Fly with Me (25 page)

Chapter 7

“What the
hell…?” Elissa stared at her.

Dee’s grin was
slow and decidedly mischievous. “Just saying what everyone else
is.”

“I’m
not
his girlfriend!”

Dee held her
hands up, palms out. “Settle down, sister, before you stroke
out.”

“I don’t get
it!” Elissa dropped the bags onto the counter.

Without a hint
of shame, Dee peeked into the bags. “I’m guessing these are for
tonight?”

“What?
Yes.”

“Glad to see
you got the cheese and onion flavoured chips. Love ‘em.”

“Forget the
damned cheese and onion.”

“Oohh,
someone’s a little testy. Did you want the salt and vinegar
instead?”

“Forget the
damned chips!”

“You also got
chicken flavoured and original. Just thought I’d point that
out.”

Elissa braced
her hands on the counter. “What’s going on?”

“Is something
going on?” Dee continued checking the contents of the bags. “Yum,
popcorn. Been ages since I had popcorn.”

Elissa smacked
Dee’s hand away from the bag. ‘Forget the damned popcorn.”

“Did you just
smack my hand?”

“What is going
on?”

“I’ve killed
people for less, you know.”

“I’ll kill you
if you don’t start answering questions.”

“My, really
testy.”

Elissa glared
at her.

Dee grinned
and leaned her elbow on the stack of magazines and comics. “Okay,
ask away.”

“
What
is going on?”

“You mean
about you being Simon’s new girlfriend?”

“I’m not his
girlfriend!”

“Huh. Then why
are you asking me?”

“
Dee!”

Dee shoved
back a thick hank of blonde hair that had fallen over her shoulder.
“All right, don’t get your knickers in a knot.” She looked around
before leaning forward confidingly.

Automatically,
Elissa leaned forward as well.

“Word on the
street,” Dee murmured.

“What
word?”

“Girlfriend.”

“Oh for-”

“Word on the
street is that you and Simon are shagging the sheets off the
bed.”

“
What?”
Horrified, Elissa stared at her.

“Yep.”
Straightening, Dee resumed checking through the magazines and
comics, separating them into different stacks.

“The word is
that we’re having
sex
?”

“Yep.”

Elissa gaped
at her. “Yes?”

Dee
nodded.

“She’s a lying
cow.” Del appeared beside her.

“You go back
to your shop,” Dee said instantly. “This is a private
conversation.”

“Sure. If it
wasn’t already going the rounds.”

“Going the
rounds?” Mortified, Elissa stared at her. “You mean-”

“Not as bad as
you think,” Del assured her. “The
word,
” she cast her cousin
a jaundiced eye, “is that you are Simon’s new girlfriend.”

“But the
sex-”

“Dee made that
up.”

Elissa swung
her incredulous stare to Dee. “You what?”

Dee shrugged
nonchalantly.

“Why?”

“Hey, I
thought it could do with some juiciness.”

“Oh, thank
God.” Elissa sagged against the counter.

Dee rolled her
eyes.

Del helped
herself to a lollypop from the container at the edge of the
counter.

A sudden
thought struck Elissa. “Hang on. Dee, you’re not spreading the sex
around, are you?”

“Ryder would
kill me if I spread sex around. He has this idea my womanly secrets
are his only.”

Del stopped
pulling the paper off the lollypop to gawk at her. “Your
womanly
secrets
?”

“We’re not all
crass like you,” Dee informed her primly.

“Cripes.
Seriously? Womanly secrets?”

“I don’t like
to call it a ‘twat’.”

“You call
everyone’s a ‘twat’.”

“That’s
everyone else’s. I don’t care about everyone else’s twat. Mine is
womanly secrets.”

“What do you
call his?’

“Ryder doesn’t
have a twat.”

“I mean his
manly secrets?”

“Manly
secrets?” Dee laughed in her face. “Why would I call them manly
secrets?”

“Because you
have womanly secrets.”

“His donger is
no secret in this town, let me give you the tip.” Dee paused. “But
he’s through with dipping it into every-”

“Oh, please.”
Del held up her hand.

“He knows I’ll
castrate him if he ever strays.”

“Like Ryder
would stray,” Del scoffed. “He might be a randy bastard but he’s as
loyal as they come.”

“I know that.
So why did you-”

“I didn’t. I
just didn’t want to hear the rest of that sentence.”

“Since
when?”

“Since
now.”

“Why?”

“Because I
want to know about Simon’s new girlfriend.”

Elissa, who
had been watching the byplay with her mouth hanging open -
seriously, did these cousins talk like this
all
the time? -
snapped to attention. “I am not his girlfriend!”

Word on the
street.” Dee tapped the side of her nose.

“Oh for - you
too?” When Dee raised one eyebrow curiously, Elissa added, “Will
tapped the side of his nose, too.”

“Because he
knows about you two shagging?’

“If you told
everyone that, I’ll rip out your blonde hair by the roots!”

“Sister, you
touch my hair and I will pound you into the ground. I don’t do
girly fights.”

Elissa glared
at her.

Dee rolled her
eyes. “Fine, fine. I didn’t tell anyone that you and Simon were
shagging. Okay?”

“You mean
that?”

“I don’t say
what I don’t mean.”

“Unless she’s
stirring shit,” Del added unhelpfully.

“Well, there
is that,” Dee acknowledged. “But not in this instance.”

“Thank God.”
Elissa sagged against the counter.

Dee and Del
exchanged a glance. The smirks on their faces were almost
identical. Feeling suddenly exhausted, Elissa waited
resignedly.

Sure enough,
it came. “But I am hurt that you didn’t tell us about you and Simon
first.”

“Dee, Del, I
swear to God, we are not together.”

“Why not?” Del
popped the lollypop into her mouth.

“Well,
because…” Elissa floundered. “Because…we just aren’t.”

“But he bought
you breakfast.”

“That’s not
the same as an engagement ring.”

“It is in
Gully’s Fall.” At Elissa’s horrified expression, Del grinned. “When
he buys you lunch, you’re married.”

“Tell me she’s
joking.” Elissa looked at Dee’s stoic expression. “Forget it. I’ll
ask Ash.”

“That girl’s
too sweet for her own good, she spoils a good ragging.” Dee stopped
sorting the magazines to again lean one elbow on them. “Look, you
were seen on the back of Simon’s motorbike, you were seen having
breakfast together, and most tellingly of all…”

When it became
apparent that Dee wasn’t going to go any further, Elissa demanded,
“What? What was most telling?”

“He held your
hand.”

“He held my
hand.”

“He held your
hand.”

“That’s it? He
held my hand?”

“You held his
hand, too.”

“I held his
hand?” Oh wait, yes, she had held his hand.

“Yep. You held
each other’s hand.” Dee looked at Del. “Right?”

“Abso-freaking-lutely.” Del nodded, the stick from the lollypop
sticking out of her mouth as she spoke around it. “You held his
hand, he held your hand, you both held hands. That qualifies as
holding each other’s hand.”

Dee wiped the
top magazine. “You’re spitting.”

“Sorry.”

These girls
were going to give Elissa a headache. “But it was just hand
holding.”

“You hold
other men’s hands?” Dee’s eyebrows rose.

“Well…” No.
No, she didn’t.

“So this is
new for you?”

“I held my
brother’s hand once.”

“When you were
what - five?”

“I started
young. Four.”

“Brothers
don’t count.”

Elissa pressed
her fingers to her brow. “It was only this morning.”

“Small town,”
Del said. “Big news.”

“That’s big
news?”

“It was to
you,” Dee pointed out.

“It was a
shock to me, not big news.”

“It was news
to you as well.”

“Well, yes,
but - oh, shut up!”

Dee’s eyebrows
shot up.

“I need to
think.”

“Oh, by all
means, use my counter to think on after insulting me.”

“This’ll be
good,” Del said.

Resting her
head in her hand, Elissa sighed.

The only
sounds in the newsagent were Dee flicking through the magazines and
comics while Del fiddled with the lollypop.

Cripes, the
gossip around town was that she and Simon were together. Oh boy. It
wasn’t true, was as far from the truth as Australia was from
England, as right was from left.

I mean, me
and Simon?
Well, yes, they had held hands, she had ridden on
his motorbike, he had bought her breakfast, but that was all.
Nothing else. Hand holding didn’t mean anything. Didn’t matter that
she’d never held another man’s hand like that, nope.

And it wasn’t
like Simon was interested in her like that anyway.

Wait, there
was that heat in his eyes. That was interest. That was carnal. That
was carnal, right? Sure as God made green apples her own heat had
been carnal. But he hadn’t taken it further, had looked at her
oddly after. Probably wondering what the hell he’d seen in her.

Maybe it was
because her crotch had been all scooched up to his fine arse. The
motion of the bike had rubbed her against him. Bound to make any
red-blooded man get a bit horny, right? It didn’t actually mean
anything. She’d known men who got horny just flicking through a
girlie magazine, the sight of those huge, fake breasts making them
pant, and the naked crotches making them wank themselves until - Oh
God, now she sounded like Dee.

Dropping her
forehead to the counter, she groaned.

“I think she’s
getting somewhere,” Del announced.

“You
think?’

“Yep.”

Oh God, she
was so confused. And mortified. To be truthful, holding his hand
had been nice, had made her feel all warm and protected and stuff.
Hell, a handsome man holding her hand was a dream. But Simon, he -
“Oh shit!” She shot upright.

“Okay, she’s
thought of something.” Del popped the lollypop from her mouth.

Dee watched
Elissa expectantly.

“He’ll
know!”

“Know
what?”

“The
gossip!”

“Not
necessarily.”

“No?” Elissa
felt a flicker of hope.

“The blokes
went out on one of their motorbike rides, left right after
breakfast, remember?”

“Oh, thank
God.” Relieved, Elissa sagged against the counter.

It occurred to
her that she was doing a lot more sagging in the last ten minutes
than she’d done in her whole life.

“They’ll be
gone until later this afternoon,” Del agreed. “That lot love
cruising the highway, flying free as Simon calls it.” She winked at
Dee.
“Simon.”

“Of course,”
Dee drummed her fingertips on the stack of comics, “they’ll come
back.
Then
he’ll hear the local gossip.”

“Yep.” Del
nodded.

This was a
nightmare. Elissa closed her eyes. “How do I stop this?”

“Oh honey, you
can’t stop it.” Del patted her arm.

“So what do I
do?”

“Let it run
its course.”

“Something
else will come up,” Dee assured her. “Someone else will do
something to take the heat off you.”

“This is true.
You’re actually neck-and-neck with Dee.” Del jerked her thumb at
her cousin. “Everyone is wondering how she’s going to make Ryder
pay for the damage done by the kittens.”

Immediately
Dee scowled. “That dumb arse. I’ve told him a million times to shut
the bloody door when those miscreants are here.”

“Why not leave
them back at Ryder’s house? I did mention that to you before.”

“Because Ryder
doesn’t like to leave Jezebel and the furry horde alone for the
night. You know what a sucker he is for them all.”

“So what are
you going to do?”

“Don’t worry,
I have a plan. I’ll get that money out of him if I have to wring
him dry.”

“Oh, he’ll
like that.”

“Not like
that, you dirty-minded-”

“Forget your
plan,” Elissa interrupted. “What am
I
going to do?”

Del and Dee
looked at her then at each other and grinned.

Elissa’s
shoulders slumped. “There’s nothing I can do, is there?”

“It’ll blow
over,” Dee assured her. “Just lie low, say nothing and it’ll go
away.”

“Unless you
get to the lunch stage,” Del added.

Dee gave a
snort of laughter.

“You’re not
helping,” Elissa said.

“Sure we are.”
Dee patted her hand kindly. “We’re listening to you, being all
sympathetic and shit.”

“That’s your
brand of sympathy?”

“You got a
problem with it?”

Del leaned in.
“We’ve got your back, Elissa.”

Okay, that
sounded hopeful. “So you’ll let people know Simon and I aren’t a
couple if they mention it to you?”

“Sure.”

“Good. Good.”
Taking a deep breath, she straightened her shoulders and grabbed
the handles of the plastic bags before releasing them again. “Wait.
I came in here for some magazines.”

“Got all the
new ones right here.” Dee tapped the stack of magazines. “What do
you want?”

As Dee fished
out the two magazines Elissa requested, Elissa spotted the local
newspaper and picked it up. “This too, please.”

“Going to
check out the house ads?” Del queried as Elissa paid for
everything.

“What?
Why?”