Love: Classified (19 page)

     “You’re not scared any more?”

     “I’m terrified. It’s like jumping out of a plane with a dodgy parachute. But I’m prepared to take the risk because I need to know how it feels. Just once before I die.”

     “You’ve got a long way to go before that happens.”

     “I’m more than halfway there, Ginny. It’s high time I grew up.”

     I smiled. He didn’t really look all that grown up in his Levi’s and cowboy boots. A perpetual teenage boy. Perhaps that’s what made Bree like him.

     “Where are you staying?” I asked.

     He shrugged. “Motels. Anywhere. I can’t impose on Peta. I’m here for Bree, she’s my only concern. As long as I have somewhere to lay my head at the end of the day, I don’t care where it is.”

     “You’re welcome to stay here,” I said. I knew only too well, from years of chats with Peta, that Peta’d prefer her ex to see their child on neutral ground, far away from Peta’s hard-won house. I also knew it’d be better for Bree to see her father in familiar surroundings, where she felt secure and loved. It seemed the perfect solution for all three of them. And Peta knew me too well to have any worries about me being attracted to Josh.

     “Are you sure?” he asked.

     I nodded. “I’ve known Bree since before she was born and I love her almost as much as Peta does. I’ve been very involved in her life and I care about her well-being. I think it will be good for you two to spend time here to get acquainted. I’m not sure if I’ll be here, though. If I go away, all I ask of you is that you look after Barney and the chooks and water the garden.”

     “You’re very generous, Ginny, thank you. Perhaps one day I’ll be able to repay your hospitality if you visit the States.”

     “I’d like that.”

     Later that night, when both my visitors were asleep, I rang Peta to assure her that Bree was safe and well.

     “Josh is staying here too,” I told her.

     “What do you think of him?”

     “He’s really nice. More thoughtful and considerate than he used to be. I think you’d like him.”

     “Sounds like you like him,” Peta said briskly and I heard the pain in her voice.

    “I do, but not in that way. I’ve only got eyes for my traveler.”

     “He didn’t turn out to be an axe murderer then?” Peta chuckled, happy again.

     “Far from it.”

Daisy texted me the next morning: “Stay put Virginia. I’ve just spoken to Magnus and he’s coming to see you.”

Chapter Eight

I almost dropped the phone. Magnus was coming! I felt as I could float. Suddenly I was desperate to fill my almost bare pantry with delectable things to eat so I could cook up a storm.

     By the end of the day my fridge was groaning with its cargo of
exquisite ingredients for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, desserts and snacks. My garden had been plundered of its herbs and tomatoes, the girls enticed to lay with promises of extra goodies and the whole street was perfumed by the pungent scents of the things I’d begun preparing.

     “
Shall we walk up to the deli to get more milk, bread and fruit?” I asked Josh the following day. “If Bree stays much longer, I’m going to have to seriously consider buying a dairy cow.”

     Josh laughed. “Yeah. I reckon she’s grown another few centimetres since being with you. Come on, the walk will do us good.”

     “She can hold a phone conversation, paint her nails, eat sushi and chat to four friends on Facebook all at the same time. She even manages to do it with aplomb,” I laughed.

     “I’m amused by the way she has to try on and discard half a dozen different outfits, just for meeting her friends at the shopping mall,” Josh said, shaking his head.

     “And the clothes are all scattered across the bedroom floor like a squashed rainbow,” I said.

     The simile must
’ve appealed to him because he laughed heartily, putting his arm around my shoulder in a friendly way as we neared Jake’s shop.

I waited and waited for three seemingly endless days – and had to throw out some of the food because there was too much, even with my guests.

    
He’s not coming
, I told myself.
Daisy got it wrong. Daisy hope’s it’s me her brother wants because she likes me, but he’s found someone else.

    
The days were hideous but I filled them with cooking for Bree and Josh, helping Josie with her housework, and with long talks to Peta, reporting every word uttered by Bree and Josh. But the nights were torture. Endless hours of sleeplessness and tears, of yearning and misery so painful I felt as if my throat was constricting and I could barely breathe. Each black night seemed interminable and, when dawn finally came and the heartachingly lovely sunrises streaked the sky with fuchsia and rose, I wished I hadn’t survived.

     Having tasted heaven on Earth, I didn’t want to live without the possibility of sampling it again. For the first time in my life I knew how it felt to wish I was dead. I’d never felt like it when my parents died, but now I did. Until now, when I’d read about people taking their own lives, I’d been surprised that they could want that. But now I understood exactly.

“What’s wrong, Ginny?” Josh asked on the morning of the fourth day. I hadn’t slept and my face was blotchy and swollen and my eyes were red from sobbing silently into my pillow. “You’ll let me know loud and clear if it’s getting you down, me being here, won’t you?” he added.

     “It’s not that, Josh. I enjoy your company.”

     “I bet it’s man trouble.”

    I looked at him in astonishment. “Why do you say that? Do I really look like the sort of woman to be having man trouble?”
     “You sure do,” he said, grinning. “You’re gorgeous, Ginny, even if you have been crying. And the thing that makes you so lovely is that you’re completely unaware of it. You have no idea of the magnetism you possess, Most men don’t want to feel skin and bones when they kiss a woman. They don’t want to be able to play a tune on a bony spine. They want warmth and femininity.”

     I digested this with a grateful smile. Then I asked, “But what should I do? I’m in love with a guy who doesn’t love me. He told his sister he’d be coming to see me and that was four days ago. It doesn’t take that long to drive a few hundred kilometres.”

     “Perhaps there’s been a simple misunderstanding. It could easily happen.”

     “I don’t know. Maybe,” I conceded, hopefully.

      “You’re a modern woman. Why don’t you go and find him?” Josh suggested. “If I were him, I’d be thrilled to find someone like you knocking on my door in the middle of the night. Men don’t always want to be the pursuers, Ginny.”

     “You’re kidding.”

     “No. I’m for real. You go and get yourself that man.”

     “Let me ask his sister first,” I said. But I knew Josh was right. I had to take action, to be responsible for my own happiness, not wait for someone to turn up, like a knight in shining armour, to rescue me from my sadness. For the first time in days, I felt a bit of optimism.

     “While we’re on this tack, Ginny, I’d like your advice.”

      I smiled, glad to have someone else’s problems to think about, though I’d already guessed what he was going to ask.

     “I’d really like to get to know Peta again,” Josh said. “She was always the only girl for me, although I was too young and too stupid to know it at the time. Do you think I’ve got a chance with her?”

     “I’d put money on it.”

According to Daisy’s directions, Magnus had parked Matilda on a rocky part of the coastline somewhere near Albany on the south coast of Western Australia. I packed my suitcase again, adding a new pair of jeans and a thick woolly jumper. I knew from my work-mates that Albany could be cold and wet, even at the end of summer.

     I walked to the deli to tell Jake and Josie of my plans and to say goodbye. Josie was off her crutches and looked better than she had for months.

     “Your Magnus is a miracle-worker,” she said. “He got the cancer stopped in its tracks. He could see there was more wrong with me than a sore leg and he asked one of his specialist friends to look in on me. Now I’m on the mend, well and truly.”

     I whooped with delight and gave her a bear hug.

     “Now, don’t you worry about the chooks, or Barney, or the garden,” I said. “Bree and her father will keep an eye on everything. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. Depending on the reception I get, it could be one day or a few weeks. The only certainty is, I’m due back at work in three weeks.”

     “You go and have the time of your life, darling,” Josie said. “If Magnus isn’t pleased to see you, I’ll…”

     “Don’t make any predictions. Daisy might owe me a Tuscan holiday,” I smiled.

     “Be off with you,” Jake laughed, shooing me out of the door. “Magnus is the man for you. I said exactly that to Josie that first night you brought him in here for Swiss chocolate. Didn’t I say so, Josie?”
     Josie nodded. “He did, Ginny. He bloody woke me up when I was fast asleep to discuss that man with me. ‘You mark my words,” he said. ‘There’ll be wedding bells before the year’s out, swiftly followed by the patter of little feet’.”

     “I haven’t got him yet, you two,” I said, blushing furiously.

     “Aaah, but you will,” Jake promised.

I was waved off in my Micra by Josh and a much happier Bree. Josh and I had both spent hours telling her how much her mother loved her and all three were planning a family reunion at a beachside restaurant. I’d secretly counseled Peta to wear something even more fantastic than usual.

     I headed south, unsure whether I could complete the journey in one day. On the way I listened to the radio and was amazed to hear that the date was March
the twenty-ninth. I’d been so miserable I hadn’t noticed how fast the season was coming to an end. The following day would be Magnus’ forty-fifth birthday. My holidays had slipped past almost imperceptibly, the time in York with Magnus a golden memory, the next weeks filled with learning Italian with his sister, then painting. In all that time, I’d hardly gone online or read anything. I was unaware of what was happening in the world, something I’d have to remedy soon if I didn’t want to appear inane when I got back to work.

     I drove with concentra
tion, wary of the hazards of the road, even after all these years after her parents’ deaths. They’d been so happy at my cousin’s wedding. I’d smiled to see them silently repeating the solemn words after the priest as if they were renewing their own vows. Then, less than twenty four hours later they’d been killed by a truck whose brakes had failed.

    
Mostly I thought about Magnus. Would I be able to find him from Daisy’s hazy directions? What should I give him for his birthday? I wished I could bake him a special cake. If only I’d thought of that before I set out! Would he be pleased to see me? Or would there be another woman in the Kombi? These questions buzzed round and round in my brain.

     I was relieved to be out of the metro area where the traffic was heavy. Soon I was driving through state forest and, with the serene scenery all round me, I began to relax and look forward to reaching Albany.

     At lunch time I reached a siding called Arthur River where a roadhouse selling petrol and food caught my attention. There was a collection of colourful beach umbrellas shading tables set out on a swathe of lawn at the river’s edge. Domestic ducks paddled in the water. Trees leaned over, trailing their leaves into the coolness. I decided to have a rest there, feeling hungry and in need of a break from the monotony of the long, straight, empty road.

     I filled the petrol tank and walked
into the roadhouse to pay and see if there was anything good to eat.

     “Hello dearie,” a cheerful woman called from behind the counter. She checked her computer screen and told me the amount I had to pay. “We’ve got home-made steak and kidney pudding on the menu for lunch today, if you’re interested,” she said.

     “Sounds great.” It had been one of my Dad’s favourite meals and I’d cooked it for an appreciative Magnus too.

     “Where are you heading?” the woman asked, having shouted the order into the kitchen behind her.

     “Albany.”

     “That’s a long drive. I hope he’s worth it.”

     “He?” I asked, amused.

     “The fella you’re meeting there. You have the look of a woman in love.”

     “I do?”

     The woman laughed. “I’ve worked behind this till for the best part of fifty years
, love, and I’ve seen them all. I chat to everyone and I get to hear all sorts of stories. You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve heard. As soon as I clapped eyes on you, I knew you were one of those falling in love rather than out of it.”

     At that moment a red-faced man in a chef’s hat popped his head around the corner. “Sorry for the delay, Beryl,” he told the woman. “Jackie’s gone and cut her hand and I’ve sent her to the doctor, so we’re short-handed in the kitchen and that bloody tourist bus’ll be here in half an hour. I don’t know how we’ll do it.”