Sera
‘Let me get this straight.’ Maurice Moody’s lips were pulled in a very thin, disapproving line. ‘You want a kissing booth and a bachelor auction at Ellesmere’s Summer Fair?’
Patrick leaned back in his chair. It had been a long day, made worse by an even longer council meeting, and now Maurice was picking apart every detail that he’d presented regarding the Summer Fair. And all this was being heightened by what had happened last night.
He’d tried not to think about it, but it hadn’t been easy, especially since every time he thought about last night he thought about everything that had happened.
Sera. On his kitchen bench.
That was ecstasy. But his behaviour afterwards; that was a completely different story.
‘Yes, Maurice.’ Patrick placed his hands on the table before him. Like with all meetings, he sat at the head of the table and, like clockwork, Maurice made sure he sat directly opposite him. ‘I am. We’re aiming to inject something fresh—’
‘Fresh?’ Maurice snorted. ‘We don’t need fresh, what we have is fine.’
It wasn’t fine and a scan of the faces of the other councillors around the table indicated that Patrick was not alone in his ideas. He’d been through this with Maurice countless times. The problem was his deputy mayor seemed to want to bury his head in the sand instead of accepting the need to revamp the fair.
‘I think it’s a great idea,’ said Ellen Barlow, Maurice’s one-time deputy, and Patrick swore he could see a vein on the side of Maurice’s head bulge out. ‘We could have two kissing booths – one male and one female, but make it hard to get the kisses, that way we maximise the revenue. And for the bachelor auctions let’s put a twist on it. Instead of your average prize, like a date, let’s have a few different options and depending on how much money is raised by each bachelor we have a prize that correlates with the amount of money.’
‘Yes,’ piped up Ed Macreedy, who, like his brother, was a butcher. ‘If the bidding is less than one hundred dollars, the prize is a coffee date, but if it’s somewhere in the vicinity of a thousand dollars, it’s a full day.’
‘Are you putting your hand up to be one of the bachelors, Ed?’ Ellen ribbed.
Ed puffed out his chest and winked back at Ellen. ‘Well, if you’re willing to bet the big bucks, Ellen, sure.’
The whole meeting room, except for Maurice, broke into laughter. Murmurs and nods followed and Patrick did his best not to smirk. It was a small victory, having the others side with him, but most of all he was happy that the suggestion was generating discussion. That was the aim.
‘Are you all insane?’ Maurice shrieked. ‘We don’t need a vile kissing booth or a bachelor auction and we certainly don’t need an outsider telling us how to run our Summer Fair!’
He may not have been looking at him but Maurice’s rant was directed squarely at Patrick.
‘Oh lighten up, Maury,’ Ed said, giving him friendly slap on the back. ‘Maybe we can put you in the bachelor auction.’
Laughter erupted once again and Maurice was poised to give Ed a spray when he was interrupted by a knock on the door. It was his assistant Beth, who walked in with muffins and coffee.
‘Apologies for the delay, but these were just dropped off by Anna Kendall on behalf of Juliette Cole.’ She set the muffins on the table and everyone swooped on them. They were Juliette’s muffins after all, and you had to be quick to grab one; hesitate and you’d miss out.
Patrick was all set to dig into his when Maurice started to rant again, this time about the muffin.
‘What on earth did Juliette do to this muffin? It tastes like rubber!’
Usually Patrick took what Maurice said with a grain of salt so without any trepidation he bit into his muffin and almost gagged.
This couldn’t be a muffin that Juliette had made. And although it pained him to admit it, Maurice was right. It tasted like rubber.
‘Give Juliette a break,’ Ellen said. ‘Her cancer is back.’
‘What? Juliette has cancer?’ Patrick found himself asking out loud.
‘Yes. It’s so sad.’ Ellen played with her muffin as she spoke. ‘She was diagnosed and beat it a few years ago, but now it’s back and it’s terminal. That’s why Anna and Sera are here. I’m a little older, but I do remember them when they were younger, they were pretty tight those three. It’s wonderful of the girls to come and help Juliette.’
Patrick was still stuck on Juliette having cancer. Terminal cancer. Juliette was one of the nicest people he’d ever met and he was well…shocked. He had to admit it he was surprised about Sera, too.
When they first met he would have used the words ‘self-absorbed’ and ‘high maintenance’ to describe her. And now it was clear she was more than she appeared to be. There was more to Seraphina DiMaggio beneath that beautiful exterior. She was fiercely loyal, generous and private. It was as if she had a different side to her public persona that not many people got to see. He had seen that last night and Patrick had a feeling that he might have just blown it. Big time.
When Levi called out to him he had panicked. It was the first time since his divorce that he’d had a woman over. Jesus, it’d been the first time he’d had sex, and it’d been while Levi was in the house. He’d broken every rule by sleeping with Sera. But they were his rules, not hers.
Sera wasn’t some random woman he met that day and decided to take home. She’d taken Levi trick or treating that afternoon. She hadn’t deserved what he said. The words had come out before he could take them back, but he could try to make amends.
‘Are we having a meeting or a gossip session?’
Patrick blinked out of his trance and found Maurice being his usual cheery self. They still had a few minor items to discuss, but right now there was something more pressing than council business.
‘Yes, we do.’ He stood and grabbed his jacket from behind the chair. ‘But in light of what I’ve just heard I think I need to pay Juliette Cole a visit, so if you would all excuse me.’
He knew that Maurice would seize the opportunity and view his leaving early as a victory, but Patrick didn’t care. He just needed to get to Ellesmere House.
* * *
The incessant ringing of the doorbell woke her. In a dream state Sera was sure they’d go away, whoever they were, so she drifted right back off to sleep.
But they didn’t.
For fuck’s sake!
Dragging herself out of bed she blew her nose en route to answering the still ringing doorbell.
‘Okay, I’m coming!’ She tried to yell out, but her voice was shot. It had better not be Anna. If she forgot her keys she was gonna strangle—
‘Mr Mayor.’ Sera’s voice was ice-cold, but her insides were raging.
‘Afternoon, Sera.’
Sera’s grip on the door handle tightened. Firstly, she couldn’t believe he would turn up considering how he ended last night and secondly…Afternoon, Sera. Was that seriously all he had to say?
‘What are you doing here, Patrick?’
‘I came to thank Juliette for the muffins.’
Muffins? Which muffins? He was going have to be more specific. Juliette made multiple batches of muffins daily.
‘You came because of muffins?’ she said.
‘Yes, no…I mean…’ He raked his fingers through his hair nervously but Sera didn’t care why he was here as he’d made it clear last night what he thought.
This should never have happened…
‘I’ll pass your thanks on to Juliette.’ She went to close the door but Patrick shoved his foot in and stopped her.
‘I know about Juliette.’
Sera froze.
‘I know about the cancer. I know it’s…terminal.’
It was hardly a secret, but still Juliette wasn’t exactly shouting it from the rooftops that she was dying. She knew people were wondering why she and Anna where suddenly spending time in Ellesmere. She was surprised the bush telegraph hadn’t sent out the message earlier.
‘How is she?’ Patrick’s foot was still wedged in the door and Sera realised she still had some decent weight against it. Slowly she released the pressure and opened the door again.
‘Not great. She woke up feeling unwell so we called Doc O’Neill and she advised us to take her to Coffs Hospital. She’s there now with Jack and Anna. Anna called not long ago saying they’re admitting her.’
‘I’m really sorry to hear that. She fought it and beat it once before, is there any chance…’
Sera shook her head and cut him off. ‘She didn’t want any treatment. We’re not fighting the cancer. There’s some talk of palliative care, but at this stage, we just want to get her through this hospital stay. She doesn’t want to be there, she wants to be at home.’
‘And how are you?’
His question caught her off-guard. Was he asking about her physical or emotional state? Truth was they were both shot to pieces and largely he was the reason why.
‘Woke up with a nasty head cold but that’s to be expected I guess after getting caught in a downpour, and I feel useless that I can’t help Juliette. I’m sick so I can’t be round her in case I make her worse, but I came here to help and right now I’m not.’ It was the honest truth and there was no reason to hide it but Sera left it at that.
‘I wish you’d told me.’
‘Told you what?’
‘Why you were here.’
Sera felt her hackles rise. ‘Would’ve it made you think better of me? If you knew I was here for my dying friend, not that I was here on some kind of acting hiatus?’
‘I never thought you were here on some kind of hiatus…No, that’s not true. Initially I did think you were here for yourself, but I’m thinking that perhaps there is more to you than what I originally thought.’
‘Wow. Deep words, Mr Mayor. I’m so glad I was able to change your opinion of me.’
‘You’re angry.’
‘What makes you think that?’ Sera asked loftily.
‘You’re calling me Mr Mayor.’
‘Yeah, I’m angry. At myself. I was stupid enough to sleep with you.’ She wasn’t just angry, she was damn furious. She was sick of letting her guard down and having her heart trampled on. Her mother was the first to do it, then Anna. She had no intention of letting Patrick close enough to do the same. Yes, she was attracted to him, but the way last night ended served a warning. One that she really needed to heed.
‘If it helps, I’m angry at myself, too.’
She watched as he folded his arms, exposing his forearms and she fought the image of what those arms, hands and fingers had done to her last night. She moved her gaze to his face and that’s when the flashbacks reached boiling point. Those lips, those tiger eyes.
Sera mirrored his stance in an attempt to fake some defiance. ‘It helps,’ she shrugged casually. ‘But at least we both agree it shouldn’t have happened.’
‘But I’m not sorry it happened.’
Sera felt a tingle of pleasure run through her. Was her hearing playing up? She could’ve sworn she heard Patrick say he wasn’t sorry about last night. ‘Did you just say you’re not sorry? About last night? We’re both talking about the same thing, right?’
‘Yeah, I did.’ He leaned in a little closer and she could smell his cologne or deodorant – whatever it was, it reminded her of last night. It also reminded her of how the night ended. Reasserting her defiant stance, she narrowed her eyes.
‘Let me get this straight. Last night we—
‘Had sex,’ Patrick teased. His cheeks dimpled and the corner of his eyes crinkled. Sera ignored the small fire that’d just ignited in her stomach and continued. She was still mad at him.
‘Then you said it shouldn’t have happened and asked me to leave.’
‘That pretty much sums it up,’ Patrick nodded.
‘And now, less than twenty-four hours later, you’re saying that—’
‘I don’t regret it,’ he dropped his voice to a husky whisper. ‘Not a single second.’
That small fire wasn’t so small anymore. It was a raging inferno.
‘Why? Why the change of mind?’ Sera asked.
‘Can I come inside? The rain’s coming in heavy and standing in the draught isn’t going to do your cold any good.’
Sera weighed up Patrick’s request. He had a point. Plus she needed to blow her nose so without answering she turned and walked down the hallway into the kitchen.
‘Sit,’ Sera directed and left the room to blow her nose. It was bad enough he was seeing her make-up free for the second time in less than twenty-four hours, but there was no way she was going to blow her nose in front of him. When she returned she sat opposite him at Maisey’s wooden table. Over the years the table had been the centre of many conversations. When she found out about her mother’s affair, Maisey had sat her down at the table and comforted her with tea and sympathy. Patrick had no idea how sacred that table was.
‘Talk.’
‘When Levi called out I panicked,’ he said, holding his hands out in defeat. ‘Plain and simple. You’re the first woman that I’ve been interested in since my divorce and I’ve had all these rules. The main one is no woman in the house while Levi is with me, but I broke a number of them because of you.’
Sera looked at him with interest. ‘So it’s my fault that you broke your own rules? So far this is a stellar effort at an apology.’
‘I’m sorry. This is all new territory for me.’
‘Well, it’s new territory for me, too. I’ve never…’ How did she classify what was going on between them? ‘Been involved with a single father before.’
‘Is that what we are? Involved?’
Was he fishing to see how she felt about him? If she thought it was a one-off or an ongoing thing? Or was he already in the mindset it was one or the other? She couldn’t tell and, in all honesty, she didn’t know herself. ‘What would you call it, Patrick?’
‘I could live with involved,’ he said. He gave a casual shrug and reached over to take her hand and link it with his. The skin-to-skin contact melted her insides. Had she ever felt so schoolgirl giddy about a boy before? No, not that she could recall, but that was because she’d always had her heart so safely guarded. She just had to remember not to get carried away. She could do that, right?
‘I only have one rule, though.’
Sera rolled her eyes and sighed. ‘Here we go again with the rules.’
‘The rule is you can come over while Levi is with me, but not stay over. As happened last night, the little bugger has a habit of waking at all hours. I also don’t want Levi to get too attached and we need to be realistic. I know you have a job you’ll need to eventually go back to, but if we’re honest with him from the start, let him know that your stay here is temporary, then I think we can make it work. What do you say, Ms DiMaggio?’
Sera understood exactly where he was coming from. Levi was his first priority and not making any false promises was smart. Her stay in Ellesmere was primarily for Juliette and any involvement with Patrick was secondary. She adored Levi and she also didn’t want to give him the wrong impression. After all, he’d just had his mother remarry and Levi didn’t need any more change in his life.
Sera mimicked his casual shrug from moments before as Patrick rubbed his thumb against her palm. The simple caress turned her on big time. ‘I could live with that, Mr Mayor.’
She grinned and imagined it was as goofy as the smile he was beaming at her when she heard the front door unlock.
Sera jumped back and waited. It had to be Anna back from the hospital.
Shit. For a moment she’d selfishly forgotten about why she was here. Juliette.
‘Hi.’ Sera greeted a rather weary Anna then noticed Jack walking in behind her. ‘How is she?’
Anna rubbed her temples as she and Jack joined them at the table. ‘She’s tired but comfortable. They gave her something for the pain and the nausea. But she doesn’t want to be there. She was grumbling that if she was going to die she wanted to be at home.’
Sera felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. ‘She’s not that bad, is she?’
Juliette’s decline had come on so fast. They hadn’t even reached summer. Surely they had one last summer with her? At least until Christmas?
Anna sighed. ‘They’re doing some tests on her and the doctor is seeing her again tomorrow. If it has spread then we may not have that much time left.’
Sera felt physically sick. Knowing that she might lose her friend was breaking her heart, but knowing that Juliette might go soon and they still hadn’t found Noah saddened her even more. She looked up and saw Anna looking at her and she could tell they were both thinking the same thing.
The sketchbook Anna had found earlier had cemented their suspicions about how important Noah had been in Juliette’s initial battle with cancer. Something had obviously happened, but what? Where was he?
‘We need to find Noah,’ Sera said.
‘And fast,’ Anna added.
The question was, how?
‘I’m sorry, who’s Noah?’ Patrick asked, looking confused and Jack also sported the same expression.
‘We don’t know, but we suspect that he was around for Juliette the first time she was diagnosed.’
‘How’d you find out about him?’ Patrick asked.
‘Juliette mentioned him a couple of times, by mistake, and we’ve not had any luck getting more information. I was at the hospital once with Juliette and we ran into a nurse who had looked after both her and Noah. I got the impression that there had been something between them, but Juliette was tight-lipped.’
‘It sounds like Juliette doesn’t want Noah in her life,’ Jack piped up. ‘So why are you looking for him?’
‘Because we both have a feeling that Noah was important to her and Juliette herself said she had the strength to fight last time because of Noah,’ Sera explained.
‘And we’d hoped finding him would help us convince Jules to fight the cancer, but it was clear that she didn’t want to. Now we just want to find him so she can have some happiness,’ Anna said.
‘And what makes you think she wants to see Noah? From all you’ve said so far it doesn’t sound like she’s keen at all.’
Sera rolled her eyes at Patrick’s question. Men. She was about to open her mouth and tell him about the sketchbook when Anna rose from the table and headed for the pantry to retrieve it.
‘Because of this.’ Anna placed the book in front of both men, who looked blankly at her. She opened it and took them through page by page until she reached the end and then read the letter that was tucked into the back. Sera watched both Jack and Patrick go from sceptics to believers.
‘You see? That’s why we need to find him. Look at the way he’s drawn her, look at how happy she was. I have no doubt that’s because of Noah. Based on how great these are, we think he might be an artist.’
Jack picked up the letter Anna had placed on the table and stared at it intently. ‘Is his name Noah Bradley?’
Sera looked at Anna, who was looking at Jack cautiously. ‘What makes you ask that?’
‘We don’t know his surname,’ Anna said carefully, ‘otherwise finding him would’ve been easier.’
‘I think I have one of his pieces.’
Sera felt her eyes grow wide. ‘What?’
Jack placed the letter down and pointed to Noah’s signature. ‘I recognised it by the way he loops his N.’
‘How…where did you find it?’ Anna asked, astounded.
‘A colleague of mine from the firm I worked at in Sydney, his sister worked in a small gallery in Paddington. She would invite us to check out the artwork from time to time. She made a big song and dance about a young artist from the North Coast that she had a showing for so a bunch of us went one night after work and—’ Jack stopped mid sentence.
‘And what?’ Anna prompted with an undercurrent of impatience.
‘The collection.’
‘What about it?’
‘It was called “My Summer with Juliette”.’
Sera’s heart began to beat so loudly she could hear it reverberating in her ears. Could it be that they were a whisker away from finally finding Noah?
She looked at Anna. ‘Grab your laptop. We’ve got some research to do.’
Anna dashed out of the kitchen, returned with the laptop and they all gathered around it.
‘I’ll make some tea.’ Patrick rose to put the kettle on.
‘There’s some muffins on the counter too,’ Anna threw over her shoulder.
‘Are they the ones you sent to the council meeting?’ Patrick asked.
‘Yeah, why?’
‘No reason. Think I’ll pass though.’
Sera stifled a chuckle. Looked like Anna’s baking skills were a little rusty. Luckily Anna was too absorbed in searching for Noah and the comment flew right over her head.
‘I’ve found him,’ Anna said excitedly, and Sera craned her head to look at the screen. It was Noah’s website, and it showcased a sample of his work.
‘There’s my piece, the artwork that I have,’ Jack said, pointing to a sketch of a dandelion. Like the work in Juliette’s sketchbook it was detailed and beautiful.
Anna moved to the top of the screen and clicked on the ‘about me’ tab and up popped a colour photo of Noah Bradley. Go Jules, he’s a looker.
‘Hello, Noah,’ Sera said suggestively. She looked up to see Patrick scowling at her.
‘What?’ she said innocently. ‘He’s good looking, of course he is, Jules has taste.’
‘You don’t know that anything actually happened between them. Maybe they were just friends.’
Sera sighed at Patrick’s absurd comment. ‘A man doesn’t name an entire art collection after a woman if they are just friends.’ She used her fingers to put quotes around the last two words.
‘Where’s the sketch of Juliette?’ She turned to the screen and Anna shook her head. ‘It’s not here.’
‘Oh, that’s right!’ Jack chimed in. ‘I remember asking the same question and I was told that piece wasn’t for display. Apparently the artist was withholding it. I thought it was strange at the time.’
‘He didn’t want to let go of it,’ Sera said wistfully.
‘Sera, look at this.’ Anna’s voice was shaking.
She narrowed her eyes at the screen and gasped. ‘Well, fuck me.’ She grabbed Anna’s arm in shock.
‘What?’ Patrick asked as he poured the tea.
‘There’s an address in Sapphire Beach, a mere forty-minute drive away. Google it and see if it’s residential.’ Sera tightened her grip and Anna yelped. ‘Sorry,’ she mumbled, and waited on tenterhooks as Anna ran the address through Google Maps. When an image of a beach house flashed on screen, she let out a whoop of excitement.
Thank god for Google. They did it. They’d found Noah.
‘Saddle up, Anna, we’re going on a road trip!’
* * *
The next morning Sera woke up feeling not that much better than the day before, but after a decent breakfast, strong tea and some cold and flu tablets she hoped she looked half decent. They decided Anna would drive to Noah’s as driving Juliette’s car was too risky. Noah might recognise it.
The drive wasn’t long, but it did take them through the north of Ellesmere and past Bonnie View. Sera clenched her stomach muscles and gripped the side of her seat.
‘Does your dad still own…the house?’ Anna attempted to ask casually, but considering the circumstances surrounding the home it wasn’t possible to ask casually about Bonnie View.
It’d been the Kendall family’s ancestral home and now it was Sera’s. Currently it was on a long-term lease to one of her dad’s banker buddies who spent a long weekend here every now and then, but Sera had never set foot in it, not since she’d been back. It wasn’t because it had a tenant, it was because of what the house represented.
She hadn’t wanted it, never understood why her dad kept it all these years. He said the rental income was good, but for Sera, no amount of money would ever make up for the mess her mother and Mark Kendall had made of her life.
‘Umm, no,’ she said carefully, working up the courage to tell Anna the truth. She wasn’t sure why she felt nervous. If Anna had asked her a month ago she wouldn’t have had any qualms throwing it in her face.
‘No? Did he sell it?’
‘No.’ She let out a breath before continuing. ‘He gave it to me.’
‘Oh.’ The shock in Anna’s voice was unmistakable.
There was silence. Anna finally spoke up. ‘Sera?’
‘Yes?’
‘I never did tell you how sorry I was.’
‘For what?’ Sera asked, puzzled.
Anna let out a bitter laugh. ‘For everything.’
Sera felt a roll of nausea hit her. Seeing Bonnie View opened old wounds, and not only hers. When she remained silent, Anna continued.
‘I mean…I knew how upset you were when you found out I knew about…them.’
Sera closed her eyes and inhaled slowly. Upset? She was fucking furious. It was bad enough to discover your mother was banging your best friend’s father, but to then realise she knew and never said anything? It cut just as deep.
‘Why?’ she asked, her voice threatening to break. She glanced at Anna quickly before planting her gaze firmly on the road in front of them, but she could sense the tension in her body.
Anna sucked in a breath and exhaled. ‘I was scared.’
‘Of what?’
‘Losing you. You and Juliette. You are both like sisters to me.’
She’d felt the same once. Three girls, each an only child and from that first summer they’d been inseparable and, despite their bickering, Sera really did miss Anna as much as Juliette when she was away from them.
‘You see…’ Anna continued, ‘I was under this silly impression that if I didn’t tell you, all would be fine. The summer would end, your family would go back to Sydney and by the time you came back, he would’ve moved on to someone else.’
For the first time in years Sera was reminded of how Anna’s life was filled with infidelity. When she’d found out, Anna had been the first person she ran to. She was so angry and she expected Anna to be the same. Instead, Anna’s expression was one of shock, then guilt. And that’s how she knew.
‘But I found them.’ Sera closed her eyes and automatically the moment that changed her childhood flashed before her. ‘Nothing was the same after that.’
‘I know. The town, they all turned on mum and me, especially after all the investment stuff surfaced. I lost the only place I’d ever called home. And I lost you,’ Anna said sadly. ‘I’m sorry for not telling you.’
Sera and her father left Ellesmere the very next day, but Anna and her mother were left in the eye of the storm. At the time, for Sera, it’d all been about her. Her grief, her betrayal, her life shattered. Now, through adult eyes, Sera could see how it would’ve been for the Kendall women. Not entirely sure what to say to Anna, she said the first thing that came to her mind.
‘How’s your mum?’
‘My mum?’ Anna was surprised and rightly so. Sera had never asked about Susan Kendall.
‘Yeah. How’s she going?’
‘She’s doing all right. She gave up drinking not long after we moved to Sydney. Went back to uni and got her teaching degree. She graduated one year before I completed my law degree and has been teaching primary ever since.’ Anna shrugged. ‘She’s happy, she has friends and has as normal a life as possible.’
‘I’m glad,’ Sera said, and she was. Anna’s mum had used alcohol for years as a coping mechanism to deal with her husband’s cheating. It sounded like she was doing well for herself. Anna had done well too. She was a big city lawyer with a spiffy Audi. Sera felt a swell of pride and thought about the day they made the pinky swear. Anna had made the words up. It was like a contract, one that could never be broken, and as fate would have it, Anna was now a contract lawyer.
‘I think this is it.’
Anna parked the car in front of a beach cottage with pewter-coloured weatherboards and a white picket fence. The rain had abated and Sera noted the house was the same colour as the moisture-laden clouds.
Anna gasped and turned to her. ‘What if he’s married?’
Shit. Why hadn’t they thought of that before?
‘Then we have a real problem.’ Sera unclipped her seatbelt. ‘Come on, let’s get this over with.’
Anna did the same, but as they were both about to get out Sera placed her hand on Anna’s, earning her an enquiring look. ‘I just want to say thanks for your apology and that I’m glad we are both here for Jules.’
She saw tears well up in Anna’s eyes and she swallowed to control her own.
‘I also want you to know that the pledge still holds true. If you ever need me for, well, whatever. I’ll honour it.’
‘Me too.’ Anna squeezed her hand as a tear rolled down her face.
‘Great, now stop blubbering, we’ve got some matchmaking to do.’