The Girl in the Hard Hat (15 page)

‘I’m not moving that far. Just to Wickham.’

‘But I won’t get to see you at dinner.’

‘You’re always sitting with Bulldog anyway.’ Sharon rolled her eyes. ‘You won’t even know I’ve gone.’

Lena looked at her hands and was silent for a minute.

‘Uh-oh.’ Sharon exchanged a glance with Wendy. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Nothing really. It’s just, well . . . it’s Annabel George.’

‘That crazy bitch!’ Sharon said. ‘Trust me, honey, you have nothing to worry about from her.’

‘I’m not worried. I’m just annoyed.’ Lena bit her lip. ‘I asked Dan if he could please tell her to stop coming to see him all the time. And he told me he did but she just keeps coming. And he doesn’t seem to want to be too rude about it.’

‘Why not?’ Sharon demanded.

‘Well, he kind of feels like he owes her for being there for him when they were together.’

Sharon snorted. ‘Isn’t that what a girlfriend is supposed to do?’

‘When were they together?’ Wendy asked. ‘To be honest, she doesn’t seem like his type at all.’

‘Thank you!’ Lena shot her a look of gratitude. ‘Apparently, it all started in high school. I saw this album she made for him. It’s full of pictures of when they were together. Dan certainly looks like he was in love with her at one stage.’

‘Of course he does,’ Sharon said scornfully. ‘He was probably sixteen and a virgin.’

‘Well, she
is
gorgeous. You can’t fault those perfect breasts.’ Lena groaned. ‘And she knows all this stuff about him that I don’t.’

‘Like what?’

‘Like what his favourite muffin is. What music he listens to. That he worked at McDonald’s for five years when he was going through uni.’

‘None of that stuff is really that important, is it?’ Wendy tried to reassure her. ‘I mean, maybe she knew him well back then. But that’s not what’s relevant to him now. I still don’t get why Dan feels he owes her.’

‘Well.’ Lena’s eyes clouded as though she didn’t want to reveal too much. ‘He reckons she helped him when his stepmum was giving him hell.’

Wendy raised her brows. ‘How?’

‘Dan’s stepmother thought of him as a remnant of his father’s first marriage and treated him as such,’ Lena responded bitterly. ‘Dan moved out of home at seventeen because he didn’t feel welcome there any more. Annabel and her parents let him live with them through uni.’

‘Well, I suppose that was generous of her and her family,’ Sharon conceded. ‘But surely after living with her, Dan could see how incompatible they were.’

‘Yes, but he didn’t break it off for ages because he was living in her house and had nowhere else to go. He was young,’ Lena shrugged, ‘and he had no money and no support from his own family. Can you blame him for keeping quiet while he tried to get through uni?’

‘I guess not,’ Wendy said. ‘But I suppose now he feels guilty about not being completely honest with her.’

‘Yes.’ Lena threw up her hands in frustration. ‘And Annabel’s milking it. Apparently she just moved to town, so Dan feels like he needs to help her find her feet because that’s what she did for him back in the day.’

Sharon groaned. ‘I can see where he’s coming from but how annoying for you. I don’t know what you can do about it.’

‘Well,’ Lena closed her eyes and put her forehead on her knees, ‘I sort of went to see her myself to hint that I didn’t like her hanging around my boyfriend too much. She works nights as a nurse at Nickol Bay Hospital in Karratha. Anyway, she basically told me that it was only a matter of time before she and Dan were engaged again.’

‘Engaged!’ Sharon squeaked. ‘
He was going to marry her?
’

‘Apparently.’ Lena nodded forlornly.

‘Why didn’t he tell you?’

‘He said he didn’t want me to freak out. He proposed just before he moved in with her, before he fell out of love with her.’

‘Yeah, but the point is,’ Sharon put her finger to her palm, ‘he eventually did come to his senses, dumped her and moved on. She’s the past, Lena. You’re the present.’

‘That’s the thing,’ Lena said dully. ‘Like I said, he kept quiet, he didn’t dump her. He waited till
she
dumped
him
. And now she reckons she’s had a change of heart.’

‘Oh, bollocks to that!’ Sharon blew air into her fringe. ‘It must be over fifteen years since they were together. Does she really believe he’s been pining for her?’

‘Well, she’s certainly acting like it. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about her.’

‘Maybe just give her a bit more time,’ Wendy suggested. ‘She might figure out Dan’s lack of interest on her own.’

Sharon was about to add her two cents’ worth when her mobile started ringing. She quickly fished it out of her beach bag and put it to her ear.

‘Oh hi, darl, I’m good. Where are you?’ A pause. ‘
Where?
’ Sharon shaded her eyes and focused on a small fishing boat that was only just discernible in the distance. ‘Oh yes, I see it . . . Nah, that’s okay, I’ll see you tonight.’

‘Was that Carl?’ Lena asked as she hung up the phone.

‘Yes, he and the boys – Fish, Radar, Leg and Gavin – hired a boat. They wanted to know if we wanted to go for a ride. I said we were fine.’

Lena pouted. ‘Why’d you do that? I want to go for a ride. It’d be awesome. Best offer I’ve had from the boys since Gavin put a shrimp on a fishing hook for me.’

Gavin had taken Lena fishing. Wendy experienced a jolt that was too much like jealousy.

Meanwhile, Lena was still talking. ‘Can you call them back?’

‘O-
kay
,’ Sharon said with an indulgent laugh. But it seemed Carl must have left his phone below deck because he wasn’t answering it. Sharon spoke to his voicemail and hung up. ‘Why don’t you try and wave them in?’ she suggested to Lena as she put the phone back in her bag. ‘The boat seems to be sailing closer.’

Wendy squinted at the horizon. It did too.

Lena jumped up, pulling a reluctant Wendy to a standing position. ‘Come on, girl. You gotta help me.’

She began jumping and waving enthusiastically at the boat. Wendy couldn’t help but chuckle at her eagerness and half-heartedly joined in. It seemed like the guys on the boat must have seen them because the fishing vessel was definitely coming closer.

‘They can see us!’ Lena waved even harder.

The boat continued to come in and just when Wendy thought it was definitely going to anchor, it made a sharp right turn and sped by adjacent to the coast. Leg, Radar and Gavin, who were standing on the bow, all dropped their pants and wiggled their bare bums at them.

Lena covered her eyes and screamed. Sharon was laughing so hard she was fit to break her sides. Wendy simply covered her mouth in astonishment.

The older lady who had been sunbaking on the beach beside them was delighted. Clearly, it was the most sexual excitement she’d had in years. She squealed and waved madly at the guys before asking Wendy, ‘Are they friends of yours?’

‘Er, sort of,’ Wendy replied weakly.

‘Those roaches!’ Lena was indignant. ‘Wait till I see them next!’

The mood of their afternoon somewhat unsettled, the girls decided to head off to the tavern in Point Samson for a seafood lunch. This venue was very casual and most patrons chose to sit outside at round plastic tables that had beach umbrellas inserted into the centre.

Lunch was by far the best fish and chips Wendy had had in a very long time. The Pilbara had a reputation for good seafood, so she wasn’t surprised she was wowed by the simple meal. With a few more wedges of lemon, she could have eaten another plate, but decided still fitting into her bathers after lunch was more important. She doubted Chub would have showed this much restraint.

Just as they were finishing up, Carl and the boys arrived.

‘I thought you’d be cooking your catches and eating them fresh.’ Lena seemed surprised.

Carl’s expression was decidedly grumpy. ‘We ran out of beer.’

Wendy looked up as she felt Gavin’s eyes unashamedly roving over her. Those brown portals seemed darker than ever and she wished she’d covered up a bit more like the other girls, who’d put their shorts and T-shirts back on. Her bathers were one piece so she’d simply tied a sarong around her waist. She hadn’t felt at all self-conscious when she’d arrived. Now, it seemed like she was displaying an obscene amount of flesh.

To cut the line of his gaze, she got up and went into the tavern, claiming she needed another drink – which wasn’t exactly far from the truth. Being in the same room as Gavin always seemed to give her a dry throat.

To her dismay, however, after a few minutes he followed her.

‘So . . .’ He leaned on the counter beside her as she waited for the bartender to come back with her drink. ‘Maybe I was wrong. Maybe you do have fun sometimes. Did you enjoy the beach?’

‘As a matter of fact I did.’ The bartender set her Coke on a coaster before her. ‘Until you guys broke the mood.’

‘Come on.’ Those eyes she couldn’t trust twinkled at her. ‘That was funny.’

She hesitated, sipping her Coke before looking up at him. ‘Okay, it
was
funny.’ Her grin curled around the straw between her lips.

‘Now that’s what I like to see.’ The way he was looking at her made her heart throb painfully.

‘I better get back to the girls,’ she muttered. But as she turned to go a little devil sitting on her shoulder poked her in the neck. She stopped and looked back at him. ‘Nice arse, by the way.’

She had meant to disconcert him – embarrass and unsettle him the way he constantly did her. But she should have realised that Gavin would be immune to such tactics. The gaze that locked with hers betrayed no trace of discomfort at all. Instead, he returned the compliment in all seriousness.

‘You too, darlin’. You too.’

She whipped her face away, inwardly cursing herself for having said anything at all. Praying he wasn’t looking at the subject of their conversation, she hightailed it out of there, clutching her drink to her chest. She was in such a hurry to leave, she almost collided with Carl as he and the other guys entered the bar to quench their thirst.

‘Sorry,’ she muttered at his startled expression and then crossed the threshold to the alfresco area to find the girls. She was thankful that in the meantime Sharon and Lena had finished both their drinks and their meals.

‘You okay, honey?’ Sharon looked her over with some concern.

‘Fine.’ Wendy drained her Coke and set it on their table. ‘Actually I’m pretty tired. Do you mind if we head off?’

Sharon looked at Lena and the other woman shrugged. ‘Sure.’

The drive home was uneventful and helped her to calm down a bit.

Unfortunately, however, when Wendy arrived back at her donga she found that the door was unlocked. Her heart jumped as she realised someone must have broken in. She cautiously pushed the door open and scanned the room. Her breath came short and shallow as she bit her lip while contemplating the scene.

Two things were very apparent.

The first was that someone had replaced her broken desk with a functional one and re-attached her wardrobe door to a new hinge.

The second thing was that whoever had done it couldn’t possibly have been Gavin.

You need to stop this now.

Gavin polished off his beer at the bar, not quite trusting himself to rejoin his friends outside where he knew Wendy would be.

Normally he was pretty good at choosing his targets. This time . . . not so much.

It had become quite clear after their first meeting that Wendy was definitely not casual fling material. She couldn’t speak to him without her heart glowing in her eyes. Every time he resolved to keep his distance, however, he somehow found an excuse to stay within her orbit. There was just something about her that made him lose his head. He choked, wiping his damp lips on the back of his hand. No, he had his head. He knew that because every time he saw her it was like someone had taken a plank of wood to it. She made him forget the boundaries he’d set for himself.

You could really hurt her. Do you honestly want to do that?

It was clear the woman already had issues. Those big blue eyes spoke of pain, distrust and caution. Whatever baggage she had, it was big. If he were smart, he would back away. Women who were damaged often ignored the rules of engagement, which numbered three:

1.   No commitment.

2.   No regrets.

3.   No emotional intimacy.

Usually the odd fling on the job helped him forget the mess that was his own life. But this time, he couldn’t help worrying that maybe Wendy would make that mess extra difficult to unravel. He had trouble remembering not to get too close, like asking too many questions about her personal life. Not that she wanted to answer them. He snorted in derision. She trusted him even less than he trusted himself.

So far, flirting with her hadn’t even taken his mind off his own problems. In fact, it had made him dwell on them all the more – almost like rubbing salt into a wound, really. Talking to her only seemed to show him everything that he’d lost or could never have.

A jovial slap on his back broke his train of thought and he turned around. His smile didn’t even slip a notch.

Man, I’m getting good at this.