Chapter 68
Chapter Sixty-Eight
W hen she stood on the ferry as it pulled away from the old wooden jetty and turned towards the east, memories came flooding back. She tilted her head up and let the wind sweep across her face. Her hair flew in every direction as the cool sea breeze rushed past her. If only the memories of Bob and the past several years could be swept away with the wind. A sailing boat pulled out beside the ferry, its crew of sailors standing and waving as they let out the sails. A gust of wind blew them quickly forward, and she smiled as she watched them working hard to keep the boat on course.
The ferry cut easily through the silky water, the soft hues of a twilight sky reflecting from its surface. Small waves flicked up white foam, and she leaned over as two dolphins raced alongside. As a child, she would have been excited and yelled out to her father to come and have a look. Now, there was nobody to share the moment with. She leaned her chin on her hands, peering out across the bay. It felt good to put water between her and everyone else. Perhaps Rose was right, and the island would give her a fresh start, along with time for her mind to absorb everything that had happened. Perhaps she would find some sort of peace in her troubled soul.
When the shuttle bus dropped her off in front of The Magic Fish , she stood for a long time on the footpath. The sound of the bus faded into the distance, its next drop-off point further along at Amity Point. Stradbroke didn’t seem much different from when she was here as a kid. There were a couple more houses in the street, but The Magic Fish looked the same. The veranda rails and posts of the timber cottage had been painted yellow, a contrast to the timber boards of the exterior front wall. Criss-crossed bracing timbers decorated the wall, and the front door was painted yellow with green trims, exactly as it had been so many years ago. A couple of shrubs grew on either side of the four steps at the front, and majestic weeping paperbark trees grew in a row, just inside the front picket fence.
Breathing deeply, she closed her eyes. There were so many memories —so long ago—and so much had happened since. The front gate creaked as she pushed it open and walked up the path.
The key was under the mat, precisely where she was told it would be. A cleaner had been in, leaving it immaculate. All she had to do was to make herself at home. There was linen and towels, cutlery and plates, and basic furniture for her to use. Rose had passed Chris’s message on to her. ‘Tell her to settle in. I appreciate that someone will be there, and it’s not sitting empty.’
She wouldn’t have accepted the offer, except for the fact that he was overseas and not due back for a couple of months. ‘They’re setting up a factory in California, so he needs to be there to oversee everything, and then stay on to make sure it runs smoothly. He’s away a lot. He’s rich,’ Rose told her.
She didn’t care what or where he was, as long as she didn’t have to face him. At least by the time he came back, she should be on her feet and ready to move on to somewhere else. Where that was, right now she didn’t know.