“Yeah. Ronnie’s here.”
He moved into view, but didn’t come closer. The contours of his chest were visible through the saturated fabric of his dress shirt. “Yeah, I saw her car.” His feet squelched on the floor tiles as he proceeded towards the hallway.
Not so fun having to park in the driveway, hey, Benny-boy?
“Hey, Ronnie.” He lifted his chin at her before his gaze shifted to me. “I’m just gonna grab a hot shower and change into dry clothes.” He disappeared behind the wall.
“Okay,” I shouted.
Ronnie wheeled the bucket towards the front, mopping away the trail Ben had left in his wake. She traced his steps and I lost sight of her for a minute. Metal clanged against metal and water gushed and gurgled before she reappeared without the cleaning equipment. “Now that you’re all good, I’ll head off.”
“In the middle of a storm?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. It’s not that far.”
“Just wait it out a bit longer.”
“No, it’s going to be like this all night.”
What? “Hand me my phone, please.”
Rolling her eyes, she fished it out of my bag and passed it over. I tapped the screen, opening the Bureau of Meteorology app. “The radar shows it’s moving pretty quickly. Should be cleared within the hour.”
She propped her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows. “Nope. The storm is intensifying. If I don’t go now, I’ll have to stay the night.”
Okay, I know that look. If I had to bet on the bureau versus Ronnie, I’d pick Ronnie’s predictions every time. “Alrighty, then. Gimme a hug goodbye and don’t forget to text me when you get home.”
I pushed on the cushions in an attempt to sit up, but she shook her head. “No, don’t move. You’re good where you are.” Leaning down awkwardly, she patted me on the shoulder and pressed her cheek to mine. “Merry Christmas. See ya on the flip side.”
Flip side? She’d been saying goodbye to me like that for the last five days—since I’d hit my due date. Whether the flip side was motherhood or not, I didn’t know. I always hoped it was her way of telling me the baby would be here soon. But I was still pregnant, so ... I had an awful feeling the flip side was something more final.
Ronnie straightened, her hand brushing my belly. She froze.All colour drained from her face. She almost could’ve impersonated a sheet of paper. Her throat moved like she had something stuck in her pipe as she whipped her hand away. That dark gaze collided with mine for a fleeting moment and she mouthed, “Bye,” before she practically vanished.
What the hell was that?
I was left blinking at the empty space she’d left for five minutes while I rubbed my belly, more to reassure myself than because the baby was doing gymnastics.
“Hey, babe.” Ben pressed a kiss on my lips. He cupped his hands around my stomach and using them like a megaphone to speak to the baby. “I got you a present today, little man, but you’ve gotta come out to get it.”
“Ooh, what’d ya get?”
“His first rugby ball.” Ben pulled out a fluffy blue and yellow ball from a paper bag. Embroidered on the side it said, I wanna be a Wallaby. “I think it’s a knock-off, but it’s the fluffiest one I could find. I got him a Wally the Wallaby, too. And for you, I got Häagen-Dazs, Caramel Biscuit and Cream Speculoos.”
Saliva pooled in my mouth and I had to swallow. “Oh my God. I love you. You stopped on your way home in a storm to bring me ice cream?”
“Yes, I did.”
“You’re crazy.”
“Possibly.” He crossed his eyes, grinning. “You look exhausted. Why don’t you have a nap before dinner?” I opened my mouth to speak but his finger landed on my lips in a clear shh signal. “And you’ve slept through plenty of storms, so don’t give me that excuse. You know it’s going to be me waking up to the baby. You sleep like the dead. Don’t worry. I’ll teach him how to latch on. You won’t even have to move.”
“I already had a nap, dirty bugger.” I spoke against his finger before kissing it.
My dirty bugger. There were so many reasons why I’d married this man. Why, despite all the signs telling me that it was impossible for us to be together, I never gave up hope. He was mine and I was his. I would never regret a thing that had happened between us, good or bad. It all had to happen the way it did.
Even the near-drowning. And the pain that came after it.
I’d go through it all again for him.
Andrea
Rockhampton, Australia
20th May, 2006
Leaning against the chain-wire fence, I released a sigh. It was Dad’s weekend to have us. That meant at least one day spent at a rugby field. Today, Stewart’s team had a home game. It was now three months into rugby season and I hadn’t spotted Ben at any of the games. But why would I when he would likely be elsewhere playing union? Still, the anticipation of seeing him had my nerves buzzing every weekend.
We went to the same high school, I discovered, but I’d only caught glimpses from afar. Seriously, how had I not found out sooner? Probably because a gaggle of lusting females surrounded him everywhere he went. Ben was in year eleven and I was only in year nine. The seniors didn’t mix with the juniors. It was an unspoken rule, if not encouraged by the school with their separate areas for each level.
I’d seen plenty of Lee, however. Almost too much at the last game when the opposition used his shorts
