Someone Like You (17 page)

She was sitting behind her computer, slumped over, her head on the desk and nestled in the crook of one arm.

‘What the hell?’ Dan demanded.

At the sound of his voice, Lizzie pulled herself upright, eyes wide and a little scared.

Dan rushed forward, manoeuvring around the desk to kneel down by her side. ‘What’s wrong?’ He put a hand on her back and rubbed soothing circles between her shoulder blades.

When Dan’s green eyes latched on to Lizzie’s, looking right through her the way he did, she knew she was in trouble. The tremble deep in the pit of her stomach rose up into her chest and lodged there, heavy and hard. In that instant, she knew she was in deep. Maybe no-going-back deep.

Which was truly, monumentally, the worst idea she’d ever had.

Lizzie pressed her fingers to her temples. ‘Just a headache, that’s all. I’ll be fine in a minute.’

‘Why don’t you go home? I’ll take you. Damn it, I walked here. But Anna has a car. We’ll drive you back to your place. Can you get up?’

She gently shook her head. The last thing she wanted was to see the two of them together again. It would take at least a few days to summon the superhuman strength she would need to hold it together and cope with that again. She exhaled, steadied herself and planted her hands flat on the desk in front of her. ‘I’ll be okay.’

‘Lizzie. Let me explain about Anna. She’s an old friend. A really good friend. She was—’

‘Dan,’ Lizzie held up a hand, cut him off quickly, ‘You don’t have to explain. You don’t owe me anything, remember? Welcome to summer on the south coast. It seems like half of Adelaide is either here, at Port Elliot or Victor Harbor. Get back out there and convince her to come and stay in Middle Point for her holidays.’

‘I can’t leave you like this. Let me take you home.’

Lizzie managed a smile. ‘Get out before I kick you out.’

Dan studied her face and when he saw that she meant it, he came closer, leaned in, kissed her forehead gently. ‘I’ll call you later. I mean it.’

He was so close that Lizzie could see the gold flecks in his emerald eyes and the little creases at the corner of his mouth when he smiled. God, she loved his smile. She reached up, slowly rested her hand on his jaw, caressed the growth there, liked the feel of it under her fingertips. Then she took her hand away.

‘I’ll see you, Dan.’

He rose slowly, walked around her desk and closed the door quietly behind him, but not before flashing her another smile.

As soon as she was alone, Lizzie sat up dead straight in her chair. She might not have had a headache when Dan had barged in but she sure had one now. Her pulse was thumping and she held a palm to her forehead, hoping the cool would stop the throbbing.

All she could see was the look on Dan’s face when he’d discovered it was Anna across the room. There was a joy there, a pure unadulterated happiness that she’d never seen when he’d looked at her. It wasn’t that she was jealous of Anna, it wasn’t that at all.

Truth be told, she wanted someone’s face to light up like that when she walked into a room. No, that wasn’t exactly right, either. She wanted Dan’s face to light up like that when she walked into a room. And with a lurch in her heart, she knew it was too late to wish she didn’t feel that way.

She was already drowning in him.

Anna’s car screeched to a halt on the esplanade out front of Dan’s place. The seagulls that had been camped on the front lawn flew into the air in fluttering shock. She killed the engine of her lipstick-red Italian sports car, looked past him and out the window.

‘You’re joking, right?’ She nodded towards the mint green house. ‘
This
is your place?’

Dan chuckled, looked at the shack he now, surprisingly, called home. ‘Told you it wouldn’t be your style.’

‘I don’t think there’s a word for what that is,’ she laughed, pulling her keys from the ignition with a jangle. ‘Gelato vintage?’

‘The view is all I need. Come have a look.’ Dan swung open the car door and unfolded himself out of the passenger seat, his right leg stiff from the cramped space in the front. As Anna followed him up the driveway, he tried not to be obvious, hiding the stiffness and soreness he felt. Once he’d ushered her inside, she fell into such a stunned silence he wondered if she’d been gagged. Stunned silence was a first for Anna Morelli. She propped her sunglasses on top of her head, spun around on her stilettos and narrowed her eyes at him playfully.

‘This is a change of pace from your bachelor pad in the city.’

‘Precisely. I needed a change.’

‘It’s chilled out. Relaxed. Is that what you needed?’

Dan nodded.

‘You’d better have decent coffee, that’s all I can say.’

‘No, I don’t and you’re not the first person to say that, by the way. How about a glass of wine instead?’

He opened the fridge and leaned in to grab a beer for himself and a bottle of sauvignon blanc he’d bought just in case Elizabeth…just in case he had company. More silence from Anna. This was freaking him out. He turned to her for her answer on the wine and then felt a strange sensation in his gut when he realised her bewildered expression had disappeared. In its place was one that was deadly serious. She’d softened, her bravado gone, the brassy attitude he knew so well looked now like sadness.

‘What’s up, Anna?’ His hackles rose.

‘Dan.’ She gestured for him to come and sit down, the jangle of her multiple gold bracelets the only sound in the room. ‘I’ve got a confession to make.’

Dan tried to judge what was going on and failed totally. ‘You’ll need a church for that.’

Anna took a deep breath. ‘Don’t tell my mother but I haven’t been in one of those for a while. The truth is, Danny, I’m not really here to check out a summer rental.’

He slammed the fridge door shut. ‘What’s going on?’

She sighed. ‘I’m Italian. You know I don’t do the beach. Running into you at the pub today was no accident.’

Dan stilled. He felt like a bug caught in a spider’s web and realised that no amount of struggling would get him out of it. He walked to her, his chest tight, his pulse racing. He felt slightly light-headed. ‘You here to check up on me? Who’s been talking to you? Was it Ry? It’s none of his fucking business.’

Anna didn’t say a word. She moved closer to him, slipped her arms around his waist, laid her cheek on his chest and held on tight. Out of habit more than anything, Dan wrapped his arms around her, rested his chin on her head.

‘I should’ve known I couldn’t hide anything from you,’ he said, defeated by her simple gesture.

Anna looked up, her eyes swollen with tears. ‘What’s been going on, Danny?’

Julia stood at the front windows of the glass palace, staring out onto the roadway at the sports car. It was low-slung, bright red, sexy as hell.

‘Ry!’ she called up the stairs. She knew he was working but that could wait. There was something brewing in the neighbourhood and it was far more important than work on Windswept. A minute later, Ry came padding down the stairs, phone in hand. As she watched him descend, her heart beat faster. She couldn’t help it. She would never take that view for granted.

‘Yes, light of my life?’ Ry flashed her a huge grin.

She beckoned him to the window, pointed through the glass. ‘Come and see this.’

When Ry appeared at her side, he whistled. ‘Nice wheels.’

Julia turned to him. ‘Who does Dan know with a car like that?’

Ry looked closely, squinted to get a proper view, then laughed. ‘Take a look at the number plate.’

Julia could see they were personalised, not showing the usual combination of letters and numbers, but a black plate, with four white letters centred on it.

‘A-N-N-A,’ she spelled out. ‘Anna? Who’s that?’

Ry simply grinned at his fiancée.

Julia spun around. ‘You know who it is and you’re not telling me.’ She poked him in the sides, tickling him under his arms. ‘Give it up, Ry. You know I’ll keep this up until I get an answer out of you.’

Ry fought back, grabbing her wrists in a lightning-fast manoeuvre and then spun Julia around so they were both looking out onto the street. His arms slipped around her shoulders. ‘That car belongs to the one, the only, Anna Morelli.’

‘Who’s she?’

Ry chuckled. ‘Dan’s first girlfriend, that’s who.’

A couple of hours later, Julia called Lizzie. She couldn’t let Lizzie stew any longer.

‘Can’t talk. Working.’ The sounds of the pub filtered down the line.

‘Oh, for God’s sake. Surely you get a tea break. Go somewhere quiet. I have news.’

‘You’ve got your first big client?’

‘Yes I have, as a matter of fact. Two of them. But that’s not it.’

Julia could hear the resignation in Lizzie’s sigh. ‘Yes, I know. Apparently I slept with Dan McSwaine. And then we followed it up with a knee-trembling kiss in the car park.’

‘Ooh, I didn’t know about the kiss. How exciting.’

‘You know about the sleeping with him part?’

‘Oops.’

‘Look, Jools, I really have to go.’

‘No, wait. I have to tell you something.’

‘Yes, I know about her, too.’

Julia slapped herself on the side of the head. ‘How the hell did you know I was calling about her?’

‘She came into the pub, Jools. Her name’s Anna.’ Lizzie’s voice was full of weary acknowledgment. ‘She seems nice. I like her.’

‘Really? I didn’t think you’d react that way to meeting Dan’s old girlfriend.’

Dan’s old girlfriend
.

Lizzie’s heart dropped like a stone into the pit of her stomach. That explained the look on his face. The one she couldn’t get out of her head. She sucked in a deep breath, then let it out slowly to calm herself while she figured out what to say.

‘Wait ’til you see her up close. Lips like plumped up pillows. Better than Angelina’s. Eyelashes to die for. And they’re real.’

‘I suppose you also know that her car’s parked outside Dan’s place.’

‘Jools. Stop it.’

‘I’m just telling you—’

‘Jools.’

‘Okay.’

‘He doesn’t have to explain himself to me. He is free to catch up with an old friend, one he’s clearly very fond of. We don’t owe each other anything.’

‘Lizzie…’ Julia trailed off. ‘We haven’t talked in ages. What’s going on? I miss you.’

Lizzie knew it was the truth. Between work, the renovation at the pub, spending time with Dan, organising the first Christmas market and keeping an eye on Harri next door, she’d had no time lately for her best friend. Lizzie realised that with the arrival of Anna, a spot had just opened up in her diary. The time she’d been planning to spend with Dan was now suddenly free.

‘Jools…I miss you too. Let’s catch up tonight. Why don’t we drive into Goolwa, grab some fish and chips and sit by the river?’

‘Sounds fabulous. I’ll come and pick you up. And if you want to talk about what’s been going on, I’m all ears.’

Lizzie sighed. ‘Hope you’ve got more than two.’

‘He’s too complicated, Jools.’ Lizzie crunched on a hot chip, the vinegary tang hitting her tastebuds the way she liked it. Sheets of butcher’s paper were spread out on the grass between the two women and they’d propped two cans of Diet Coke on each end to stop them blowing away. To their left was the Hindmarsh Island Bridge, crossing the River Murray in a curving arc, and to their right, the river flowed away over the barrages and out to sea at the Murray Mouth. It was peaceful, a light breeze rustling the paper and cooling the chips. The grassed area was away from the busy main road and a few people sauntered by with their dogs. Seagulls gathered overhead and landed nearby, squawking their demands, their uncanny radar for their target better than the US Military’s heat-seeking missiles.

‘What do you mean too complicated? I think blokes are pretty simple. Feed them, flirt with them, figure out of they’re a leg man or a breast man and seduce accordingly.’

Lizzie allowed herself a smile and bit into another chip. ‘What was he like in hospital, after the accident?’

Julia took a minute to think and to remember those awful days. ‘He was a little flat at first. No surprise given he’d been heavily sedated in the first week, but he picked up as time went on. He seemed happy when he was discharged and even though he had some physical healing to do, Ry thought he seemed like his old self.’

Lizzie pondered just exactly who the old Dan was. There’d been hints of that person, drifting to the surface every now and then but, for the most part, he’d been different since he’d moved to the point. Reserved, he’d retreated inside himself. A loner.

‘Did you and Ry ever wonder why he spent so long holed up in the house? Why he didn’t want any visitors? Why he slammed the door in my face?’

Julia shrugged. ‘We figured he was being stubborn about us wanting to help him out, with food and doctors appointments, that kind of thing. We’d been all over him when he was in hospital, so he was probably sick of the sight of us.’ She peered into Lizzie’s eyes. ‘You think there’s something more, don’t you?’

‘Yeah, I do.’

‘Why? What have you seen?’

Lizzie took a deep breath and a swig of her soft drink. She shifted her gaze out to the river, concentrated on the water rippling in the breeze. A small wooden sailing boat in the distance bobbed up and down and, overhead, pelicans soared on outstretched wings.

‘I’m no doctor Jools, but I think it will take him longer to recover than you think.’

‘Why do you say that?’

Lizzie felt the swell of secrets bursting in her chest but swallowed them back.
I’ve been in that place where he is
.

‘I went through some hard things in…when I came back from London. Mum had just been diagnosed with breast cancer. After she died, I kind of fell into a hole.’

‘You were only twenty. I’m not surprised you did. But you never said anything. Why didn’t you tell me?’

Lizzie shook her head and shrugged. ‘I couldn’t.’ She’d never told anyone.

‘Joe was here, back home, wasn’t he?’

Joe. Her big brother. Her protector who had fallen apart, too. ‘He was here when he could be but he’d just scored a cadetship on one of the big Sydney papers. He was here for the end. For the funeral.’