Nathan hadn’t even started his engine before his phone rang. ‘Nathan speaking.’
‘Nathan. It’s Tony.’
He knew the voice as soon as he spoke. He’d been mates with him for decades. How could he ever forget his voice? ‘Hello.’ What to say to the man who ran off with your wife? He never thought he’d need to know the rules of etiquette for this situation. If they even bloody existed.
‘Susan rang me. I don’t know what to say, mate. Sharon told me she was going on holidays to Bali. Said she needed some space and not to call her.’ His breath blew out in a gusty rush. ‘She’s been a bit odd since I lost my job a month or so back, but I put it down to her hormones. You know, she’s getting to that age and you hear all the horror stories. To be honest, I was glad to see her go. Gave me some peace and quiet.’
‘So you didn’t know she was driving back to Mindalby? That she’s been trying to move in on me and has screwed up my relationship with Callie?’ What the hell was going on in Sharon’s mind?
‘You’re seeing Callie?’
The jerk had no right to have that proprietorial tone in his voice. ‘I was until your wife screwed things up.’
‘Your ex-wife.’ Tony began to chuckle. ‘God, this is screwed up. Women, huh?’
‘Right.’ The situation being screwed up was probably the only thing they’d agree on.
‘Listen, I’ll drive up today and bring her home. Sharon, I mean, not Callie.’ He chuckled as if the whole thing was a big joke. ‘I’ll get a mate to come up with me and take Sharon’s car home. We should be there by tonight. I’ll buy you a beer at the pub. I reckon I owe you one.’
Nathan snorted. Buy him a beer at the pub? Tony would be lucky if Nathan didn’t give him the fist to the face he also owed him.
***
Walking around the perimeter of the field, Callie waved a hand in greeting at a small group of women who’d been in her shop last week. Her hand froze in mid-wave as she spotted Sharon and Julie behind them.
Her frustration boiled over and she took a step towards them, hands on hips. ‘I want to talk to you two.’
‘Oh really. I can’t imagine why. You couldn’t wait to get rid of us the other day.’
Sharon obviously thought she’d get the upper hand like she did last time, but this time Callie was fired up. She stepped up and met her with eyes blazing. ‘I heard that you started a rumour about me. That I’d said the quilting club were a bunch of talentless gossips and that Maisy Mitchell’s hand-sewing looked like the work of a kindergarten kid.’ No wonder Maisy had been dirty with her. She prided herself on having the tiniest, neatest hand-sewing in the district.
Sharon smirked and waved her talons around. ‘Don’t tell me that’s still going around? Wow, they really believed that, hey? Of course Julie helped keep it going. I couldn’t ask for a more loyal friend.’
‘Why would you say something like that? What did I do to you that you’d want to slander me like that?’ She couldn’t believe the ease with which Sharon admitted destroying a part of Callie’s life that had been important to her. That was still having consequences even now.
‘You existed, honey.’ Her voice was saccharine sweet, dripping with poison. ‘You were the thorn in my side from the moment I met Nathan. I don’t know what kind of voodoo you used on him, but I could never compete. No one was ever allowed to say a bad word about you. It was like you were the third person in our relationship. I could never have all of his heart. Whether he knew it or not, it was always you and him. So if I couldn’t have all of him, you couldn’t have the things that were important to you, like the support of the quilting club. And then I took Tony as well. Simple.’
‘You’re insane. We were friends, that’s all. Nathan never felt more than friendship for me back then.’ Despite her longing.
‘That’s what you think, honey. I saw the way he used to look at you when he didn’t think I’d notice.’ She stuck a finger in the air like she’d had an epiphany. ‘By the way, did you know your precious, holier-than-thou, never-tell-a-lie Nathan is your landlord?’
Callie couldn’t stop the gasp escaping. Shock made her freeze.
‘Yes, that’s right. I didn’t think you’d know that. He always kept his investments quiet. I only found out about his properties when we divorced.’ She sneered. ‘I did a little snooping while I was at his house just to see if it was still worth a bit. Give you a special discount price on the rent, did he? Or were you paying him in … other ways?’
Callie’s chest heaved but she wouldn’t let Sharon get to her. ‘Of course I knew. Nathan and I don’t have secrets from each other.’
‘Oh really?’ The words were drawled, the battle lines drawn. ‘So you know that he knew about me and Tony before we left? He saw us together that night at the dance and was too wimpy to do anything. He just went back inside without saying a word. Did he ever tell you that? Ever give you the chance to beg Tony to stay?’
She’d always heard the expression seeing red. Now she knew it was actually accurate. It was like she was seeing the woman in front of her through a red haze. She raised herself up high. ‘You’re a despicable woman. I can’t imagine why we were ever friends.’
‘We were never friends, sweetie. I put up with you at first because you came as a package deal with Nathan. By the end I only hung out with you so I could be close to Tony.’
The chats over coffee while the kids played together at the park, the dinners together as a couple, the weekends away as families. Had Sharon been pretending the whole time? Or was she distorting the memories to suit herself? Granted she knew they hadn’t been BFFs, but had the other woman really despised her all this time?
‘Then why the hell don’t you—’ Callie drew in a deep breath, ‘—fuck off back to Tony now?’ Wow, that felt good. She rarely swore—maybe she should do it more often. Judging by the stunned look on Sharon’s face, it was quite effective.
‘Ooh she has claws. Little naive Callie all grown up and swearing like a big girl.’
Angry tears pricked at the back of her eyes but she refused to let them fall. This was her final chance to get it off her chest. ‘You’re pathetic and to be honest, I’m seriously concerned about your mental state. There was never anything between Nathan and me other than friendship. Your jealousy destroyed two marriages, and now what? You come running back to Nathan because he and I have finally found something special.’ She turned her back. ‘You’re an ugly woman, Sharon. You might still think you’re attractive on the outside, but inside you’re rotten. Black.’ Glancing over her shoulder, she raked her with a glance she hoped looked withering. ‘And for that matter your outside isn’t that attractive anymore either. Time to grow up and stop dressing like it’s the eighties. You’re mutton dressed as lamb, honey.’ She stressed the endearment.
A slow hand clap alerted her to the fact a crowd had gathered around them. It was a relief to realise she didn’t care. The gossips would gossip no matter what she did. She may as well give them grist for their mill and get this off her chest.
‘And as for you.’ She speared Julie with a look that made her wither. ‘Do I assume you’re responsible for stealing my letterheads and forging my signature at the courier company? As well as spreading all those rumours about me?’
Julie looked from Callie to Sharon who glared at her. ‘What’d you do that for?’
‘I thought it would help. I thought you’d want her business to fail.’ Her whine set Callie’s teeth on edge. ‘I did it for you.’
‘You’re even more pathetic, Julie. Still trying to suck up to Sharon after all these years. And she’s not even grateful.’
‘You tell her, Callie.’ Shelly’s head swivelled between the two of them like she was watching the finals of the Australian Open tennis. ‘Don’t worry—we all heard what she confirmed about making up the rumour. You can bet we’ll let Maisy know who really said it. And that Julie was also responsible. You remember Penny from the quilting club, don’t you, Sharon? Do you remember that Penny’s a solicitor? I’ll bet she’ll be able to lay charges for slander or something. Not to mention Julie’s fraud.’
Sharon’s face paled beneath her heavily made-up face. ‘I don’t have to stand here and take this.’
Callie gestured towards the carpark. ‘Don’t let us stop you.’
Face crumpling, Sharon lifted her chin and strode off, Julie trailing behind. But she left behind the fallout of the bombshell about Nathan.
Despite feeling like she’d got the upper hand, the fight left Callie shaky and nauseous. She looked at the cupcake she’d bought for her morning tea and tossed it in the closest bin. There was no way she could eat it now.
She hated confrontation. She’d much prefer to be an ostrich until the problem went away. But she couldn’t let Sharon poison what was left of her friendship with Nathan. She had to find out the truth and know where she stood.
Had he given her a special rate? Had he thought poor Callie needs a helping hand, she’ll never make it on her own?
She couldn’t see Nathan anywhere around the oval, so her very rough plan was to find his ute in the carpark and wait for him. In any case, it would get her away from the tidal wave of people wanting to commiserate with her and talk about Sharon’s and Julie’s actions.
He was there. In his ute, mobile phone to his ear, his face scowling. She took a deep breath followed by a sip of water, trying to convince herself she wasn’t going to throw up.
After a couple of minutes of pep-talk, he’d finished his phone call and sat clenching the steering wheel. He didn’t look happy. But then, neither was she.
She marched over and yanked open his door.
‘Callie!’
Why the hell did he have to look so bloody gorgeous sitting there? Why couldn’t he have grown an extra head, or at the very least a beer gut?
‘I have to talk to you.’ So far, so good. She was staying on script.
Hurt flashed in his eyes at her abruptness but she couldn’t let that sway her.
‘Tell me something honestly, Nathan.’ She looked up at him and studied his face. ‘When were you going to tell me you were my landlord? Or were you going to keep it a secret forever?’
He pulled back, started to speak, stopped. ‘How do you know that?’
‘A snippet of information your ex-wife thought I might need to know. Oh, and by the way, probably all of Mindalby knows it now.’
He winced. ‘Damn her to hell.’
She folded her arms across her chest. ‘You don’t think I would have liked to have known that before I signed on as your tenant?’
‘I’m used to keeping it a secret.’ He shrugged. ‘I wasn’t expecting our relationship to go any further than maybe rebuilding our friendship. I didn’t think it would matter.’
‘So did you or did you not give me a reduced rate?’
‘Mates’ rates.’ His smile was tentative. ‘I was trying to help you out. Plus a tenant at a low rate is better than no tenant. That’s all. There was nothing sinister in it. I don’t understand what the big deal is about me being your landlord. I was doing you a favour. And you were doing me a favour.’ He threw his hands out in exasperation. ‘I’ll put your rates up if it will make you feel better. But you’ll be cutting off your nose to spite your face.’
An angry flush forced its way up her face. ‘If I can’t trust you to tell me the truth about you being my landlord, what kind of relationship do we have? Or maybe I should say did we have? Would you keep other things secret from me to “help me out”?’ She made quotes in the air as she threw his phrase back at him. ‘Like maybe not telling me about Sharon and Tony’s affair?’
He looked like she’d hit him over the head with a cricket bat. ‘I didn’t get a chance. I was trying to deal with it myself. I only found out the night of the dance—I saw them screwing in the carpark. I didn’t want to make a scene and destroy your night.’ He held out his hand in appeal. ‘I swear I was going to talk to them the next day, tell them to stop. But they left before I could. Would it have made any difference if you knew? Would you have taken Tony back?’
She could actually understand his reasons for not telling her. They made sense. But what was really hurting was the thought that if he’d lied about that, what else had he lied about? Could she really trust him like she thought?
Had he really cared for her, wanted to go out with her, or was she just the latest in his long line?
‘The point is that I’m sick of men lying to me. You, Tony. He probably thought he was doing me a favour by not telling me about his affair. You didn’t tell me about Sharon being back. Even bloody Don Carter lying to everyone about the company.’
Her hands clenched so hard her fingernails dug into her palm. ‘I’m just so bloody sick of it all. I had hoped that somehow we could still stay friends. But I’m just feeling so hurt right now.’ She swallowed hard. Life had been so much brighter with him back in her life. But she’d survive without him. ‘I don’t even think we can stay friends.’
Her phone rang in the stunned silence that followed. Automatically she glanced at the display. Her mother. She’d call her back soon, when she’d calmed down. Her phone beeped with a voicemail message, then rang again.
Was it her imagination or did the ring sound urgent? Her mind flashed immediately to her dad.
‘I’m sorry, I have to take this.’ Why was she even apologising? Her heart thumped from the adrenaline of the past ten minutes and dread of what her mother might want. She pressed the accept call button. ‘Hi Mum, what’s up?’
‘Callie?’ Her mother’s voice was high-pitched and shaking. ‘Your dad’s gone missing.’