Someone was banging on the door. Matt clutched for his happy dream.
‘Rise and shine.’ Drake’s voice came into the bedroom. ‘I need a favour.’
Matt dragged the pillow over his head and made a rude gesture. His mind ran over last night’s events, struggling at first to separate fact from fiction. What he needed was time to make sense of it, but Drake kept talking, his words relentless – hunting Matt into the new day.
‘Give me a minute,’ said Matt with a groan.
‘I don’t have a minute.’ Drake’s tone was far too cheerful for so early in the morning.
Matt sat up, scratched his head and glared at Drake. The whistling kettle lured him into the kitchen. Cardboard boxes stood stacked by the door.
‘How-to-vote cards,’ said Drake. ‘It’s election day.’
Matt vaguely remembered Drake telling him that he’d started his own political party in opposition to his mother. He picked up a leaflet. Vote 1 Sustainable Tasmania.
‘Since Mum committed electoral suicide on national television, we’re only manning the main polling places. Hellgrun should walk it in. I’m driving down to Hobart to be with my folks. They’re going to have a rough night.’
’So?’
‘So can you run these how-to-vote cards out to the local booths?’ Drake handed Matt a list, then went outside and came back with some large laminated posters of his own smiling face. ‘Just string one of these up and leave a box of cards underneath. Oh, and remember to vote for me.’
Matt made himself a coffee while Drake waited expectantly. ‘Sure,’ he said at last. ‘Why not?’
‘I owe you one,’ said Drake.
‘Just one?’
Drake took a sip of Matt’s coffee. ‘What are you doing tonight?’
‘Going to Fraser’s to watch the election. Pen’s coming too.’
‘You and Pen? You’re good?’
‘I’m going to beg her to move back in.’
‘About bloody time. So Sarah’s finally fair game. You do know she thinks you and her are some sort of thing, don’t you? She almost had me convinced of it.’ Matt drained his coffee down to the dregs. ‘Shall I set her straight for you?’ said Drake.
‘No,’ Matt answered, quickly. ‘I should do it myself.’
‘Okay,’ said Drake. ‘But hurry up, will you? I plan to drop in on her when I’m in Hobart. If I’m lucky she’ll pick me up on the rebound.’
Matt ran through the morning chores with Jake, then packed the boxes and posters into the car and set off on his grand tour. The government had pulled out all the stops. At each polling place, no matter how tiny the school or how remote the hall, their spruikers were out in force. On the payroll, according to Drake. Matt had never seen anything like it. Banners and placards and posters and streamers, all bearing Kate’s chic smile. The actual candidate didn’t rate a photo. Kate was billed as the star of the show, and since Fraser’s revelations, that presidential strategy had backfired badly on the Government. Although still running in her own electorate, she’d been forced to resign as Premier, and there hadn’t been time to print new signage.
At Tancurry, Kate’s bountiful bunting seemed to be the only thing holding up the run-down hall. Just as well the polling officials were already there. Without protection, his flimsy posters and brave little cardboard boxes might well have met with foul play. Matt set up his final booth, voted for Drake and glanced at his watch. Still time to stop at the bakery for breakfast and buy something to bring for tonight. A cake to celebrate maybe? What was the etiquette for a first dinner in more than a decade at your father’s house?
Matt pulled up outside the bakery. The car parked in front of him looked familiar. Matt froze, but apparently Sarah’s vision wasn’t based on movement. She turned and waved, called out his name. Doris Briggs, sitting outside the shops, waved at him too. Interfering old biddy. Matt wondered if he could simply drive away. Too late. Sarah was at the window. He wound it down halfway
‘I’ve taken the weekend off,’ she said. ‘To surprise you.’ She looked relaxed, happy, unaware there was a problem.
‘Great,’ said Matt, forcing a smile.
‘Want to do something later?’
‘I’m not working this afternoon,’ he lied. ‘How about I take you to lunch?’ He was already winding up the glass.
‘Brilliant.’ Sarah blew him a kiss as the jeep moved off.
Matt drove straight to Ray’s house and rang Penny.
‘Matt, is that you I can see out in the street? Come on in. Ray won’t bite.’
He wasn’t so sure. The word going around town had him and Sarah in the middle of a full-blown affair. Thankfully Penny believed him, despite the rumours. At the pub last Saturday night, Ray had got himself so drunk and worked up that he’d tried to round up some sort of posse to go out to Binburra. Nick Byrne had calmed him down, headed off the trouble. But Nick had visited on Sunday morning in his official police capacity and warned Matt to steer clear of Ray. Penny herself had told Matt she was worried about her uncle, thought he was erratic and depressed, but couldn’t get him to the doctor.
‘No thanks,’ said Matt. ‘Can you come out here?’
A few minutes later Penny slipped out through the side gate and Matt drove them a hundred metres down the road.
‘Sarah turned up this morning,’ he said. ‘I bumped into her in Main Street. Doris saw me, so I thought I’d better get to you first.’
Penny held up her right hand. ‘I solemnly swear I won’t listen to gossip.’
‘Good,’ said Matt. ‘Because I’m taking Sarah to lunch today, and somebody’s bound to tell you. I’ve asked Jake to fill in for me this afternoon. It’s time to tell her where I stand.’
‘And where is that?’ asked Penny.
‘With you, of course, Pen. Always with you.’ He moved closer to her, close enough to hear her breathe. ‘You backing my decision about Theo, understanding why I can’t go public? It means everything.’
‘What was I supposed to do?’ said Penny with a smile. ‘You and your dad ganged up on me.’
The thread of separateness, of strangeness that had run between them was unravelling. A surge of hope coursed through him, desire too, and he knew there was no answer for him anywhere in the world, but her.
Matt pulled Penny close, her body soft and yielding. She looked lovelier than he’d ever seen her, radiant, with shining hair fanning her shoulders and her complexion glowing with happiness.
They kissed, slow and tender, the seal on an unspoken promise. ‘Move back in today, Pen,’ he said, hoarsely. ‘Right now.’
Concern clouded her face. ‘I need to make sure my uncle is okay first.’
Matt groaned inwardly. Ray was sure to do everything possible to undermine a reconciliation.
Penny stroked his cheek. ‘Don’t worry. I can handle him.’ She opened his palm and stroked his lifeline. ‘You have something to tell Sarah, and I have something to tell you.’
‘Lay it on me.’
‘Later. Tonight.’
‘Is it something you’ve done?’
‘Kind of.’
‘Is it a good thing or a bad thing?’ Her smile reassured him. ‘Even if it is a bad thing, I forgive you.’
She laughed. 'What, before you even know what it is?’
‘I’ll forgive anything if you’ll just come home. And before you say it, I know there’s plenty you need to forgive me for too.’
‘That’s a lot of forgiveness. I hope we have enough to go round.’ Penny slid from her seat, laughing, and walked back to the house.
Matt watched her go, his heart bursting with hope and happiness.