Matt looked at her and she saw the sheen of tears in his eyes, then surprisingly felt her own well up. “I was such a shit to her, Jules. She didn’t deserve that.”
“No, probably not. But is that why you didn’t move to the States? The fight? Wait, did you move there?”
“No, I didn’t go. I came back here after the fight with Mum and ended up having it out with Kirsten.”
“Well, that sucks. Two massive fights in a row.”
“You have no idea. I haven’t even got to worst part yet,” he said, his tone ominous. “Turned out that Kirsten wasn’t who I thought she was. Well, hang on, she wasn’t like a spy or a crim or anything like that. But she was pregnant.”
“Oh.” Jules’s stomach plummeted. So, this was it, Matt’s big reveal—he was a father.
“Oh no, no! The baby wasn’t mine. Sorry, babe, I should have led with that. Sorry.” He blew out a breath and amid the tumult of her emotions, Jules latched on to the joy of Matt calling her “babe”.
“No, see, she’d arrived in Australia knowing she was expecting. No plan, just running away from her life. She hadn’t told the father—didn’t even give the guy a chance, ’cause they’d broken up by the time she found out. And, so, when she met me, she saw a way out—a nice guy who could give her a good life. She wasn’t even going to tell me. She was just gonna let me think the baby was mine …”
“Oh, Matt. What the hell?”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought too.”
“But how did you find out?”
“Well, after I told her about the fight with Mum, she got the guilts and came clean.”
“Ohhh, right, so, when your mom heard my voice on the phone …”
“She must have heard the accent and thought the worst, yeah.”
“Well, no wonder! I would. God, Matt, I cannot believe that happened to you.” She tried to imagine how someone could be so deceitful, then remembered that Ash had mentioned Matt going through a hard time a while back—talk about an understatement.
“I heard through Monica that Kirsten told the baby’s father when she got back to the States. They’re not together, but they are co-parenting, so at least there’s that.”
“And you made things right with your mom?”
“Yeah, ’course. I mean, that’s what mothers do, isn’t it? Take us at our worst and love us anyway?”
“Mmm,” she murmured, her thoughts returning to her mom. She’d have to schedule some time for them to hang out when she got home. Home. She’d be there in a few days.
Soon she’d be saying goodbye to Matt and Ash, and Dexter. Maybe she’d get a chance to see the others again, maybe not. And with their flight schedules, she’d be missing Chloe by a day, which left her feeling empty—all of it did. But as much as she missed her mom, and her dad and Will, she wasn’t ready to leave yet. She’d fallen a little in love with Australia. She may have been falling a little in love with the hot Aussie winemaker too.
Only, now he was far more than that. He was Matt, the man with warm, gentle eyes, who was quick to laugh—often at his own expense—a loyal and loving friend, affectionate, thoughtful … And yes, smoking hot. He looked just as good fresh out of the shower as he did in a suit or in faded, dusty jeans and a checked shirt.
How was she going to say goodbye to him in just a few days?
Jules inhaled deeply, taking in the tangy citrusy smell of the eucalypts. It reminded her of lemon grass or verbena, and she found it energising. A loud cackle erupted above them, startling her and almost upsetting the hammock again.
“You all right there?” she felt Matt’s gentle laughter against her, but the sound of it was drowned out by the cackle turning into a loud cry, “Ack-ack-ack-ack”.
“I’m okay, but what in the hell is that?”
“Kookaburra.” He pointed and she followed the line of his finger. In a nearby tree there was a large-headed white bird with dark brown wings, its beak open as it emitted its distinctive call. Another kookaburra joined it, swooping in a long, low arc from another tree and perching next to its friend, then adding to the avian chorus.
“I’ve got to see this,” said Jules. She climbed out of the hammock as carefully as she could, leaving Matt in it swinging wildly. “Come on,” she added, stretching her hand out towards him. Matt steadied himself with his good hand, before swinging his legs to the ground and following her as she wandered slowly towards the tree with the kookaburras. She craned her neck and from her new vantage point under the tree, she could see that their brown wings were tipped with an iridescent blue.
“They’re beautiful! Loud, but beautiful.” She laughed as both kookaburras stopped their cackling, cocked their heads, and seemed to peer down at her. Her mouth wide with a grin, she watched them as they watched her with their large eyes. The birdlife in Australia certainly had a lot of personality. She’d thought the magpies were awesome, but the kookaburras were next level.
She felt Matt’s arms slip around her waist, and careful of his bandage, she pressed her hands to his and sank into him. “I like having you here,” he said, his voice soft in her ear.
She breathed out a long, slow breath. “I like being here.” There was no guile, no hesitation in her words, just the truth of knowing that Matt was going to be far more important to her than just a fling and the surprise of not being afraid of that.
But how would they reconcile living so far from each other? It was a prickly, tangled mess of circumstance, especially as both were so close to their families, and after hearing Matt’s horrible story about dodging the Kirsten bullet.
But those were worries for another time. All
