‘You are?’ She felt her palms grow clammy.
He didn’t sound surprised to see her in Bindallarah. Word of her arrival had definitely reached him, then. The town’s bush telegraph didn’t miss a beat.
‘I was just over at Vanessa’s place looking for you. Gus said you’d come into town. I tried to get hold of you before I left Sydney.’
She thought of the half-a-dozen missed calls and text messages she’d ignored as she had driven grimly to Bindy on Saturday. ‘Oh, right. Sorry. I was, um . . .’ Claire tried in vain to think of a plausible excuse for ghosting the man mere hours after he’d told her how much her friendship meant to him. Somehow she didn’t think ‘I couldn’t call you back because I was on my way here to stop your wedding’ was going to cut it.
‘Working, right? Yeah, I figured you must have had to do some fast talking to swing the time off.’
Swing the time off? Claire felt flustered, confused. It must have been the sea air. Then the penny dropped.
‘Yes! Because I was supposed to be working right through Christmas,’ she said, making a mental note to keep better track of her lies. ‘That’s right. I had to change some things around, so that I could come here instead. I was going to call you once I’d settled in.’
‘Well, I just want to say thank you,’ Scotty said. He took her hand and her skin burned within his grasp. ‘It means so much to me that you’re here, Claire. I know Bindallarah hasn’t always been the happiest place for you. I get that coming back here is hard for you, but I’m so glad you decided to do it.’
‘I’m glad too,’ she replied. And she meant it. She was glad – glad to reconnect with Vanessa and Gus, glad to feel the silky sand of Bindallarah Beach between her toes, glad to see the town she had once loved thriving, despite what its inhabitants may think of her. But mostly, glad to be with Scotty again. Not with him, she mentally corrected herself. But near him. That was enough.
He cleared his throat. ‘I also, um, I want to apologise. For the way I told you about Nina, about my . . . engagement.’ Scotty’s green-eyed gaze bored into hers, searching for absolution.
‘Scotty, you have nothing to apologise for,’ she said. ‘You’re my friend. I’m happy for you.’ It was kind of the truth. She was happy he’d found love. That was exactly why she had to make him see that rushing into marriage was a mistake. It was because he was her friend that she had to make sure he protected his heart.
He looked uncertain. ‘I shouldn’t have just sprung it on you like that. With our history . . . you deserve better from me.’
Without warning, Claire felt her throat tighten. Tears stung the corners of her eyes. Damn him! It was just like Scotty to be so generous and understanding when she was there with a dark ulterior motive. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, overwhelmed by a sharp yearning to turn back the clock six months, before she’d forced herself back into his life again. She should have just let him be.
You deserve better from me. No. He deserved better than her. He always had.
She opened her eyes. ‘Listen,’ she said, swallowing the hard lump in her throat. ‘What are you doing tonight? Why don’t you come to Vanessa’s place for dinner?’
His face lit up. ‘Really?’
Claire returned his grin. ‘Absolutely. You and Nina. I’d love to meet your one and only.’
Before she pulled out all the stops to prevent Scotty from doing something that she was sure was doomed to failure, she should at least try to get to know the woman who had inspired his impetuousness, she told herself. Deep down, Claire doubted his rush to the altar would ever make sense to her. But maybe if she could see what Scotty saw she’d start to understand why he felt compelled to yoke his life to Nina’s in such a hurry. If there was some way she could abandon her mission in good conscience, she owed it to him to look for it. She didn’t want to cause Scotty any more pain than she already had.
For a split second, Scotty’s smile seemed to falter. ‘Well, of course,’ he said. ‘That’d be great. I know Nina’s keen to meet you, too. I’ve told her all about us.’ He abruptly turned his head and looked out to sea, as if regretting his choice of words.
‘So she knows she was your second choice?’ Claire said, and immediately regretted hers. ‘Sorry, that was meant to be a joke.’
Scotty let go of her hand. She hadn’t realised he was still holding it. ‘No worries,’ he said, not quite sounding like he meant it. He slapped his right hand on his thigh and Tank sprang to his feet. ‘So, see you around seven?’
Claire nodded. With his dog at his heels, Scotty walked away.
CHAPTER FIVE
Claire was still staring at Scotty’s footprints in the sand when Vanessa appeared minutes later and handed her a tall plastic cup.
‘The line at Bindy Brew was ridiculous, and it’s too hot for coffee anyway, so I went to the smoothie bar instead,’ she said. ‘That’s carrot, apple and ginger with organic almond milk.’
‘Bindallarah has a smoothie bar?’ Claire said. ‘This place is more hipster than Sydney.’
Vanessa chuckled. ‘Well, the bakery makes smoothies now. But you’d be surprised how the town has changed. The local council is very pro-development these days. We’ve got a new, young mayor – you remember Alex Jessop?’
Claire’s jaw dropped. ‘Alex Jessop? The meathead captain of the footy team? The guy whose favourite hobbies
