Banksia Bay

Go back to Raff’s? She couldn’t imagine doing that. But Raff was moving on.

‘It’s a good offer,’ Raff said. ‘Take it or leave it, but do it now. If you accept, then I’ll lock this convicted thief in my patrol car and take him out to Sarah. I may even do it with lights and sirens if it means getting back to court on time. You can take my list and go buy what you need and get back to court on time as well. Or I leave you to it. What’s it to be, Abby?’

‘I …’ She was starting to panic. Go out to Raff’s tonight? To Raff’s? She hadn’t been there since …

‘Unless you have another friend you can call on?’ he suggested, and maybe her emotions were on her face. Definitely her emotions were on her face.

‘All my friends work,’ she wailed.

‘Then it’s Sarah. Tonight, and you will collect him.’ That irrepressible grin emerged again. ‘Hey, you have a dog. What a wedding gift. To you and to Philip, one kleptomaniac dog. Happy wedding.’

He drove out to Sarah with Kleppy beside him and he found the smile inside him growing. Somewhere inside, the Abby he’d once known and loved was still there.

Once upon a time she’d loved him.

That had been years ago. A teenage romance. Yes, they’d felt as if they were truly, madly, deeply, but they were only kids.

At nineteen he’d headed off to Sydney to Police Training College. Abby had been stuck in Banksia Bay until she finished school, and she’d needed a partner for her debutante ball.

He still remembered the arguments. ‘You’re my boyfriend. How can I have anyone else as my partner? Why can’t you come home more often so we can practice?’

And more … ‘You and Ben are totally obsessed with that car. Every time you come home, that’s all you ever think about.’

They were kids. He hadn’t seen her need, and she hadn’t seen his. Philip had been home from university; he’d agreed to partner her for her ball and Raff was given the cold shoulder.

They’d been kids moving on. Changing.

They had changed, he conceded, only just now he’d seen a glimpse that the old Abby was still in there. Feisty and funny and gorgeous.

But still … unforgiving, and who could blame her?

He’d forgiven himself. He didn’t need Abigail Callahan’s forgiveness. He couldn’t need it.

If only she wasn’t adorable.

CHAPTER THREE

THE afternoon was interminable. The case was boring—financial evidence that was as dry as dust.

The courtroom was as dry as dust.

She couldn’t think of a way to tell Philip.

All afternoon she was aware of Raff on the opposite side of the courtroom. He was here this afternoon to present the police case. Thankfully, he wouldn’t be here for the rest of the week. He was called away twice, for which she was also thankful, but he wasn’t called away for long enough.

He was watching her.

He was waiting for her to tell Philip?

He was laughing at her. She knew he was. The man spelled trouble and he’d just got her into more.

Trouble? One small dog, easily contained in a secure backyard. How hard could this be?

So tell Philip.

There was lots of time. The police case went on for most of the afternoon—tedious financial details. She and Philip both knew it back to front. There were gaps while documents were given to the jury. She had time to tell him.

Philip would be civilised about it. He’d never raise his voice to her, especially not in a courtroom. But still …

She couldn’t.

Across the court, Raff still watched her.

Finally the court rose. Raff crossed the courtroom and Abby panicked. Don’t say anything.

‘You guys okay?’ he asked, and anyone who didn’t know him would think it was simply a courtesy question. They wouldn’t see that lurking laughter. Trouble.

‘Why wouldn’t we be?’ Philip demanded, irritated. He disliked Raff—of course he did. He showed no outright aggression—simply cool, professional interaction and nothing more.

‘It’s getting close to your wedding,’ Raff said. ‘No last minute nerves? No last minute hitches?’

‘We need to go,’ Abby said, feeling close to hysterics. ‘I have a meeting with the caterers in half an hour.’

‘I bet there’s lots of stuff you need to do.’ Raff’s voice was sympathy itself. ‘Messy things, weddings.’

‘Not ours,’ Philip snapped. ‘Everything’s under control. Isn’t that right, sweetheart?’

‘I … yes.’ Just go away, Raff. Get out of our lives. ‘Are you coming to the caterers with me, Philip?’

‘I can’t.’ Philip turned a shoulder on Raff, excluding him completely. ‘My dad and my uncles are taking me out to dinner and bowling. A boys only night. I thought I told you.’

He had.

‘That sounds exciting,’ Raff said, mildly interested. ‘Bowling, huh. I guess I won’t be untying you naked from in front of the Country Women’s Association clubrooms at dawn, then.’

‘My friends …’

‘Don’t do wild buck’s nights,’ Raff said approvingly. ‘I guessed that. You’ll probably be home in bed by eight. So you’re alone tonight, Abby? Organising caterers on your lonesome. And anything else you need to do.’

‘Could you please …’ she started and then stopped, the impossibility of asking another favour—asking him to bring Kleppy home—overwhelming her.

‘Nope,’ Raff said. ‘Not if you’re about to ask me anything that involves the wedding. Me and weddings keep far away from each other.’

‘We’re not asking you to be involved,’ Philip snapped. ‘Abby can cope with the caterers herself. Ready to go, sweetheart?’

‘Yes,’ she managed and allowed Philip to usher her out of the court.

She should have told Philip then. She had ten minutes while Philip went over the results of the day, what they needed to do to strengthen their case the next morning, a few wedding details he’d forgotten to cover.

Philip was a man at ease with himself. It was only when Raff was around that he got prickly and maybe … well, that did have to do with their past. Raff had messed with Philip’s life as well as hers.

Philip was a good man. He was looking forward to his wedding. His father and his uncles were taking him out for a pre-wedding night with the boys and he’d enjoy it.

She didn’t want to mess with that until she must, even if it did mean delaying telling him about Kleppy; even if it meant going to Raff’s alone. Maybe it’d be better going alone. Going with Philip. It could make things worse.

‘Come round tonight after bowling,’ she told him, kissing him lightly on the lips. Her fiancé. Her husband in nine days. She loved him.

And if he was a bit dull … He’d had his days of being wild, they all had, before life had taught them that caution was good.

‘We should get a good night’s sleep,’ he said.

‘Yes, but there are things we need to discuss.’ He’d like Kleppy when he saw him, she decided. Kleppy of the limpid eyes, wide and brown and innocent.

She should change his name. To Rover? Rover was a Philipish name for a dog.

But Kleppy suited him.

‘What do we need to discuss?’ he was asking.

Say it.

No. Introduce him to Kleppy as a done deal.

‘Just … caterers and things. I don’t want to make too many decisions on my own.’

He smiled and kissed her and she had to stop herself from thinking dry and dusty. ‘You need to have more self-confidence. Make your own decisions. You’re a big girl now.’

‘I … yes.’

‘Anything you decide is fine by me.’

‘But you will drop by?’

‘I’ll drop by. Night, sweetheart.’ And off he went for his night with the boys. His dad and his uncles. Bowling. Yeeha!

And that was the type of thinking that was getting her into trouble, she decided. So cut it out.

Philip was a lovely man. He was handsome. He was beautifully groomed. They’d had a very nice holiday last year—they’d gone to Italy and Philip had had four suits made there. They were lovely suits. He’d also had two briefcases made—matching ones, magnificent leather, discreetly initialled and fitted out to Philip’s specifications. She’d only been mildly irritated when he’d decreed—for the sake of the briefcases—her surname would be his.

What was the issue, after all? She was to be his wife.

But buying suits and briefcases had taken almost half of their holiday.

Cut it out!

It was just … Raff had unsettled her. This whole day had unsettled her.

‘So go home and organise your house for one small dog, then go organise caterers,’ she told herself. ‘Oh, and pay for Kleppy’s stolen goods. Just do what has to be done, one step at a time.’

And then go out to Raff’s?

Aargh.

She could do this.

She could visit Rafferty Finn.

She could do it. One step at a time.

The rest of the afternoon was full, but Abby and her dog were front and centre of his thoughts. He shouldn’t have offered to bring Kleppy home. Not this afternoon. Not ever.

He didn’t want her coming here.

After dinner, Raff washed and Sarah wiped, while Sarah told him about her day, the highlight of which had been minding Kleppy.

‘He’s a sweetheart,’ his sister told him, her face softening at the thought of the little dog. ‘He’s so cuddly. Why does he love his bra?’

‘He’s a thief. He likes stealing things. He’s a bad dog.’ He found himself smiling at the thought of strait-laced Abigail Callahan having to front up and pay for stolen goods.

Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to keep thinking of Abby. Not like this.

She was Philip’s fiancée. Anything between them was a distant memory. It had to be.

But Sarah was looking doubtful. She looked down at Kleppy, snoozing by the fire, his bra tucked underneath him. ‘He doesn’t look bad. He’s really cute and Abby’s very busy. Are you sure Abby wants him?’

Raff hardened his heart. ‘I’m sure.’

‘And Abby’s coming tonight?’

‘Yes.’

‘Abby’s my friend.’

She was. The tension of the day lessened a little at that. No matter what lay between Raff and Abby, no matter how much she hated seeing him, Abby had always been Sarah’s friend.

They’d all been best friends at the time of the accident. Ben and Raff. Abby and Sarah. Two big brothers, two little sisters. Philip had been in there, too. A gang of five.

But one car crash and friendship had been blown to bits.

In the months that followed, no matter that Abby had loathed Raff so much that seeing him made her cry, she’d stuck by Sarah. She’d visited her in Sydney, despite her parents’ disapproval, taking the train week after week to Sydney Central Hospital and then later to the rehabilitation unit on North Shore.

Back home, Sarah’s friends had fallen away. Acquired brain injury was a hard thing for friends to handle. Sarah was still

Sarah, and yet not. She’d struggled with everything—relearning speaking, walking, the simplest of survival skills.

They’d come so far. She could now almost live independently—almost, but not quite. She had her animals and their little farm Raff kept for her. She worked in the local sheltered workshop three days a week, and twice a week Abby met her after work for drinks.

Drinks being milkshakes. Two friends, catching up on their news.

Raff would pick Sarah up and she’d be happy, bubbly about going out with her friend—but Abby would always have slipped away from the café just before Raff was due. Since the accident, Abby had never come back to their farm. She’d never talked to Raff unless she absolutely must, but she’d never taken that anger out on Sarah.

‘I’m glad Abby’s coming tonight,’ Sarah said simply. ‘And I’m glad she’s getting a dog. Abby’s lonely.’

Lonely? Sarah rarely had insights. This one was startling. ‘No, she’s not. She’s getting married to Philip.’

‘I don’t like Philip,’ Sarah said.

That was unusual, too. Sarah liked everyone. When Philip met her—as of course he did because this wasn’t a big town—he was unfailingly friendly. But still … In the times when Raff had been with her and they’d met Philip, Sarah’s hand had crept to his and she’d clung.

Was that from memories of the accident?

The accident. Don’t go there.

‘There’s nothing wrong with Philip,’ he told Sarah.

‘I want Abby to come,’ Sarah said, wiping her last pot with a fierceness unusual for her. ‘But I don’t want Philip. He makes me scared.’

Scared?

‘The man’s boring,’ Raff said. ‘There’s nothing to be scared about.’

‘I just don’t like him,’ Sarah said and, logical or not, Raff felt exactly the same.

She didn’t want to go.

She must.

She gazed round her little house with a carefully appraising eye. She’d hung her wedding dress in the spare room and she’d packed away everything else she thought a dog might hurt.

She’d bought a dog kennel for outside and a basket for inside.

She’d bought a chain for emergencies but she didn’t intend using it. Her back garden was enclosed with a four-foot brick fence, and she’d checked and rechecked for gaps.

She had dog food, dog shampoo, flea powder, worm pills, a dog brush, padding for his kennel and a book on training your dog. She’d had a quick browse through the book. There was nothing about kleptomania, but confinement would fix that.

She’d take him for a long walk every day. Kleppy might sometimes be lonely, she conceded, but surely loneliness was better than the fate that had been waiting for him.

And if he was lonely … She might sneak him into the office occasionally.

That, though, was for the future. For now, she was ready to fetch him. From Raff.

So fetch him. There’s not a lot of use staring at preparations, she told herself. It’s time to go claim your dog.

It was eight o’clock. Philip’s night out would be over by ten and she had to be back here by then.

Of course she’d be back. Ten minutes drive out. Two minutes to collect Kleppy and say hi to Sarah. Ten minutes back.

Just go.

She hadn’t been out there since …

Just go.

‘When will she be here?’

‘Any time soon.’

He shouldn’t care. He shouldn’t even be here. There was bound to be something cop-like that needed his attention at the station—only that might look like he was running, and Rafferty Finn wasn’t a man who ran.

‘She never comes here.’

‘She likes going to cafés with you too much.’

Sarah giggled, hugging Kleppy close. This place was pretty relaxed for a dog. The screen door stayed permanently open and the dogs wandered in and out at will. The gate to the back garden was closed, but Kleppy seemed content to be hugged by Sarah, to watch television and to occasionally eat popcorn.

Raff watched television, too. Or sort of. It was hard to watch when every sense was tuned to a car arriving.

The Finn place hadn’t changed.

The moon was full but she hardly needed to see. She’d come here so often, to the base of Black Mountain, that she knew every bend. As kids, she and Ben had ridden their bikes here almost every day.

This had been their magic place.

Her parents had disapproved. ‘The Finns,’ her mother had told them over and over, ‘are not our sort of people.’ By that she meant they didn’t fit into her social mould.

Abby and Ben didn’t care.

Old Mrs Finn—everybody called her Gran—had been the family’s stability. Gran’s husband had died long before Abby had known her, and it was rumoured that his death had been a relief, for the town as well as for Gran. After his death, Gran had quietly got on with life. She ran a few sheep, a few pigs, a lot of poultry. Her garden was amazing. She seemed to spend her life in the kitchen and her baking was wonderful.

Abby barely remembered Raff and Sarah’s mother, but there had been disapproving whispers about her as well. She’d run away from home at fifteen, then come home unwed with two small children.

She’d worked in the local supermarket for a time. Abby had vague memories of a silent woman with haunted eyes, with none of the life and laughter of her mother or her children.

She’d died when Abby was about seven. Abby remembered little fuss, just a family who’d got on with it. Gran had taken over her grandchildren’s care. Life had gone on and the Finns were still disapproved of.

Abby and Ben had loved it here. They had always been welcome.

And now? She turned into the drive but her foot eased from the accelerator.

‘You’re always welcome.’ She could remember Gran saying it to her, over and over. She remembered Gran saying it to her after Ben’s death. As if she could come back here …

She had come back. Tonight.

This is only about a dog, she told herself, breathing deeply. Nothing else. The past is gone. There’s no use regretting—no use even thinking about it. Go get your dog from Raff Finn and then get off his land.

Raff never meant …

I know he didn’t, she told herself. Of course he didn’t. Accidents happened and it was only stupidity. Could she forgive stupidity? Ben was dead. Why would she want to?

He saw her stop at the gate. It was after eight—would Philip have finished his wild night out? Would she have him with her?

Maybe that was why they’d stopped. Philip would be doing his utmost to stop her keeping Kleppy.

Would she defy him? She’d need strength if she was going to stay married to Philip. She’d need strength not to be Philip’s doormat.

But the thought of Abby as a doormat made him smile. She’d never been a doormat. Abby Callahan was smart, sexy, sassy—and so much more. Or … she had been.

She’d followed him round like a shadow for years. He and Ben had scoffed at Abby and Sarah, the little sisters. They’d teased them, and had given them such a hard time. They’d loved them both. Until …

Until one stupid night. One stupid moment.

He closed his eyes as he’d done so many times. Searching for a memory.

Summer. Nineteen years old. Home from Police Training College. Ben home from university. They’d spent weekend after weekend tinkering with a car they were trying to restore. Finally they’d got it started, towards dusk on the day they were both due to go back to the city. They were pumped with excitement. Aching to see it go.

They couldn’t take it on the road—it wasn’t registered—but up on Black Mountain, just behind Isaac Abrahams place, there was a cleared firebreak, smoothed for access for fire trucks.

If they could get it out there, they could put it through its paces.

He remembered loading the car on the trailer behind Gran’s ancient truck, Ben’s dad watching them in disapproval. ‘You should be home tonight, Ben. Your mother’s expecting you.’

‘We need to see this working,’ Ben had told him and Mr Callahan had left in a huff.

Sarah was watching them, wistful. ‘Can I come?’

‘There’s not enough room in the truck.’

‘What if Philip brings me?’

‘Sure. Bring Abby.’

‘You know Abby’s mad at you—and she’s not talking to Philip, either.’

But neither Ben nor Raff were interested. They were only interested in getting their car going.

And it worked. Up on the mountain, he remembered Ben driving, yahooing, both of them high as kites. Months of work paying off.

He remembered getting out. Swapping drivers. Thinking it was too dark to be on this track, and it was starting to rain. Plus Ben had to get back to have dinner with his parents.

But Ben saying, ‘We have lights. If I can cope with Mum being fed up, you can cope with a bit of rain. Just do one turn to see for yourself how well she handles.’

Then … nothing. He’d woken in hospital. Concussion. Multiple lacerations. Broken wrist and broken ankle.

All he knew of the accident was what was written in the official reports.

Philip had driven Sarah onto the track to find them. He’d turned off the main road onto the firebreak, and ventured just far enough down the break to reach the crest …

Philip had been the only one uninjured. His recall was perfect, stark and bleak.

Raff had burst over the crest on the wrong side of the road, driving so fast he was almost airborne. Philip had nowhere to go. Both drivers swerved, but not fast enough.

Both cars had ended up in the trees. The rain and the mess from the emergency vehicles had washed the tracks away before the authorities could corroborate Philip’s story. Raff couldn’t be prosecuted—but he had punishment enough. He’d killed his best mate and he’d destroyed his sister. He missed Ben like he’d miss a twin—an aching, gut-destroying loss. He’d lost a part of Sarah that could never be restored.

His grandmother had died six months later.

And Abby?

Facing Abby had been the hardest thing he’d had to do in his life. The first time he’d seen her … she’d looked at him and it was as if he was some sort of black hole where her heart used to be.

‘I’m sorry,’ he’d said and she’d simply turned away. She’d stayed away for ten years.

Her brother was dead and sometimes Raff wished it could have been him.

Which was dumb. Who’d take care of Sarah, then?

Let it go.

Go greet Abby. And Philip?

Abby and Philip. Banksia Bay’s perfect couple.

CHAPTER FOUR

RAFF was waiting on the veranda and Abby felt her breath catch in her throat. She came close to heading straight back down the mountain.

What was it with this man? She was well over her childhood crush. She’d decided today that it was the uniform making him sexy, but he wasn’t wearing a uniform now.

He was in faded jeans and an old T-shirt, stretched a bit tight.

He looked good enough to …

To get away from fast.

He was leaning idly against the veranda post, big, loose-limbed, absurdly good-looking. He was standing with crossed arms, watching her walk towards him. Simply watching.

His eyes said caution.

She didn’t need the message. Caution? She had it in spades.

‘Where’s Kleppy?’ she asked, and she knew she sounded snappy but there wasn’t a thing she could do about it.

‘Phil’s still on his wild night out?’

‘Cut it out, Raff.’

‘Sorry,’ he said. Then he hesitated and his eyes narrowed. ‘Nope. Come to think of it, I’m not sorry. Why are you marrying that stuffed shirt?’

‘Don’t be insulting.’

‘He’s wealthy,’ Raff conceded. ‘Parents own half Banksia Bay. He’s making a nice little income himself. Or a big income. He’s already bought the dream home. He’s starting to look almost as wealthy as Baxter. You guys will be set for life.’

‘Stop it,’ she snapped. ‘Just because he’s a responsible citizen …’

‘I’m responsible now. Maybe even more responsible than you. What have you got on Baxter that I don’t know about?’

‘You think Philip and I would ever do anything illegal?’

‘Maybe not you. Philip, though …’

‘I don’t believe this. Of all the … I could sue. Give me my dog.’

‘Sarah has your dog,’ he said and stood aside, giving her no choice but to enter a house she’d vowed never to set foot in again.

He was standing on the top step of the veranda. He didn’t move.

She would not let him make her feel like this. Like she’d felt as a kid.

But her arm brushed his as she passed him, so slightly that with anyone else she wouldn’t have noticed.

She noticed. Her arm jerked as if she’d been burned. She glowered and stomped past and still he didn’t move.

She pushed the screen door wide and let it bang behind her. She always had. It banged like it always banged and she got the same effect … From the depths of the house came the sound of hysterical barking. She braced.

When she’d been a kid and she’d come here, the Finns’ dog pack would knock her over. She’d loved it. She’d be lying in the hall being licked all over, squirming and wriggling, a tadpole in a dog pond, giggling and giggling until Raff hauled the dogs off.