The Vet from Snowy River by Stella Quinn
CHAPTER
27
Vera stood in the corridor willing the tremor in her hands to still. She was dog-tired, embarrassed, and royally pissed off with just about everyone in the world, herself included. She needed a moment to herself.
‘I’m ducking into the restroom,’ she said. ‘Back in a minute.’
The ladies’ restroom was full, so she headed into the parents’ room, hoping there’d be no-one in there so she could pull herself together in private. As she pushed the door in, someone hustled in behind her and swung her around.
She skidded on the heel of her boot and grabbed the nappy change table to steady herself. ‘Aaron. What the hell?’
‘You’re looking good, Vera.’
‘Don’t talk to me.’
‘Vera, honey—’
‘You rat. I have nothing to say to you.’ She took a step to the door.
‘Just hear me out, please.’
‘What could you possibly have to say, Aaron?’
‘Hey, I didn’t bring this charge against you. I’m not the bad guy here.’
‘You dobbed on me, Aaron. You knew I wasn’t using that recording device to entrap Acacia View. I was using it to monitor my aunt, who can’t speak for herself. She has dementia. And you sure as hell were the one who sacked me.’
‘I’m here for you, Vera, don’t you get that? Look, sure, I was a little hasty, but only because I cared for you. I still care for you, Vera. Why won’t you—’
She’d heard enough. Had Aaron always been like this? So self-absorbed that he couldn’t see the damage he’d done?
She turned to leave just as her lawyer bulldozed her way in through the swinging door.
‘Vera, you may be my favourite client,’ her lawyer announced, ‘but I don’t think you’ve understood just how surly I can become when I have to wait for caffeine, so hurry up—Oh! Well, well, what do we have here? The prosecution’s star witness engaging in a little off-court harassment?’
‘Let’s just go,’ she muttered.
‘Can I call you?’ Aaron said. ‘I know you’ve moved away, maybe I could come visit. Talk things through.’
What did he not get about how bitter she might feel about what he’d done? Did he not know? She wanted to scream at him, but beside her, Sue’s chest was swelling up like she was a self-inflating life jacket that had just hit water. ‘There will be no talking, Mr Finch. There will just be the sound of the door closing as you get the hell out of this gender-neutral nappy-changing facility paid for by the taxpayers of Queanbeyan. My client has nothing to say.’
Aaron looked for a moment as though he was going to argue the point, then his shoulders fell and he turned for the door. ‘I know we can get past this, Vee. I just know it.’ And then he was, finally, gone.
‘Drama queen,’ muttered Sue. ‘Thinks he’s auditioning for a role on Home and Away. Who in their right mind ever gets back with the dickhead who ruined their life?’
Vera drew in a shaky breath.
‘Hey, come on, don’t let him get to you. Want to know a little trick I learned my first year as a barrister?’
She breathed in, and out, and let her lawyer prattle on.
‘Whenever some arrogant guy was giving me grief—you know, suggesting I’d like to make him a coffee because I had ovaries and he didn’t, despite my law degree and having worked my arse off to get qualified at the bar, or leering down my blouse like he’d never seen boobs in the workplace before—I’d picture him naked, and work up an equally gendered backstory for him. Like, you know, when he was a small boy playing naked in the garden under the sprinkler, he had an unfortunate incident with the neighbour’s sausage dog.’
Vera closed her eyes. Jokes didn’t help, not today.
Sue tucked her hand into her arm and gave her a squeeze. ‘Come on. Let’s get you out of here. As fun as this is, the smell of yesterday’s stinky baby bums is going to get into my clothing, and you do not want to know how much I paid for this skirt.’ She pushed her way through the swing door and Vera followed her out.
She didn’t want coffee in some grey, city bistro.
She wanted mountain air. She wanted a quiet moment in the chair by her window with a fat grey cat on her lap.
She wanted to go home.