Maybe dreams were made to be shared?
He turned to the dogs, considering. It was his responsibility to care for these two. Kennels?
No. He knew where they’d come from. If he and Bailey were to be free…
‘Sorry, guys, but I think tomorrow morning we need to go see Fred.’
Fred the vet.
She’d been away for six weeks. She was loving every minute of it. Sort of.
Number three on her list was cruising the Greek islands. It’d be magic. She’d pinned pictures up on her study wall at home. Whitewashed villas with blue-painted windows. Caiques bobbing at anchor. Greek fishermen stripped to the waist, hauling in their nets. Santorini, Mykonos, the Cyclades islands. It was all before her.
She climbed off the bus at the harbour in Athens. Her boat was due to leave in two hours. Two emotions…
After so much planning, it was impossible not to feel exhilarated as dreams became real.
It was also impossible to block the thought that back home was Nick. Nick and Bailey and Ketchup and Took, learning to live in Banksia Bay without her.
She couldn’t think about them now. She mustn’t. To follow her dreams with regret-what sort of compromise was that? She lifted her back pack and trudged down to the departure point, telling herself firmly to think ahead.
But the boat at anchor wasn’t what she’d expected. In the pamphlets it had been shown as a graceful old schooner, wooden planking, sails, lovely.
The boat before her was huge, white, fibreglass. There were tourists filing up the gangplank already. Many tourists. This was far bigger than she’d imagined.
Her heart sank-but she was getting used to this. Adjusting dreams to fit reality. She would
But still… No sails. So many tourists.
A hand on her shoulder.
‘It’s not the same as your pictures. Maybe we can offer you an alternative?
She almost jumped out of her skin.
She whirled-and he was there.
‘We came to find you,’ Nick said before she could even kick-start her heart. ‘Me and Bailey.’ He smiled down at her, a smile that made her heart stop even trying to kick-start-and he put on the voice of a spruiker, the guys who pushed tourists to change their minds.
‘Madam wishes to sail the Greek islands? On this?’ He gestured contemptuously to the fibreglass cruiser. ‘My
CHAPTER TWELVE
YOU didn’t travel alone for long without learning to avoid spruikers. Misty was very good at saying, ‘No, thank you,’ and walking away without looking back.
But this was some spruiker.
For a start, he wasn’t alone. He was working as one of a pair. For as well as Nick with his heart-stopping smile, there was also Bailey. Bailey wasn’t smiling. He was a little behind his father, gazing up at her as if he wasn’t quite sure he still knew her. Anxious. Pleading? Nick. Bailey.
How to get her heart beating like it should again? She wasn’t sure she could.
‘H…How…?’ she managed. ‘How did…?’
‘Lots of work,’ Nick said. He’d removed his hand from her shoulder. He was no longer touching her. He was just…smiling. If she wanted to back away and head up the gangplank to her cruiser, she still could.
Turn away? A girl would be mad.
‘W…work?’ she managed. ‘You’ve worked to get here?’
‘We just got on an aeroplane,’ Bailey said from behind his father. ‘It was easy.’
‘So no work.’
‘We would have worked if we had to,’ Nick said. Virtuous. ‘To reach you. And I had to make a whole lot of phone calls.’
‘Dad slept on the aeroplane,’ Bailey said.
‘First class, huh,’ she said and somehow she managed a smile.
‘Of course,’ Nick said, and his smile deepened and strengthened, a caress all by itself. ‘If it’s to reach you, then only the best will do.’
‘Nick…’
‘We have your list.’ Bailey was clutching his father’s hand but his eyes were on Misty. Desperately anxious. ‘Dad and I have your list. We want to do it, too. If you let us.’
There was a statement to take a girl’s breath away.
‘I believe I’ve made a mistake,’ Nick said gravely. Around them, passengers were streaming up onto the gangplank. They were having to divert around this couple and child, plus one very large backpack. Misty didn’t notice. ‘I believe I made the biggest mistake of my life. I’m hoping…Bailey and I are hoping…that it’s not too late to fix it.’
She was having trouble breathing. ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she whispered.
‘We mean your list is part of you,’ Nick said, and still he didn’t touch her. He was holding back, leaving her be, outlining the facts and allowing her space to absorb. ‘After you left, Bailey and I read your scrapbooks.’
‘You read…’
‘We hope you don’t mind.’
‘No, but…’
‘But they’re part of who you are,’ he said. ‘Part of the whole. Misty, we tried to love only the part of you that I wanted. That was so dumb it doesn’t bear thinking of. I’m hoping against hope that it’s not too late to let me repair the damage. I’m hoping it’s not too late to tell you that I love all of you, without reservations. That Bailey and I fell in love with Misty the schoolteacher, Misty the dog-lover, Misty the sailor. But we want more. We want Misty the traveller. Misty the adventurer.’ He hesitated. ‘And… And Misty, my wife?’
‘Oh, Nick…’
‘And Misty the mother,’ Bailey piped up from behind. ‘When we talked about this at home…Dad, you said Misty the mother. You said let’s come over here and see if we can make Misty love us. Let’s come over here and see if we can get Misty to teach me how to make scrapbooks. But I’ve already started,’ he said proudly. ‘I have a picture of a motorbike on the first page.’
‘A motorbike,’ Misty said faintly. ‘Aren’t they dangerous?’
‘Yes,’ Bailey said, peeping a smile. ‘And they’re noisy. Like balloons.’
She smiled back. She wasn’t sure how she managed to smile. She believed there were tears slipping down her cheeks.
Tears? Who felt like crying now?
‘We have a tour mapped out,’ Nick said. He reached a hand towards her and then pulled it back again. As if he was afraid to touch-as if she might turn and flee if he did. ‘Santorini, Mykonos, the Cyclades Islands.’
‘They’re the ones on your list but Dad says we can do more,’ Bailey said. ’Cos
‘Quarantine,’ Nick said, his eyes not leaving Misty’s face. ‘We had a friend sail
