The Next Season (novella) (3 page)

‘Sure.' She turned away so Shaun couldn't see her face fall—what had she expected him to say? That he hoped
they'd
maybe have a happy ever after in the end too?
Pfft!
The stress of the last few weeks had obviously gotten to her. Or maybe it was simply seeing him again after all these years?

But she'd had her chance with him and she'd walked away, and she didn't believe in regrets any more than she believed in revisiting the past. Most memories were good for a reason—because the passing of time made them into more than they'd ever been in the first place. Despite her tumultuous thoughts, Zoe slid the key into the petrol cap's lock and opened it with ease.

Before she could offer to do it herself, Shaun had lifted the can and begun pouring petrol into the hole. She didn't know how much he'd bought but it looked to be a lot more than she would have been able to afford on her own. That would help. Hopefully she'd have found herself a job and received her first pay cheque before she needed to fill up again.

The question was how to thank him? If she offered to buy him a beer at the pub, she'd have to drink water alongside him as she could only afford the one drink. And there was always the chance he might think she meant the offer like a date.

‘Thanks so much for this, Shaun,' she said, trying to fill the silence that had descended once again. ‘I promise I'll pay you back the moment I can.'

He looked at her as he shook the last few drops of petrol into the tank. ‘There's really no need.' Then he screwed the lid back on the can and straightened up. ‘It was good to see you again.'

That was her cue to agree with him, but she found the words caught in the back of her throat. Did he really mean that? As mortifying as it had been to have him finding her in a petrol drought on the side of the road, and then not being able to afford a fill-up, the idea of saying goodbye so soon literally made her heart ache. It had been nice hearing about his sister, but Zoe wanted to hear about him. Aside from the whole relationship-status thing, she also wanted to know what he'd been doing for the last seven years. She wanted to hear about his work, about the things he'd crafted recently, and what he did in his spare time aside from surfing.

There were so many questions swirling in her head that she felt like some kind of journalist in mad pursuit of an interview.

‘Bye Zoe,' he said again, before she'd found the wherewithal to speak. He tipped his cap in a polite retreat, as if he were a stranger who'd stopped to help. Her heart pounded in her chest. It felt wrong to simply let him walk away when they'd once been close in the most intimate way.

‘I might see you round?' She cringed at the hopeful tone in her voice. Could she sound any more desperate? But after the initial shock of seeing him again… Well, it had been nice to see a familiar face. Right now, she could do with a friend.

He shrugged, barely slowing his steps as he tossed a reply over his shoulder. ‘Maybe. Say hi to Sandee for me.'

‘Will do.' Zoe lifted her hand to wave but it fell to her side before she followed through. He wasn't looking anyway. She stood by her car, frozen, unable to stop herself watching him as he climbed into his ute. The motor roared to life and then he sped off as if he couldn't get away from her fast enough. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised. It may have been seven years since she first left Wildwood Point, but they hadn't exactly parted on good terms. All her fault of course. If he'd recognised her before he approached her car he might not even have stopped to help.

Forcing herself to put thoughts of Shaun Elliot out of her mind—or at least make a damn good attempt—Zoe took a deep breath and hopped back into the Kingswood. She smoothed her hands over the steering wheel. ‘All set to go again, Jemima,' she said as she turned the key in the ignition. The car rumbled to life and she indicated to move back onto the road. She couldn't wait to see Sandee. At least she'd be guaranteed a warm welcome there. It was almost dusk now so she kept a look out for kangaroos as she drove the short distance to Sandee's place on the other side of town. The closer she got, the more she relaxed.

When she turned into the driveway of a house less than two hundred metres from the clear and always sparkling Indian Ocean, the smell of home cooking wafted in through her open window. She moaned. If her nose had it right, that aroma belonged to Sandee's famous chicken schnitzel and she prayed there'd be enough for her. Grabbing only her
handbag from the front seat of the Kingswood, she all but ran up the short drive to the open front door, figuring she could get the rest of her stuff later.

Sounds of
Giggle and Hoot
on the TV in the lounge room mingled with the clinking of knives and forks on plates in the kitchen.

Feeling lighter already, Zoe grinned as she called down the hallway. ‘Anybody home?'

Within seconds she heard chairs scraping, and a child who looked to be about three years old careened out of the kitchen and ran towards the front door. ‘Who you?' the little girl asked, coming to a halt just before she slammed into Zoe.

Before Zoe could answer her golden-haired, freckle-faced, rosy-and-plump-cheeked interrogator, another voice sounded. A voice that was more comforting to her than a warm mug of Milo and an electric blanket on a chilly winter's night.

‘Zoe? Is that you, my darling girl?' As Sandee appeared from the kitchen and came up behind the tiny girl, Zoe's eyes prickled. But she sniffed away her tears because if she started crying now, there was the distinct possibility she wouldn't be able to stop.

‘Sandee,' she said instead, smiling as the only woman who had ever come close to being a mother to her reached out and pulled her into a hug. She sighed as the older woman's arms closed around her and knew that she'd made the right decision to come home.

‘It's so good to see you.' Sandee pulled back slightly and scrutinised her with a loving expression. Zoe predicted her next words before she said them. ‘What have you been eating lately? Rabbit food? Come into the kitchen and let me get a proper meal into that scrawny body. Then we can chat.'

Zoe laughed. Only Sandee could call her scrawny and make her feel special. ‘That sounds just about perfect,' she said and then glanced down at the little girl. ‘Hi, I'm Zoe. What's your name?'

The little girl folded her arms across her chest. ‘Reese. Who are you?'

Sandee chuckled as she stooped down and scooped the child into her arms. ‘Zoe is one of my special girls, like you.' She smiled affectionately at Reese. ‘Now, come and finish your dinner.'

Zoe followed Sandee and Reese down the hallway, glancing at the black and white photos that lined the bright yellow hallway as she went. It was Sandee's Wall of Fame, where she placed a photo of every child that ever came into her life. There'd been hundreds. Some only stayed a couple of nights and some a few years, as Zoe had, but Sandee treated them all as if each were the most important thing on the planet to her. She paused a moment to look at the photo of her, taken at the school swimming carnival only a few weeks after she'd moved to Wildwood Point. Sandee had been the first person who'd ever attended a school event for her, ever made her feel like she was worth barracking for. This had been the first photo she'd smiled in for a very long time and Sandee's place had been the first house to feel like a home. It still felt like that.

When you walked through Sandee's front door, you'd think hers was just a normal, happy family. All the kids wore smiles, were clean, well dressed and obviously well fed, and they enjoyed banter round the dinner table. That was all down to Sandee. She was like a magician. Kids came to her from broken places with sullen faces and damaged hearts and she taught them what love was, and how to believe in themselves again. Zoe had firsthand experience of this, and in her opinion Sandee was the best person in the universe.

Fighting the lump that had formed in the back of her throat at these thoughts, Zoe stepped into the kitchen and glanced around the table to take in the faces of the kids currently under Sandee's care. There were four children of varying ages.

‘Daniel,' Sandee said as she put Reese down on one of the dining seats that sat around the table, ‘can you go get the chair out of my office for Zoe?'

The lanky, tall boy, clearly the oldest, put down his fork and scooted off to the office, returning quickly with a black swivel chair. Sandee made a space for it around the already full table and then handled the introductions.

‘Zoe, I'd like you to meet Daniel, Bailey, Gemma and you've already met Reese.'

‘Hi guys.' Zoe smiled around the table.

The kids looked at Zoe a little suspiciously at first, but when Sandee told them she was one of them they accepted her without question. Although she enjoyed the subsequent chatter and pitched in with the clean up as if she still lived here, she couldn't help her happiness when all the children were finally in bed and she could sit down with Sandee and a glass of wine in the cosy lounge room.

Sandee sighed happily as she sunk down into a pile of brightly coloured zany cushions on one end of the couch. ‘It's unbelievably good to see you.'

Zoe's thoughts were almost identical as she plonked herself down on the other end. ‘You already said that, but… Ditto.' She grinned and then took a sip of the locally produced sauv blanc. Being back in this house made her problems seem light years away.

Comfortable silence reigned for all of ten seconds before Sandra said, ‘Something tells me you don't have a happy reason for coming. When we spoke last you sounded a little down. Has something happened with Jasper?'

That was Sandee all over. She never pressured anyone into spilling their guts, but somehow they always did. Although telling Sandee her woes would be mortifying, keeping it all cooped up inside would send her to the loony bin. She needed to get it off her chest.

‘I've lost everything.' That seemed as good a place to start as any. For the next half hour she shared all the gory details about what had happened with Jasper and confessed her utter financial desperation. Between them, they finished one bottle of wine and started on another.

‘If I don't get a job soon, I could be in serious strife,' Zoe admitted.

‘Oh honey.' Sandee reached out and squeezed her hand and Zoe thanked the Lord she didn't ask how she could have been so stupid. That question had sat heavily on her mind ever since it all went down. ‘You know you can stay here as long as you like. I'll move Daniel out of the single room and put him in with Jax and Mark. We'll get through this.'

‘Thanks.' Zoe guessed she might not be very popular with Daniel, but short of volunteering to sleep on the couch, she didn't have a lot of options. ‘First thing tomorrow I'm heading out to look for some work.'

‘Good for you.'

Zoe's eyes caught on a copy of
The Wildwood Whisperer
lying on the coffee table. Keen to change the subject, she picked it up. She half-heartedly flicked through the pages, not really taking anything in. And then, before she could stop herself she said, in what was meant to be a casual tone, ‘I hear Hannah Elliot is pregnant and getting married?'

Sandee put down her glass and raised her eyebrows. ‘News travels fast. You've barely been back five minutes. Who told you that?'

Zoe swallowed and then confessed. ‘I may have run out of petrol just outside of town and Shaun may have rescued me.' She looked down at her now empty glass and spun it round between her fingers. ‘He told me all about it.'

‘Did he now?' Sandee's eyes bored into Zoe as if they were actual drills. ‘And how did you feel running into Shaun?'

Zoe attempted a nonchalant shrug. ‘Okay. Why?'

Sandee snorted. ‘No one forgets their first love. You were smitten with that boy once.'

‘That was years ago. We've grown up.' Which didn't account for the way her belly quivered at the mention of him.

‘That's good, because I wouldn't want you getting hurt again. Shaun's a changed man since what happened with Melissa and—'

Having been about to remind Sandee that it was
she
who'd hurt Shaun by turning down his proposal of marriage and not the other way around, Zoe's heart slammed into her ribcage at the mention of another woman's name.

‘Who's Melissa?' she demanded, hating her jealous tone but unable to control it.

‘
Oh
.' Sandee put her wine glass down on the coffee table and leaned back on the couch. ‘So, he didn't tell you his story, then?'

Three

Shaun tried to put all thoughts of Zoe from his mind as he parked in front of the soon-to-open Chocolate Dreams Café. Although most of the shops on the main street were closed for the evening, the lights were on inside his sister's new project, and judging by the silhouettes he could see through the window, at least half his family were inside. Fighting the urge to drop his head onto the steering wheel, he looked to Eeyore sitting in the passenger seat and let out an almighty groan.

‘I should have told her,' he said. The dog cocked his head to one side as if he understood. When Zoe had asked him if he was married, he should have told her then. Now all he could think about was her hearing about him and Melissa from someone else and finding out what a drongo he was. Two marriage proposals, two rejections—the statistics spoke for themselves. But one thing was certain; he was never going to make that mistake again.

With these thoughts mulling round his head, the last thing he wanted to do was go inside and talk furniture, but he'd promised Hannah and Matt he'd come by and discuss possible relocation of the mammoth counter they'd commissioned him to make for the café. Knowing his family, if he didn't show, someone would come looking for him to check he was okay.

Hannah and his mum's constant fussing and worrying and cake-baking had been bad enough these last couple of months—it was like they thought him incapable of taking care of himself, which was insulting—but recently his older brothers had gotten in on the act, and that was just plain painful. They kept offering to take him out for him a beer, and then when he accepted they would ask if he was okay and start making obvious hints about him getting back into the game.