Burnt (18 page)

She called out to the girls and they turned their faces towards her – and the vehicle immediately pulled away from the curb. With her heart beating at a frantic pace, she gathered the girls to her tightly and sank down to their eye level.

‘Who was that?'

‘I don't know, Mummy. Some man said he was lost,' Sarah told her with a small shrug, oblivious to her mother's anxiety.

‘We didn't go close to the car, Mum – just like the policeman told us last week at stranger danger,' Natalie said proudly.

Thank god for schools and stranger danger, Rebecca thought with a sigh, but still, it'd been too close for comfort. Maybe it had just been someone looking for directions, but if that were the case, why take off when an adult came along? Alarm bells were definitely going off.

Rebecca herded the girls inside the house and made a quick call to the school. Since it was literally only a few houses up and across the road, she thought it sensible to warn the principal of a suspicious car in the area. She called the police station as well, just to be safe, and was told that they'd get a car to do a patrol around the area to see if they could locate a car matching the description. But she'd been too shocked to catch the numberplate, and without it there wasn't a lot the police could work with.

Later that night, once the kids were tucked up in bed, Rebecca's thoughts once again moved to the stranger in the car. What might have happened if she hadn't come outside when she did? First the heavy breather on the phone, and that weird feeling she still got occasionally that someone was watching her, and now this. A prickling sensation ran up her spine as a thought nagged at her insistently. Could today's encounter be linked to the calls or was it just some terrible coincidence? And when had her safe little town become so damn scary?

Rebecca watched the girls come inside, smiling and sweaty after playing a modified version of backyard cricket with Seb while she finished throwing dinner together. A quick glance outside told her he was packing away the bin they'd used as stumps before bringing inside the tennis racket they'd used as a cricket bat.

‘Wash your hands, girls, dinner will be on the table in five minutes,' she called after the pair as they headed for the lounge room.

Dinner was full of chatter, mainly from Sarah, but Rebecca had also noticed the change in Natalie in the last few weeks. The usually quiet child was now almost as talkative as her younger sister, and Rebecca suspected it had a lot to do with Seb providing a positive male presence in their lives. She worried that it could be doing more harm than good, if –
when
, she corrected firmly – Seb decided to leave, but seeing the change in her children's personalities, she couldn't condemn him. She'd just have to deal with whatever happened when the time came and hope like hell she wasn't doing something else to screw up her children's lives.

‘Seb, if we were stolen, would you come and save us?' Natalie asked with a blunt innocence that had both Seb and Rebecca trading startled glances.

‘What do you mean “if you were stolen”?' he asked calmly, scooping a large portion of lasagne onto his fork.

‘Well, if that man in the car today had been a baddie, would you have come and found us?'

‘The baddie in the car?' It was hard to miss the sudden change in his tone as his gaze sliced into hers across the table.

‘Yeah. A man pulled up in a car today outside and said he was lost. Mum said we can't talk to strangers in case they were baddies.'

‘Your mother is right. You didn't talk to the man did you?'

Both girls shook their heads and stared with big solemn eyes at their new idol.

‘Good girls. And you bet I'd come and find you,' he added, deliberately softening his tone. When he looked at Rebecca, though, his face was anything but relaxed, and she knew she was going to have to fill him in on the whole damn episode. She'd had more than enough drama this afternoon and really didn't feel like reliving it just so she could be given the third degree by a security specialist like Seb.

After dinner, she deliberately kept him busy with the kids in order to put the inevitable conversation off until later in the night, but time finally ran out – she couldn't keep the girls up any later in order to deflect Seb's questions.

‘What car and why the hell didn't you mention it to me earlier?' he asked without preamble as she came back into the room from tucking the girls in and double checking the windows were securely locked and curtains drawn tightly.

Running a hand through her hair, she sent him a tired sigh. ‘Seb, it's really not a big deal. Some guy pulled up out the front. I heard the girls and went out to see who they were talking to and he took off. I called the school and the police, and they came by and took a statement and did a drive around town, but they couldn't find anything.'

‘Why didn't you call me?'

‘Because it was under control. It may have been something completely innocent – he didn't threaten them or even try to grab them.'

‘Only because you came out when you did. Who knows what could have happened if you hadn't heard them,' he said, voicing her own thoughts of only a few hours earlier.

‘Well, I
did
hear them and it was okay. Can we talk about something else now? I've done nothing but think about it all afternoon.'

‘Did you tell the police about the heavy-breather phone calls while they were here?'

‘No. Why?'

‘You don't think this is a little suspicious?' he asked with barely concealed scepticism.

‘The two things aren't linked … that's –'
Creepy.
‘No.' She shook her head. ‘There's no way that's got anything to do with this. Besides, I haven't had any phone calls in ages.'

‘You should have mentioned it, Bec. I don't like the sound of this at all.'

‘The police would have been more concerned if it was something to worry about. So stop it. It's been dealt with. At least I know the kids were paying attention all these years I've been harping on about not talking to strangers.'

He didn't seem relieved; if anything, he looked even more concerned. ‘I'm staying here tonight.'

Their sleeping arrangements had been addressed up front after that very first night. They hadn't wanted the kids to find Seb in her bed in the morning and have to explain that Mummy had a new
friend
. Not to mention the possibility of them announcing it in the supermarket to someone, possibly a relation, that Mummy had a friend who sleeps in her bed!

‘Let me get this straight – you agreed it was a good idea not to stay here before, but now that I've told you about some stupid incident that was probably nothing, you've suddenly changed your mind?' It still stung a little to realise that they both knew she was the pushover in the relationship, and had it not been for Seb's willpower, she probably would have just said to hell with the gossip ages ago.

‘
You
agreed it was a good idea for me not to stay overnight – because of the girls,' he said with a frown.

‘Yes, but you didn't put up an argument. In fact, I'd almost swear you looked relieved.'

Seb ran a hand through his hair in frustration. ‘So you
wanted
me to argue? Christ, woman, I wish you'd make up your bloody mind.'

‘This isn't about me wanting you to argue, it's about the fact that you seemed reluctant to ever let this thing get too serious, and the minute I gave you an out, you took off running.'

Seb shook his head. ‘I was respecting your decision to keep the kids out of this.'

‘Then why do I get the feeling you've been trying to find an excuse to keep me at arm's length?'

‘I have no idea.'

Rebecca held his level gaze. She knew she wasn't imagining it, she felt it every time she happened to mention something in the future – a place she wanted to go, the next lot of school holidays – he got jittery, as though he didn't want to get into a conversation about something that far ahead when he wouldn't be here. He was determined to end this without even giving it a chance – without giving
her
a chance. Had they both changed too much to fit together as they once had? Yet there was just something that felt so right about this. When she was around Seb, the world just made sense – something it hadn't done in a very long time. Sadness washed over her and she lowered her gaze.

‘Why does everything always have to come back to this?'

‘Maybe because you never want to talk about
this
?' she suggested.

His features tightened and she knew from experience that once he was in this mood there was no way the conversation was going any further.

‘I can take care of my kids just fine – I actually managed to do so for a long time before you came back into my life.'

‘Maybe so, but I'm not going anywhere tonight. I'll sleep here on the lounge.'

‘You can't sleep on the lounge – your legs'll hang over the end.'

‘I've slept in worse places than this before – I'll be fine.'

‘Don't complain to me tomorrow when you have a sore neck and can't walk,' she muttered, turning away from him, frustrated that he was being so damn wonderful and protective over this, and yet still refusing to even have a discussion about any possible future for them.

‘I thought nurses were supposed to be sympathetic and caring,' he called after her.

‘Don't believe everything you hear.'

She returned a few minutes later to throw two pillows and a blanket at him, pointedly ignoring his smug grin as he easily caught the bundle and thanked her, then pulled his shirt over his head.

So what if he had a six-pack that a gym junkie would kill for and biceps that made her knees go weak? He was still being a pain in the backside. Unfortunately, she also knew she wouldn't be getting a single wink of sleep knowing he was there.

The sound of a low, angry voice coming from the side of the house alerted Rebecca to trouble. She immediately put down the trowel she was using to plant out seedlings, and got to her feet.

As she rounded the corner, she wasn't sure what she was expecting to find, but it certainly wasn't Seb pinning her ex-husband to the side of the house, Matthew's face planted hard against the rough timber boards.

‘Seb! What are you
doing
?'

‘Go inside and call the cops, I think I caught your stalker.'

‘Seb! Let him go,' Rebecca gasped, still too shocked to completely grasp what was happening.

‘What?'

‘Let him go, Seb! That's my ex-husband. The girls' father!'

For a minute she thought Seb was going to refuse: he stared at her with a tight, foreboding frown, before he gave a slight shove, pressing Matthew's face harder into the planks against the house, and took a reluctant step back.

Matthew turned and immediately began hurling abuse at the big man before him, sizing Seb up as he ranted, but never making a move to retaliate physically. There wasn't a great deal of difference in the men's height, even their weights were not dissimilar, but there was a toughness – a danger – to Seb's body language, and it didn't take a genius to realise it would be playing with fire to provoke him at the moment.

‘I'll sue you for this!'

Seb gave a bark of laughter that didn't touch his hard stare. ‘Go for it, mate – but you can't get nothing outta nothing.' He shrugged.

‘So you've resorted to dating beefed-up dole bludgers nowadays?'

‘Stop it,' Rebecca snapped. ‘Both of you.' The scene had disaster written all over it. Rebecca was frantically trying to work out what was happening – what parallel universe she'd somehow fallen into to be standing in front of both her ex-husband and her – well, Seb. ‘Would one of you please tell me what on earth happened?'

‘I pulled up out the front and saw this guy,' Seb hitched his head dismissively in Matthew's direction, ‘slinking around, looking into your window like a peeping Tom.'

‘I was not
slinking
,' Matthew said through tightly gritted teeth.

‘What was I supposed to think?' Seb demanded. ‘What were you doing looking in the windows? Why not just knock on the front door, like a normal person?'

Matthew seemed to puff up before her eyes, his blue gaze frosty. ‘I
did
knock on the front door and no one answered.'

‘Look, this has just been a big misunderstanding. Seb didn't know who you were.'

‘He could have broken my jaw,' Matthew snapped, his hand rising to touch his face gingerly.

‘Come on, Bec, if I'd wanted to break his jaw, I would have done it already.' Seb eyed the other man with contempt as he rocked back on his heels, his arms folded across his chest almost defensively.

‘
Bec?
' her ex-husband repeated, lifting an eyebrow mockingly. ‘Funny, I thought you detested being called that.'

‘Well, she didn't detest it when she was eighteen,' Seb drawled, his eyes hooded and heavy as they settled upon her face briefly.

She switched her gaze back to Matthew and saw a dawning realisation in his expression as he finally placed Seb in her past.

‘So, I guess I was lucky you ran away all those years ago,' Matthew said calmly, his jaw unclenching.

‘And I guess I'm lucky that you
let
her walk away now,' Seb shot back.

‘Oh, for goodness' sake! Both of you zip up your trousers and grow up. I'm not going to stand here and listen to this.' She turned to her ex-husband. ‘What on earth are you doing here?'

‘I didn't know it was a crime to come and visit my kids.' His frosty reply crept along Rebecca's skin like icicles. ‘Where are they, anyway?'

‘It would have been
polite
to call and tell me you were coming. They're up at Mum and Dad's.'