‘Shit.’ Jake shook his head.
‘Then she said the ex was back on the scene, and he wanted custody of Keeley. She was renting, but she said if she had a place of her own, it would look better for her in the courts, and stupidly,’ Abe slapped his forehead hard enough to make Jake’s head spin, ‘stupidly, I let her talk me into lending her cash to put down for the deposit. Big fucking deposit. She said the bank wouldn’t give her a mortgage if she didn’t stump up fifty per cent, and it would look better in the court if the property was all in her name.
‘I paid the deposit. I paid the insurance. Then it was rates. I found out later she never even bought the fucking house.’ Abe’s eyes glistened with tears of frustration, rage, loss. ‘So here’s me, right? This is how dumb I am. I bought her a wedding ring before Christmas. I went round to the house I thought she owned—the house I stumped the deposit for—all set to ask her to marry me, and I caught her in bed with some other poor bastard. I’m a fucking cliché.’
‘Did you go to the police?’ Jake asked.
Abe looked away.
‘Abe? Did you go to the police, mate?’
He shuffled his feet.
‘You haven’t gone to the cops. You’re not going to,’ Jake said as realisation sunk in. Abe was too embarrassed. He’d never go to the police, which meant this Amanda chick was gonna get away with it. She already had.
‘I’m chalking it down to experience, and I’m gonna move on,’ Abe said. ‘If we sell Nan’s house I can use that money to clear most of the debt. I’ll sell the businesses and start again. Clean slate.’
Jake tapped Abe’s shoulder. ‘We’ll work it out, mate. We’ll work it out.’
* * *
Ella couldn’t put her finger on why she felt the way she did, driving home from Jake’s. All mixed up inside and not sure if she was angry or sad, just that she didn’t feel good.
It could have all been down to what she’d nearly told Jake. If the kids hadn’t arrived for their lunch then and there, she’d been on the verge of telling Jake about Marshall. The enormity of it crushed her chest. That would make Jake only the fourth person on the planet who knew Erik wasn’t Sam’s father.
It meant she trusted Jake, almost as much as she trusted Erik, and that was huge.
Then, of course, she could be playing drama queen, brought on by the adrenalin rush of the day, or it may have been something far more simple bothering her. Like, maybe she felt on edge because it was so long since she’d driven anywhere with wet hair and wet clothes.
Except that was the only part that felt right: wet clothes and wet hair. The water had felt amazing. The grip she’d got on it as she drove her hand over her head, stretched out, stroked down.
So beautiful. Such freedom and speed.
It had been way too long since she’d been in the water.
‘I still don’t see why I couldn’t have stayed out there, Mum.’
Ella reached the bitumen and picked up speed. No, her edginess wasn’t because of the swim. ‘Jake had his brother there, Sammy. It felt like a good time to go.’
‘But I could have stayed with Ollie. You could have come back and picked me up later.’
‘I can’t be back and forth out to Jake’s like a yo-yo.’ She checked her speed and lifted her foot a little. ‘It’s too far out of town.’
‘Does that Abe guy live far away?’
‘I’m not sure where he lives, Sam. Perth, I think. Maybe up north further, like that town where you and me and Erik went a few years ago.’
‘Broome. We had to take the plane. Broome was a long way away.’
‘Yeah,’ Ella said, distracted. ‘It’s a long way. Australia’s a big country.’
Sam digested that. ‘But you like Jake, don’t you? You kiss him.’
That brought Ella’s attention from the road. ‘I beg your pardon?’
‘I saw you the other night in our yard, and Ollie saw you in the water today. Ollie says you two are in love. Ollie said Jake is your boyfriend and if you got married, he’d be my dad.’
‘He’s not my boyfriend,’ Ella said, almost swerving off the road as Sam’s words rocked her. ‘Jake’s not your dad either, mate, although I know he likes you a whole heck of a lot.’
‘So does that make Erik your boyfriend still?’
Lord, save me from curious boys. ‘Erik is my friend. My best friend.’
‘But not your boyfriend?’
‘Not the way you mean.’ Ella chewed the inside of her lip, and ventured carefully, ‘What would you think if we saw more of Jake, mate?’
‘Like how do you mean? You mean if you go out on a date with him? Ollie said his best friend’s brother has been on a date. They went to a movie.’
Gawd. ‘I like Jake, Sam. It’s important to me that you like him too.’
‘I like him. He’d make a good new dad.’
A new dad?
If she hadn’t been driving, she might have thrown her head back and cried. Her poor confused boy! And that confusion was all her fault. She’d put off telling him about Marshall for too long and if she wasn’t careful now, the entire house of cards would collapse and she’d be blown away.
Sam was getting older. Was he old enough? Could he understand why she’d kept Marshall a secret?
It would be such a relief, wouldn’t it? Such a huge weight off her shoulders to have this all out in the open with Sam; to tell Jake.
‘So, are you two dating like Ollie said?’ Sam asked again.
‘We like each other, mate. Today was a kind of date, I guess. Going out there for lunch and the
