37. Mai
Mai
“I’m sure it’ll settle down in Burra Creek once they're used to you.” The words were out before Mai had thought about them.
Shit.
She hadn’t meant to tell him that. They needed to get to know each other again before she did something daft like tell him she loved him. It had been sixteen years. He would think she was a total lunatic to still feel that way about him.
“I’m sure it will,” Ford said quietly as he got out of the car.
What did that mean?
Mai wanted to call him back, to demand to know if that meant he wanted to stay. But she didn’t. She pushed the desire down, reminded herself that they had a lot to talk about and opened the car door.
Ford had already grabbed her backpack and the Esky out of the back seat, and Mai held her hand out to him, trying to take one off him, but he ignored her and strode toward the house.
“It’s a beautiful evening, we should eat out here.” Ford placed the Esky of food down on the porch.
“The lasagna will need heating. I’ll go and turn the oven on,” Mai said without thinking. It felt so normal to be with Ford and to let herself into his house to use his things.
She hesitated for a moment, her hand on the door handle. Maybe she shouldn’t go in without his permission.
Was she being too familiar?
Maybe he didn’t want her in his space until they got to know each other better again. Although he did insist she stay at his house, so he must want her there.
The door was wrenched open, taking her into the house with it. Mai couldn’t stop herself. She had nothing to hang on to, and she sprawled forward onto the floor. She didn’t even manage to put a hand out to save herself, and she smacked her cheek on the hard floorboards.
“Oh shit, Sie.” Scotty stood above her, his voice full of concern. “I’m so sorry, I heard the car, I came to see who it was.” He bent over to help her up.
Mai rolled onto her back, then sat up, catching her breath as the fall had knocked the wind out of her. She reached up and probed at her right cheek, which was throbbing in time with her erratic heartbeat.
Before Mai could take Scotty’s extended hand, Ford was there, pushing him out of the way.
“Are you okay? Are you injured? Shit, Scotty. What the hell, mate?”
“Sorry, it was an accident, I didn’t realise she was there.”
Mai looked between the two men and hated the fact that Ford was glowering at one of his best friends about something that wasn’t his fault.
“Ford. He didn’t do it on purpose. I was surprised.” She didn’t add that she was thinking about Ford, which led to her surprise when the door was wrenched open.
“Are you alright?” Ford dropped to his knees next to her.
He placed a hand on either side of her face, examining her for injury. Her cheek must already be red, as he immediately honed in on where it hurt and his fingers gently probed her cheekbone.
“Shit,” she winced when he touched a tender spot.
Ford pulled his hand back. “Sorry.”
“That’s okay. Do you guys have some ice?”
“Yeah.” Ford was still staring into her eyes, and she didn’t want to look away, despite being very aware of Scotty hovering over them.
Neither of them moved, and the tension increased until Scotty declared, “I’ll get the ice,” and dashed off to the kitchen.
Mai dragged her eyes away and stared over Ford’s shoulder, watching the gum trees sway in the gentle breeze instead of getting lost in his stormy grey eyes.
“Let’s get you up,” Ford said, then he reached out for her, as if he was going to try and sweep her up into his arms.
“I can stand,” Mai quickly said, and instead of letting him lift her, she used his arm for support and clambered to her feet. Pausing for a moment to stabilise as her head spun a little when she changed position.
Ford must have felt her body sway as he tucked her into his side and led her slowly over to the couch.
He muttered, “Stubborn woman. You should have let me carry you.”
Mai managed a small smile, but didn’t comment that she didn’t think it was a good idea to be carried by him, as just being tucked into his side was causing her heart to race and her mind to swirl with possibilities.
“Do you think you should go to hospital?” Scotty asked as he thrust a tea towel filled with ice at her.
Mai sank gratefully onto the sofa and gave her cheek another prod, wincing again as her fingers connected with tender flesh.
Reaching up, she took the tea towel full of ice and pressed it to her face. “I hope not. I’ll see how it is tonight and give Hel a call in the morning to see if she thinks I should get it x-rayed.”
“You don’t think you need to go tonight?” Ford’s voice betrayed his worry.
Mai tried to give him a reassuring smile, but thought it might have been more of a grimace.
“I can’t feel anything crunching, so even if there’s a small crack, they’re not going to do anything tonight.
I’d much rather have dinner and get some sleep.
I can go tomorrow while I’m at work if I need to. ”
“You’ve got work tomorrow?” Ford said in surprise.
“Yes, Mr Rockstar. I have a normal job and tend to go to work on a weekday.”
Ford chuckled. “Sorry, I’ve never had another job. We’re either touring and working every day. Or we’re flexible and work when we want on new music.”
“The hospital would not like that at all! Although I think they’d love the working all the time thing.”
“You work a lot?” Ford asked.
“It feels like more than full-time sometimes. But I’ll pay off my HECS debt by the end of this year, then I can drop back.” For a moment, Mai had forgotten all the money she now had.
“Um. I think you could probably pay that one off tomorrow.” Ford raised his eyebrow.
“Oh shit. Yeah, it’s still a shock to be a multimillionaire. How do you guys all cope?”
“Well, Ford here is much richer than me and Joel.” Scotty threw himself down into a chair.
“If you had any interest in writing the music, you could be too!” Ford answered back.
“Nah. I told you that day in the kitchen. I’m good at playing drums. I’m great at writing the drum part of a song you guys have already written.
But I’m crap at thinking of new ideas for music.
I’d rather have my free time than be made to sit through writing sessions.
” Scotty took a sip of the beer in his hand.
Then realisation dawned in his eyes. “Do you guys want a beer?” He was on his feet before either of them had a chance to reply.
“Sure.” Mai figured a beer would help dull the pain a little.
Ford lifted an eyebrow. “Is that a good idea?”
Mai gave him a mock glare. “Who’s the doctor here?”
“You are, dear,” he said in a teasing voice, and Mai’s heart skipped a beat. She liked him using terms of endearment on her, even if they were sarcastic. “I’ll take a beer as well,” Ford added.
“Can you put the oven on? I’ve got a lasagne to heat up.”
“Ohhhhh. I love lasagna,” Scotty called back from the kitchen.
Mai calculated in her head. She’d made a big tray as she was planning on taking leftovers to work for lunch, so there was plenty of food. “Are Donnie and Joel home?”
“Yep. Donnie’s in his room doing important manager things, and Joel has gone on a bush walk.” Scotty turned the oven on and strolled back over with a beer for each of them.
“A bush walk? It’s dark,” Mai said.
“Yeah. I dunno what he’s thinking. He appeared with a head torch and said he was going bush for a couple of hours. I think he may have just watched Crocodile Dundee.”
“He’s going to get lost,” Ford said dryly.
“Yup. That’s why I made him share his phone location with me.” Scotty pulled his iPhone out of his pocket and opened the app. “He’s currently about three hundred metres from the house.”
“So if you shout ‘lasagne’ out the door, he’ll hear and head back,” Mai suggested.
“Absolutely. I have no idea why he’s stumbling about in the dark. I’m sure dinner will be enough for him to decide he’s a city boy at heart, and he probably shouldn’t be out there at night.” Scotty took another sip of his beer, shaking his head in judgment at his friend’s idiocy.
“Does he often go bush?” Mai enquired, trying hard to keep a straight face as she imagined the very ‘city’ looking Joel tramping around the bush in his designer clothes.
“Nope. I have no idea where he even found a headtorch.” Scotty chuckled. “He was wearing Gucci loafers.”
Mai snorted with the laughter she had been suppressing at the thought of the guitarist strolling around hunting for kangaroos or koalas. “Um, what now?”
“Yeah. He said they were his walking shoes.”
“He’s an idiot.” Ford rolled his eyes.
“Yup.” Scotty agreed. “I’ll let him wander around in the dark until the food’s ready. Then we can all rip the piss out of him.”
“Sounds good,” Ford said.
Mai watched the easy banter between the bandmates and felt sad that she had missed out on it.
When she had been part of the band, it had always been like that between the four of them.
Gentle teasing when one of them was doing something dumb or bizarre.
She realised she’d missed a lot of humour in her life, having set herself up as an island; everyone around her thought she was serious and didn’t tease her or involve her in their jokes.
The oven behind them beeped that it was up to temperature. Mai began to stand up, but Ford placed a steadying hand on her arm. “I’ll do it.”
He strolled into the kitchen, Mai swivelling in her seat to watch him. He grabbed the Esky and put it up on the counter, unloading all the food they’d packed.
“It was always like this when you two were together,” Scotty said to her quietly.
Mai turned to face the drummer. “What?”
“When you two are together, it’s like no one else exists.” He took a sip of his beer, then used the bottle to gesture between her and Ford.
“That’s not true,” Mai denied.
“Really?” Scotty’s eyebrows rose. “So you didn’t just turn your back on me, so you could keep watching Ford?”
“I…” Mai hesitated for a moment, wanting to deny it, but equally realising it was true.
“We lived with the ghost of you for a long time.” Scotty glanced up to make sure Ford was still occupied.