The Year of Chasing Dreams (10 page)

“He can’t help it; his nature is enthusiasm. We all could see he was fallin’, but you kept backing away.”

“I was a little overwhelmed.”

“And Ciana watched over you pretty fierce.” Eden didn’t want to go into why Ciana had been protective of her. “But Arie—she seemed to understand Garret right off. We used to talk, me and her. Sad about her dying.”

The mention of Arie made Eden nostalgic. “Arie never met a stranger. That was
her
nature.” She went back to work cutting up salad vegetables.

From the balcony, they heard a shout and cheers. Lorna glanced toward the noise. “Guess their team scored. Not like rugby, where the guys pounce on each other. Mean sport.”

So is finding your way through a relationship
, Eden thought. “I get the feeling that Alyssa isn’t on best of terms with Garret’s family, though—especially his mother.”

“That’s true. Alyssa is so hoity-toity. Not to Maggie’s liking at all.” If Lorna knew any other details, she didn’t offer them. “Ignore Alyssa if she comes around.”

Eden washed a couple of tomatoes, turned off the tap with her elbow. “That beach party’s coming up. Not sure how I feel about going, knowing she’ll be there. Plus there’s the bathing suit thing.”

“Rubbish! You’re being silly. She’s tall and thin like a bird. Has to be because of modeling. She used to starve herself, maybe eat a lettuce leaf for lunch. But you …” Lorna smiled at Eden. “You have a great body. Just look at yourself.”

“Oh, Lorna—”

“You’ve got curves and boobs. Alyssa’s flat as my hand. I’ve seen her in the locker room. That girl has no titties. Tom says guys like their girls with some meat.” Her eyes twinkled. “Something to hold on to in the dark.”

Eden laughed. “Back home, we say, ‘a man don’t want to have to shake the sheets to find you.’ ” She picked up her glass, swirled the ruby liquid.

Lorna whooped. “That’s why Tom and I get on so well.” She patted her backside. “He can’t miss me in the dark or in a crowd.”

Eden laughed so hard wine splashed over the top of her glass.

“What’s so funny?” Tom asked, coming in the kitchen.

Behind him Garret stood holding a platter of grilled meat and shrimp. “Must be quite a funny salad. Didn’t know carrots and lettuce could say funny things.”

But the girls couldn’t stop laughing.

“I think it’s going to be a while before we eat,” Tom said over his shoulder.

Garret set the platter on the counter, took Eden by the waist, and pulled her close. “I think the cooks have spent too much time tasting the grapes and not enough time working.” He grinned, took the wineglass from her hand, and drained it. “Problem solved.”

He started humming and dancing Eden around the kitchen, twirled her into the adjoining living room while she giggled. He lost his balance when he dipped her, and they fell in a heap onto the sofa, laughing uncontrollably.

“I think my best mate’s gone bonkers,” Tom called out, wrapping his arms around Lorna.

“No,” Lorna said, pressing against him. “Fool’s just in love.”

Eden especially loved the day they spent at the zoo. Garret walked her through a gate into a large, grassy enclosure of
free-roaming kangaroos and wallabies. “They’re so cute!” she cried. Garret winked and cautioned, “Watch out for roo doo.” She gave him a smirk, then bent and petted a roo that had hopped over to investigate them. A little joey poked his head from his mother’s pouch, and Eden was totally charmed. “Ciana should see these. Much cuter than horses!”

That day she saw all kinds of animals native to Australia and the island of Tasmania, but she loved the koalas best of all. The fuzzy gray animals clung to eucalyptus trees, fast asleep. “How do they hang on?”

“Desperation,” Garret joked. “Wouldn’t want a dingo dog to grab ’em.” He took Eden’s hand, kissed her palm, and wrapped her fingers around the spot. “They sleep up to twenty hours a day. Not a bad life. Sleep. Eat. Have sex.” He pointed to a baby koala.

“Is that your idea of a full life?”

“Well … how about sex, eat, and sleep?”

She punched his arm, but it wasn’t a secret that when he left her at her bedroom door every night, he wanted to come in with her. She wasn’t ready to go there yet, and especially not in his parents’ house.

She kept notes on her electronic tablet about her adventures and every so often emailed stories to Ciana, who in turn filled her in on day-to-day life at Bellmeade. One evening, sitting on the steps in the shallow end of the pool with Garret, Eden said, “Jon, the man Ciana likes but won’t let herself love, is moving back onto her property.”

“It bother you?”

“No. It’s a good thing. Someday that girl’s going to realize she’s in love with him. Don’t know why she fights it.”

Garret swirled the water with his broad hands, making
circles flow around Eden. “Girls can be blind that way. Can’t see what’s right under their noses sometimes.”

Her heart did a stutter step. “Meaning?”

He caught her gaze, winked, then pushed off and started swimming laps.

“You’re looking solemn this morning.” Garret came into the kitchen and walked to the refrigerator.

Eden sat hunched over her electronic tablet. “Reading email from home. Ciana’s having trouble at Bellmeade.”

He fished a glass from a shelf and pulled out a chair across from her. “What kind of trouble?”

Eden filled him in on Ciana’s dilemma with her farm, along with stories of the escalating vandalism. She gazed thoughtfully out the side window. “I feel like I should be there for her.”

“Is she alone?”

“Her mother’s there. And Jon Mercer—a force to be reckoned with.”

“Well, if she’s got help, it doesn’t sound like there’s anything you can do.”

“Ciana plays at being strong and self-reliant, but I know she’s scared. I’m her best friend. She may need me. To talk to and all.”

“So what are you thinking?”

“Maybe I should, you know, head back.”

She and Garret had tiptoed around the length of Eden’s visit for days. She’d already been his guest for six weeks. He had told her he didn’t want her to leave, and she didn’t want to go.

“Don’t like the idea of you going back to trouble.” He poured himself a glass of juice, drank it down in big gulps. “And your visa is good for more than another month.” He leaned over, took the tablet, and put it on the table. “Look, I feel the pressure too. I need to make some plans for myself. I’m hale and hearty now, and my parents don’t need me hanging about. But it’s summer and our beach party is coming up; picnic, surfin’, and lots of sun time. All my old mates are asking to meet you. Not that I want to share, but we’ll have fun, Eden. After that we’ll both get serious about our futures. Stay until your visa expires. Will you do that for me?”

Looking into his eyes, knowing in her heart she wanted to be with him, she said, “If you insist.”

“I insist,” he said with a grin.

Eden welcomed a few more weeks with him with nothing to do but hang out. What could be so hard about that? “About that surfing thing—”

“We’ll grab that ferry to Manly today,” Garret interrupted. “We’ll take the boogie boards and start your surfin’ lessons, teach you how to skim along the surf on the shoreline. Not scary at all. Come on, now. You’ll be a surf goddess in no time.”

She doubted that, but went with him to a small shed at the back of the yard. Inside, through the dim light, she saw garden equipment and two large surfboards leaning against a back wall. She went to the boards while he rummaged through a stack of beach gear and mumbled, “I know the boogie boards are here somewhere.”

“You stand up on one of these things? In rushing water?” she teased, making it sound like an absurd choice.

Garret straightened, came alongside of her. “On my best days, yes.”

One surfboard was painted black with red stripes, the other, much more elaborate in design, sported a hand-painted stylized fish that covered its surface. “This one’s pretty.” She brushed her hand down the smooth fiberglass.

He nodded toward the plainer one. “This one’s mine.”

“And this one?”

His mood changed and his expression went flat. “Never used anymore.”

Eden waited for an explanation that didn’t come. Not like Garret to hold back a story, she thought, but it warned her away from more questions.

He turned to resume his search and seconds later came up with the boogie boards. “Got them! Let’s go.” His familiar smile and cheerful demeanor had returned.

She left with him, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that the beautiful board against the wall had a story he wasn’t sharing. She thought again of Tony. Everyone had secrets. And she would respect Garret’s.

Late one Saturday night they met Tom and Lorna downtown and hopped the club circuit. Eden was in her element. The techno beats were different from the sounds of Nashville and Italy, but she quickly adapted and embraced the music, the crowd, and the noise. The four of them drank down pitchers of beer, shouted conversations over the beat of the music, and danced until most of the night was gone. Eden was humming and standing in line in the restroom when she caught sight of Alyssa, staring at her in the bathroom mirror. In spite of all the beer she’d drunk, Eden suddenly felt sober. She straightened, kept her back against the wall.