Bella waited till her eyes were quite dry before she came back into the house, where she found Liz at the kitchen sink up to her elbows in suds and hot water.
‘I thought you’d be in the lounge room,’ she said. ‘But I just checked in there and it’s empty. Where’s Anton?’
‘The poor man was dead on his feet. Jetlag. He tried to help in the kitchen, but I could see he was having trouble keeping his eyes open. He’d hit the wall. You know how it is.’
‘You mean he’s already in bed?’
Liz nodded. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s not asleep or soon will be. It’s understandable, Bella. The poor man’s flown straight from Paris to Sydney to Townsville and then jumped onto that bloody bus. He’s only had catnaps for the past two days. It’s a wonder he didn’t fall into the apricot crumble.’
‘I guess.’ A cool breeze of relief washed over Bella. ‘I’ll try not wake him when I go in.’
‘I made up the spare bed in the sewing room,’ Liz went on matter-of-factly. ‘Anton will be more comfortable in there. It’s air-conditioned.’
The spare bed? Bella stared at her aunt, too surprised, momentarily, to speak.
Liz concentrated on the pot she was scrubbing. ‘The poor fellow will have a good night’s sleep in the AC. He needs it. I’m sure he’s finding this heat far more oppressive than he’ll admit.’
‘That’s – that’s probably true. It’s very thoughtful of you, Liz.’ As Bella reached for a tea towel, she was weak-kneed with relief and inordinately grateful to her sensitive aunt who’d probably guessed how anxious she’d been about sharing her bed with Anton.
She couldn’t relax though, not with Gabe’s caustic attack still ringing in her ears. Even though she’d expected his anger, his fierce accusations had cut her deeply. Was she really such a mess?
He was looking at her from the outside, of course. He had no idea how she really felt about him, no idea of the role he’d played in just about every decision she’d ever made.
‘You look done in,’ Liz said. ‘Just remember you spent the day burning fire breaks.’
‘Yeah, I am pretty tired.’ Her body wanted to crash, but her mind was in turmoil. She’d been through an emotional wringer this evening.
‘Go to bed.’ Liz took the tea towel from her. ‘I’ll finish drying these. You’ll have to play tour guide in the morning. Anton’s keen to see over the property.’
‘Okay, thanks.’ Bella kissed her aunt’s cheek. ‘You’re the best. You know that, don’t you?’
Liz laughed.
‘And thanks for dinner.’
‘My pleasure. It was a memorable evening.’
A little too memorable. Bella hoped she’d be able to sleep.
You’ve never been sure what you want.
Gabe’s hurtful insult rolled around and around in Bella’s head as she lay, staring into the darkness where the ceiling-fan slowly circled.
Surely he wasn’t still harking back to the stupid night at the ball? He must have known she’d moved on since then.
Of course she’d always been sure. Even when she’d dated other guys it had mainly been a ploy to keep her parents from getting too anxious about her extremely close friendship with the boy next door. It wasn’t that her parents hadn’t liked Gabe – on the contrary, they liked him very much – but they were concerned because he was so . . . available . . .
Bella had scoffed at this. But her mother had always been a champion of the water-dripping-on-stone technique, and her repeated concerns must have sunk in to some extent. There had been an ambivalent moment, Bella remembered now with some discomfort – and no doubt Gabe remembered it, too – a moment during their happy time in Townsville, when questions had percolated to the surface.
They’d been in bed, which wasn’t surprising, and Bella had asked Gabe how his parents met.
‘My parents?’
She was lying on her side, Gabe was on his back, staring up at the ceiling with his hands stacked beneath his head. She was admiring his muscular arms and his strong, attractive profile, when she noticed his frown.
‘Do we have to talk about my parents?’ he asked.
‘I was just curious. Do you know how they met?’
‘At a dance, I think. Story I heard was Dad went with one girl and came home with another. My mother.’
‘She must have swept him off his feet.’
‘Maybe.’
‘Mine met on a muster. Mum’s brother, my Uncle Jim, came over to Mullinjim to help Dad out. Mum was home on holidays, so she came, too.’
This time Gabe smiled.
‘What’s so funny?’
‘I’m picturing Peter and Virginia exchanging heated and meaningful glances over the backs of a mob of cattle.’
‘We’ve done that.’
‘We have indeed.’ He was smiling as he rolled over to kiss her.
‘But we hadn’t just met,’ Bella said.
Gabe frowned again. ‘Where’s this going, Bella?’
‘I’ve just been thinking about how other couples meet – normal people.’
‘Aren’t we normal people?’
She ignored this. ‘They meet walking their dogs in the park or accidentally spilling a drink on each other at a party or on a blind date.’
‘You’ve been watching too many movies.’
This was probably true. ‘But are people going to tell us we’re . . . foolish?’
By now, Gabe was up on one elbow, staring at her, looking worried. ‘Are you having second thoughts?’
‘No. Not really.’
His grey eyes darkened. ‘You want to back out of this already?’
‘No.’ The thought horrified Bella. ‘No, Gabe, not at all.’
To prove it she’d kissed him, rolling on top of him and smiling down into his gorgeous eyes. She had no doubts whatsoever.
And yet, annoyingly in a dark and musty corner of her mind, a silent question had lurked.
Was her mother right? Was it risky, just too easy, to fall for the boy next door?
It wasn’t as if she and Gabe had lived in the city where there were thousands of potential partners to choose from. Their isolation and proximity must have been major factors in the attraction stakes.
Gabe had always been there.
Much later, after she’d left for overseas, she’d been aware of the strange bubble she’d lived in, almost believing that Mullinjim, North Queensland, boarding school and university had been enough . . .
‘But it is enough.’
Bella hadn’t meant to say this out loud and she was shocked when her voice broke the silence of the hot, still night.
But it was true. Now that she’d been to the other side of the world, she knew for sure that the life here was enough. She’d loved every minute of her travels and she’d had a shed-load of new experiences, but now that she was back she knew, unequivocally, she could happily stay in North Queensland forever . . .
If Gabe was with her.
Get yourself sorted.
She winced, remembering the scorn in his voice. How could she convince him that she’d made her choice – that she’d actually made it years ago?
With a groan she rolled over, staring at the wall.
Shouldn’t I be thinking about Anton?
Poor Anton. He was such a nice guy, a really nice guy, and he’d spent a whole stack of money travelling all this way to see her and she liked him. She did.
But today when Gabe kissed her so comprehensively he hadn’t just dazzled her senses, he’d reclaimed her emotions. She’d willingly delivered her heart back into his hands.
So it probably wasn’t surprising that she’d lost her enthusiasm for kissing Anton. She didn’t think she could dredge up interest in kissing any other man ever again.
Pretty crazy given that Gabe was furious with her and that he’d more or less told her to get the hell out of his life. Again.
Tomorrow she would try extra hard to be super nice to Anton.