Chapter 30
Australia
It was dark when I heard a light knock on the door of Creek Cottage later that evening.
I’d seen Daisy getting out of Jono’s truck earlier. He must have been to collect her from the station. I’d stayed out of their way. If either of them wanted to talk to me, they’d know where to find me. Until then, I guessed they needed space to talk.
I opened the door and there he was, a respectful distance from the doorway.
‘Jono?’ My breath caught as my mouth formed his name.
‘I hope I’m not disturbing you?’ His voice was gravelly and gentle and I felt a flush of hope that he was no longer angry with me.
‘You’re not. I’m packing.’ I nodded towards the bed, where my suitcase was open, neat piles of clothes waiting to go in.
‘Ah.’
We smiled at each other. His handsome face was lit by the porchlight, hands slung low on his hips, toe scuffing the dust of the path. I had an urge to put my arms around his neck, press my body to his and kiss him like I’d done before. Did he feel it too? Had the moment passed us by?
‘You got caught in the crossfire today and I’m sorry.’ He shifted his stance, dipping his head, but still holding my eye. ‘I had no right to talk to you the way I did. And I’m sorry Daisy put you in a difficult position. None of it was your fault.’
‘It’s fine, I promise.’ I dismissed his apology. ‘I should have done better. You asked me how I’d feel if it had been my daughter. The answer is, I’d have been hurt too.’
I leaned on the frame of the door, wondering if I should invite him in.
Was he waiting for me to? The studio was small and the only place to sit was the little sofa or my bed.
Either option felt too intimate. I probably shouldn’t.
We might have apologised to each other, but I doubted we would be able to recapture the flirtiness of our previous conversations.
Besides, I was leaving for Sydney in the morning and had booked a cab to take me to the train station after breakfast.
‘I feel such a fool.’ Jono shook his head. ‘I thought she told me everything. But of course she doesn’t. What teenager does? And on top of that, it’s such a blow to the ego to find they don’t need to run everything by you any more to make a decision.’
‘It is a blow,’ I agreed. ‘But it’s also an indication that you’ve done your job as a parent.’
He grinned. ‘You know how to cheer a man up.’
‘I don’t have a relationship with my own mother. And growing up, neither did Bronte. But one year, Mum gave her a pair of vintage boots for her birthday and Bronte loved them. I made sure she messaged her grandmother to say thank you.’
‘My dad drummed it into us to write thank-you letters,’ said Jono, leaning on the other side of the door frame.
‘He drummed rules in and drummed information out, never trusting me, always suspicious that I was up to no good. There was no way I could keep anything private. I wanted to be a different sort of father.’
‘Sounds familiar,’ I said. ‘Anyway, unbeknownst to me, Bronte and my mother started speaking to each other regularly after that. I was hurt when I found out. It felt as if Bronte was siding with her. But the truth was that she was as entitled to have a relationship with her grandmother as I was entitled not to. It didn’t change things between Mum and me, although I think Bronte hoped it would bring us closer. ’
He nodded thoughtfully. ‘That’s the point Daisy and I are at now. She was hiding how much she misses her mum to avoid hurting my feelings.’
‘Things are much more straightforward when people are honest with each other about how they feel,’ I said, looking directly at him.
Jono met my gaze and the words hung between us for a second. He was the one to look away.
‘Andrea and I are going to have to work out something more formal for Daisy. As you can imagine, I’m not thrilled at that prospect.’ He gave me a wry smile. ‘But neither do I want Daisy disappearing off God knows where without telling me.’
‘What happened between you and Andrea is really sad, and you’re fully entitled to be angry at how she behaved.’
‘How she’s still behaving,’ he retorted. ‘Today’s escapade shows she’ll always do what suits her and to hell with everything and everyone else.’
I couldn’t argue with that. Encouraging her daughter to lie to her father, bunk off school and travel alone to a city she didn’t know well was fraught with risk, not least to Daisy.
‘Luckily you can move on from the marriage, start over,’ I said.
‘But Andrea will always be Daisy’s mum, just as you will always be her dad, so she will be in your life whether you like it or not.
Today was a bump in the road you weren’t expecting, but your relationship with Daisy has survived.
If you can protect your own feelings and try not to let Andrea rile you, I’m sure it will get easier. ’
He nodded slowly and laughed softly under his breath. ‘Are you always this wise?’
I laughed too. ‘Yes, actually.’
My hand found the edge of the door ready to close it. The conversation felt like it had come to an end, although I didn’t want to say goodnight.
‘Thanks for coming over,’ I said, breaking the silence. ‘You should never go to bed on an argument – isn’t that the saying?’
He rubbed a weary hand over his face. ‘Crikey, I almost forgot why I came over. I haven’t even got to the point yet. I’ve got something special to show you, if you’re not too busy.’ He nodded to my bare feet. ‘You’ll need your trainers on.’
Two minutes later we were walking away from the winery and towards the forest that lined Ruby Creek’s driveway. It was pitch black and I turned on my phone torch to light my path.
‘You won’t need a torch,’ said Jono, slipping his hand into mine. ‘I know every inch of this place.’
My heart skipped a beat as I looked up at him. This was unexpected. Nicely unexpected.
‘Even the location of the snakes?’ I teased, nonetheless turning it off and pocketing my phone.
I’d seen several snakes since I’d been here and had learned not to scream and run away. But encountering one in the dark was way beyond my comfort zone.
He stamped his feet and led me off the path and into the trees. ‘There. Gone. Trust me.’
‘Obviously, I do,’ I replied. ‘Or I wouldn’t be out at night in the Australian bush without even asking what we’re doing.’
He gave a low rumbly laugh and squeezed my hand gently. ‘That’s one of the things I like about you, Maggie. Nothing fazes you.’
‘I’m not sure that nothing fazes me,’ I countered, loving the gentle ways that he made me feel good about myself. ‘But I’ll take it.’
‘We never really finished our conversation about you staying longer, did we?’ he said.
I sucked in a breath. ‘No. I seem to remember interrupting you by asking for a kiss. Sorry about that,’ I added in a way which implied that I wasn’t sorry at all.
‘Don’t be. A beautiful woman, smart and sexy, wanting to kiss me did wonders for my ego.’
His compliments were making me heat up. Not so much with embarrassment but with desire. When was the last time I’d been told I was sexy? My breath was shaky when I answered him. ‘And not turning me down was a boost to mine.’
‘Then we’re even. But you’ve packed your case, so I guess that’s my answer.’
Was I wrong to be leaving? No, I decided, it was the right thing to do.
As much as I enjoyed flirting with him, he was still in pain about Andrea and not ready to have a relationship with anyone new.
If I stayed there was a real danger of falling in love with this man – and that wouldn’t be the right thing for either of us.
I was ready to love again, I recognised that now.
But there were still places to go, pages of Bronte’s thoughts to read and ultimately new things to add into my life to make sure I would always know moments of joy like this.
Because, I thought – as he led me through the trees, the dry twigs on the forest floor snapping beneath our feet – that was what this was: an intoxicating moment of joy.
‘Yes, I am going to leave,’ I confirmed. ‘I’ve booked two more nights in Sydney from tomorrow and then after that, I shall turn the page in Bronte’s book and find out where she’s sending me next.’
He reached for my hand and brought it to his mouth, grazing his lips against my skin. ‘I hope wherever it is, it’s somewhere that makes you very happy.’
I gave him a sideways glance. ‘It’s worked out that way so far … Oh wow, look at that!’
The velvet darkness of the forest had changed. Suddenly it was filled with golden specks of light, like the sparks from a bonfire glittering in the night.
‘What is it?’ I breathed.
‘Fireflies.’ Jono was so close to me now that I could feel the hairs on his arms brush against my skin.
‘I’ve never seen anything so beautiful,’ I murmured, almost too scared to speak in case I chased them away. ‘Thank you for bringing me here. I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.’
‘I’m glad. Be careful.’ He let go of my hand and put his arm around my waist, steering me around a tree stump and pulling me close.
The fireflies danced and swirled around us as we walked deeper into the forest; it was like walking through gold dust. I waved my fingers through the air, watching as the tiny dots of light darted away like shoals of shimmering fish.
‘Those on the ground are the females.’ Jono pointed them out as we came to a stop. ‘The boys are the ones showing off their moves to attract the best girls.’
‘No change there,’ I mused. ‘So all this is a mating dance? Incredible.’
‘Yep, a light show to find a mate for the night.’ He paused and caught my eye. ‘Unfortunately, they only get one night and then they die.’
‘What?’ I was horrified. ‘That’s the most dramatic one-night stand ever.’
He laughed. ‘I can think of worse ways to go.’
‘I guess,’ I agreed. ‘Although one-night stands have never really appealed to me. I prefer making a deeper connection with someone.’