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Mitchell headed outside preparing himself for the third degree. He didn’t have to wait long. As soon as they saw him Clancy let out a low whistle and Jordan started clapping.
‘Hard day at the office last night?’ Jordan asked with a chuckle as he slapped Mitchell on the back.
‘Good of you to join us,’ Clancy said, handing Mitchell a takeaway coffee cup.
‘Lay off,’ Mitchell grumbled good-naturedly.
It was hard not to smile after the night he’d had, but his conversation just now with Hope troubled him. Was there any point in pursuing a relationship with her if she wasn’t going to consider hanging around in Macarthur Point? He pushed the niggling doubt away. He had a lot to do today and couldn’t afford to let his mind wander.
‘Where’s Ian?’ he asked.
‘Gone to the hardware shop to get some different screws or something.’
Mitchell took a sip of his coffee and grimaced. It was lukewarm.
‘Mitch and Hope. Finally, together,’ Jordan said in a singsong voice. ’bout bloody time if you ask me. I don’t know why you didn’t get together years ago.’
No way was he about to admit they had.
‘Good on you, lad,’ Clancy said, slapping him on the back.
‘I’m not surprised though,’ Jordan said. ‘Not after the way you two were looking at each other the other night at the pub.’ He leaned back against the fence railing and put his hands behind his head. ‘A collision was inevitable.’
‘I’d say they definitely collided last night,’ Clancy said with a throaty laugh.
Mitchell felt his face flame.
‘You got it bad,’ Jordan said. ‘All she had to do was look at you and you’ve lost your ability to speak.’
Or think. Or form a coherent thought. But he wasn’t going to admit that.
Mitchell tossed his half-drunk cup of coffee in the mini-skip and picked up a piece of timber. They had work to do and he wasn’t going to stand around and listen to them rib him. The last thing he needed was for Jordan to ask what the future held for him and Hope. Because he had no answer to that. If he had his way, Hope would never leave.
‘Is it serious?’ Jordan asked as he helped Mitch carry the timber over to the deck. ‘Or was last night a one off?’
He scowled. ‘You know I don’t do one-night stands. And I can’t imagine Hope does either.’
‘Do you reckon she’d move here permanently?’ Jordan asked.
Mitchell let out a breath. Based on what she’d just told him, probably not.
He wasn’t sure whether talking about Hope with Jordan was breaking her trust, but he needed to hear things from his perspective and get clarity around whether it was worth pursuing a future with her. Last night was great for recreating memories, but it only served to remind him how much he wanted to build new memories with her. Memories right here in Macarthur Point.
‘Coming back was never a long-term thing for Hope,’ he said. ‘She only came to help Lachie and Courtney out.’
‘No reason she couldn’t stay,’ Clancy said.
‘She has her job and that’s in Melbourne. Even if I wanted to take things further with her, it wouldn’t be here.’
‘But she’s a nurse. She could easily find work locally,’ Clancy argued with a frown.
Mitchell held back a sigh. That was what he’d thought too at first, but Hope’s career was important to her and as hard as that was for someone like Clancy to understand, he got that. If she asked him to move, he couldn’t do it.
‘I’d employ her in the clinic tomorrow if she wanted work,’ Jordan said, suddenly serious. ‘I’m always short-staffed and it’s hard to find good practice nurses.’
‘I don’t think that’s what she’d want to do.’
Paediatric oncology was her gig and she couldn’t do that in Macarthur Point.
‘There are other ways she can work with sick kids,’ Jordan said. ‘RCH has a program where they see kids outside the hospital. She could get involved with that.’
Mitchell frowned. ‘Maybe she doesn’t know the program exists.’
‘It’s fairly new. She might not.’
‘I’ll mention it.’
‘Why don’t you get Lachie to talk to Courtney. If they know how you’re feeling Court might convince Hope to stay.’
Mitchell shook his head. ‘I don’t want to force Hope into doing something she doesn’t want in case it backfires on me. If Hope decides to stay here with me, she has to do it on her terms.’
‘So, you’re going to let the best thing to ever happen to you walk away?’ Clancy asked, hands on hips.
Mitchell lifted his arms then let them fall back to his sides. ‘What other option do I have? The last thing Hope needs is someone telling her what to do.’
‘But she has family and friends here. Surely if she has you too, she’ll be keen to stay,’ Clancy said.
If only it were as simple as that.
Clancy gave him a long, assessing look. ‘Are you in love with her?’
He swallowed. Was he ready to call it “love”?
‘I care about her,’ he said carefully. A lot.
‘Caring about her and loving her are two different things,’ Clancy said. ‘Only way to figure it out is to tell her how you feel. If you don’t, trust me, you’ll regret it.’
Mitchell looked from Jordan to Clancy. For years he’d joked that he wasn’t interested in getting married or starting a family, but when Hope had made that throwaway line about having a baby with him, something shifted in his heart and it wouldn’t budge. But could he risk his heart and tell her how he felt even though he knew she still wanted to leave?
‘You and Hope have a lot of history,’ Jordan said. ‘And you can’t deny the chemistry between you two, so my advice is do something about it. Prove to her that you’ll do anything to hold onto her.’
‘I agree,’ Clancy said.
Mitchell shook his head. ‘That’s the problem. I don’t want to hold onto Hope in case she ever accuses me of holding her back from her future.’
‘What if her future is with you?’ Clancy asked.
‘Then she has to realise that too. I’m not going to be the one to put myself out there and tell her how I feel.’
‘Why not?’ Clancy asked with a look that suggested he thought Mitchell was stupid.
‘Because he doesn’t want to risk getting hurt.’ Jordan stared at him. ‘Mate, I love you like a brother, but you need to hear this. I know you grew up believing your own mother didn’t love you but—’
‘She didn’t!’ Mitchell exploded.
Jordan scowled back. ‘You don’t know that. You don’t even know the circumstances around why she left. There could have been a valid reason.’
Irritation made Mitchell’s blood boil. How had this become a conversation about his mother? Jordan knew better than to bring up the past.
‘Are you kidding?’ he asked, voice raised. ‘What valid reason can you give me as to why a mother would abandon her four-year-old son on the streets?’ he asked.
‘You’re not the only one with the monopoly on a crappy childhood,’ Jordan snapped back.
A wave of remorse swept through Mitchell. Jordan’s upbringing was like his own, but Jordan had never carried the baggage Mitchell had. Jordan’s father was a drunk who had used his words and his fists to beat the crap out of his son.
‘I know you had it bad growing up, Mitch, but you’re letting your past hold you back from your future. You’re expecting Hope to do exactly what your mother did, and you’ve somehow forgotten she isn’t your mother.’
Mitchell exhaled and the quick flash of anger he felt towards Jordan left. It had always been that way between them. They’d argue, but they never held grudges. What Mitchell could never understand was why Jordan never seemed to be as hung up on his past as he was.
‘If it wasn’t for the Simpsons, I wouldn’t have been able to move on either. They proved to me that I could trust people. Because of them and their love for you and me—and all the kids they fostered—I believed I could actually make something out of the crappy hand I’d been dealt. I could be someone,’ Jordan said.
‘And you are,’ Mitchell said.
‘We both are,’ Jordan replied.
Mitchell exhaled. ‘I guess.’
‘It’s true,’ Clancy said, resting a hand on Mitchell’s shoulder. ‘You’ve worked hard to get where you are today, and you should be proud of who you are and what you’ve achieved. You’ve built a great life. You have good friends, a job you love, you have a beautiful house, money in the bank, your own clinic. You should be very proud.’
‘Then why do I feel like something’s missing?’
‘Not something,’ Clancy said. ‘Someone.’
‘Blokes like us aren’t meant to live alone,’ Jordan said.
Mitchell looked from Jordan to Clancy and whispered her name. ‘Hope.’
They nodded.
Sweat ran down Mitchell’s spine. He had to tell her, regardless of what she decided to do with it. If he didn’t say anything, he wasn’t giving her the chance to choose between her career and him. If she chose her career and walked away at least he’d know he’d given it his best shot.
‘Everyone deserves to be happy, Mitch,’ Clancy said, patting him on the shoulder. ‘Trust me, last thing you want is to end up as a crusty old bachelor like me.’
‘You need Hope,’ Jordan said.
He blinked at Jordan. He did need Hope. But did she need him?