A fair-sized crowd had gathered at the football ground on Saturday morning judging by the number of cars lined up in the carpark. Mindalby always liked to support its sporting teams but in the current circumstances the community had likely also jumped at a way to cheer itself up.
Nathan wandered over and stood next to Mike at the edge of the oval, watching the Mindalby kids in their maroon and white jumpers go through their informal warm-up. As far as he could tell, it involved all teams running wild around the oval pretending to be planes, kung-fu fighting and trying to climb the goal posts. And yelling. Lots of high-pitched, excited yelling. He picked out Aiden who at least seemed to have more energy today as he wrestled with an opposition player. These kids would be exhausted before the games even started.
Mike looked at his watch and let out an ear-splitting whistle. He cupped his hands and yelled out to his team. ‘All right, lads and lasses, gather round and listen up.’
‘I’ll let you get on with it. Good luck.’ He watched the boys and a couple of girls all gather round Mike, jumping with excitement, and then began to make his way around the oval. The smell of the barbecue wafted across, the frying onions making his mouth water. A steak sandwich with onion and egg sounded like a damn fine way to start the morning.
About halfway around the oval, he spotted Callie walking over near the school’s cake stall. He stopped and reversed direction. Finally a chance to talk to her, to make sure she was doing okay, and to keep their friendship intact.
He increased his pace as she started to move away. ‘Callie.’
She turned to him and for a moment her eyes lit up before the smile fell from her face. Sharon appeared out of nowhere and before he knew what had happened, she’d slipped her hand into his and leaned up to kiss his cheek. He pulled away, frantically looking around for Callie. But she’d disappeared.
‘Damn it, Sharon. What the hell did you do that for?’ He knew she was trying to mark her territory, but hadn’t he made it clear enough that her efforts were in vain? They weren’t getting back together. Ever. That reminded him of a song that was popular a few years ago, and now he’d have that stuck in his head as an ear-worm.
‘I’m just trying to be friends. You used to like me doing that.’
He gritted his teeth and turned to her, his hands clenching by his sides. ‘We used to be married. But you seem to forget the minor matter that you had an affair.’ He could feel people looking at them, their attention drawn by his raised voice but he didn’t care. What did it take to get rid of her?
‘Sharon, how many times do I have to tell you? It’s over. Go back home to Tony, back to Melbourne, I don’t care where—just go.’
Before he added anything he might regret, he sucked in a deep breath and walked away to the edge of the oval where he could be alone. Geez, she was like a bloody leech that he couldn’t get rid of. He should ring Susan. Maybe she’d have some insight into whatever the hell was going on with her mother. His blood boiled at even the thought of it, but perhaps he should get Tony’s phone number from his daughter. If only Tony would take Sharon back, that would go a long way to solving his problems. At least it would get his ex-wife out of the picture.
He pulled his mobile from his back pocket and dialled.
Susan answered on the first ring. ‘Hi, Dad.’
‘How are you, Susan? Wedding plans coming along?’ He kicked the ground with the toe of his boot.
‘Yeah, everything’s going great.’ Excitement vibrated through her voice and he wanted to see her happiness first hand.
‘You’ll have to bring Beth up to see your childhood town. I’ve got plenty of room. You can stay with me.’ Or at least he would have once he solved his problem.
‘Oh Beth would love that. She’s always going on about wanting to see the outback, and Mindalby’s pretty darn close.’ She hesitated. ‘Is everything okay, Dad? You don’t normally ring just for a chat.’
‘Maybe I should start.’ He turned and gazed at the crowd, searching for both Sharon and Callie. ‘But actually, you’re right. I was ringing about your mother.’
‘Mum? Why?’
He took a deep breath. He hated to ask for her help, even more to ask Tony, but he was desperate. ‘Do you have Tony’s phone number? I need to talk to him and see if there is any chance he’ll take her back. She’s driving me nuts.’
‘What on earth do you mean, Dad? Mum’s in Bali on holiday.’ She drew in a sharp breath. ‘Are you there with her?’
‘Bali? She’s not in Bali, she’s here in Mindalby. She turned up a week ago with a heap of luggage and moved into my spare room. She said she’d broken up with Tony.’
There was dead silence on the other end of the phone, then a whispered conversation, probably with Beth. She came back on the phone. ‘This is really weird. I’ve checked her Facebook. She’s been posting photos of Bali for the last week or so.’
‘I’m telling you she’s here. I’m not going crazy.’
‘I believe you, Dad. I hadn’t taken any notice before but none of the photos she’s posted have her or her friends in them. They’re mainly scenery.’ Susan’s voice sounded worried, and he felt guilty that he’d concerned her. ‘Listen, let me talk to Tony and see if he knows anything.’
‘Okay, thanks.’ He hesitated, then cleared his throat. What he had to say felt long overdue. ‘Look, Susie, I’m sorry for not keeping in better contact with you and Lindy once you left town. Your mother didn’t make it easy but I should have tried harder. I want to be a better dad if it’s not too late.’
‘You weren’t a bad father, Dad. But it would be great to keep in closer contact.’ Her voice wavered. ‘I’ll find out what I can and talk to you soon. Okay? Love you.’
He couldn’t stop the smile spreading across his face. ‘Love you too.’
At least something good had come out of this mess.
***
Callie fled from the oval, desperate to get away from the crowds of people. She needed space to breathe. Sharon had been all over Nathan and he hadn’t seemed to mind a bit. Seeing them together brought all her bad memories to the surface. All the times Sharon had seemed to taunt Callie over the decades. In their twenties, Sharon sitting in his lap, her arms wrapped around his neck, on the plastic chairs outside the milk bar. In their thirties, Sharon standing in the V of his legs as they leaned against the bonnet of his car watching their daughters play netball. In their forties, Sharon slow-dancing with him in the pub, her eyes staring at Callie as if to say He’s mine, back off, bitch.
She believed him when he said they weren’t back together, but he didn’t seem to be trying very hard to get rid of her. Was she being selfish? She’d chosen not to be in a relationship with him at the moment, but it was still a knife to the guts to see him with someone else, especially Sharon.
Her body felt weighed down with misery. It was an effort to put one foot in front of the other.
A whistle blew out on the oval and a new game started. Callie peered over the heads of the crowd in front of her. Damn. It was the Mindalby Under Nines. She was here to watch Ella’s game so she’d have to suck up her misery and go and watch it. Trying to keep one eye on the game, she weaved her way through the crowd and closer to the oval for a better view.
Intent on the action on the field for a minute, she wasn’t watching where she was walking and bumped straight into a woman coming the other way.
‘Oh, I’m so sorry.’ Without even looking at who she’d bumped into, Callie bent down to pick up the gloves she’d knocked from the woman’s hands.
‘Oh. Callie, it’s you.’ The woman’s voice squeaked with embarrassment.
Callie glanced up, then slowly stood. ‘Hi, Shelly. How are you?’ She’d been a member of the quilting club with Shelly, a slightly older woman who lived on the commune.
Shelly peered around cautiously, then leaned in close to Callie’s ear. Her long braid swung forward and tickled Callie’s cheek. ‘Look I’m not sure if you know, but Maisy Mitchell told us not to buy from your shop. She said you’d said bad things about the club.’ She cupped her hand and whispered what she’d overheard, like a kid telling secrets in the playground.
Blood drained from Callie’s face, leaving her slightly lightheaded. What an outrageous lie. ‘I knew she was boycotting me, but I didn’t know why. I can assure you I would never say anything bad. Especially not that.’
‘I know that now.’ Again with that glance over her shoulder before she took a deep breath. ‘I overheard Sharon and Julie laughing earlier about how they’d spread all the rumours before Sharon left and how you’d never realised.’
Callie’s brain struggled to process what she’d heard. She stared at Shelly.
‘I just wanted to set the record straight and let you know I’ll be coming in to your shop on Monday morning. I’ll tell the other members.’ Shelly patted Callie’s arm. ‘We’re all really excited about being able to buy our materials in town now. We’ve just been too intimidated by Maisy to go against her.’
Right. It took a lot to make her lose her cool, but enough was enough. She was going to find Sharon and have it out with her once and for all.