A Story of Now (43 page)

But now that she’s lying in her bed alone, she wants Mia with her now. And it
will
happen even if Claire has to go and get her. She doesn’t have to, though, because as she lies there in the darkness and enjoys being cold enough to be under the blankets and cosy, she hears the vibration of her phone. A message. She picks it up and smiles.
Are you awake?

Her smile grows as she taps her response.
Yes. I’m waiting for you to come here.

She tucks away her phone, rolls onto her side, and waits. And it’s only a minute or two before she hears the quiet squeak of the front screen door, followed by soft footfalls coming toward the room. She smiles into the half darkness. Then there is a tap on the door.

“Don’t knock!” Claire whispers loudly. “Just come in.”

Mia edges in the door. Claire can make out her bashful grin in the moonlight.

“What are you doing?” she asks, one arm clutching the doorpost. Blue pads inside and immediately flops down on the rug as if he already considers it his room.

“I told you. Waiting for you. Come here.”

Mia finally, it seems, needs no further invitation. She tiptoes over to the bed, climbs onto the mattress, and sits next to Claire cross-legged. She smiles down at her. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Claire feels strangely shy now she has Mia right where she wants her.

“They’re all watching another movie. So, did you have a good birthday?”

Claire nods. “Yes,” she says quietly, still surprised by this fact. “I really, really did.”

Then they just look at each other.

And because Mia doesn’t seem as if she is going to do anything but return her gaze, Claire shyly pulls her hand out from under the covers and slides it onto Mia’s knee. At that, Mia immediately reaches out and takes the hand in her own and holds it gently between both of hers.

“It was a great day, actually.”

“Good.” Mia strokes the back of her hand with her thumb. Then she looks down at the blankets between them. That small tense furrow makes an appearance between her eyebrows

“Did
you
have a good day?” Claire asks, slightly unnerved by her tense expression.

Mia nods, and a small smile escapes. Then, as she looks down to their hands entwined on her knee, her face turns straight back to uncertainty. She looks like someone who has been reminded of something she was finally able to forget for a minute.

Claire wants to ask her what it is that makes her look like that, but she also doesn’t want to in case it’s something that could snap this tender, tentative connection they have made in the last twenty-four hours. But finally she has to ask her something because she feels as though, if she lets her, Mia will sit there and stare at her lap and chew at her lip all night. She squeezes her hand. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I am.” Mia nods and gives her another more decisive smile as if she has committed to being okay right at this very moment.

Claire has no idea how to respond. But what she does know is that she wants to be nearer to her, that certainty might return if they return to where they were last night. “Lie down with me.” She pulls her hand free and lifts the blanket, inviting Mia in with her outstretched arm.

Mia leans back a little, and her eyes narrow slightly. “Are you sure?”

“What do you mean am I sure? Come
here
,” she commands, wondering why Mia seems to slip so confusingly between being tentative and being so sure of herself. It dizzies and mystifies her.

Mia obediently shuffles under the covers and lies down next to her. Claire pulls her in against her shoulder, curls her arm around her, and absorbs her into the warmth of the bed. She rests her cheek against the top of her head. Mia’s hair smells like grass and like water, like the lake.

“I don’t get it.” Claire inhales the scent and squeezes her closer. “I tell you to come here, and then you’re nervous I don’t want you here? What do you want, Mia, a formal written invitation? Because my handwriting is terrible.”

“I’m sorry.” Mia shakes her head and pushes her face into Claire’s neck. “I don’t know what it is. I’m not usually so…” She doesn’t finish the sentence.

Sighing, Claire pulls her arm out from under Mia and slides down the bed until she faces her. Mia chews her lip, looking more timid than Claire is used to. It makes her seem younger. It’s weird; Mia usually acts so grown up, so mature. But right now Claire feels as if she’s the older one.

“Well stop it. It’s just me, remember?” Claire whispers, echoing the sentiment that seemed to assuage Mia’s nerves last night. She brings her face close to Mia’s and brushes some of her hair from her face with her fingertips. Then she wraps a possessive, demanding leg over Mia’s and grins at her. “It’s just stupid me who, despite the fact she is kind of a brat,
you
seemed to like last night.”

Mia lets out a short breathless laugh, and Claire decides to take it as agreement.

“So stop being a weirdo.” She smiles at Mia to soften the name-calling, then leans in and presses her lips to Mia’s and tries to kiss away whatever doubts she’s carried into this room.

And Mia wraps an arm around her waist and kisses her.

Satisfied that Mia is finally present in some form, Claire rests her head against hers and lies there in the quiet and relishes being tucked inside their private little world. Over the gentle rhythms of their breath, the raucous soundtrack of another action film emanates faintly from the house. There are voices, too, somewhere further away. Probably some weekend arrivals. Their conversations slide easily over the still lake water.

Mia shifts a little under the blanket and curls her arm further around Claire’s waist, breathing softly into the half darkness. Claire shuts her eyes and wishes again she knew why Mia has all of a sudden been wrought so shy and weird and what this small but significant air of tension she has brought into the room is.

She still doesn’t even know why Mia abruptly turned around and suddenly seemed to want her last night, let alone does she know anything of what Mia’s thinking. Claire feels as though she declared herself in that clumsy speech on the porch last night. But Mia has not explained herself or her actions in any way yet. In fact, she just did what she seems to do—to act but say nothing about it. The only difference is that she has not run away this time. But Claire still can’t help but wonder if this silence, this apprehension, might be some form of retreat.

But it’s a retreat Claire is just as scared to try and pull Mia back from. Because she’s not sure how fragile this thing between them might be right now and what kind of danger she might put it in if she questions it. So she is willing to settle for the fact that right now, in this moment, she has Mia here in this bed, wrapped in this tender limbo with her. It’s a quiet, not quite comprehensible version of Mia, but it’s Mia.

Besides, the tantalising perfection of right now—of this whole day—is too good to want to spoil with those kinds of questions and whatever unexpected answers they might possibly yield.

Part of her wishes they were on their own here or that they at least had a little more time. Then maybe they’d have a minute to define or cement this thing between them before it’s time to return to the crude world of Melbourne and to everything that might get in the way of their doing that. And then there is that equally terrifying prospect: what if it’s not the same when they leave here? Unnerved by these thoughts, Claire reflexively holds on to Mia a little tighter. She does
not
want to leave this bubble yet.

But there’s no time left. They are leaving tomorrow because Claire’s parents are coming up the day after. She presses a kiss against Mia’s shoulder and sighs, knowing these silent minutes that are trickling by right now are probably the last moments of peace they’ll have together on this trip.

Mia turns her head. “I better go soon,” she whispers and presses her face against Claire’s cheek.

Claire nods but doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t want her to go at all, but Mia clearly doesn’t want Pete to wonder why she isn’t in the bunkhouse for another night. And Claire respects her need for privacy.

But unable to let her go just yet, Claire lifts her head and stares at her. “A bit longer?” She compounds the urgency of the request with a slow, tempting kiss. She knows she’s not great at talking or at knowing where to start to make Mia talk, but she’s fairly sure she knows how to keep Mia in this bed without saying a word. She slides her hand under the hem of Mia’s T-shirt and smoothes her palm slowly up her side as she kisses her.

And it seems to work because Mia’s only response is to pull her closer and to kiss her harder. Surfing the rapidly rising tide of her own desire, Claire rolls over and climbs on top of Mia. She lines her torso luxuriously along Mia’s, runs her hands up into her hair, and kisses her again.

Claire sits up and looks down at her. “Besides, it’s still my birthday, so you have to do as I say. It’s the rules.” She taps out a playful typewriter on Mia’s slender collarbones and grins at her.

Mia just laughs and wraps her arms around Claire’s waist. “Really?” She runs her hands under the back of Claire’s T-shirt. Claire shivers as Mia’s hands roam over her back. “And how is that different from any other day, Claire?” She grins slyly and pulls her down and kisses her.

“Oh shut up,” Claire tells her between kisses, but she’s not too convincing.

CHAPTER 53

“Ta-da!” Pete holds out his arms.

Claire, still sleepy eyed, looks around the living area and blinks. It’s spotless, the cleanest it’s looked since they first arrived and unleashed six people’s holiday on it. The tables are clear of glasses and mugs, the wooden floor swept, the rug shaken out, and the cushions piled neatly on the sofa.

“I did the kitchen too.”

Claire steps into the kitchen. The same again. Spotless. The surfaces are wiped clean, the dishes washed and piled up on the sink. The floor sparkles.

“What have you done?” She shakes her head.

He grabs her by the shoulders. “Happy belated birthday, Claire. Told you I’d think of something.”

She can’t stop staring. “This is amazing. I didn’t even hear you. When did you do this?”

“I woke up early, and I was bored, and I realised we’d have to clean up a lot. Thought I’d get a head start.” He hangs a damp tea towel over the back of a chair. “I’m sure there’s still stuff to do, but I wanted to help.”

“Pete, you’re possibly my favourite person in the world right now. Thank you.” Claire tells him.

The others wake one by one, each stopped in their tracks by the sight of the immaculate state of the cottage. Instead of spending the morning cleaning, as planned, they throw their bedding into the washing machine, make sandwiches with the last of the food, and take them down to the lake for a breakfast picnic and a swim.

“Pete, you are so my hero right now.” Nina pulls the crust off her sandwich and tosses it to Blue. “Thanks to you, we get one more swim.”

“I promised Claire a birthday present, and I’m a man of my word.” Pete looks at his watch. “I’d better get on the road soon, though. I have a family thing on tonight.”

“Oh, I don’t want to go home.” Eli sighs and lies back against the sun-baked rocks. “And I don’t want to go back to work tomorrow either.”

“Me either. I don’t want to go back to the real world.” Robbie pouts. “And just to make my return truly special, I have a 6am shift tomorrow morning.”

“Well, I have to work tonight,” Nina moans.

“Really?”

“Yep.”

Claire tosses the last of her sandwich to Blue. He sniffs it and then snaffles it in one mouthful. “Hey, Neen, maybe you should go back with Pete—if that’s okay with Pete, of course. So you’re not late? I need to stay another couple of hours and hang out the sheets and towels and stuff so it’s ready for Mum and Dad. I don’t know what time I’ll get back.”

“That’s no problem,” Pete tells Nina. “As long as you don’t mind my crappy old car. Benny’s kind of cranky, but he’ll get us back, I promise.”

Nina laughs. “Nah, I love a bomb. Especially a bomb called Benny.”

Mia sits down beside Claire. “Do you have much to do? I can stay and help if you want?”

Before Claire can speak, Robbie sits up. “Well, if Mia stays to help Claire, can we grab a ride with you, too, Pete? I have something on tonight.”

“Yeah, of course. The more the merrier, Benny says. I’m going for one more swim, and then we can get going.” He jumps off the rocks and into the water.

Claire stares down at her hands and wonders how it happened so quickly that she’s been granted this unexpected gift of more time alone with Mia. She wonders if Robbie is doing it as a favour or if he really does need to get back. Either way, she’s grateful.

CHAPTER 54

Hot and tired from all the work, they decide to spend one more sneaky hour by the lake before they pack up and head back to Melbourne.

She and Mia have spent the last couple of hours since the others left industriously cleaning. They tidied up the bedrooms, cleaned the bathroom, swept the porch, aired out the place—all the jobs Pete didn’t get to—with the radio turned up loud and the breeze rushing in the open windows and doors. They haven’t spoken much, except about what they’re doing. They haven’t even touched. But Claire isn’t worried. They have some time now. And she’s strangely enjoying just being alone with Mia, knowing they have the rest of the afternoon together. Maybe more, if Claire can swing it.

Mia sighs and looks out at the trees as they step onto the path, Blue at their heels. “I don’t want to leave. It’s so beautiful here.”

And that’s when Claire presents the idea that’s been circling her mind for the last hour. “Hey, do you have to do anything tonight? Back home?”

“Nope.” Mia shakes her head. “No plans. I don’t even work until the weekend.”

“Would you want to, I don’t know, maybe stay here another night?” Claire asks, clutching the towel around her neck. “Mum and Dad won’t get here until the afternoon, so as long as we left by then?” She feels suddenly clumsy. “Only if you wanted. I just thought…”