Her Best Friend (4 page)

It didn’t feel quite real.

“Here you are! One minute you were standing there, surrounded by everyone, the next you were gone,” her mother said from behind her.

Amy turned to face her. “I needed some fresh air. It all got a bit crazy in there once the contract was finalized.”

The doors opened behind them and her father and Quinn joined them, both smiling broadly.

“I was just telling Quinn that I haven’t enjoyed anything so much since Mohammed Ali took on George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle. The way he took those councillors apart…” Her father clapped a hand onto Quinn’s shoulder and gave him an approving shake.

“It was a pleasure, believe me,” Quinn said.

Amy looked at him, standing there with his dark hair gleaming in the light from the street lamp. He’d been her knight in shining armor tonight, riding up out of nowhere and vanquishing her enemies. Her heart swelled with old, foolish emotions.

“Quinn, I don’t know what to say. You gave up your holiday—Lisa is probably cursing my name—and you won me the Grand.”

Even though she knew it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do given her unrequited crush, Amy stepped forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Thank you! From the bottom of my heart.”

She started to pull away but Quinn’s arms came around her and the next thing she knew she was clamped against his chest and he was spinning her around.

“You made it, Ames,” he said. “Woohoo!”

His wool coat was as soft as silk beneath her hands, his body beneath it big and strong. She closed her eyes and inhaled the smell of expensive fabric and subtle, woody aftershave.

“And it only took ten years and every cent she’s ever earned,” her father said drily.

Quinn set her on her feet and she tried to look as though her heart wasn’t pounding out of control because he’d held her in his arms for a few short seconds.

“We need to celebrate,” she said. “We need to drink champagne and thank the gods that Quinn decided to become a lawyer instead of a doctor when he applied to university all those years ago.”

Her father looked rueful. “I’d love to, sweetheart, but we’ve got that lumber shipment coming in first thing. If I have a glass of wine now I’ll be useless tomorrow.”

This was true, Amy knew. For a big, shambling bear of a man, her father was a very cheap drunk.

“Maybe we can do something tomorrow night, then.” She glanced at Quinn. “How long are you in town?”

“The weekend. But you can’t go home and put on your jim-jams after a win like this. If your folks are going to wimp out, I’ll take you out.”

Her mother pretended to be offended as she gave Quinn a push on the arm.

“You watch yourself, Quinn Whitfield. Your mother and I still e-mail regularly. I can get you into big trouble if I want to.”

“My humble apologies, Mrs. P. I stand corrected.”

Amy fumbled in her bag for her notepad.

“That reminds me. I promised Louise I’d let her know what happened tonight,” Amy said. She added a note to e-mail Quinn’s mom with her news to her To Do list. Quinn’s parents had been on the road in their RV since his father retired last year, their house empty and silent next door, but like her mother, Amy kept up contact via e-mail.

When she glanced up from writing her note, Quinn was watching her with amused eyes.

“What’s with the notepad?” he asked.

“It helps me stay organized.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“It does!” she insisted.

“It’s true, Quinn. Amy is the best paint department manager we’ve ever had at the store, thanks to that little pad,” her mother said.

“Guess we’re going to lose her now, though, huh?” her father said.

Amy smiled fondly at her parents. They had never ceased to support her, even though she knew there were probably times when they’d been convinced she’d never achieve her dream. She put her arm around her father’s waist and gave him a little squeeze. He dropped a kiss onto the top of her head, his eyes suspiciously shiny. After a few seconds, he cleared his throat.

“Well, I guess we’ll leave you kids to it.”

Her parents headed home and Quinn took her elbow and started steering her toward a nondescript sedan parked at the far corner of the parking lot.

“Hey. I need my car,” she said.

“Not tonight. Tonight you’re going to drink champagne and kick up your heels and get messy drunk,” Quinn said.

She glanced at his profile as they walked, his features barely visible in the dark. Despite all the reasons why it should be wrong, it felt right that Quinn was here to celebrate with her.

She smirked as Quinn cut in front of her to open her car door for her.

“So courtly, Mr. Whitfield,” she said. “So sophisticated.”

He gave her a dry look. “I know you’re probably used to being thrown into the back of a truck or over a shoulder, but up in the big smoke we’re a little smoother.”

“Do tell,” she said, fluttering her eyelashes at him as she slid into the car.

He pushed the door closed and circled to the driver’s side.

“You know what we should do? Bribe Phil into selling us a bottle of champagne and take it to the Grand,” Amy said as Quinn got behind the wheel.

Phil ran the local pub and could generally be relied upon to supply a bottle of wine to desperate locals when the liquor shop was closed for the night.

Quinn pulled onto the road.

“As a member of the New South Wales Bar Association, it behooves me to inform you that purchasing alcohol from a licensed facility for consumption off premises is a crime,” Quinn said in the same tone he’d used to destroy Reg Hanover and Barry Ulrich earlier in the evening.

“So you want me to run in and get it, then?”

“Nah. It’ll be good to catch up with Phil,” Quinn said with a quick grin.

A rush of warm emotion washed over her. It was only now that Quinn was sitting beside her, so familiar and dear, that she was able to acknowledge how much she’d missed him. How painful her self-imposed isolation had been. His laugh, his dry sense of humor, his honesty, his patience and kindness—she’d missed him like crazy for every second of the eighteen months she’d tried to cut him out of her life.

Which went to show how effective her cold-turkey regime had been.

“Lisa must have been pretty pissed with you for canceling Hamilton Island,” she said.

Good to remind herself of Lisa. Quinn’s wife. Her friend. Good to always keep those two very important facts top of mind, before she got too caught up in the feelings swamping her.

There was a short silence as Quinn pulled into a parking spot outside the pub.

“The old oak’s gone,” he said.

She glanced at him, aware that he hadn’t responded to her comment. Did that mean he was in the dog house over helping her out? She hoped not.

“It fell over in a storm last year.”

“Must have been some storm.”

They got out of the car and Quinn took a moment to scan the town’s main thoroughfare.

She looked, too, and wondered what he saw. The heritage shopfronts, or the fact that there was only one butcher? The well-tended flower beds and handmade park benches, or the fact that the post office doubled as a news agency as well as a lottery outlet?

“I suppose it must all seem pretty tin-pot compared to the bright lights of Sydney,” she said.

He met her eyes across the car.

“It’s home, Ames. That’s what it seems like.”

His mouth tilted upward at the corner, but he looked sad. Or maybe lost. Amy frowned, suddenly remembering the long silences during their recent phone conversation.

It was on the tip of her tongue to ask if anything was wrong but Quinn turned away and started walking toward the pub.

“Phil still trying to give up smoking?” he asked.

“Every year. Last time he held out a whole month.”

“Wow. That’s got to be a new record, right?”

“No way. I think you’re forgetting the great abstinence of ’95 when he went a full three months without touching the demon nicotine.”

“Right. My mistake.”

Quinn was smiling again as they pushed through the double doors into the bar. She told herself she’d imagined the small moment by the car, that it had simply been a trick of the light.

And even if she hadn’t imagined it, she had no right to pry into Quinn’s private thoughts and feelings. Not when she’d been trying to cut him out of her life for the past year and a half.

The news of her successful purchase of the Grand had spread through town and it was twenty minutes before she’d finished accepting congratulations from her friends and acquaintances. Phil handed over a bottle of his best French champagne but refused to accept any money for it.

“Against the liquor laws, Amy,” he said with a wink at Quinn. “Plus I figure I’ll hit you up for some free movie tickets when you’ve got the old girl up and running again.”

“You’re on,” Amy said.

He loaned them a couple of champagne flutes and she and Quinn left the pub and began walking up Vincent Street to where the roofline of the Grand soared over its neighbors.

By mutual unspoken consent, their steps slowed as they approached and they craned their necks to take in the faded grandeur of the facade.

“I’d forgotten how imposing it is. It really is grand, isn’t it?” Quinn said.

“Yep,” she said around the lump in her throat.

She sniffed as quietly as she could and blinked rapidly.

She could feel Quinn looking at her and she turned her head away slightly, trying to mask her tears.

“You crying, Ames?”

“Yep.”

Quinn’s laughter sounded low and deep. “I think we need to get some champagne into you.”

“Let’s go inside first.”

“You’ve got a key already?” He sounded surprised.

“Don’t need one. The back door hasn’t shut properly since the last tenant moved out.”

“Our second crime for the evening—breaking and entering. I’m starting to feel like Bonnie and Clyde. We’re on a rampage.”

She started up the alley that led to the parking lot at the rear of the cinema.

“Technically, it’s only entering, since the door is already screwed,” she said.

“Those are the little details that make all the difference in court.”

“If you’re afraid, Whitfield, you can wait outside.”

“Nice try, Parker, but I’m not letting you swill all the champagne on your own. I’ve developed a taste for the finer things in life over the past few years, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“City slicker.”

“Yokel.”

They’d reached the back of the theatre and she dropped her shoulder against the decrepit door, trying to shove it open.

“For Pete’s sake. You weight less than a gnat. Let me do it,” Quinn said. He stepped forward.

“I’ve got it,” she said.

“Amy…”

She took a step back and threw her entire body weight at the door. It gave instantly and she stumbled over the threshold.

“Break anything?” he asked as she rubbed her shoulder with her free hand.

“No. You? Your precious male ego permanently dented because you didn’t get a chance to show off how much stronger you are than me?”

It was very dark in the corridor. Quinn’s laugh sounded loud in the small space.

“Small of stature, big of attitude. Same old, same old.”

She jumped when his hand landed on her shoulder.

“Lead the way, bossy pants,” he said. “I’m at your mercy.”

“I’ve got a flashlight in my bag…” she said, very aware of the weight and warmth of his hand on her shoulder.

She inhaled his aftershave again as she fumbled in her handbag. He’d felt so big and solid when he’d lifted her earlier. Bigger than she remembered.

Her fumbling hand closed around the flashlight and she pulled it from her handbag and flicked it on.

“See? All good.”

She felt shaky inside, as though all her internal organs were trembling. This was why she’d tried to cut him out of her life. One look, one touch and she was thinking about all the things that she’d never have. It was too hard. Too cruel. Too crazy-making.

And way, way too frustrating.

As she’d hoped, Quinn’s hand fell to his side. She turned and started picking her way up the corridor. The flashlight beam bounced along the floor in front of her. A door loomed ahead and she twisted the handle and pushed it open. They emerged into a large, open space. In the old days, the screen would have filled the wall to the right of the door and the main seating would be in front of them. Now there was just a blank wall and lots of space where the seats used to be. She swung the flashlight in a wide arc, the beam glancing off scarred floors, scratched wood paneling, crumbling plaster walls.