‘When, Mum? When can I see him?’
‘You can write your letter as soon as you want, Sammy,’ Ella said, ‘and I’ll write mine. It might take us a bit of time to dig out your old photographs. I don’t have a lot of them printed, they’re all on my computer so I need to find them and print them, and some of them are packed in boxes still up in Erik’s shed in Perth.’
Sam’s face darkened as Ella dropped obstacles in his path like stones.
‘But I’ll do it, Sam, okay? That’s a pinkie promise. And I know I might not have told you the whole truth, but I promise from now I always will about your dad, okay? Erik will too, and Jake’s here as a grown-up to hear us say it. Okay?’
‘And we love you, Sammy,’ Erik said gruffly.
Jake’s heart went out to the man. How hard must it be to be Sam’s dad, but not his dad? The love Erik Brecker had for Ella and her son was all over his face, all through the man’s bear-like body, curved protectively into the table as if he could shield them both.
Ella raised Sam’s hand in hers, and finally it looked like Sam wouldn’t let go. Above Ella and Sam’s arms, Erik met Jake’s gaze and Jake felt something pass between them, solemn and strong.
If this were a relay, he’d just been handed the baton. Or whatever they called it in swimming.
CHAPTER
34
When Ella got to work on Monday morning, she’d hoped to get in to see Harvey first thing, but her boss’s door was shut and when Gina said he was in there with Helen Nillson, Ella’s curiosity piqued.
‘What is Helen here for?’ Ella asked Gina.
‘I don’t know. He wasn’t expecting her,’ Gina said, fingers flying across the keyboard as she did her normal ten things at once.
Ella glanced towards the frosted glass of Harvey’s wall. Shadow figures moved behind it, Harvey at his seat and Helen in the guest chair. Muted voices told her nothing at all.
‘I hope I haven’t done something wrong,’ Ella murmured.
‘Now don’t get paranoid. She might be singing your praises, for all you know.’
Doubtful. Praises didn’t often get sung behind closed doors.
‘So what have you got on today? Any exciting deals in the offer?’ Gina asked. ‘Got some work for me?’
‘I wish,’ Ella said, then she lowered her voice. ‘I’ve asked Harvey about your job. You said you might cut your hours and I thought, with some training … I might be able to give it a go?’
Gina stopped typing and put her hand on her pregnant tummy. ‘Harvey hasn’t said anything to me. Has he talked about it with you?’
‘Not formally, but I flagged it with him in an email yesterday and now I need to follow up. I’m obviously not cut out for sales and I’ve got bills to pay and I’m going backwards financially,’ Ella said.
‘What do you mean, you’re not cut out for sales? You really haven’t been at it that long when you think about it.’
‘I’m sure. I need the certainty for Sam. Ever since I took this job he’s been acting up. He says he hates me being in sales.’ Ella leaned across the top of the counter. ‘He ran away from the disco and broke his arm on Saturday night.’
Gina clucked sympathetically, and Ella told her more about where they’d found Sam under the Chalk Hill bridge. She didn’t finish the story, though, because Harvey’s office door opened and Helen Nillson stepped out.
‘Thanks, Harve. I’ll be in touch when I hear what he says. It’s very exciting,’ Helen said.
Hear what who says? Ella wondered. What’s exciting?
Helen’s face creased in smiles when she spotted Ella in the front office, and Ella’s fears that Helen might have had cause to complain about her performance faded.
‘Mick said you haven’t called him, Ella?’ Helen said, lingering near the bell Ella had only ever rung once. ‘Do you remember I told you that he needed six weeks to clean up his place, but that he wanted to talk with you about putting it on the market? He’s got himself ready a bit earlier than he expected I think. You should give him a call.’
A told-you-so expression crossed Gina’s face, but she didn’t say anything.
‘He’d like to hear from you. I’m pretty sure he said they’d put in new carpet and redone the front lawn,’ Helen said. Then for Gina’s benefit, she added, ‘Mick and his family are going to move to Rockingham when I find a place up there to move into, now Ella sold my old house.’
‘We’ll get in touch with Mick,’ Ella promised. She should have called him earlier, even if Helen said he needed six weeks. Her mind had obviously been on other things. Jake. The pool project. Sam.
‘We?’ Helen queried.
‘Me. We.’ Ella waved her hand more broadly, because even then she knew she’d have to pass the listing on to Bob, or Harvey. She wouldn’t be able to take on Gina’s administration job and still sell land and houses. That couldn’t work. ‘The whole of Begg & Robertson will be behind him, I mean.’
‘Lovely. Well, do that. He’s looking forward to hearing from you. He would have called you but we all know how busy you are with the pool. Not long now, hey? The big opening is only a few weeks away!’
Helen beamed at Ella and Gina, and pushed her way through the office door. Ella saw her chatting with a lady outside the bakery.
‘I’m going in,’ Ella said to Gina, indicating Harvey’s office. ‘Wish me luck.’
‘Good luck,’ Gina said, and the clack of her keyboard kept beat with Ella’s heels as she walked away.
Ella knocked on Harvey’s door. ‘Got a second?’
‘For you, of course,’ Harvey said. ‘Good timing, actually, there’s something I want to talk with you about.’
Ella sat. She didn’t shut the office door because Bob was out, and Gina already knew what she wanted to talk to
