Ridge Creek (14 page)

Looking at her sad eyes it suddenly hits me.

What do I care?

Why would I care what the hell she does for a living or has
done in the past.  She’s my best friend.  The only person I have right now and
the only person I
can
trust.  She’s my lifeline and there is no way that
anything she has done in the past could possibly make me love her less.  I nod
to and give a small smile to let her know I’m letting it go. 

I watch as relief floods her face and she reaches out to
grab my hand.  I take her hand and squeeze.

“I’m sorry he did that to you,” she whispers softly.

“It’s not your fault, you don’t need to apologize for the
rat bastard.”  I return instantly, squeezing her hand again.

“I do,” she says softly again.  “I should have looked into
him and investigated your website better.  I didn’t do it because you were my
best friend and I’ve always tried to keep you separate from my
other
stuff.  I didn’t take your concerns seriously.  I thought it was a small, silly
problem.  I underestimated what was going on.  I was just mucking about and
enjoying the doughnut eating stakeouts.   It didn’t occur to me that you could
be sitting in the middle of something big.  I just thought he was a controlling
asshole.  A fish and chip entrepreneur doing something dodgy with your
website.  I also thought he was a run-of-the-mill cheating asshole too.  How
wrong was I?  I should have known better.  If I’d have checked him out earlier,
I’d have known who he was.  What he was doing.  We could have prepared you to
deal with him.  I could have got you out of there.  I could have done
something
. 
I won’t make the same mistake again.  No one comes within a kilometer of you
unless I have checked them out fully.  Which means I have my work cut out for
me because now you’ve managed to successfully surround yourself with so many
people that I don’t know where to start.”  I watch as a look of concern fleets
across her face. “Which is
another
issue.  I’m not convinced Jake and
Zane’s Harley Shop is as simple as it looks.  There’s something else going on
there and you need to be ready to either accept what I find out or be ready to
move on.  Have you thought about the future?   About moving on?”

I let go of her hand and sigh.

The million dollar question.  What to do?  Do I continue
living in the back of a biker's shop with strangers or do I need to move on and
start somewhere else.  Buy a house?  Get a job?  I just don’t know, it’s too
early to think about all that.  I’ve barely started registering that I’m
alive. 

But I
am
hearing what she is saying about Jake and
Zane.  I sense it too.  I get the distinct feeling the shop is not just a shop
and the constant activity is more than just the delivery of Harley
memorabilia.  But who am I to comment?  The person who built and managed a
website that sold women and guns?  Even doing it unknowingly, I am no longer
‘clean’.  I’m as dirty as anyone on the wrong side of the law.  Aren’t I?  Even
setting up my new life with fake identification and new bank accounts is
illegal.  I’m already breaking the law and I haven’t even started my new life. 

Should I be throwing stones from my glasshouse?

“I don’t know,” I decide to answer honestly.

“Fair enough,” she says softly as she puts her hand back on
the steering wheel and refocuses on the road.  “Let’s deal with the immediate
and talk future when we know what cards we have to play with, yeah?”

I have to agree with that.  Especially when I already feel a
sense of attachment to them and without even knowing them.  They saved me. 
They’ve been taking care of me, no questions asked.  They know my background
and haven’t hesitated to look after me and keep me safe.  Compared with what
Tony did for a living, could they be that bad?

“Yeah,” I agree as I file any concerns about what we may
find out about Jake and Zane into the back of my mind.   Swinging my attention
back to her fully I decide to ask, “What does a fifty grand ID package consist
of?”

I watch as a cheeky grin stretches across her face.

“Under your seat, grab out my laptop.  You should probably
start familiarizing yourself with the new you.”

Bending forward I reach under the car seat and search around
with my fingers.  Locating her laptop I slide it out and onto my lap. 

“Go to the file manager and look up the Arianna Davidson
file.  It’s full of files and references.  I’ve built you a complete life
baby.  Right through from birth to now.  Kindergarten records, school files,
previous employment records with fake companies I’ve opened and closed over the
years.  Previous addresses and even a dead family.   Orphaned at eight years
old, you’ve been living in Foster Care all your life.  Even with this rough
start you were a star at school by the way…”

Holy shit.

I start scrolling through the files on the screen.

“Jesus Emma, you’ve even built hospital records.  You’ve
repeated my appendectomy under my new name. 
Fucking hell
.  You even
created court order documents to certify my Foster Care?  And I have a tax file
number?  How the fuck did you do that?”

“Don’t ask…  Just understand, I have you
covered.
 
They won’t find you.  Arianna Davidson
exists.
”

“Jesus,” I mutter as I continue scrolling and read the new
story of my life.

*****

I watch as the perfectly presented woman behind the counter
continues tapping away at her computer screen.  My new birth certificate and
driver’s license fanned out in front of her.

“And how much will you be opening your account with Ms.
Davidson?” She asks politely as she continues tapping away and scribbling down
numbers on a writing pad next to her keyboard.

A good question.

I don’t have any money on me.  I don’t even have a purse. 
Blinking rapidly at her I find my next panic attack creeping up on me.

Please God, not another one.

The first one had happened when Emma pulled us into the car
park out the front of the bank.  I’d looked around and seen all the people
walking up and down the main street of Desmond and had a major freak out.  The
urge to jam myself under the dashboard and hide from the world had been
overwhelming.  What if one of them was looking for me? 

It had taken Emma ten minutes to coax me out of the car. 
Her gentle voice calming me with constant reassurances that I was safe.  She’d
also assured me that if by the longest shot, someone Tony knew was in town,
they would not recognize me.  I was almost unrecognizable to her, my best
friend.  As far as she could tell, anyone who didn’t know me personally didn’t
stand a chance.

“Ten thousand dollars,” Emma butts in from beside me
snapping me out of my funk.

I watch as the tellers eyes enlarge slightly before she
blanks her face again and continues her persistent tapping on the keyboard.

Swinging my eyes to Emma I see she is digging around in her
massive handbag.  With a smile, she pulls a big yellow envelope out and hands
it to me.  I open it, see a wad of bills and hand it to the teller with a
smile.  Taking a breath to fight off my freak out, I announce calmly, “Yes, ten
thousand dollars,” and hand the envelope to the teller.

She gives me another polite smile as she tips the contents
of the envelope onto the counter in front of her.  Carefully taking the rubber
bands off each small wad, she quickly counts each batch of notes and replaces
the rubber bands.  Stacking all the small wads into piles, she taps at her
keyboard again and completes the deposit.

“Right, well that’s all finished.”  She picks up my birth
certificate, the driver’s license and two plastic cards and then hands them to
me.  “The blue one is your everyday debit card and the black one is your new
credit card.  Thank you for banking with us Ms. Davidson.”

I take the items and breathe a sigh of relief.    Turning
towards Emma, I flick her a quick glance as we turn to leave.  She grins at me
with an ‘I told you so’ look.  I shake my head at her and head towards the
door.  I’m still astounded.  The whole process had been too easy.

Not that it wasn’t without us garnering a good deal of
unwanted attention.  This would be because Emma had insisted that she couldn’t
leave Jambo in the car to cook in the midday sun so the damned bird was on her
shoulder the whole time we were in the bank.  Thankfully he had been quiet. 
Appearing to sense the importance of our mission he had only muttered a few
words here and there that were barely decipherable by passer’s by.

Finally exiting the building and standing out in the bright
sunlight I run my hands over my face.  “Jesus.  I hate to admit it but I think
I need a drink.  Or some Valium.”

“A drink sounds perfect!” Emma replies chirpily.  “Let’s
find a pub and have lunch too.”

Nodding my agreement, she grabs my hand and cheerfully
starts dragging me down the sidewalk in search of food and alcohol.  Shaking my
head to clear the stress of my time in the bank, I sigh and shuffle along to
keep up with her.

Fall Back Guy

I spent the rest of my afternoon wandering around a strange
town in the middle of nowhere with my best friend and her parrot.  And it was
fun.  This was because Emma spent the afternoon helping me to realize that my
life was now uninhibited and I could do whatever I wanted to do, be whatever I
wanted to be. 

She had also helped me to realize there was no reason for me
to continue freaking out about someone recognizing me.  It was as near to
impossible as it could be.  Between the physical changes and the creation of my
new identity, I was, as far as we could both tell, safe.

After a quick lunch at the pub where we discussed the fact
that I should recommence freelance web development again, we went shopping for
all the relevant technology I needed to get up and running.  We also found a
small shopping mall with a strip of small boutiques that saw us buying so many
new outfits we could barely carry the bags back to the car.

We then made the hour-long drive back to Ridge Creek where
we grocery shopped before heading back to the Harley shop just after five in
the afternoon.

We are now unloading and unpacking our purchases.  I am in
the communal room trying to find somewhere to store our fresh produce while
Emma ferries bags of groceries to me from her car. 

Surprisingly, the communal room is as near to empty as I’ve
ever seen it.  Apart from a guy still sitting at the shop front desk, as far as
I can tell, everyone except for Luke is out in the garage.  I can hear the dull
thud of a stereo and the quiet murmurs of multiple conversations.   Now and
then I ear a motorbike start up, rev and then shut down again.

As the exception, Luke is sitting at the bar as I unpack one
of the many bags of groceries that Emma is ferrying to me from her car.

“You can’t put those in there,” Luke announces from his
stool at the bar.

“Where else do you expect me to put them then?” I reply,
peeved that he is suggesting I can’t put groceries in what I can make out is
the only fridge in the building.

“Dunno.  Just not there.  Jake and Zane will have a fit. 
Salad in the bar fridge.  No go zone.  Its sacrilege.  There’s another fridge
in the garage they put left over shit like pizza.  If I were you, I’d be using
that one.”

Straightening from my position bent over digging through my
grocery bags, I pin a glare on Luke’s bright blue eyes.  As I do this, my mind
briefly registers how good he looks today.  With faded blue jeans, motorbike
boots and a tight black Henley that fits his chest and broad shoulders just
right, the word ‘yum’ rolls through my mind a split second before I speak.

“I am not going into the garage every time I want something
to eat.”

I watch as his eyes sparkle and a small smirk lifts the edge
of his mouth.  He is clearly amused at getting a rise out of me.

Swinging my attention back to the groceries, I dig out all
the perishables, open the bar fridge, shuffle some cans and bottles to one side
and start loading the shelf.

“This won’t end well,” I hear Luke mumble from behind me but
I choose to ignore his words.

“What won’t end well?” I hear Emma announce as she enters
the room carrying a couple of computer boxes, Jambo happily perched on her
shoulder enjoying a ride.

“Girl food in the man fridge,” Luke mutters as he flicks his
chin towards the bar fridge.  “Do you need me to carry anything?”

“Nah, we’re on it,” Emma says, placing the boxes on the bar
as she leans over my shoulder to look at the newly reorganized bar fridge. 
“Where else are we supposed to put our food?”

See I’m not the only one who thinks that.

I shoot Luke another glare and watch as he lifts his
eyebrows at me.  He then shakes his head at us both and returns his attention
to a clipboard with invoices in front of him.  He has been double-checking an
itemized invoice and making notes on his IPhone while he is sitting at the bar.

“I think you’d better focus on setting up my laptop first
Emma, I think we need to order a new fridge as well.”

Emma nods and swings back to the boxes on the bar.  “I
figured you’d want your laptop straight up.  You wanna use mine till I get your
new beast up and running?”

“Nah, I’ll finish unpacking groceries and start on the flat
packs.  By the time I work them out, you’ll probably be finished setting up.”

I hear Luke’s pen thud down on his clipboard.  “Did I hear
you say flat packs?”

Looking back over to him, I see he has a hopeful look on his
face. 

Huh?
“Yeah, Emma and I bought ourselves a flat pack desk each.  They’re hanging out
the back of her Maz at the moment.  Are you offering up your manly skills to
assemble them for us?”