Anna
On Monday morning, for the third morning in a row, Jack headed into The Bookworm with a dual agenda. Coffee. And Anna Kendall. He had to admit that after discovering Anna was the mysterious girl he’d seen outside his house last week she had been on his mind.
Normally on a Sunday he would grab a takeaway coffee then, depending on the weather, meet Patrick for a surf. But Patrick wasn’t due back from Sydney until Monday and, truth be told, he couldn’t give a toss about the surf so he had spent most of the previous morning pretending to read the Sunday papers while eating Tilly’s famous scrambled eggs.
By Monday morning he’d discovered Anna was a contractual law specialist, worked for a top-tier firm and lived on Sydney’s North Shore. And she was single.
That last bit of information had come from Juliette after she’d caught him staring at Anna this morning. Anna was out of earshot, but embarrassed at being caught, he had grabbed his order and headed into the office only to be greeted by his assistant’s usual sunny disposition.
‘What, no cronuts again, Jackson?’ Mavis grumbled. Jack had totally forgotten about the cronuts that Mavis had been harping on about last week.
‘Sorry, I was slightly distracted.’ Jack didn’t mention the distraction had been Anna Kendall and the greenest eyes he’d ever seen. ‘I’m heading over there this afternoon for a lunchtime meeting, maybe I could get you one for afternoon tea?’
‘They’ll be gone by then.’ Mavis sat herself behind her desk and peered into the brown paper bag that housed the muffins. He could’ve pointed out how easy it would’ve been for Mavis to head to The Bookworm herself, but he knew that would be pointless. She would find some excuse as to why she couldn’t. Filing and photocopying were usually on top of the list.
‘Chocolate chip and mixed berry or apple cinnamon if you’re wondering.’
‘They’re still warm,’ she noted.
‘Tilly had not long pulled them out of the oven and I have it on good authority Juliette made the apple cinnamon first thing this morning.
‘I’ll take the chocolate one.’ It was already in her hand, being torn apart as she spoke.
‘Was that Kendall girl there? Joyce Mather said she saw her arrive with Juliette this morning.’
Jack felt annoyance fill him. Why did everyone refer to her as that Kendall girl? And since when did Mavis listen to what Joyce Mather had to say?
‘If you’re referring to Anna, yes, she was there. Turns out she’s a lawyer too.’ Jack made the move to take the other muffin and his coffee into his office.
‘Ummm, yes, Joyce told me that.’
He stopped and looked at Mavis, who was now busy with something on her computer screen.
‘What’s that supposed to mean, Mavis?’ He normally didn’t use his authoritative voice with her, but knowing she usually didn’t subscribe to Joyce Mather’s gossip, he wondered what other nonsense the old biddy had filled her head with. ‘Did Joyce also tell you how her father lost a lot of the townspeople’s money? Or how her mother was an alcoholic?’
Mavis blinked, her wrinkled lips forming a very distinct ‘O’. Jack wasn’t sure if it was because of his tone or the content of his words. Or maybe both.
‘All she told me was that she was a lawyer and that you’re living in her house,’ Mavis said carefully, but Jack wasn’t buying it and judging by the guilty look on her face and the lack of eye contact, he knew he was right.
‘It’s my house for starters and I must say, Mavis, I’m kind of surprised. I didn’t think you’d be a busybody like Joyce Mather.’
Mavis pursed her lips and for a moment and she looked like she was poised to defend herself, but then thought better of it. She shook her head.
‘Yes, you’re right, Jackson. I normally wouldn’t care what Joyce harps on about, but this morning she came in and told me how you defended her at Elle’s the other night and then you were talking to her at Juliette’s café this morning. She told me to keep an eye on you and make sure you don’t get yourself involved with that Kendall girl. I did tell her you were a smart boy and that you’re capable of making your own decisions, but I have no shame in admitting that I think of you like one of my own so my worry is—’
‘Let’s get one thing straight,’ Jack cut Mavis off, unable to continue listening to her misguided concern. ‘Her name is Anna, not she or her or that Kendall girl. I met her a few days ago. Joyce hasn’t known her in years and you haven’t met her so let’s reserve judgment on a girl that’s come home to—’ He stopped himself before spilling the beans on Juliette’s cancer relapse. She’d told him how she beat it almost three years ago, how she’d gone into remission after successful chemotherapy, but now it was back and it had spread.
He shook his head as Mavis looked at him expectantly. ‘Let’s just wait, okay? Besides, when did Ellesmere become anything but accommodating and welcoming? When you moved here did you not immediately feel at home?’
Mavis nodded. ‘Immediately.’
‘Same here. So let’s extend the same courtesy to Anna, shall we?’
‘Whatever you say, Jackson.’ Mavis took a sip of her coffee and averted her attention back to the computer screen. ‘I just don’t want to see you get hurt.’
Jack didn’t add that he had far more capacity to hurt Anna than the other way around. No one knew the real reason for his move to Ellesmere. As far as they were concerned he had moved here with his wife, she couldn’t handle country life and then she high-tailed it back to Sydney. He never corrected people, although from time to time he did feel like a coward hiding the truth, and never more so than now. One thing he could do was to ensure he didn’t hold Anna accountable for her father’s sins, even if he was cut from the same cloth. And in some twisted way he saw it as his redemption.
* * *
Juliette was fantastic at what she did. Not that Anna had doubted it, but having spent all weekend with her at The Bookworm – as constant streams of customers came through the café and bookshop and at times it was frantic beyond belief – she had seen Juliette handle it with such über-calmness that it left Anna in awe of her friend.
This morning was no different. Anna had woken early and helped with the morning muffin making and they’d headed in early so Juliette could take delivery of some new books that were arriving, then she headed into the kitchen and helped Tilly with some pastries.
By opening time at eight, Anna had been in the café for close to two hours. Normally if she’d gotten in the office this early she was ready to crash, but here she felt alive and invigorated, and she hadn’t even had a coffee yet. In fact, until Jack Harper had asked what type of law she practised, Anna realised she hadn’t thought about work for almost a full day. For her that was a record.
While Juliette sorted out her book delivery Anna manned the café. Teddy, a uni student who’d taken a year off to travel (but ended up at home in Ellesmere instead), was the barista for the day and, to her amazement, he made a decent coffee.
‘Mmmm. This is great, Teddy.’ She took another sip and savoured the heaven that came with the first morning coffee.
‘Thanks.’ Teddy adjusted his backward-facing baseball cap. ‘Jules mentioned you were a barista, too. Where did you work in Sydney?’
Anna laughed, almost scalding herself with her coffee. ‘I’m a barrister, not a barista,’ she explained, and Teddy blushed sheepishly, his face turning the same shade as his cap.
‘So what are you studying at uni, Teddy?’ Anna asked in an attempt to lessen the young man’s embarrassment.
‘Ummm, forensic science, I want to get into criminology.’
‘Wow, that must be interesting.’ Anna had to admit that she was impressed.
‘Yeah, it is.’
‘Which uni do you go to?’
‘Sydney,’ Teddy replied.
‘Oh, I did my law degree at Sydney.’
‘So did I.’
Anna looked up to find Jack Harper standing a few metres away, grinning at her, hands in the pockets of his dark denim jeans.
Now it was Anna’s turn to blush. ‘Oh,’ she repeated as butterflies launched in her stomach. She told herself it was a perfectly normal reaction to seeing a male specimen that was easy on the eye. Then again, Teddy was good looking (even if he was slightly emo in presentation) and she didn’t have the same reaction to him. But Teddy was a boy and Jack was most certainly all man.
‘I would’ve been a few years ahead of you, still it’s a wonder we didn’t cross paths sooner.’
His smile widened and Anna felt her face flame alight again.
‘Dude, there’s like a gazillion people that go to that uni,’ Teddy weighed in on the conversation and they both looked at him. Anna had forgotten he was standing beside her. ‘You probably spent your time hanging around Wentworth and Anna was in the library.’
Anna was taken aback at Teddy’s insight. Wentworth was one of the main bars at Sydney University and by the way that Jack was chuckling and shaking his head, young Teddy had hit the nail on the head. It seemed Ellesmere had a forensic scientist in the making.
‘So what can I get for you?’ she asked Jack.
‘Two coffees, first one’s a weak cap, the other a double shot. Teddy knows the drill.’
Teddy saluted from behind the coffee machine but Anna’s ears pricked up at the order of two coffees. Who was the weak cappuccino for? She had already worked out that Jack’s one was the double shot. She had seen the man’s arms and very toned legs. He didn’t seem to do weak in any way or form.
‘And a couple of muffins, just give me one of each,’ he pointed towards them. ‘Mavis can choose whichever she prefers. I’ll take the reject as per usual.’
Anna felt her tummy drop as she processed Jack’s order. Mavis? Who was Mavis? His wife? Girlfriend? Lover? He wasn’t wearing a wedding band, but Anna knew that didn’t necessarily mean anything. If he did have a wife or girlfriend he should be ashamed because unless her radar was way off, Jack Harper had been flirting with her. Or was he just being friendly because he was a lawyer too? He could genuinely be a nice guy, Anna. Stop jumping to conclusions.
‘Here you go.’ Teddy placed the coffees in a tray and slid them over to Jack. ‘Say hi to the old lady for me.’
Anna bunched her brows and looked from Teddy to Jack. Old lady?
‘Don’t let Mavis catch you calling her old.’ Jack collected the coffees and winked at Anna on his way out.
‘Who’s Mavis?’ Anna asked, her eyes fixed on Jack’s backside as he walked out the door.
‘Jack’s office assistant,’ Teddy replied. ‘And, yes, he’s single.’
Anna tore her eyes away and turned to face Teddy, who was looking at her smugly. ‘Yeah, I know you didn’t ask, but I could tell you were thinking it. He’s thinking it too. I’ve never seen him interested in anyone since his wife left.’
His wife? So Jack was married or at least he had been. What happened? Why did they break up? So many questions she couldn’t ask, so she tried with a safe one. ‘When…when was that?’
Teddy shrugged. ‘Dunno, not long after they moved here, I guess. Mum said she couldn’t handle country life. Don’t see what the big deal is. I’ve lived in the city, it’s cool and all, but not everything’s that flash. Parking costs an arm and a leg and the traffic sucks.’
Teddy wasn’t wrong there. There was barely a place in Sydney that wasn’t congested at some point or other during the day, and parking was the whole reason she bought a unit with a garage. She did love Sydney, but having spent the last couple of days back in Ellesmere, she remembered why she loved it so much when she was growing up.
‘There, all done,’ Juliette waltzed into the café from the bookstore. ‘Were you guys okay with the morning rush?’
Anna was about to answer that they had it all under control when Teddy piped in. ‘Yeah, mostly good, but Joyce came in and gave Anna the evil eye.’
‘Again?’ Juliette gave an exasperated sigh and Anna threw Teddy a dirty look. ‘I need to talk to that woman, she—’
‘No,’ Anna asserted firmly, cutting Juliette off mid sentence. ‘I didn’t come here for you to defend me to everyone that doesn’t like me. This isn’t high school. I can hold my own, Jules.’
While the majority of people had been nice about her return, there were still a handful of Ellesmere town folk who were not so thrilled and didn’t bother hiding their feelings.
Maurice Moody and Joyce Mather were both vying for the title of her biggest hater ever and Violet Fleming, the matriarch of the Fleming family, had been less than welcoming when Anna went into the IGA to get some supplies for Juliette. Juliette had given Violet a spray when she found out – not from Anna, because she didn’t want to bother Juliette with it, but from Mick Macreedy, who had been in the store at the same time and spilled the beans to Juliette.
Anna knew she really had to tell Juliette to stop fighting her battles for her. They weren’t sixteen anymore. She was a grown woman, a professional, and a few seniors shouldn’t be causing her grief, but they were.
‘Okay.’ Juliette sounded unsure.
‘Oh, and Jack Harper was in,’ Teddy announced.
Juliette had moved over to the communal table at the centre of the café and was arranging a bunch of rainbow roses. ‘So, he’s here every morning…’
Then she stopped, the penny dropping as she looked at Teddy before turning her gaze and full grin towards Anna. ‘He flirted with you again, didn’t he?’
‘Yes, he did,’ Teddy nodded, answering on Anna’s behalf.
Anna looked at him at disbelief. ‘Ummm, excuse me, Teddy? I’m able to answer for myself.’
‘Sorry,’ Teddy shrugged. ‘You should ask him out. You’re both single and have a lot in common—’
‘Teddy!’ Anna was beyond flabbergasted at the young man’s comment. She didn’t need a boy who was barely out of high school giving her dating advice. And how did Teddy know she was single?
Juliette laughed as if it was the most hilarious thing ever.
‘He’s right, you know. You should ask him out.’
Anna shifted her shocked look towards Juliette. How could she even say that? She wasn’t here to date. She was here for Juliette. And after three days of being in town she was none the wiser as to the details of Juliette’s prognosis and how bad things were or how long her friend had. She did seem fine, but Anna knew her friend wouldn’t have called her unless she really needed her. Juliette promised to talk about it tonight, so hopefully Anna would have more answers.
‘Oh relax, Anna,’ said Juliette as she added the last rose to the vase and took a step back to survey her handiwork. ‘He’s having a grand final day barbecue at his house next Sunday and half the town’s invited. I told him we would help with the food so maybe you could ask him out then?’
Anna’s mind was spinning as she took in all this information. She wasn’t sure what was more disturbing; Juliette volunteering her services for catering at the barbecue or the fact that the barbecue was being held in her old house.
‘What’s wrong?’ Juliette frowned and Anna could only guess it was in response to the look of horror on her face. ‘Are you spooked because the barbie is at your old house?’
It was a rhetorical question. Of course she was spooked, she was more than that, she was petrified. She had never planned to set foot back in that house ever again. Driving by the other day had been enough, but to go there, with other people…Maybe she should call and see if she could have a Skype session with her therapist. She’d been seeing Doctor Grey on and off for ten years in a bid to seek some help and clarity over what her father had done to her family. But she wasn’t sure there was enough therapy in the world to prepare her for that kind of homecoming.
* * *
Just after lunch Jack was on his way back from Coffs Harbour courthouse where he’d been defending Tom Maloney for his third consecutive speeding offence. The man never learned. He’d gotten Tom off the last couple of times, but no amount of cajoling was going to work this time. Tom wasn’t happy with the fine and loss of licence, but Jack was secretly pleased. He knew that being his lawyer he shouldn’t be, but Tom needed to learn a lesson. Maybe a year of riding his bike to work would do it.
He was almost back in Ellesmere when he received a call from Patrick. Jack knew Catherine, Patrick’s ex-wife, was making their shared custody arrangements difficult. Patrick’s Sydney lawyer wasn’t interested in continuing to help him. Patrick had a short meeting at The Bookworm early in the afternoon and he suggested they meet for coffee to have a brief chat. Patrick mentioned wanting to go for full custody of Levi. Jack imagined that following his visit to Sydney, Patrick would be hell bent on sole custody, but Jack wanted to make sure that Patrick knew what he was getting into and he wasn’t talking about having Levi full time, he was thinking about Catherine. Even though he’d only met Patrick’s ex-wife a few times, he considered himself to be generally a good judge of character; and Catherine wasn’t going to be a pushover.
Pulling up in front of the office, he went in to drop off Tom Maloney’s case files and was surprised to see Joyce Mather and Violet Fleming huddled around Mavis’ desk, and judging by the look on Mavis’ face she was just as surprised to see him.
‘Afternoon ladies.’ He greeted them en route to his desk.
Mavis looked as if she’d been caught stealing from the cookie jar but both Violet and Joyce looked at him, tight lipped and irritated, as if he walked into their office and was interrupting an important meeting.
He placed Tom’s file on the desk then walked out to ask Mavis where the file was for his next meeting. He knew exactly where it was, but he had a feeling Joyce and Violet were up to no good. As soon as he walked back out the hushed whispers stopped. Jack knew he was right.
‘Was there some legal advice I could help you ladies with?’
Mavis squirmed uncomfortably in her seat while Joyce and Violet held their dirty looks, wishing for him to leave the office.
‘Nothing to concern yourself with, Jackson.’ Joyce pulled her already thin lips into a line so tight he was sure they’d disappear. Violet patted her coiffed purple hair and stared him down. But he didn’t take scare tactics from anyone. Especially two little old ladies who, up until this morning, he had thought were harmless. Now those same old ladies were staring him down in his own office and brainwashing his employee.
‘When you’re preventing my assistant from doing her job, which is to assist me, it is my concern.’ His voice was no nonsense and he folded his arms to create maximum effect.
‘Joyce was just asking if we knew how long that – how long Anna Kendall was going to be in town.’ Mavis’ voice wavered as she spoke and Jack wasn’t sure if she was nervous because of him or because of Joyce and Violet. By the way she was wringing her hands and darting her gaze from the silver-haired one (Joyce) to the purple-haired one (Violet), he could safely bet it was the latter.
‘Firstly, is it our business?’ he asked.
‘Of course it is. It’s our town and we got rid of the Kendall vermin over ten years ago,’ Violet spat out. ‘Her father ruined marriages and livelihoods and her mother hid behind liquor. If you ask me, that Kendall girl is no good.’
Jack clenched his fists. These women were unbelievable.
‘Her name is Anna,’ he stated simply, but neither Miss Silver nor Miss Purple responded. ‘Will Ellesmere forgive her for the sins of her father? Anna was a child when it all happened.’
‘Now, we know you are a lawyer, Jackson, and it may be in your nature to defend, but you are also a city dweller and we can’t expect you to understand Ellesmere town business. The town is better off without the Kendalls, all of the Kendalls.’ Joyce put in her two cents and looked mighty smug about it too.
‘How much time needs to pass before the town forgets about the Kendall scandal? Twenty-five years? Fifty years? One hundred years?’
‘The town will never forget about the Kendall scandal and we most certainly will never forgive,’ Violet added fervently, her eyes bulging.
‘Like they never forgot or forgave your grandfather for running the illegal betting agency and brothel that used to sit on top of your very own store? I’m sure no marriages were ruined by your grandfather’s actions.’ He calmly delivered his blow in Violet’s direction and watched as her jaw dropped in horror.
‘Or how they never forgave your great grandfather, Joyce, for setting fire to the Macreedy farm and ruining their livelihood?’
Jack had successfully wiped out all traces of smug self-righteousness, replacing it with disbelief and sheer horror. It seemed that two of Ellesmere’s oldest residents had both neglected to remember they were not exempt from being the subject of town gossip. When he first moved to town people had been eager to share and point out town history to the city slicker.
‘You see, ladies, when I decided to make Ellesmere my home, a decision I didn’t make lightly, I was humbled by the way I was welcomed. So I decided that I should learn about the town that’d embraced me. Ellesmere is made up of a very rich and colourful tapestry of people and history. I thought it also was welcoming and friendly, but I’m starting to think otherwise.’
They both continued to gawp at him like stunned mullets while Mavis tried hard to suppress her amusement.
‘Now, if you excuse me, I’m late for my afternoon meeting. Mavis, would you kindly find me the Simpson file?’
She gave him a brief look of confusion before cottoning on that he’d left the file on his desk and quickly headed to retrieve it.
‘You ladies enjoy the rest of your afternoon.’ As he walked out of his office, Jack couldn’t shake the feeling that when it came to Violet Fleming and Joyce Mather versus Anna Kendall, he might have won the battle this time, but he certainly hadn’t won the war.