Outback Secrets by Rachael Johns

Chapter Nine

‘Rise and shine, sleeping beauty!’

Liam blinked at the sound of Henri’s voice, what felt like mere millimetres from his ear, then opened his eyes properly to see her standing over him.

‘What the hell?’ he groaned, feeling as if he’d had less than two hours’ sleep.

He couldn’t believe he’d actually agreed to letting her sleep over, but he hadn’t been thinking straight. He didn’t seem capable of doing so around Henri. The first night she’d stayed, he’d been only thinking of her welfare, but that should have been the end of it. Instead, he’d not only agreed to pretending to be her boyfriend, but now, it seemed, to basically having her move in with him.

Shit.That had escalated fast. He never planned to have a real girlfriend live with him, never mind a fake one. His heart jack-hammered. Had she woken him because she’d heard him having a nightmare? It had been months since his last one, but he never knew when they were going to creep up on him again. Stressful situations often triggered them. Perhaps the knowledge that she was sleeping only a room away and worrying about her hearing him had actually brought one on?

‘What time is it?’

‘Six thirty,’ she replied, far too chirpily. ‘The early bird catches the worm.’

He let go of the breath he’d been holding, pulled the throw blanket over his head and rolled back into the damn uncomfy couch. ‘I don’t like worms. And I don’t get up before eight. You’re on holidays, aren’t you? We can go surfing later.’

But Henri was persistent. In one hard tug, she yanked the blanket right off and then gasped before dumping it back on top of him. ‘Sorry!’

He was wide awake now and laughed at the shock on her face. ‘You’re lucky I’m wearing underwear. Normally I sleep naked.’

Although she didn’t seem the type to get embarrassed about much, her cheeks turned tomato red and she opened her mouth and closed it a couple of times before she managed, ‘Well, go put some pants on and I’ll make us some coffee, then we can hit the beach.’

‘So that’s why you’ve woken me at this ungodly hour.’

She nodded. ‘We made the date yesterday, remember?’

He gave her a look—he remembered agreeing to lessons, but not to an actual time.

‘Stop being such a sook and get dressed. You can have a nap later if you’re tired, but the waves are the perfect size for a beginner right now.’

‘Are you always this bossy?’ he called as she headed into the kitchen.

‘Are you always this lazy?’ she retorted over her shoulder.

He smiled at her sass. Waking up to a woman in the house was a novelty but flustering her had been an added bonus because he got the feeling not much ruffled Henrietta Forward’s feathers.

Tossing the throw rug aside, Liam picked up the clothes he’d discarded last night and went into his bedroom to find his swim trunks. The bed was so neatly made it almost looked as if it hadn’t been slept in, but he remembered all too well coming upstairs last night. He’d suspected he might find Henri zonked out on the couch, but miraculously she’d taken the bed as he’d told her to. Wanting to check on Sheila, he’d quietly snuck into his room and, thanks to the gentle moonlight spilling in through the gap in his curtains, seen the two of them sleeping peacefully. If he was honest, he’d felt a little jealous. Usually Sheila never left his side, but she’d clearly taken a shine to Henri. Either that or she was keeping an eye on the competition.

Don’t worry, girl, you’re the only female I need in my life.

Despite telling himself this, he’d fought the urge to climb in beside them. If Henri had been surprised to find him in nothing but his underwear, he could only imagine her horror if she’d woken up to find him lying right next to her.

Then, reminding himself that was never gonna happen—sleeping on the couch was too close as it was—Liam went into the bathroom to splash water on his face and brush his teeth. He ran a hand over the rough skin on his jaw and thought about shaving, but immediately rejected the idea. He wasn’t trying to impress Henri; they simply needed to fool everyone else.

‘Sleep well?’ he asked a few minutes later when he found her in the kitchen feeding chunks of Vegemite toast to Sheila, who was supposed to be on a diet.

‘Like a bloody baby. You might just have the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in. Those sheets. Where the hell did you buy them?’

‘Online.’

She swooned. ‘I might never leave.’

He laughed, because they both knew she was joking.

She handed him a coffee and he joined her in another piece of toast before they headed downstairs and over to her bright orange Kombi, which held two surfboards on an old-fashioned roof rack.

‘Are you sure Sheila’s okay to come with us? We could leave her here and I can take her for a walk later,’ he said as Henri opened the door and indicated for the dog to jump up.

‘Yeah, she’ll be right. The bench seat’s vinyl, so it’s easy to clean. Over the years Cecil’s seen much worse than Sheila. Trust me.’

‘How long have you had the van?’ he said, climbing in beside his dog as Henri went around to the driver’s side.

‘Since I was sixteen. Dad bought him for my birthday—he was pretty much a bomb, but we did him up together over the next couple of years.’ She turned the key in the ignition and the engine spluttered a few times before finally coming to life. ‘He’s not the most reliable vehicle, I’ll be honest. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve found myself stranded in the middle of nowhere with van trouble, but Dad also taught me how to fix him and most of the time I can.’

‘Why’s he called Cecil?’

She smiled. ‘Cecil was Dad’s middle name—Mum always used it when she was cross at him—but I thought it suited him more than Fred.’

It was impossible not to hear the love she had for her father and the van they’d restored together. It was impossible to ignore the pang in his chest at the thought of his own father.

‘You guys sound like you had a pretty special relationship.’

‘Yeah.’ She nodded as she reversed out of the parking space. ‘We did.’

As the pub was less than a kilometre from the ocean, there wasn’t much time for small talk, and Sheila, being in an unfamiliar vehicle, was much more excitable than usual, which didn’t help either. She kept trying to climb onto Henri’s lap and Liam spent most of the journey trying to stop her from sticking her tongue in Henri’s ear.

They were both laughing so hard by the time she stopped in the small parking area at the beach that they couldn’t escape the van fast enough. Sheila’s tail started swishing madly the moment she smelled the fresh salty air and although she was a good dog and stayed when told, it was clear she was struggling to be obedient as they unloaded the surfboards.

‘Thanks,’ Liam said as Henri handed him a long board that was thicker than hers.

They started towards the dunes, Sheila bounding happily ahead of them.

Although he came down here every day, the view still took his breath away. He and Henri had joked about Bunyip Bay being like a postcard, but a picture could never do justice to the clear turquoise water currently glistening as it rolled and crashed on the pale yellow sand. Having grown up nowhere near the ocean, he was pretty sure he’d never get sick of it. There was one lone dog walker too far away to recognise, a seagull diving in and out of the water and a couple of fishermen standing patiently with their rods waiting for a bite, but apart from that the beach was empty.

As if reading his mind, Henri said, ‘It’s gorgeous, isn’t it? I’ll be honest, sometimes I love this place more than the people. And just as I thought, the waves are perfect for beginners this morning. Come on.’

Liam struggled to catch up as she jogged a couple of hundred metres up the beach to a spot that had ‘perfect curls’. He wouldn’t have called himself unfit, but Henri was fitter.

‘Besides surfing, do you do any other regular exercise?’ he asked when they finally stopped to dump their things on the sand. Panting hard, Sheila flopped down between them.

Henri shrugged as she ripped her T-shirt over her head, revealing a demure, black one-piece swimsuit that on her perfectly toned body looked anything but demure. It felt like his shorts shrunk two sizes and he quickly averted his gaze while he removed his shirt.

‘I go without surfing for long periods of time, and I don’t stay in one place long enough to join a sports team or anything, but sometimes I’ll do a Pilates class and I run most days.’

That’d do it.

He picked up the board, eager to get into the water before she noticed the bulge in his shorts. ‘Time to hit the waves?’

‘Not so fast, buddy. Beginners start on the sand.’

‘Huh?’

‘You don’t want to become shark bait. Standing and balancing on a board isn’t as easy as it looks. You need to practise on land first. Like this.’

She shimmied out of her shorts, then dropped to the ground and lay flat on the board a couple of seconds before jumping to her feet again. Her lean legs were a thing of beauty as they moved, her breasts jiggled a little with the action. If he didn’t know better, he’d think she was torturing him on purpose.

‘Now your turn.’

Reluctantly, Liam copied the action.

‘Bravo.’ Henri applauded as if he was a little kid in need of positive reinforcement.

He shot her a warning look. ‘Now can we go in the water?’

‘A little more practice first.’

This time she joined him, but he still felt like an idiot jumping up and down on dry land.

‘So … I was thinking,’ Henri said as they leapt about like a pair of bloody Jack-in-the-boxes, ‘we should get to know each other a bit better.’

He almost lost his balance—‘What do you mean?’—and hoped his voice didn’t sound as choked as it felt. Not only was he beginning to second-guess this lesson, but the whole damn farce.

‘Well, just in case Mrs Brady or someone tries to trip us up, we should know each other’s birthdays, favourite foods, pet hates, et cetera.’

‘Okay.’ He relaxed a little. He could do those kinds of things. ‘When’s your birthday?’

‘August third. Yours?’

‘April ninth.’

Her lips twisted upwards. ‘You’re an Aries?’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘You believe that shit?’

‘What do you reckon? But Tilley’s always been obsessed. She still reads her star sign in the paper every morning and always texts me mine as well, so I know the basics.’

He laughed. ‘And how old are you?’

‘Twenty-nine.’

‘You?’

‘Thirty-seven.’

They went on like this for a few minutes, exchanging more basic facts as they practised. Henri was full of surprises. In many ways she came across as a tomboy—although he didn’t think you were supposed to say that anymore—but her favourite colour was purple, she loved country music and indulged in regular spa visits on her day off.

‘Well, well, well, the rumours must be true!’

They both startled at the sound of a male voice and looked up to see Drew and Ruby a few metres away, hand in hand.

‘Hi, guys,’ Liam and Henri said as Sheila got up to go and greet them.

‘Morning,’ said Ruby, stooping to stroke the dog.

‘Eileen was mouthing off in the post office yesterday about you two being together,’ Drew said, ‘but I never know whether to believe anything that old biddy says.’

Ruby shoved her elbow into his side. ‘Drew!’

‘What? It’s true!’

Liam nodded. ‘Usually I’d take anything she says with a grain of salt but yes, this time she’s telling the truth.’ He slipped his hand into Henri’s to emphasise the fact.

‘Anyway,’ Ruby grinned back at them, ‘we better leave you lovebirds to it. Drew’s on the late shift today, so we’re off to Frankie’s for breakfast. Feel free to join us if you want.’

‘Thanks,’ Henri replied, ‘but we’ll be a while here yet.’

‘That went well, I think,’ Liam said as the couple retreated. ‘I don’t think they suspected a thing.’

Henri grinned as she withdrew her hand. ‘I think you’re right. And I also think you’re finally ready for the water.’

‘Hallelujah.’ Strapping the safety tie around his ankle, he scooped up his board and ran towards the ocean before she could change her mind.

They ran into the sea together, yelping as the cool water hit their legs. No matter that he swam here every day, the temperature of the water always surprised him. After having practised popping up onto his board so many times, Liam didn’t expect it to be too much harder on an actual wave, but the first time he attempted it, he didn’t even manage to stand properly before he tumbled ungracefully into the water.

To Henri’s credit, when he resurfaced, she was only slightly smirking. ‘Not bad. Now get back on and try again.’

After a few more false starts—and a number of instructions from Henri about how to stand and where to position his feet—Liam finally managed to stay on for longer than a few seconds and it was one of the most amazing feelings in the world. When he sank down into the water again, he watched Henri glide along a wave until it finally crumbled into nothing. He couldn’t recall ever seeing anything more beautiful.

‘You must miss the water when you’re away,’ he said as she paddled back to meet him.

She ran a hand over her hair, droplets of water tumbling onto her already wet and glistening body. ‘Yes and no. I’m usually so busy I forget how much of a thrill I get surfing. I … I get it from flying instead. It’s lucky the beach is here though because if it wasn’t for this, I might never come back.’

‘You don’t like Bunyip Bay?’

‘It’s not that.’ She gestured around them. ‘What’s not to love? When I’m away I always look forward to coming home—at least I used to—but now, it always feels a little claustrophobic.’

‘How so?’

She held up two fingers. ‘Two words. My family.’

‘You don’t get along with them?’

‘Oh,’ she sighed loudly, ‘it’s not that we don’t get along, not exactly. I love working on the farm with my brothers, but they’re busy with their wives and kids now, and I miss Dad so much. It might sound weird, but when I’m not here, I can kind of imagine that he still is. Every time I walk back into the house, it’s suddenly so obvious that he’s gone, and everything feels weird.’

‘I’m sorry,’ he said, knowing exactly how weird the world could feel without a loved one. ‘I didn’t know him well, but your parents came into the pub at least once a month for dinner and he seemed like a good guy.’

‘He was. The best. Mum and I clash a little sometimes, but he was always the peacekeeper between us. She’s always telling me how I should live my life, right down to how I should dress, whereas Dad was proud of what I did.’

‘I’m sure she’s proud of you.’

Henri humphed. ‘Tilley’s not much better. She tells me off for swearing too much—says it’s not lady-like—and even the boys don’t really treat me as an equal. They all treat me like a baby yet are also constantly on at me about growing up!’

He frowned. ‘I haven’t heard you swear that much.’

‘I’ve been on my best behaviour. Anyway, enough yakking. You’re trying to distract me, aren’t you?’ She raised an eyebrow at him. ‘I saw you catch that last wave. Not bad. But let’s see if you can stay on longer than five seconds this time.’

‘Hey! It was more like ten seconds.’

‘Then prove it,’ she said, turning and paddling towards an incoming wave.

Liam paddled after her, trying to focus on the board and the water rather than the way her arms cut through the blue with the swift precision of a professional. Somehow, he managed to focus and with each attempt, he spent even longer on the board.

‘You might just be a natural,’ Henri shouted to him between waves.

Her praise felt way better than it should.

After almost an hour in the water, their fingers started to shrivel up like prunes and Henri announced, ‘That’s probably enough for one day. Wouldn’t want to tire you out.’

‘Tire me out?’ he scoffed. ‘I’ll have you know it’ll take a lot more than that to tire me out. I have awesome stamina.’

‘Is that right?’ she teased as they walked up the sand towards their gear. ‘I guess I’ll have to take your word for that.’