Knowing his blackmailing ex-wife slept only metres away in the spare room wasn’t the best way to get a good night’s sleep. Nathan couldn’t stop a jaw-cracking yawn as he entered the supermarket on Burton Park Road carrying a pile of flyers in a manila folder. The warmth hit him as soon as he stepped inside.
The small store was packed with Saturday shoppers. A young boy wearing a Mindalby Soccer shirt clattered past in his footy boots, heading for the chip aisle. His mum pulled a trolley from the line and lifted a rugged-up young toddler into the seat at the front. It would have been brutal out on the soccer field—it couldn’t have been more than eight degrees out there.
Had Aiden been playing? How were he and his family getting on? Nathan had dropped a small care package of food on their front verandah one night, but it felt like a drop in the ocean. Had his dad managed to find any work yet? It was unlikely—very few people were hiring, and many were firing.
His own bottom line was dipping lower than he liked. It had been years since he’d had to advertise—word of mouth did all of his promotion for him. But that was his next step, to seek out business further afield than Mindalby.
Right now though he had other things to advertise.
The owner of the store, Sue Nightingale, was working behind the counter, chatting away to the customer she was serving.
He waited until she’d finished before he waved to catch her attention. ‘Hi, Sue. Am I okay to put a flyer on the noticeboard?’
Sue nodded back, her hands busy scanning the next customer’s grocery items. ‘Sure thing, mate. Say hi to Callie for me. Tell her I’ll be in next week for more wool.’
Bloody Mindalby grapevine. It hadn’t taken long for the town to pair them as a couple. How long would it be until everyone knew about Sharon?
Nathan walked to the small noticeboard at the front of the store, beside the entry door. How the hell was he going to tell Callie that Sharon was back in town? The woman who was not only his ex-wife, but the one who ran away with Callie’s husband? And more to the point, how would he admit that she was staying with him? Even as a clueless male, he had to admit that didn’t look good.
He’d been so worried about it last night that he’d cut their date short. Otherwise it was guaranteed she would have winkled it out of him somehow. He’d shrugged off her concerns about his distance by saying he was exhausted from a busy week.
Basically he was up to his arse in shit and sinking fast.
The noticeboard was already overflowing with papers. He had to rearrange some of the existing flyers to make room for his advertisement for a first meeting of the Men’s Shed. He moved an A4 sheet advertising ironing services closer to a coloured index card asking for a bass player to join a band, a sheet with tear-off strips advertising maths tutoring next to a hand-lettered sign advertising free kittens. If they were dogs, Mischa would have taken them all by now. Finally he had space to thumb-tack his poster onto the cork board.
‘G’day, mate. Long time no see.’
Nathan turned to see Alf Singleton, an old friend of his dad’s. ‘G’day.’ His hand was shaken in a still strong grip, despite the man’s advancing years. Alf had lost hair and was a lot thinner than when Nathan had last seen him, but he still looked in good nick for someone in his eighties.
Alf screwed up his eyes and peered at the poster. ‘Are you interested in forming and joining a Mindalby Men’s Shed? What’s this about then?’
‘It’s like the good old backyard shed. A place where blokes can go for a cuppa, to work on projects, pass their skills on to the younger ones. I reckon you could teach the young ones a thing or two, Alf.’
‘Bloody oath, I could.’ Alf jabbed a scrawny finger at Nathan’s chest. ‘We did it the old-fashioned way too. None of this new technology.’
‘Well you might even learn a thing or two, yourself. It’s as much about getting together and seeing your mates as it is the tools.’ There was no way he was going to use the words connecting and bonding with the old bloke, but that’s what it was all about. Working together to be a productive part of a team and getting connected, with an aim to encourage better physical and mental health in the male community. ‘We could set computers up so the younger ones could teach us oldies how to use them properly.’
Alf snorted. ‘What do we want with computers?’
‘Your kids live away now, don’t they? Wouldn’t you like to be able to send them messages quicker? See photos of your grandkids and hear all the news without having to wait for the mail?’
The old guy’s eyes watered and he looked away, blinking furiously. ‘Maybe. I don’t get to see much of them. And the grandkids grow so quick. Would you believe I’m a bloody great-grandfather now? Maddy, me eldest granddaughter, she had a baby last month.’
‘Congratulations.’ Nathan was in two minds about the possibility of becoming a grandfather. He’d love to have grandkids to spoil, but geez, the thought of it even being a possibility made him feel ancient. ‘Anyway, we’re having a meeting about the Men’s Shed next week to see if enough people are interested. Tell all your mates. If it goes ahead, we’ll be making projects for the community and you’d be a great help.’
Alf scratched his head. ‘Righto. I might be there. I’ll see what else I’m doing.’ He ambled off with his shopping bag.
Nathan picked up his folder and waved a thank-you to Sue. He had more of the flyers to put up—he planned to put them in the doctor’s, dentist’s, cafe, community halls. Anywhere people might see them and spread the word. This afternoon he had an appointment at the Mindalby Chronicle to chat to the reporter about the organisation and his plans.
And while he was running around like a blue-arsed fly, he had to come up with a way to explain Sharon’s sudden appearance to Callie. Organising the community group seemed like child’s play in comparison.
***
The end of her first week was certainly more encouraging than the start. She even had her first orders from her online store after launching it last night. She’d posted the link in a few quilting forums she was a member of. Comments were so far very positive.
She hummed to herself as she collected pieces from the shelves to fill her website orders. The shop was still slow, but at the end of her first week of trading, she was gradually getting customers. The freezing conditions this week hadn’t helped. Who wanted to go outside in this weather if they could help it?
Her flyers, signs and word of mouth were having an impact in getting her name out into the public. The gift voucher she’d donated to the fundraising raffle last weekend had also raised her profile—a few customers had told her that’s how they’d heard about her.
Wow, was that only last weekend? So much had happened in the time since. A week ago she was only dreaming of being with Nathan, and now here they were together. Or were they? They hadn’t exactly had the big talk about the future, or even defined what their relationship was yet. Maybe he’d even started to lose interest already—he’d been distracted last night and had left early, saying he was exhausted.
And so far there’d been no plans to meet up tonight. And she should know—she’d checked her phone every time she had a spare minute. Maybe he’d tired of her already. Maybe the challenge was gone now they’d made love. After all, they’d spent every night together this week.
While she’d been thinking happy-ever-after, maybe he’d just wanted a quick fling to satisfy his curiosity.
The shop door opening distracted Callie from her thoughts and let in a blast of cold air. Dawn stepped in and greeted Callie with a smile, as she unwound the scarf from around her neck.
‘Hi, Dawn. Are you happy to browse or would you like some help?’ Callie walked back to the counter and placed the ordered items in a pile.
Dawn picked up a plastic shopping basket from the stack near the door and headed for the display of merino wool at the far side of the shop. ‘I’m more than happy browsing. In fact I’m in heaven.’ She rubbed a skein of red wool against her cheek, closing her eyes in bliss.
Callie grinned. It was good to know crafting supplies had that effect on other people too. ‘I’ll leave you to it then. Yell out if I can help at all.’
She reached under the counter for a plastic postal envelope, then placed the items inside, ticking each off the order as she went. One of her new custom-designed fridge magnets advertising her shop went into the parcel before she sealed it up and wrote the customer’s name and address on the front. She’d drop the parcel in the post box on the way home. It wouldn’t be picked up for delivery until Monday but at least it was a step closer to arriving on someone’s door step.
Next on her list was scheduling a couple of posts for the shop’s Facebook page and checking her stock levels on the website and in the store.
Ten minutes or so later, with her basket full of wool, Dawn wandered up to the counter. ‘I think I left you some stock, but not much.’ Her pretty face lit up with a grin. ‘It’ll give me a reason to come back next week.’
‘You’ll be busy to get through all of this. What are you making?’ Callie scanned the items with the hand-held scanner, placing them in a brown paper carrier bag as she went.
‘A top for my daughter.’ She handed over her credit card after Callie told her the total. ‘I was wondering …’ Dawn glanced down at the counter, her hands caressing a ball of cashmere wool. ‘Do you want to grab a coffee sometime?’ She threw her head back and laughed. ‘That may be misconstrued. I don’t mean a date, I mean as friends. I don’t know many people in town yet and I think we’d have a lot in common.’
Callie’s heart lifted at the offer. ‘That sounds great. I’d love to have coffee with you.’
Dawn tucked her credit card back in her purse and picked up the carrier bag. ‘That’d be really lovely.’
Why not now? If I take her up on the offer now, will it look like I’m Nigel No-friends? Will she change her mind if I’m too eager? She felt a certain kinship with Dawn after only chatting a few times. Her new confident self could do this. If she could open a store, she could make a new friend. She’d grab the opportunity with both hands. ‘In fact, why not now? Are you busy?’
‘No, not at all. I’d like that.’
‘It’s almost closing time. I can come back and finish up the few things I need to do later. Hold on a sec and I’ll grab my bag.’ She took her handbag from the kitchen, slipped the strap over her shoulder and flipped the sign on the door to Closed. ‘Will we walk up to Joe’s?’
Callie shivered from the shock of the cold as she locked the door behind Dawn. Not many cars travelled along the main street. The overcast weather had kept people inside in front of their fires or heaters.
Already her mind was whirling. What would they talk about? What if the coffee date was full of awkward pauses? They could definitely talk about knitting and sewing. Maybe their kids? What else?
God, she was so socially awkward. Put her in a business situation where she could put on her confident mask, and she was fine. But making friends was hard, and seemed to be getting harder the older she grew.
Falling into step, they walked briskly towards Joe’s. Fortunately the wind made it too painful and difficult to hold a conversation. Inside the cafe, the warmth was a welcome relief from outside. The shop was crowded but they managed to snag a small table at the rear.
‘Everyone must be keeping warm in here today.’ Callie slipped off her jacket and hung it over the back of the chair before taking her seat and looking around. The inside of the cafe was hung with posters promoting the picket line of Mindalby Cotton workers. A donations bucket sat on the counter for customers to drop in their spare change. The community was pulling together in all different ways to help those affected by the mill closure. Some big, some small. Every little bit helped.
Winding her way through the tables, the waitress held up her hand to let them know she was on her way. After a moment’s awkwardness, Callie and Dawn began to talk. After all her worrying, the conversation never let up as they bonded over fabrics.
Half an hour passed like a blur, along with several coffees and a slice of carrot cake shared between them. The conversation flowed in the way that only people who have found someone from their tribe would recognise. Callie was oblivious to people coming and going around her, so caught up in the chat of sewing techniques, unfinished products and fabric stashes.
Until she was brought down to earth with a sudden thud by a voice from her past—and her nightmares.
‘I knew as soon as I left that I’d made a big mistake. Tony never treated me the way Nathan did.’
The familiar voice saying Nathan’s name from the table behind her made Callie’s hair stand on end. What the hell? That was Sharon’s voice. What was she doing back in town? She leaned her head back to listen. It was hard to hear over the blood thumping in her temples.
‘Why did you stay?’
Her companion sounded a lot like Julie. Hang on. Had she phoned Sharon to tell her she’d seen Nathan and Callie on a date? What business was it of hers when she left him?
‘I stuck it out for a few years, but these last few months, Susan’s been going through the photo albums showing her fiancée everything from her childhood. It brought it all back to me, how good we’d been together. I’ve come back to get him to give me a second chance.’
‘What’s he got to say about that?’
Callie was very interested in the answer to that herself. She was unable to stop herself turning to stare at the woman who had walked away with her husband. Who now had the audacity to come back and try to reclaim Nathan. Her heart pounded and she struggled to breathe. Hadn’t she put all this behind her? She’d moved on—had a great life. But the sight of Sharon brought back all the emotions of when Tony had first left.
‘Hello, Callie.’ The smirk on Sharon’s face made her blood freeze.
Callie swallowed a mouthful of carrot cake, which threatened to make a reappearance. Why did this woman have the power to make her feel so inadequate? She’d felt alive and pretty this morning—on top of the world. Now she suddenly felt every one of her fifty years. Old, frumpy, not woman enough. Her laughter lines had turned into crows’ feet; her dress, which had looked so pretty and feminine when she’d put it on, now felt too matronly.
She hadn’t had the womanly skills to keep Tony. How on earth did she think she’d have a chance with Nathan?
With a performance worthy of an Oscar, she kept her face neutral. ‘Sharon.’ Making herself smile back pleasantly was one of the hardest things she’d done. Maybe except childbirth—that was pretty hard to top. But that had been physical. This struck deep into her heart and emotions. She turned back in her chair to face Dawn who had an I’m dying to know what’s going on but am too polite to ask look on her face.
Sharon spoke in a loud voice, designed to carry to Callie’s ears. ‘Between you and me, Nathan is quite eager to get back together with me. He couldn’t keep his hands off me last night.’
Once in high school during a Physical Education class, Callie had been hit in the stomach with a big, heavy medicine ball. The wind had been knocked out of her and she’d felt like she would throw up. She had the same feeling now.
Where were her words? Why didn’t she have a biting comeback? All she could see was the image of Nathan and Sharon together again. All the hopes she’d built up crumbled into dust at her feet. No wonder the bastard was tired last night.
Coming to the rescue, Dawn picked up her bag. ‘Goodness, look at the time. Callie— we’d better go. I’ll pay—I’ll meet you outside.’
She knew if she spoke the tears would escape. Biting her lip, she nodded and pushed back her chair. She fled the cafe, knowing she owed Dawn for more than the cost of their afternoon tea.