Serena pulled off the highway into a dusty servo, needing caffeine and a stretch but wanting the drive to be over. Her concept of travel and appreciation of the vast open spaces of the Australian outback had changed since that first trip to Mindalby. The fact she knew where she was this time helped her dig deep for the final push.
As she grabbed her handbag, her phone rang. Checking the caller ID, she answered her mother’s call. ‘Hi, Mum. Couple more hours and I’ll be back in Mindalby.’
Before her mother responded, Serena heard a dog bark in the background and a male voice shushed the animal. ‘Good. Well, when you get here, we have plenty to celebrate. Have you spoken to Paul yet?’
Serena wrapped an arm around her stomach and pressed hard. His rejection sliced like a knife, the physical ache all that remained of her hopeless attraction to him. With luck, she could avoid Paul while she continued her search for her father.
If she continued.
Maybe she’d give up and take the rest of her holiday somewhere warm and seaside. Somewhere far from Mindalby and Paul Carey.
‘No. I told you he doesn’t want me around. He made that clear before I left for Sydney.’
‘And yet, you went ahead with your plan anyway. Doesn’t that tell you anything?’
‘That I’m a masochistic control freak?’
‘When you get back, you need to talk to him.’
‘We’ll see.’ Preferring to avoid further discussion about Paul, Serena added, ‘I need to find a loo. See you soon, Mum.’
Ten minutes later, Serena was back concentrating on the endless grey bitumen unrolling ahead as she drove the last stretch of highway. Her mission to Sydney had succeeded beyond her expectations. She could have stayed there, as Max suggested, and let her mother catch the bus back. Once Max had accepted she wasn’t coming back to him, they’d managed a polite dinner together at one of the top seafood restaurants on the Quay while Serena negotiated Max’s help.
‘If you’ve made up your mind to work in Sydney, you don’t have to drive back you know.’
‘I know, but I have unfinished business. If my father is still alive, I’d like to find him, for the right reasons this time.’
Max had kissed her forehead. Now they were no longer involved, his controlling tendency had been replaced by his usual charm. She much preferred their new connection. ‘And I forgive you telling that huge porky of a lie about my father, but we’d never work out.’
‘I hope you come back when you’ve found him. You’re wasted in the back of beyond.’
‘There’s nothing to keep me in Mindalby.’
It was useless to wish there was.
She switched on the radio and let the music carry her the rest of the way, but as she turned into Paul’s driveway, her stomach clenched and exhaustion set in. She turned off the engine and sat in the car, eyes closed and head resting on the headrest. She’d tell Paul the good news and the bad news, and then go home to be comforted by her mother.
How hard could this be? Telling him she’d interfered in his business—again—and, ‘By the way, my father is probably the man who almost killed your father’.