The Lies We Tell (4 page)

“The anger he’s carrying isn’t good for him.”

“Try telling him that.”

“I did.” Paul’s eyebrows shot up. “In response, he’s banned me from coming to the house and talking to you or your mother again.”

Paul swore. “I don’t understand his problem. Okay, I do, in that he’s pissed that Dad died so suddenly and thinks it’s your fault. But he’s still so angry.”

“I have a theory about that.”

Paul gazed at her for a moment, then smiled. “Let me guess — you told him that as well.”

“I think its guilt. I think that there was something going on between him and your dad when it happened and it’s eating him up that he can’t fix it. He almost jumped on me when I suggested it to him.”

Paul frowned and for a moment, Sia thought he was going to take her to task for pushing Todd. Then he said, “You’re right. Shit, I’d forgotten all about that. Todd and Dad were fighting. Dad had very distinct ideas of how the two of us were going to save the company. Luckily, I was well into his suggestion I become a geologist, so I could find us more deposits of various materials. Todd, however, was fighting his destiny of going to business school. He wanted to work with people, not be stuck in an office for the rest of his life. Boy, did he and Dad have some bang-up fights.” Paul shook his head.

“Poor Todd,” Sia said. She well understood what it was like to be at odds with your father, except she thought she still had the chance to make things right.

Assuming her father came home again.

“No wonder Dad’s death hit him so hard and he can’t let go,” Paul said. “And he became a cop, something Dad would have hated. I wonder if he doesn’t feel guilt about that as well.”

“You need to get him to talk, Paul. Keeping it all welled up inside him isn’t going to help him at all.”

Paul ordered his lunch and went to sit by himself at a table, obviously needing time to think. Sia was then caught up with the lunch rush and didn’t see what time Paul left.

After lunch, things quietened down. It was mostly people at the pokies, and a few making bets and watching the horse racing. As the afternoon waned, it started to pick up again. The place filled up with afternoon bowlers, workmen coming in after a long day and townsfolk meeting up for an early dinner.

A little after six, with just an hour to go on her shift, the hum of noise in the club was broken by a loud shout from the doorway.

“Hello, Oberon bowlers, I’m back!”

The crowd parted and she watched her father stumble in, swaying from side to side. It was clear the club wasn’t the first stop he’d made on his return to Oberon from where ever he’d been.

Frank Collins was a short, slender man whose brown eyes, thick hair and square jaw still hinted at the handsomeness that had once been his. A handsomeness that was now ruined by his swollen, red nose, the grey bristle of days without shaving and his unkempt clothes.

Behind him came Bubba, one of his oldest friends. Bubba caught Sia’s eye and twisted his lips and she understood the unspoken message — Bubba had found him and brought him home. This wasn’t Frank’s idea.

Frank wobbled up to the bar, studiously avoiding the spot where Sia stood and thumped his hand down onto the wooden surface. “Barkeep. A drink, my good man.”

Ken, who’d started work at four, stepped forward. The staff generally tried to keep Sia from having to deal with her father — not just for her sake, but also for the reputation of the place.

“How are you, Frank?” Ken made a show of polishing the beer taps.

“Thirsty, my boy. I’ll have a schooner of your finest ale.”

“I think a coke might be a better idea.” Ken started to pour the drink.

“I want a beer.”

“Frank, you know the rules. You want a beer in this place, you come in here sober.”

Frank mumbled, but he was too experienced a drinker to try fighting the decree. He took his coke and jerked his head in Sia’s direction, the silent command to charge her. Then he swayed his way across the room to sit at a table with a group of old men, without spilling a drop.

“It’s cool,” Ken said. “On the house.”

Bubba leant on the bar next to Sia. “What set him off this time?” he murmured.

Sia thought and sighed. “The invites for my art opening.”

“Ya gotta do something, princess. Letting him get away with this shit ain’t good for you.”

Sia patted Bubba’s arm. She couldn’t remember a time when his gentle presence wasn’t a factor in her life. He was a huge man, tattooed, often dressed in the leathers and plaid that were the uniform of a bikie. Most people were terrified of him but Sia considered him one of the best men to ever live.

“Thanks for bringing him back,” she said.

“I’ll let him have that drink then take him home,” Bubba said. “He refused to go without dropping in. Nearly jumped out of the fucking car at the lights.”

“No, it’s fine,” Sia said. “I finish at seven, I’ll take him home.”

When her shift was over, Sia grabbed her purse and went over to fetch her father. Her heart sank as she approached — while he’d never cause management an ounce of trouble, he wouldn’t hesitate to slam all over her.

“And here she is, the disappointment of my heart, my ungrateful daughter.” Frank’s lips pulled back from his yellow teeth. “Come to pretend she cares by taking me home and cooking me dinner. A big steak, if I know her. Trying to buy her way back into my affections, after what she did to me.”

Sia’s back tightened and her jaw clenched. She hated these public encounters. “That’s right. A big, juicy steak. So let’s go pick up the kids and head home.”

“I think I’ll stay here with my friends.” Frank hit the back of the man next to him, who frowned. “Have some fun.”

“I think management are going to ask you to move on soon anyway, Dad. Come home.”

Thankfully, the other drinkers concurred and so, mumbling, Frank got up and swayed his way towards the door. A couple of times, he looked like he was about to fall and Sia wanted to reach for him, but the knowledge she’d be batted away stopped her.

The drive to Mary’s proved quiet — Frank was asleep before they were out of the car park. Brock and Ebonny always went to Mary’s after school on the days Sia worked and they had already been fed and bathed.

They were excited to see their father again, but Frank was snoring heavily and so Sia kept them quiet on the drive back home.

The weatherboard was a comfortable, three bedroom home that was situated within walking distance of the main street, the primary school and the preschool. Sia took Brock and Ebonny inside and put them in bed, Brock reading to his little sister, before she went to wake Frank up.

She knew how to react and so swung out of range of the swinging hand as Frank woke with a snort.

“Where are we?” he mumbled.

“Home. The kids are ready to go to sleep. Do you want to go say goodnight while I get dinner started?”

“A steak.” He scrambled out of the car. “You promised me a steak.”

Sia always kept steak in the freezer — it was her father’s preferred meal after a bender. By the time he read to the little ones and put them to bed, she’d defrosted the meat and was grilling it while potatoes, peas and broccoli bubbled on the stove.

She made up a salad, with tuna, for herself.

Frank sat down at the table. “Get me a beer.”

Sia fetched him one, then served the meal. They sat in silence, eating.

Sienna arrived home at eight and she was greeted with a wide smile.

“Here’s my beautiful girl.” Frank stood. “Come give your dad a hug.”

“Hi, Daddy.” Sienna gave him a quick squeeze. “Geeze, you stink.”

Frank laughed. “All right, all right, I get the message. I’ll go have a shower, after we can sit and have a natter. Catch up on what’s been happening while I’ve been busy.”

He staggered out of the kitchen. Sienna looked Sia up and down and nodded. “Well, at least he hasn’t hit you this time. That’s an improvement.”

“The night is still young,” Sia said.

Thankfully, Sienna’s prediction turned out to be right. The long, hot shower warmed Frank up a great deal. He came back out and joined his two daughters on the couch,
watching repeats of
Spicks and Specks
. Frank had always been interested in music and with his brain cleared up a little by the water, he answered most questions correctly and those he didn’t, the excuses he came up with were hilarious.

It was like when they were young — she and Sienna wiping tears of laughter from their eyes while Frank took whatever show they were watching and turned it into high comedy.

When it was done, Frank stood and kissed Sienna on the forehead. “Get to sleep, smarty pants,” he said with a warm smile. “I want my brilliant little girl to cream then all at that university and show everyone just what a Collins can be.”

Without looking at Sia, he went to bed. Sia told herself she didn’t mind that she didn’t get a goodnight kiss.

That was how it used to be. Sienna was ‘smarty pants’. She was ‘princess’. They’d both get a kiss, a hug, get tucked into bed and she’d go to sleep every night knowing she was the most loved girl in the world.

What irony that the act of trying to save her father had caused that love to end.

But it would be back one day. She had to believe it.

Two days after his second and third encounters with Sia, Todd was grumpy, irritable, but at least he had one idea. He might not be able to deal with the thought Sia had planted in his head — that he was more mad at himself than he was at her — but he had this decided on: Sia wasn’t going to be able to calmly trip up and down the hill whenever she felt like it. He was perfectly within his rights to demand the fence get fixed.

The damaged fence not only affected his mother and Sia’s property, but the place next door to hers. It being a Saturday, he decided to take a punt that the neighbour would be home. So after lunch he drove around to call on the owner.

He knocked on the door and was stunned when it was opened by a familiar face.

“Charles Lee?”

“Todd Lansing.” Charles stuck out his hand and they shook vigorously. “Well, hello to you. Finally dragged your lazy arse back to help your brother, did you?”

“Lazy arse. Right. Still sitting at that desk of yours nine to five, Mr Accountant?”

Charles grinned. “Someone’s gotta keep people financial so they can afford their taxes, oh scion of the public purse.”

Todd shook his head. It had been a few years since he’d seen his childhood friend but already, they were taking up where they left off.

“So, to what do I owe the pleasure of a visitor from the mansion on a Saturday morning?”

“I want to get some stuff sorted for Mum, and top of the list is the fence,” Todd said.

“Brilliant. We’ve been trying to talk your mother into it for months, but she won’t budge. Likes people having easy access to the house, but I for one am sick of having to rig up stuff to try to keep the dog in and failing and Mary-Elizabeth can’t let the kids out free in the yard.”

Todd frowned. “Mary-Elizabeth? Your old girlfriend?”

“Yeah. In a funny twist of fate, it’s ended up that we’re neighbours. She’s married now, two kids with a third on the way. Come on, we’ll go over. She’d love to catch up with you.”

Todd followed Charles next door, wondering what the connection between Mary-Elizabeth and Sia was.

Whereas Charles’s home had been built across the block and thus was relatively flat, Mary-Elizabeth’s had been built lengthways, so there was a garage and glass doors to a flat under the main house.

Curtains were drawn over the glass doors, so he couldn’t see what was in there. Was it a flat? Did Sia rent it from Mary-Elizabeth?

“Hello.” Charles called as he walked up the stairs to the front door. “Mary?”

The door opened and out came a tall, well-rounded woman with a two-year-old on one hip. The child’s leg was pushed down by a large round bump that showed another baby was close to arriving in the world.

“Morning, neighbour.” Mary gave Charles a kiss. “Coffee?”

“And visitor. Remember this ugly mug?” Charles jerked his thumb in Todd’s direction.

Mary’s eyes widened and she gasped. “Todd. You’re back. How wonderful for your mother.” A kiss was planted on Todd’s cheek as well. “She must be so happy.”

“She is. Lovely to see you again, Mary-Elizabeth.”

“Just Mary. The rest is too much of a mouthful. Come, sit.” She waved her free hand at the outdoor setting on the verandah. “I’ll go put the pot on and I may just have something at the bottom of the baking tin.”

“Yay,” Charles said, taking a seat.

Within moments, the country hospitality that Todd had long remembered had swung into action and he was sipping a nice cup of coffee and looking over a large plate of chocolate chip cookies and apple cake.

“So what brings you down the hill?” Mary said as she juggled her toddler on her small lap and cut the cake.

“Todd wants to do something about the fence,” Charles said, hoeing into the cookies.

“Thank goodness. Your mother is a darling, Todd, but both Charles and I need a secure yard. What are you thinking, that we split the costs? I’ve got a couple of quotes we can look at.”

Todd was surprised it was all happening so easily. “That sounds good.”

“We’d already worked out a plan,” Mary said. “Here, Charles, take Amber and I’ll go get it.” She thrust the toddler at Charles and waddled back into the house.

Charles settled Amber on his knee and started to feed the little girl cookie crumbs. Mary wasn’t long, soon coming out with sheaves of paper.

Todd looked them over. All the paper work was done and the two of them had even calculated that his mother paid less than them; they were looking after the old lady.

There was a name missing from the list. If she was just renting, then she wouldn’t necessarily be mentioned but he wanted to know.

“I don’t see Sia Collins’ name here.”

“Ah, yes,” Mary said. She was sipping on herbal tea and rubbing her belly. “Sia tried to put money in for it but Jim and I said no. Jim’s my husband.”

“So she does live here. I thought so.”

“No, she doesn’t.” Todd frowned. “Sia’s studio is here, but she lives with her father and her siblings.”