Saturday morning had disappeared by the time Gaynor came into Piper’s room with a cup of tea and a toasted sandwich. She fluffed up the pillows so Piper could sit up against them. Piper had been truly lucky to land a place with her godmother; she felt very well taken care of.

‘You obviously needed a good sleep,’ Gaynor said, sitting down next to Piper’s uplifted knees. ‘Big week, darling?’

Piper nodded. As soon as she bit into her sandwich, she realised how ravenous she was. When she got back from Kara’s in the early hours of the morning, she’d been too shattered to eat. Kara had passed out right after she was sick, so Piper and Georgie had stayed to clean up the vomit and make sure she was okay.

When Kara had finally woken up, she didn’t seem to remember the vomiting incident, and neither girl mentioned it. However, Kara had been really apologetic, and before she called the driver to take them home, she’d invited both girls to a VIP night at a club called The Texan the weekend after next. Piper and Georgie would be Kara’s guests and everything would be free.

‘A very big week,’ Piper agreed through a mouthful of sandwich. ‘The shoot yesterday took forever.’

‘But was it fun?’ Gaynor asked.

Piper nodded. ‘It was sort of fun-slash-torture,’ she said, thinking of all those hours standing on the cold beach. ‘Remind me not to become a famous model,’ she joked. ‘Gyrating in the ocean when it’s zero degrees wouldn’t be my thing.’

‘Don’t become a famous model,’ Gaynor replied, without missing a beat. ‘Should you choose to gyrate, you can do it somewhere warm.’

Piper laughed.

‘And where did these come from? They’re lovely.’ Gaynor said, nodding at a chair in the corner.

Piper looked over to where she’d hung the clothes from Kara. ‘Kara Kingston gave them to me. They’re her own designs.’ She rested her head in her hand. ‘She gave them to me and another girl in exchange for telling people who designed them. To get her name out there as a designer.’

‘Wow, glamorous clothes, hanging out with modelling royalty, you are hobnobbing,’ Gaynor teased.

‘You may kiss my hand,’ Piper said, and laughed as Gaynor gave her outstretched hand a slap. ‘So, what did you get up to last night?’ she asked.

‘Doing battle,’ Gaynor said, with a sweep of her hand.

‘Uh-oh, another date?’ Piper ventured. ‘What happened, Gaynes?’

‘Well, his name was Andrew, and he seemed very nice,’ she began.

There was something oddly compelling about Gaynor’s bad-date stories. Already, Piper sensed a very big but coming.

‘We met at Spuntino’s. He had already ordered champagne.’

‘Oooh,’ Piper said. ‘That was a good start.’

‘An excellent beginning,’ Gaynor agreed. ‘Over starters, we talked about old music. The good stuff. Sinatra. Holiday. Franklin. The best of the best.’

‘Great,’ Piper knew how much Gaynor loved that stuff.

‘Over the main course,’ Gaynor continued, ‘we discussed movies. Out of ten, we had five favourites in common.’

‘Awesome,’ Piper said. She studied Gaynor’s face. It looked like Gaynor was back in that conversation, enjoying it.

‘Yes, darling, it was very nice,’ Gaynor nodded. ‘We were both having a lovely time. We shared a bottle of red wine and Andrew really loosened up. He told me a little about his grown-up children. He asked me about my career. He even admitted he’d seen me in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and had been enamoured with my performance.’

‘Enamoured? Cool!’

Gaynor shrugged. ‘Anyway, finally, we ordered dessert.’

‘And the conversation turned to …’ Piper prompted.

‘How much we love our country,’ Gaynor said. Piper could practically see a shadow pass over Gaynor’s face. ‘We both extolled the virtues of living in Australia.’ Gaynor paused. Piper knew the but was coming and tried to prepare herself.

‘Then he leant forward.’ Gaynor leant forward to demonstrate, her forehead almost touching Piper’s. ‘He told me how comfortable he felt with me. And that’s why he could confide how much he wished that all the Asians and Muslims and whoever else turned up would get out of our great land.’

Piper pulled her head back, disgusted. ‘Seriously?’

Gaynor threw her hands up in the air, like she’d just delivered the punchline to a joke. She was a great actress, yes, but Piper saw something she suspected Gaynor didn’t want her to see. A small twist to her mouth. Eyes that glistened just a little too much.

‘Oh, Gaynes, poor you. Spending the night with a racist weirdo,’ Piper consoled. ‘But you’ll get back on the horse. You always do.’

Gaynor shook her head. ‘No, my darling. I’m done with men.’ The delivery was matter-of-fact. It hurt Piper to hear her godmother talk like that. It was so unlike her. She always thought the best of people, always kept positive. ‘I am going on one more date today for lunch, because I’ve already committed to it and I won’t go back on my word. But there will be no more tales of woe, Piper. And after this, I won’t date anymore. Isaac was my one true love. I was lucky to have him. Now, I have his memory.’

Gaynor smiled, but she looked less vibrant than usual. ‘I hand the baton to you,’ she said. ‘Is Dylan your true love? Is he the one who makes your heart sing? You know, even at your age, you shouldn’t waste time on Mr Good Enough.’

A surge of annoyance passed through Piper’s body as Gaynor walked out of the room without even waiting for an answer. Gaynor was channelling Piper’s mum again. Dylan wasn’t Mr Good Enough. He was Mr Right. So what if she’d had a few fleeting thoughts about someone else? Thoughts were just thoughts, after all. Stupid things came into people’s minds all the time and meant nothing. Dreams, too, were nothing to do with real life. Piper had dreamt about being a mermaid, but she had never woken up with a tail.

It was actions that counted. Only actions.

And Piper was faithful to Dylan. Just like he was to her.

Piper snuggled up on the couch after Gaynor had left for her final disaster date. She felt she deserved a pyjama afternoon after such a full-on week. But she felt a trace of loneliness. It was lovely to have a day all to yourself when you had other options, but right now she didn’t. She could have gone shopping, or to a movie, but it would have been by herself.

In a way, hanging out with Kara and Georgie had been hard because it reminded her of what she was missing. She would go to The Texan in a fortnight but until then she probably wouldn’t even see either of them.

If she were in Mission Beach right now she would probably be with Ally and Sarah – or she’d be at Dylan’s house. They probably would have had a late breakfast of bacon and eggs and then gone back to bed. Piper’s face flushed as she thought of the things they’d done in Dylan’s creaky bed.

At first, their sex had been awkward. Piper knew from girl-friends that was to be expected, though, since he was her first lover and they were just getting to know each other’s bodies. And there was a feeling of closeness afterwards that Piper adored.

Anyway, they were definitely getting better at it. Piper was sure, too, that she was getting closer to climaxing. The last time, she’d felt like she was on the precipice of something amazing. Her breathing had become ragged and her body had found a rhythm with his. If Dylan could have held off just a little longer, she was sure she’d have got there. Piper smiled to herself, remembering his words.

Sorry, babe. You just … man … you just send me off …

She’d loved it when Dylan said that. It made her feel powerful. She’d been so close to coming that time and there would be plenty of opportunities to make it happen again.

Piper’s mind strayed back to her dream about Mason. The thing that happened in her sleep – it couldn’t have been a real orgasm. Could it? It had felt amazing, but she just didn’t realise her body could just, well, do that in her sleep.

Her body was clearly hanging out for sex. And Mason was in my head because of the time we spent in the boardroom that day, that’s all, Piper assured herself.

She wished Dylan were there right now. She wanted to nestle in to him, and to send him off. She knew, she just knew, things would be perfect when they finally did see each other again. He had to visit her. Soon. She switched the TV on for company, but put it on mute. Then she phoned Dylan.

‘Babe. Hang on, I’m on site. I’ll take you into the office.’

Piper could hear drilling in the background. If Dylan was working on a Saturday, that meant double time. Hopefully he’d have the money to visit sooner rather than later.

‘Okay, Piper, I’m in the office now,’ Dylan said, the background noise dying down. ‘How’re things down there?’

Piper looked out the window. The sky was grey. ‘Cold and overcast,’ she said, ‘and that’s just the weather.’

Dylan chuckled. ‘If I was there I’d warm you up.’

Piper smiled. ‘I wish you were here to do that,’ she said. ‘Have you booked a flight yet?’

‘Nah. Checked it out yesterday to come down next weekend, but it’s pretty pricey. Might try again tomorrow, see if it’s any cheaper. Otherwise, maybe I’ll look at two weeks down the track. You got anything on tonight?’ Dylan laughed, like he found his last sentence amusing. ‘I mean, anything planned.’

‘Not much,’ Piper admitted. ‘I’m just hanging out at Gaynor’s. What about you? Do you have anything on?’

‘Ah … just a bonfire down the beach with a few of the crew,’ Dylan answered.

Piper stiffened. A ‘few crew’ at a bonfire on Mission Beach often turned into a lot of crew. Plenty of backpackers passed through there. Some of them very attractive. Some of them gorgeous, in fact.

‘Piper, you there?’ Dylan asked. ‘You okay?’

She breathed in. What could she say? Of course Dylan had to go out to parties without her. She couldn’t expect him to put his life on hold, just because she wasn’t there. It wasn’t like she didn’t trust him.

‘Sorry, Dylan. It just feels weird. You going out with everyone, and me being here by myself.’

‘Aw, babe. If you want, I’ll send you some photos from the bonfire. So you feel part of things.’

‘Cool,’ Piper sighed. The rest of her weekend now felt like it was going to be long and boring rather than snuggly and relaxing.

She looked at the TV screen. It was a news report showing a throng of people marching through the city, protesting for gay marriage rights. A funny sign caught her eye: Attention Heterosexuals: We demand the right to be miserable too.

‘I did get invited to a party at some swank nightclub with a bunch of models on Saturday the week after next. Free drinks. But if you come down I’ll ditch that. Or I’m pretty sure I could get you a ticket.’

‘Models, eh?’ Dylan said. There was a pause.

On screen, two guys walked hand in hand.

‘Ah, seriously, don’t cancel,’ Dylan said. ‘It’s good you’re making new friends. If I can get a flight, I’m fine to come along. Want me to check? I can check now.’

Piper could hear him breathing as he balanced the phone on his shoulder while using the keyboard.

‘Hey, thanks,’ she heard him say. There was a bit more talking. It was definitely a girl’s voice. Piper couldn’t make out exactly what was being said, but she felt a pang. There must have been a new girl at Dylan’s work – all the staff she knew there were male. Piper whipped the thought right out of her head. She was determined not to ask Dylan about it.

‘You there?’ said Dylan, speaking into the phone again, ‘I actually think I can get a cheap flight that weekend. Hang on.’

Piper watched a couple on TV, marching with their arms around each other’s waists. The taller woman wore a mask with Ellen DeGeneres’s face, and the other, Portia de Rossi. The one with the Portia mask had long, wavy blonde hair like the real deal.

Piper wondered vaguely why they were wearing masks. She was completely fine with the idea of gay marriage, and couldn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t be. If these women were gay and proud, wouldn’t it be more effective to show their faces?

Then again, Ellen and Portia were sort of figureheads for gay marriage, and the camera was definitely zooming in on them, so maybe the masks were effective in a way?

‘Okay,’ Dylan said finally. ‘So there’s a pretty good deal here. What if I fly down on the Friday night and come back Sunday?’

‘That would make me very happy,’ she said. ‘You sure you don’t want me to cancel the club thing?’

‘Yeah, no worries. I’ll tag along with you. I’d be your plus one anytime, baby. I’ll email you the details. Gotta go.’

‘Thanks Dyl,’ Piper said. ‘Love you.’

‘Love you more.’

Piper hung up the phone, feeling elated. She felt better about just chilling out now. Like the promise of his visit made it fine to spend this weekend being lazy.

The TV news had moved on, but something made Piper press the rewind button. She went back to the first appearance of Ellen and Portia, trying to put her finger on what had struck her about them. The shot showed the full length of their bodies.

She pressed pause.

‘Ellen’ was wearing a pretty regular outfit. A cute top. Jeans. Piper’s eyes scanned downwards to a pair of emerald-green snakeskin boots, with a yellow trim around the top and a cowboy heel.

Kara Kingston’s boots.