‘Christmas lunch is ready. Will you join us? I really think you should eat something.’
At the mention of food, Claire’s stomach growled loudly. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten. She certainly hadn’t had anything at the wedding. The memory of helping Scotty plan the menu with Toby Watts suddenly filled her mind; she quickly shook it away. She had felt so close to Scotty that day, but it was make-believe. It was all make-believe.
‘Actually, I’m starving,’ Claire said. ‘I’ll just have a quick shower. I shudder to think what kind of state my feet are in. Apologies in advance if these sheets are covered in road grime.’
Vanessa smiled. ‘Don’t worry about it, honey. It will all come out in the wash.’
Claire went to the bathroom and stood under the stream of hot water until it ran cold. She was physically clean, but her heart and soul still felt stained, sullied by lies and grief.
She wanted to crawl back into her pyjamas, but forced herself to brush her hair and put on a red 1950s-style sundress she’d brought specifically for Christmas Day. She even added a slick of red lipstick.
I choose me. That was what she’d told Scotty the night before, the moment before she had walked out of his life. It was time she started acting like it.
Claire went to the back patio and her heart swelled at the sight of the gorgeous Christmas table Vanessa had prepared. There was holly and tinsel, candles and Christmas crackers. Her napkin was secured with a twist of twine and a candy cane. She had dragged the Christmas tree from the hall to the garden, beautifully wrapped gifts stacked beneath it. Silver bells hung from the branches of the fig trees, tinkling in the gentle breeze.
‘Aunty Vee, this looks amazing,’ Claire said as she took her seat next to Gus.
Vanessa flushed with pride. ‘Well, it’s not every year we get to share Christmas with you,’ she said warmly.
It was just the kind of Christmas celebration Claire had hoped for when she had decided to come back to Bindy for the first time in so many years. But she had figured it would be a happy occasion. She hadn’t banked on the anchor of sadness she was now dragging around with her.
Vanessa gestured for Claire to hand her plate over and when she did her aunt piled it high with cold meats, prawns and an array of salads. Her family had never done the traditional turkey dinner on Christmas Day. It was always too hot in Bindallarah for such a heavy meal.
‘So,’ Gus said as Claire lifted a heaped forkful to her mouth. ‘Scotty was here this morning.’
Claire just about choked on her food.
‘Gus!’ Vanessa said sharply. ‘What did I tell you?’
Gus shrugged. ‘What? I thought Claire would want to know. Sorry,’ she said, not sounding remorseful in the slightest.
Claire coughed violently and reached for her wineglass. After three deep gulps of chilled chardonnay, she managed to regain some semblance of composure. She knew they would want to talk about it. Everyone in Bindallarah would be talking about it. This was a scandal of epic proportions – it would be discussed and dissected for years to come.
‘We don’t have to talk about it,’ Vanessa said, shooting her daughter a murderous glare. ‘Not today. Not until you’re ready.’
‘It’s okay,’ Claire spluttered eventually. ‘We might as well get it out of the way.’
‘Well, he looked like hell,’ Gus said. Claire detected a distinct note of satisfaction in her tone.
‘He did?’ She knew she shouldn’t care – Scotty deserved to look every bit as wretched as she felt – but the thought of him suffering still pained her, even after everything he’d done.
‘The sun was barely up and he was knocking at the door, Claire,’ Vanessa said. ‘I don’t think he’d slept at all. He wanted me to wake you, but I sent him on his way. I told him you’d gone back to Sydney and that he’s not to contact you unless it’s to grovel like he’s never grovelled before.’
Claire frowned. ‘Didn’t Scotty go back to Cape Ashe after I left?’
Her aunt appeared stunned by the question. ‘Oh, heavens, no. I don’t know where he went. Everyone left very quickly after Nina’s little display. Poor Mike and Janine looked mortified. Evidently they had no idea it was all a furphy.’
The disapproving way Vanessa said Nina made Claire’s heart ache. Nina didn’t deserve condemnation. She was as much a casualty of the whole debacle as Claire was. All she wanted was a chance to do the work she loved in a place she had come to treasure. Claire didn’t blame her for taking Scotty up on his harebrained offer. She was, after all, the one who made him finally tell the truth.
‘Don’t be too hard on Nina,’ she told her aunt. ‘This really isn’t her fault. I’d hate to think that the community won’t continue to support her.’
She gave her aunt and Gus the broad strokes of Scotty and Nina’s ruse, leaving out the part about it being a ploy to win Claire’s heart. Vanessa pursed her lips, but said nothing more.
Gus, on the other hand, wouldn’t be so easily dissuaded. ‘Oh my God,’ she said. ‘So Scotty did all this for you? That is so romantic.’
Damn her shrewd eighteen-year-old brain. She should have known her cousin would immediately see the subtext. Gus didn’t miss a trick. ‘It is not romantic,’ Claire said. ‘It’s deceitful and manipulative and controlling.’
‘Who cares?’
Claire’s fork hit her plate with a
