More Than Just One Night (The Selwood Sisters Novellas) (7 page)

After pouting into her coffee for a while,
Fern said, “When you say ‘see him’, you don’t mean you’ll bring him here, to
this house, do you?”

“Actually, yes. If I choose to, I will. As I
said, it’s my house, and I have the right to entertain my own guests here.”

“It’s not just your house, though, is it?
It’s the house that Dad built for you. What about his memory? Don’t you think
about him at all anymore? Have you stopped loving him?”

Cora gasped before she could stop herself. Fern
might as well have punched her. “Is that your problem with me seeing Alex? Do
you think I’m being unfaithful to your dad?”

Fern’s eyes were wet with tears. “It’s not
just what I think...it’s how it is.”

“But it’s been six years, honey.”

“I know how long it’s been since my dad died,
thank you very much. You’re six years older than you were then, and at your
age, you shouldn’t need anyone else.”

Cora shook her head. “I’m afraid that’s not
true. I thought it was, though, I admit. I was prepared to be alone for the
rest of my days. I haven’t looked at another man in any romantic or sexual
way—”

“Ew, Mum. Don’t be so disgusting.”

“I haven’t thought about being with another
man since your father died. Not until I met Alex, and he looked at me like I
was still worth looking at.”

“Of course you’re still worth looking at.”
Fern waved a dismissive hand. “I just don’t see why you care whether you are or
not.”

Cora frowned. “I don’t know either. It’s not
something I can explain, but I do know that he makes me feel—”

“Don’t say ‘young’.”

“Special. I was going to say special. And now
that he’s gone from my life, I miss that as much as I miss him. I think
everybody deserves to feel special to someone else, don’t you?”

Fern’s eyes closed and her lips pressed into
a thin line.

“Well, that was all I wanted to say.” And
probably more than she’d intended. “I have to go to work now,” she said as she
rose.

Ferns eyes snapped open. “So, basically,
you’re saying that you’re going to do what the hell you like, and you don’t
give a— a toss what I say about it?”

“Yes. Basically, I am.”

“So why should I give a toss what you say
about Russell?”

“Like I said, you’re an adult. You don’t have
to listen to me, but if you’re going to continue to see him, don’t bring him
here again.” She turned to leave.

“
Mum
, haven’t you forgotten
something?”

“Yes, of course.” Cora walked around the
table and gave her daughter a kiss and a hug, glad that Fern still wanted her
to do it. “Have a good day, honey.”

Fern gave her a stony stare. “I meant, my
phone
.”

The next day at the café near the office,
Cora paid for sandwiches for Lily and herself and carried them over to the
table near the window where Lily was waiting.

Once she was sitting down Lily said, “Gwen
and I were a bit tough on you over coffee last week. Especially me, and I’ve
been meaning to apologise for that.”

“No, don’t,” Cora said. “I needed to hear it.
And now I’ve told Fern that I’m not going to be governed by what she thinks I
should do.”

“Have you? Gosh. Well, good for you. How did
she take it?”

Cora waggled her hand in a so-so gesture.
“She sort of threatened to move in with Russell.”

“Oops, that wasn’t the desired result. I hope
we haven’t made things worse.”

“I have a feeling that she won’t go through
with it. She didn’t make it sound like her preferred option.”

“Really? So there’s hope that she might be
tiring of him, then?”

“Maybe. I’ll have to wait and see.”

“Is that why you wanted to have lunch, to
tell me about Fern?”

“No, there’s something else. I’ve booked a
flight to Sydney on Friday afternoon, and this time I don’t have any business
to take care of in the city. I have one purpose in going there, and only one
purpose. To see Alex.”

“Wow. Isn’t that a bit of a risk, though? You
said he might not what to see you again after the way you treated him. What if
you tell him you’re in Sydney and he says, “So what?’”

Cora nodded. “That’s the whole point. I need
to show him that I’ve made an effort and taken a risk, so that he won’t think
I’m likely to change my mind again in the next moment.”

“I’m impressed. Cora, warrior woman.”

Cora laughed. “Hardly. I’m shaking at the
thought.”

True to her word, Cora waited till she
arrived in Sydney before phoning Alex. She’d booked a return flight for Sunday,
but no accommodation. If he wanted nothing to do with her, she’d find a hotel
in the city and spend the weekend shopping. But she really hoped it wouldn’t
come to that.

Her heart thumping, she made the call. “Alex?
It’s me, Cora.”

“Cora?”

 “I hope you don’t mind me calling.”

She registered the slight hesitation before
he said, “What can I do for you?”

She shut down the inappropriate words that
rushed into her head. She had to take this slowly, not behave like a mad woman.
“I wondered if you’d like to see me this weekend?” Oh, God, that sounded
ridiculous.

“Is this a trick question?”

“No.”

He sighed. “I’m doing what you asked me to
do. I’m leaving you alone.”

“Yes, I know.” She licked her dry lips. “What
would you say if I told you I was in Sydney?”

After a short silence, he said, “What do you
want me to say?”

Cora took a deep breath. “If you’re still
interested, I’d like to give us another go, and for that reason, I’m here in
Sydney. If you don’t want to see me, or you can’t because it’s bad timing, just
say so and I’ll go away. But if you agree, I’d like you to meet me anywhere
that suits you.”

“For sex?”

She gasped.

“Because that’s all you want from me, isn’t
it? I’m not good enough to meet your family, or your friends, or even be seen
in public with you.”

Even as she opened her mouth to deny his
words, she knew she had been guilty of treating him badly, and she couldn’t
lie.

“Cora, I’m not interested in playing games. We
could have been great together, but you were more concerned with appearances
than with having a relationship. You couldn’t recognize something real right in
front of your face. I’m sorry you’ve had a wasted journey, but I won’t be
meeting you. Goodbye, Cora.”

She held the phone to her ear and listened to
dead air long after Alex had hung up. What was she supposed to do now? Try and
find a seat on the next flight home?

No
. She hadn’t
come here to be a coward again. She’d had enough of living only half a life.
She wouldn’t go home until she’d tried to convince Alex that she wasn’t playing
games.

She took a deep breath and dialled again. She
wasn’t surprised when Alex’s answer was a wary “Yes?”

“I’m sorry, Alex. It must have seemed that I
thought you weren’t good enough, but I promise I never believed that for one
minute. It was never that.”

She heard him exhale. At least he hadn’t hung
up on her.

“If you’ll give me another chance, I’m ready
to try and have something real now. If you still want to, that is. I can’t
promise to be brilliant at it, but I will try.”

“You’re serious?”

“Yes.”

“Hang on, someone wants to talk to me.” There
was a muffled noise on the line. Cora closed her eyes, the tension making her belly
quiver. “Right,” he said when he came back on the line. “So, tell me where you
are and I’ll meet you there.”

“At the airport.”

She heard the rattle of computer keys close
to the phone, then Alex said, “
Damn
. I have a meeting that I can’t
cancel.”

“It’s okay. I can get in a taxi and wait for
you somewhere.”

“What about the hotel where we met? It’s not
far from my office. I’ll see you in the bar in...an hour and a half. No, sorry,
it might be more like two hours, I’m afraid.”

“That’s fine. No problem. I’ll wait.”

Alex’s home was small, but fully-renovated,
and only minutes from the city centre. She hadn’t seen much of it on Friday
night, though. All through dinner she’d been aware of tension coiling her
insides. She couldn’t take her eyes off his face while they talked, and by the
time they’d arrived at the house, she’d been desperate to feel his skin against
hers. They hadn’t even reached the bed.

Saturday had been a lovely day spent outdoors,
exploring the area, shopping, and generally behaving like a couple, and now
Alex was out in the private courtyard, cooking their evening meal on the
barbecue while she tossed a salad in his black and stainless steel kitchen. Life
was looking good.

When she heard a key in the front door, she
looked up, startled, and watched a willowy redhead walk towards her, a little
girl in tow. Recognising Sophie from the photograph Alex had shown her, she
guessed that this stunner must be his ex-wife. Well, that was just great. As if
she didn’t have enough insecurity about her older woman’s body, now she knew
she was competing with his memory of his ex’s body as well. Fabulous.

The woman gave her a direct look. “Where’s
Alex?”

Cora tilted her head towards the courtyard.
“Barbecue.”

Cora smiled at the little re-haired girl
trailing after her mother. She had Alex’s grey eyes. Very cute.

She tried not to hear the conversation going
on outside, but his ex’s voice in particular was hard to ignore, and from the
snippets she picked up, it was clear that she didn’t approve of Cora being
there. Well, Cora wasn’t sure that she approved of Alex’s ex-wife letting
herself into the house without an invitation, so they were even.

Just as Cora was wondering whether to join
them outside since she was starting to feel awkward hanging about in the
kitchen, the woman stormed back through the house, minus her daughter and
without sparing Cora a glance.

Alex entered a moment later, his arm around
Sophie’s shoulders, and gave her a rueful smile. He guided his daughter to one
of the sofas and gave her a book from a woven wicker basket, then came over to
the kitchen.

“Remember me saying that Annabel tends to
dump Sophie on me when it’s least convenient?” he said in a low voice as he
joined her. “This is one of those times.”

“I thought it might be.” Cora shrugged. “I’d
better ring the airline.”

“Why?”

“To see whether I can change my flight, bring
it forward.”

“Don’t go.”

He stepped closer and put his hands on her
waist. Even that small contact gave her tingles.

“I know it’s not exactly what you were expecting,
but we’ll be alone tonight once Sophie’s asleep. And Annabel promised to pick
her up in the morning, so we’ll have a few hours to ourselves before you go to
the airport.”

“I don’t want to spoil your precious time
with your daughter. You should be able to focus on her while she’s here, and
keep her here all day Sunday if you have the option.”

“I wouldn’t normally have had her this
weekend.”

“But now that you have, you should give her
your undivided attention. I took a risk coming over unannounced — it could have
been your week to have her, and I didn’t even think about the possibility.”

She should have thought about it, because in
all honesty, was this what she wanted? His daughter was a complication that she
hadn’t even considered. She didn’t want to be a stepmother — admittedly that
was a leap into a future they hadn’t even discussed, but she
should
think about it now, because clearly, Alex and Sophie came as a package deal.
There was no chance he would cut his daughter out of his life; nor would she
ask him to do so. What would be the point of waiting until she’d fallen in love
with him, and then deciding that life with him and his child was not what she
wanted?

On that road lay pain for both of them,
especially for her. If leaving him now would hurt, she could only imagine what
it would feel like to break up once she’d fully opened the barricades to her
heart and let him inside.

What a complete idiot she’d been, not taking
his role as a father into account when she’d rushed into saying she wanted to
make a relationship with him work. She was at an age when she wanted to
simplify her life, not make it more complicated. It was as much as she could do
to manage Selwoods, and she hadn’t done such a crash-hot job of that recently. She’d
dropped the ball in a couple of areas and Eric had made sure to point out her
mistakes.

Raising her own children had exhausted her,
and even now she struggled to maintain a rapport with Fern. The prospect of
taking on even partial responsibility for another child was just too daunting
to contemplate.