week. They're nothing fancy, but they're roadworthy.'

‘Won't they need them?'

‘If I put dibs on one, it should be all right,' he said. ‘I'll call them when I get back to the garage.'

Ellen bit her lip. ‘That's very kind, again, but how much is that going to cost me?' she asked meekly.

‘Part of the service.'

She breathed out then, shaking her head. ‘I've never had service like this from a . . .' She was about to say ‘tradesman', but she worried that might sound like a slight.

But he was just grinning that grin of his. ‘I know mechanics can't be trusted half the time. I used to work for some right bas –' he stopped short, glancing sideways at her, ‘– not very honourable people. They'd just clean up parts instead of replacing them, and then charge for new parts, that kind of thing. And they'd always inflate the labour costs. I vowed when I had my own business I wasn't going to get into any of that. It's worked out all right for me so far.'

Ellen wondered if he was spinning her a line. But what choice did she have save to believe him?

‘Well, like I said, I'll have to call my hus- . . . my ex-husband,' she corrected herself, again, ‘to discuss it.'

They pulled up at lights. They weren't far from her place now.

‘So you haven't been separated long?' he asked.

She turned her head sharply to look at him.

‘Just that you don't seem used to calling him your ex,' he said. ‘Sorry, it's none of my business.'

Ellen looked straight ahead again. She was tempted to say, you're right, it is none of your business. But she just said, ‘It's the next one on the left.'

‘Okay.'

He turned the ute into her street.

‘Just up there behind the red car will be fine,' said Ellen. ‘Thanks.'

He pulled up where she had indicated. ‘So I'll wait to hear from you,' he said, the engine idling. ‘And I'll find out about the loaner in the meantime.'

She opened the car door and put one foot out onto the road. ‘Thank you,' she said, looking back at him. ‘Mr . . . I'm so sorry, I've forgotten your name.'

‘It's Finn,' he said.

‘Okay Mr Finn . . .'

‘No,' he smiled. ‘Finn's short for Finlayson.'

‘Okay, Mr Finlayson.'

He winced. ‘Really, everyone calls me Finn.'

‘Well, everyone calls me Ms Cosgrove,' she said, then she realised how that probably sounded. ‘I mean, you know, because I'm a teacher,' she added quickly.

He nodded. ‘Okay, Ms Cosgrove.'

She took a breath. She was going to have to talk to this man at least a few more times, she was being obtuse for no good reason, and she'd better snap herself out of it.

‘It's Ellen,' she said. ‘And I really do appreciate the lift . . . and everything . . .
Finn
.'

He nodded again. ‘No worries.'

She stepped away from the car and closed the door.

‘Hey Ellen,' he said as she started across the road to her house.

She turned to look back at him.

‘I know this sucks and it's not fair,' he said, ‘but just remember, nobody died.'

So a cutesy little aphorism was supposed to make this all okay?

Ellen was beginning to stun herself – when had she become such a hard bitch? He was grinning that grin of his, but he wasn't teasing her, there was a warmth in his eyes that she found oddly comforting.

So she said ‘Thank you' graciously, before turning again and continuing across the road.

He tooted the horn and lifted his hand in a wave. Ellen raised her hand in return as he drove out of sight around the corner.

Evie got back to her car and switched on the ignition to check the time. Oh blast! She was going to be late picking up the kids. She would have to go straight to the school in her walking gear. She fumbled with the iPod, untangling the earphone cords from around her neck and under her T-shirt. She shoved it right down into her handbag, out of sight so Tayla wouldn't see it. She'd have to distract her once they were home so she could sneak it back into her drawer.

She drove through the suburbs, her anxiety building with each red traffic light. She glanced at the time on the dashboard and
took a breath, calming herself. Really, she wasn't going to be late, as such, it was just that the kids were used to her being there early, already waiting as they walked out of their classrooms. She liked to get there early because that way she always got a park nice and close to the gate. But it's not as though they were going to be stranded in an empty playground or anything.

Although from the look on Tayla's face when Evie made it to the school, you'd think she'd been stranded on a desert island for a year.

‘Where have you been?' she scowled, arms folded, tapping her foot impatiently.

‘I was slightly held up,' said Evie.

‘Doing what?' she demanded. ‘And what are you wearing, Mother, you're so embarrassing.'

Evie decided to ignore that. ‘Where's your brother?' His bag was tossed next to Tayla's, but he was nowhere to be seen.

‘How should I know?' Tayla retorted. ‘He's not
my
responsibility. You should have been here on time.'

‘Tayla,' said Evie, ‘I heard the bell go as I was walking up the street. You've been waiting a minute or two. Get over it.'

She sniffed. Evie picked up Jayden's backpack. ‘Come on, we better go find your brother or we'll be late for Cody.'

Jayden was where Evie thought he would be, down on the grass oval kicking a ball around with some friends. He left under duress and they eventually made it to Cody's preschool, just on time. His teacher reported he'd been a bit out of sorts today, which was unusual for Cody, so they both wondered if he might be coming down with something. Evie carried him out to the car and saw Tayla through the window, waving her iPod manically, her face a picture of indignation.

‘How could you take my stuff like that without even asking?' she accused shrilly as Evie opened the back door to deposit Cody in his car seat.

‘I'm sorry I didn't ask,' said Evie, buckling him up. ‘But you looked in my bag without asking, so I guess that makes us even.'

‘Hoh!' Tayla cried. ‘It's not the same. I just needed a tissue, and I didn't take something very special of yours –'

Evie closed the back door and walked round to the driver's
side and opened the door. Tayla was still ranting, but now Cody was whimpering as well.

‘What's the matter, honey?' she asked, looking over her shoulder.

‘Jayden poked my tummy and it did hurt.'

‘Dibberdobber dibberdobber,' Jayden chanted.

‘Be quiet, Jayden,' said Evie. ‘Cody's not feeling well, leave him alone.'

Just as well it was only five minutes to home, because Jayden kept up the ‘dibberdobber' mantra the whole way, Cody whined in protest and Tayla would not let up about the iPod.

‘You're the one who made the rule about respecting each other's stuff,' she threw at her mother. ‘Wait till I tell Daddy, he's going to be so mad at you.'

Evie did her best to switch off. She pictured herself out walking, less than an hour ago. She could hear the birds, smell the eucalypts, feel the blood rippling through her limbs.

‘Why are you smiling?' Tayla wanted to know. ‘You're not even taking me seriously. You're such a horrible mother, I hate you so much.'

Evie despised the hate word, but decided to let it pass: she wasn't up to going several rounds of the table with her daughter right now. She pulled up in the driveway and turned off the engine.

‘I feel thick, Mummy,' Cody whimpered from the back seat.

‘It's okay, darling,' she soothed. ‘Mummy will get you inside and you can lie down with a cool facewasher.'

Evie carried Cody inside, the other two trailing behind her. He did feel quite hot against her, she'd better give him something to bring down the fever. She popped him on the kitchen island bench and turned to the cupboard where she kept the medicine box.

‘Mummy . . .'

Evie turned around as Cody projectile vomited, the height of the bench giving it some momentum as it hit the floor, just as Jayden and Tayla walked into the kitchen.

‘Awesome spew, Codes!' Jayden whooped.

Tayla was shrieking. ‘It's disgusting! Clean it up! Yuck!'

Evie had quickly grabbed a bowl and was holding it in front of Cody as she comforted the poor kid, who was understandably distressed.

‘Both of you go to your rooms while I clean up.'

This was met with more howls of protest.

‘Why are we getting punished?' Tayla cried.

‘Would you rather stay and help?' Evie suggested. That got them moving. ‘Change out of your uniforms while you're up there,' she called after them.

Evie stripped Cody off and popped him in the laundry tub in lukewarm soapy water, while she quickly cleaned up the mess on the floor. She'd have to mop it again later, but it would do for now. She wrapped Cody in a towel and carried him upstairs to his room. Jayden was playing on the floor with his action figures and he sprung up. ‘Eew, why do you have to bring him in here?'

‘Because it's his room too, Jayden.'

‘But I don't want to get sick,' he said, backing himself against the wall.

‘Fine, then go downstairs and play on your Wii.'

She'd barely said the words before he'd shot out the door. She had dressed Cody in a pair of boxers and was settling him into bed when Tayla came to the door.

‘How come Jayden gets to leave his room and I don't?'

‘Fine,' Evie sighed. ‘Go and do what you want, but please keep it down, and don't fight with your brother.'

Evie sat holding a cool facewasher to Cody's forehead, until he drifted off to sleep. She hoped the other two wouldn't catch this bug as well, though they usually did. Evie never seemed to get sick, neither did Craig, but he baulked at cleaning up vomit, or changing dirty nappies, or at anything gross for that matter. What, did he think she enjoyed it? She certainly wasn't enjoying the idea of three kids home for the next few days, taking turns throwing up. When would she get a chance to walk? She gazed down at Cody and lifted the facewasher off his forehead. He was sleeping peacefully now, but she'd have to keep him home from preschool tomorrow regardless, even if he rallied this evening. So she wouldn't be walking again this week anyhow. That depressed her more than anything.

She went downstairs to check on the others. Jayden didn't even acknowledge when she asked if he wanted some afternoon tea, he was so absorbed in his game. She found Tayla out on the back deck.

‘What are you doing out here?' Evie asked her.

‘It absolutely stinks in there, Mother, you have to do something about it.'

‘I'm about to, Tayla,' she said. ‘I had to look after Cody first, what did you expect me to do?'

Tayla just sniffed. ‘Well, I've got homework to do, so I hope it won't take long.'

Evie opened every window to air out the place, and mopped the floor with disinfectant. She made them each a plate of afternoon tea and called them to the kitchen. ‘I think it's safe to come in now.'