Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Cabarita Beach
A kookaburra laughed in the gum tree behind the Waratah Inn.
Another replied, and within minutes, an entire family of kookaburras had set up a chorus.
The sun had set behind the inn, but there were still several shafts of golden and purple light shooting across the clear sky overhead.
Bindi sat on the back steps looking out over the swimming pool, and beyond that, Nan’s kitchen garden.
The water in the pool was still for once.
Miraculously, there were no guests splashing and none swimming laps.
There was a lull for now, although she knew it wouldn’t last long.
A mosquito landed on her arm, and she slapped it away, then grimaced at the headache that thudded along the front of her skull.
She’d drunk too much the previous evening when she’d been out in Surfer’s Paradise again with her new friends.
It felt like she was coming down with a cold as well.
Her throat was on fire, and her eyes dry and sore.
Her new mobile phone dinged on the floor beside her, and she picked it up to look at the small screen. There was a message from Brett.
Want to go out again tonight?
She hadn’t been sure she’d even get use out of a mobile phone, but several of her new friends had them and had convinced her to get one.
Her phone was solid and rectangular. It was awkward to carry around, so most of the time it stayed in her purse or on the desk when she was working.
She considered his invitation. With the way she felt, the last thing she wanted to do was go out to another club and drink, or dance to the heavy music that reverberated through her chest and left her ears ringing for the rest of the night while she lay awake in bed trying desperately to fall asleep.
Besides, he’d become even more familiar and flirtatious with her each time they hung out together.
She started tapping on the tiny numbered keys—three pushes for the first letter, two presses for the next. It was an exercise in patience and frustrated her no end when she made a mistake.
She pressed his number into the keyboard to call him instead.
“Hey,” he said. “Did you get my message?”
She smiled in spite of herself. “Yeah, I did. Thanks for inviting me, but I’m going to take a rain check tonight. I’m a bit under the weather.”
“Did you just use two weather-related metaphors in the space of thirty seconds?” he asked with a chuckle. “What happened to Channel Four’s most promising upcoming journalist?”
They chatted for a few more minutes, but she managed to convince him she’d go out again another time.
When she hung up, a sound at the end of the verandah caught her attention—scratching and tapping.
She startled and glanced up to see Cocoa the possum wobbling along the handrail of the verandah towards her.
“There you are,” Bindi said, pulling a piece of apple from her pocket. She’d stashed it there earlier in case the possum showed up. Cocoa had been missing since Kate had the baby, and they’d begun to question where she might be.
The possum climbed down to the floor, her tail curling around the supporting beam as she went to hold her steady.
Then she put both front paws up on Bindi’s arm and reached for the apple.
She held it between her paws and chomped happily.
Bindi stroked her soft fur and the possum’s body arched to meet her hand, tail wrapping lovingly around Bindi’s wrist momentarily.
“We’ve been worried about you. Thought you’d given up on us because Kate wasn’t here. I’m glad you came back from whatever adventure you were having.”
She handed the possum another slice of apple and then stood to her feet. The animal took it and continued eating, munching through the slice of sweet, juicy apple at a rapid pace.
“It’s good to see you.” Bindi bent over to run her hand down the length of the possum’s back.
Part of her wanted to go out with her new friends again tonight.
But another part of her, deep down inside, didn’t trust herself to keep her distance from Brett.
There was something overwhelmingly attractive about the man — he was charismatic, handsome and obviously interested in her.
He’d made that abundantly clear. It was the first time since her wedding that she’d had a man flirt so openly with her and she wasn’t sure exactly how to stop it or if she even wanted to.