Awakened by His Touch (8 page)

‘Don’t go imagining that there was a great “love lost” story there, Laney. He was a one-night stand in the village at a Youth Championships meet. There was no great romance.’

‘She was an athlete?’ Somehow that didn’t fit with the passive woman he’d described.

‘Gymnast. Until me. Then she just threw it all in.’

Having a kid would do that to a woman’s sporting career...
But there was real pain beneath all that judgement, so she holstered that opinion, too.

‘How old was she?’

‘Sixteen.’

‘
Wow
. The Garvey family all like to strike out young, then?’

The surprise in his voice was palpable. ‘She still lives in the house we were assigned when I was born. She bought it in a state buy-back scheme. How is that striking out?’

Oh... A state housing kid. Suddenly that enormous chip on his shoulder took a more defined shape. ‘On her own, with a tiny baby and no father... That’s just as courageous as you jetting off to Bali.’

More so, maybe.

The ute wheels rattled on the gravel track. Eventually she accepted that he wasn’t going to reply.

‘Elliott?’

‘I’m processing.’

Not happily, by the sound of it. She felt for his forearm where it rested on the gearstick and laid her hand there. But his sigh didn’t sound much relieved. If anything it sounded irritated. Tension saturated his tone.

‘Do you know how small I feel for giving an earful of
wahh
about my crappy childhood to a woman who was blind all of hers?’

‘My childhood was pretty much great,’ she said. ‘Yours wasn’t. It’s okay to comment on that.’

A half-breathed
mmm
was her only answer. And something about it gave her the courage to go beyond what was probably polite.

‘Do you love her?’

No answer. But his silence didn’t feel like a no. On the contrary.

So she amended. ‘Does she love you?’

‘As much as she can, given I ruined her life.’

Empathy washed through her in a torrent. ‘She told you that?’

‘She didn’t have to. No way she’d have struggled like we did if I hadn’t been part of the picture. She was a world champion. Destined for big things.’

The ghost glow high in her consciousness changed shape then, added depth and complexity. Resembled much more a wounded little boy than a confident man.

He cleared his throat. ‘Anyway, enough of my bleating. Do I just keep following this track?’

She knew enough about her brother and father to know when to let something lie. ‘Have you hit the crossroad yet?’

‘Nope.’

Every instinct wanted to reach out and curl her fingers around his. To lend him her strength. But something told her it wouldn’t be welcomed. ‘Stop driving like such a nanna. We don’t have all day.’

His grudging chuckle fuelled a little boost in speed and they started moving along more steadily. When he slowed the ute again a few minutes later she directed him left.

‘Where does this lead?’

‘Another lookout. Dad proposed to Mum up here.’

‘Really? Are you sure you want to show me somewhere so...personal?’

Why? Did he not want to encourage anything personal between them? ‘It’s not personal for me. I wasn’t even born yet. When Mum brings you here I’ll start worrying.’

‘I should be so lucky.’

‘Flirt.’ She smiled.

‘Cynic.’

‘Just pull over anywhere,’ she instructed. He did, and killed the engine. ‘Now, remember, don’t let me walk off the cliff or something. I don’t come here that often.’

‘Jeez, Laney. No pressure.’

It felt good to laugh again after the tension of the past few minutes. ‘I just don’t want you to forget that you’re my Wilbur this afternoon.’

‘What happened to wanting equality?’

‘I want to live, more.’

She got out as he did, but stayed close to the ute until he came around to her side and placed her hand gently on his bent arm. She took a few tentative steps forward.

‘There’s a few loose rocks...’

‘I’m really only concerned about the big drop that ends in a splash.’ Or a
splat,
probably, if the tide was out. ‘The rest is just normal to me.’

He led her forward a short way, then stopped. ‘This is about as far as I am comfortable taking you.’

Sweet how nervous he was about this. ‘What do you see?’

‘More view. More ocean. It’s still lovely.’

‘Turn around.’

He shuffled them both around so the water was to their back.

‘Now what do you see?’

‘Wow.
Everything
. It’s higher than I realised here. The forest to our left, all green and dense, Mitchell’s Cliff in the very far distance, and the highway. Both are Toytown-tiny. And I can even see your homestead and all the honey-harvesting plant in between. Your house looks like it’s practically overhanging the ocean from here. No wonder your view is so awesome.’

‘Dad says you can see the entirety of the Morgan land from here. That’s why he brought Mum here to propose—so she could see what she was getting into the bargain.’

‘Did he think she needed a sweetener?’

The truth wasn’t quite so romantic. ‘No. He wanted her to be clear that she was taking on the life as well as the man. He needed her to know that he wasn’t going to change after marriage and that this was where they’d live for ever.’

And their children, and their children’s children...

‘Did it work?’

‘She said that one moment brought it all into crashing focus for her. Morgan’s was his life. And so she had to make it hers too. It was all or nothing.’

‘But she said yes.’

The tiniest glow filled her, thinking about the love her parents shared. ‘Of course. They were perfect for each other.’

‘Happily ever after, then?’

‘Like all good stories.’

Elliott turned them both back to the ute. ‘So, you said something about a basket...?’

‘Told you you’d be starving. Even with the honey snack.’

‘Stop gloating and start producing.’

Together they unloaded the hastily packed hamper.

Laney turned her back to the stiff breeze coming off the ocean and curled her legs under her. Its every buffet on her back was enhancing her perception of the kind of day it was out on the ocean. Consequently her hair whipped around her face wildly at times.

‘You okay there?’

‘I figured you might as well get to enjoy the view since it’s wasted on me.’ Her view was probably of the ute.

‘It just got even better, then.’

‘Flatterer.’ Her laugh was half-snort. ‘Totally working, by the way.’

‘This is some spread.’ He chuckled opposite her. ‘Cheese, pickled onions, ham, and more of your mother’s bread.’

It occurred to her to tease him for describing for her what was in the picnic that she’d packed herself, but then she realised that the warm sensation under her ribs was because he’d bothered. ‘And honey on that bread for dessert.’

‘Good choice.’

‘Not too rural for you?’

‘I had everything but the honey in the gardens of a French church once and called it exotic. I’d be a hypocrite to call it anything else here, with ocean and sky all around us.’

They busied themselves loading ingredients onto thick wedges of bread. Laney had a few moments of self-consciousness, fumbling with the food in front of Elliott, but he didn’t comment and he didn’t rush in to help her out so she just finished her fumbling and got stuck in to the important job of filling her gnawing stomach.

‘So, is your dad still involved with basketball?’

‘No idea. I don’t know who he is.’

She paused with her sandwich halfway to her mouth. No father and no relationship with his mother. What a lonely childhood. ‘Oh...’

His voice shrugged. ‘You don’t miss what you never had.’

Wasn’t that exactly what she’d been trying to tell him about her vision? ‘You mean that?’

‘When I was little I used to make up complicated fantasies of this famous sportsman coming back for me. Taking me away to be part of his exciting, dynamic life. But the reality is he was just a guy who played basketball well and slept with my mother once. He doesn’t even know I exist. But I guess I needed the fantasy to hang on to, so he served his purpose.’

The lie resonated through his thick voice. He cared. He cared a lot.

‘Well, that’s making
my
dad look pretty golden, hey?’ she breathed.

‘Your father
is
golden. Astute, driven, family-orientated, committed. What’s not to love?’

‘I do love him, of course. But I didn’t always want to.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘All that commitment and drive? It can be hard when you’re a kid and he’s focussing it all on you.’

Fiercely.

All the public services he’d challenged and the concessions he’d pressured the district council into for the only blind person in town. All the letters he’d written. All the calls to his local representative. Making sure that his daughter was not denied one single opportunity in life.

Meaning she’d got a heck of a lot more than the average kid as a result.

‘He obviously feels he has a lot to make up to you for.’

‘And has done so—many times over. But no kid wants to be the centre of attention like that.’

‘Especially not you.’

‘Meaning?’

‘Meaning I’m starting to understand your reticence to own your achievements.’

‘I’m not reluctant, Elliott, I’m just a realist. If I thought for a moment that—’

‘Don’t move, Laney!’

The urgency in his voice completely stole her attention. Was the cliff-face crumbling? Had a snake appeared from the grass?

‘What?’

‘Bee.’

The seriousness with which he announced the single word was almost comic. ‘Where?’

‘On your fringe.’

‘Don’t kill it.’

He puffed his offence out. ‘I’m not going to
kill
it. And—PS—you’re hardly in a position to lecture
me
about bee-o-cide.’

She sat, carefully motionless. ‘This is a fully grown, fully functioning bee. Where is it now?’

‘Just clinging there.’

‘It’s probably exhausted from fighting the gusts. I’ll let it recover out of the wind and then point it towards home.’

She leaned forward slightly and felt her way along the remnants of their meal for the honey. It took two seconds to get a fingertip full of instant bee fuel. ‘Left or right?’

‘On your left, about five centimetres above your eye.’ He
whoah
ed her as she slowly slid her finger up past her ear. ‘Right there.’

And then she just...sat there... Feeling absolutely nothing and hearing absolutely nothing except the wind buffeting against her body, but hoping the bee would make its way to the unexpected energy source. Hoping she hadn’t disturbed it into flying off, leaving her sitting here looking like a complete idiot.

Though surely he’d tell her.

Surely.

Opening herself up to ridicule was not something that came naturally to her.

‘It’s feeding.’ Amazement saturated Elliott’s voice.

She made sure not to move during her little laugh. ‘You are
such
a city kid.’

‘I’ll be sure to return the sentiment when you’re in the city and you’re experiencing something for the first time.’

Thank goodness for the bee or she’d have jerked her head in his direction—sight or no sight. ‘Is that an invitation?’

Silence...

Awkward
silence.

‘It was an assumption. That you’ll be up there one day on business.’

Survival instinct forced her to keep it light. ‘Are you tired of country runs already? Wanting us to come to you?’

‘Not at all. I enjoy the thinking time on the way down and back. But I guess I can’t imagine you
never
visiting the city.’ He cleared his throat. ‘And I assumed I’d see you if you did. You know—for lunch or something.’

‘Maybe you would. I don’t really know anyone else up there.’ Why would she? ‘So I’d probably have no reason to go.’

‘You truly aren’t curious at all?’

‘Not really. What does the city have that I can’t get here? Things that I could enjoy,’ she added before he could start peppering her with a long list of things she couldn’t see.

‘I don’t know...elephants?’

The unexpectedness of that stirred a chuckle out of her. ‘There are elephants roaming wild in the city?’

‘There’s a zoo across the river from Ashmore Coolidge’s offices full of animals you’d never get down here. And concerts... You could go to a concert.’

‘We have one of the state’s biggest vineyard concert venues in the next district. They have multiple events every season.’

‘You could go to the races...’

‘Where do you think all those horses qualify for their city races?’

‘Okay, what about the university? You could visit the facial recognition team. I’m sure they’d love to show you their progress in person.’

‘Ooh...’ That could be quite interesting.
Wait...
When had this stopped being hypothetical and started being something she was actually thinking about? ‘Or I could just email them.’

‘Just admit it, Laney. You won’t know what’s interesting until you find yourself being interested by it. Who knows? You might share my passion for parasailing or something equally random.’

She shifted her other hand to support the elbow holding up the finger that was feeding the bee. She wished it would eat faster so she could feel a tiny bit less dopey.

‘You parasail?’

‘Yeah. I co-own a speedboat with a mate of mine and we go out whenever we can, take turns going up. Why?’ His voice grew keen. ‘Is that something that interests you?’

If it involved flying, it sure did. ‘Maybe.’

‘Have you ever done any water sports?’

‘Owen taught me to surf a little bit.’

‘Were you any good?’

‘Not really, but I liked the sensation of just...floating on the swell. Being supported by the waves. I’ve always wondered if flying would be the same.’

Speaking of flight... In the silence between her words and his answer, she heard the bee give a test buzz of its wings.