Bronte barely drew breath before turning to Kieran. ‘So Verity’s your mum, is she? She’s so nice. She was clearing out her shed a few weeks ago and she gave me some wire for these little sculptures I’ve been messing around with. I ended up giving her a hand and she let me take a few useful bits and pieces.’
‘Are you an artist?’ Kieran said.
‘Yes. Well –’ Bronte paused as Olivia, who was leaning against Ash’s chair, shifted. ‘Art student. I’m at uni in Canberra.’
‘Cool. What kind of art?’
‘All kinds, I haven’t decided what to focus on yet. But I want to do a big coastal series this term, so I thought this seemed a good place to, you know –’ She made a sweeping gesture. ‘– get inspired.’
Even Kieran caught a flicker in Olivia’s neutral expression that time. Bronte blinked, suddenly self-conscious. She was saved by a call from the kitchen hatch and, not bothering to hide her relief, hurried away.
Olivia glanced sharply at Ash, responding to something Kieran hadn’t caught. ‘What?’ she said.
Ash looked up. ‘Nothing.’
‘I didn’t say a thing to her.’
‘I didn’t say you did, Liv.’
When Olivia didn’t respond, Ash reached out and pulled her closer.
‘Come on. Does she really matter?’ Ash grinned at her until finally she smiled back. ‘Don’t let yourself get wound up.’
‘No. I know.’ Olivia shrugged, a little embarrassed now as she turned to Kieran and Mia. ‘But she is only a student. Same as me. Or if she doesn’t like that, she can say she’s a waitress, same as me. But she’s no more an artist than I am an urban planner. Which I’m not anymore, obviously. I just think it’s disingenuous to go around saying something that’s not the case.’
Mia nodded sympathetically. She put a couple of baby hats on the table and pushed the box aside. ‘There’s nothing at all around here that’s more in your field, Liv?’
‘Not really. I mean, at the firm in Melbourne my specialism was zoning issues for buildings over twelve storeys – for which the demand around here is clearly zero –’
She was right about that, Kieran thought. The tallest building in Evelyn Bay was the former Captain’s Quarters in the old colonial part of town. The heritage-listed sandstone building, now a bed and breakfast, had an upstairs.
‘– but I knew it would be like this,’ Olivia was saying. ‘When I realised I was going to have to move back, I applied to do a Master’s online, so at least that’s something. Try to keep my hand in the industry. For whatever it’s worth.’
She didn’t sound optimistic.
‘How is your mum these days?’ Mia asked.
Olivia shrugged. ‘She’s fine. She’s okay. Happy I’m back. She’d prefer me to be living at home with her, but there’s no way. I’d go crazy in five minutes. Although –’ They could see Bronte now wiping down the outside tables, her hair blowing across her face in the wind. Olivia smiled, attempting to lighten the mood. ‘Frying pan, fire.’
Mia laughed. ‘Is she really that bad?’
‘No, to be fair, she’s not. She’s just –’ Olivia watched as the two young guys shivering in their t-shirts attempted small talk. Bronte smiled and shrugged and continued wiping. ‘– young. I mean, she literally didn’t even know that you have to book hard waste collections. She was dumping all this art stuff next to the wheelie bins and honestly expecting it to disappear. It’s as if –’
She stopped as Ash rested his hand on her waist.
‘She’ll be gone soon,’ he said. ‘How long to go? Three weeks?’
‘Two weeks, five days.’
‘There you go. Keep your eye on the prize.’ He grinned. ‘You’ll be back to walking around the house naked before you know it. You’ll love it.’
‘I’ll love not having to chase up her share of whatever bill she owes me. Oh –’ Olivia looked across the dining area. ‘Hang on, I’d better see to that.’
The t-shirt boys, their arms only the faintest shade of blue, had admitted defeat and come inside to pay. Kieran watched with interest as Ash’s eyes followed Olivia all the way to the cash register. He had never known Ash and Olivia as a couple. They weren’t quite how he would have imagined, but then he’d never really imagined them together. Ash almost certainly had, though. Kieran would be surprised if the idea of being with Liv Birch hadn’t crossed the minds of most blokes in town at one time or another.
As he reached for his drink, Kieran felt it before he saw it. The prickling sensation of being under scrutiny. He didn’t move his head, instead sliding his gaze slowly around the room. It took him a second to locate the source, but when he did, it was with a sinking feeling.
The boy – man, really, these days – was standing behind the kitchen hatch. He was broad-shouldered and wearing a grease-stained apron and an expression that made Kieran wish he were anywhere else.
From the guy’s size and stance he could have been in his mid-twenties, but Kieran knew for a fact he was nineteen. He was wearing a nametag too small to read, but Kieran didn’t need it anyway. Liam Gilroy.
Kieran took a breath, then another, and forced himself to make eye contact. Liam immediately pretended to be looking past him, then turned back to his grill. Kieran waited for a feeling of relief, but none came. There would be no real trouble, he knew, there never was, but the room suddenly felt stifling. Kieran checked if Mia had noticed the exchange, but she was absorbed in picking a loose thread off one of the hats without unravelling the whole row of stitches. He stood, a little too quickly, and his chair squealed against the floor.
‘Back in a minute.’
Ash and Mia immediately looked up, both flashing an identical don’t leave me plea with their eyes. They got along fine in wider company, but struggled with small talk one on one, Kieran knew. Still, that
