Outback Secrets by Rachael Johns

Chapter Thirty-two

Sometime just before dawn, Henri managed to fall asleep and didn’t wake till just after nine to the feeling of someone hovering nearby. Suddenly remembering how last night had ended, she opened her eyes, expecting to see Liam, and shrieked at the sight of her sister standing there instead.

‘What the hell are you doing here?’

‘And it’s lovely to see you too.’ Tilley smiled as she held up her crutches. ‘Liam called—he said you needed a lift home. He sent these up with me, because although he might be happy carrying you around like a baby, I’m not breaking my back on your account.’

Her words were clearly meant to be funny, but Henri didn’t laugh. ‘Liam called you to come and get me?’

‘That’s what I said.’

‘And he’s downstairs?’ She wondered if he’d come back into the apartment at all. But surely she’d have woken up if he did? ‘You saw him?’

‘With my own eyes.’ Tilley’s smile dimmed a little as uncertainty crept in.

Henri’s heart deflated. He was obviously okay—he hadn’t drunk himself to oblivion or driven into a ditch; he just didn’t want to see her. His actions made that glaringly clear. It was surprising he hadn’t packed her bag himself. Of course that would mean he’d actually have had to come up here and face her. Instead he’d sent Tilley to come and evict her. What a coward!

She could refuse to leave, stage some kind of protest, but she had more dignity than that.

‘What’s going on? Have you guys had a fight or something?’

Henri couldn’t help snorting bitterly. ‘Can you technically have a fight if you’re not actually in a relationship?’

Whoops. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but the cat was out of the bag now. What did it matter anyway?

‘Hang on.’ Tilley rested the crutches against the bed. ‘I thought … I don’t … you’re not together?’

‘No. That was all a ruse.’

‘Huh?’ She shook her head. ‘Then why are you wearing his shirt and sleeping in his bed?’

Henri sighed. ‘It’s a long story.’

‘I’m listening. Macy’s at Caitlin’s house and I don’t have to be at the shop until lunchtime.’ As if Tilley’s big-sister voice wasn’t insistent enough, she also rose her eyebrows and crossed her arms.

Henri knew there was no point trying to lie and she didn’t have the energy anyway. ‘Can I tell you in the car? I just want to get out of here.’

‘Okay, fine.’

Henri instructed Tilley to collect her things and stuff them all into her overnight bag and in less than two minutes, they were on their way.

Tilley closed the apartment door behind them and they began the walk of shame. Would Liam be downstairs? Would they run into him on their way out? Henri didn’t know if she wanted that or not. While part of her yearned to yell and scream and give him what for—for treating her like she was the kind of pest Phil McDonald dealt with—a much bigger part of her was this close to bursting into tears.

Which was ridiculous and only irritated her further. It had to be the shock and rage combined with pure mortification, because a non-relationship shouldn’t hurt this damn much and she refused to consider that she might be falling in love with him. She didn’t do love any more than she did crying.

Getting down the stairs with her crutches required monumental effort. Twice, she almost tripped. More than once Henri wanted to whack her sister with her crutches, but in the interests of getting out of the pub as fast as possible, she resisted.

Downstairs, there was no sign of Liam. There was no sign of anyone, except for Janet, who was cleaning up in the dining room. Henri prayed her mum’s friend wouldn’t see them, but of course she had no such luck.

‘Henrietta! Matilda! Is that you girls?’ she asked, which had to be the most stupid question because Janet had working eyes last time Henri checked and she was only a few metres away from them.

‘Hi, Janet,’ Tilley slightly raised the hand that was carrying Henri’s overnight bag.

‘What are you two up to?’

Tilley looked to Henri, then back to Janet as if she wasn’t sure what to say.

‘Henri can’t drive because of her ankle,’ Tilley said eventually, ‘and she needs—’

‘I’ve got somewhere to be.’ She was becoming quite the champion of fabricating the truth, although she did need to get the morning after pill. But there was no way she could ask for that at the local pharmacy—for sure someone would overhear and, although it was no secret that she didn’t want kids, she didn’t want her dirty laundry being discussed on the main street.

Imagine if she was pregnant. If Liam had reacted this badly to her request for him to spend a few hours at the farm on Christmas Day, she didn’t dare think about how he’d react if she were actually up the duff.

Not that she’d be at all happy about that either. Though if there were a man she’d consider it for, it would be him. If it meant waking up every day in Liam’s bed, she might even give up flying.

Oh my God.Give up flying? A cold clamminess cramped her chest. Shit! Usually an expert at keeping sex separate from emotion, she’d failed dismally this time.

She’d gone and fallen in love instead.

For the first time since Max, Henri couldn’t help wishing she had a career that didn’t make a relationship impossible to maintain. But it was all a moot point anyway, because she’d gone and fallen in love with a man who was as emotionally unavailable as the wood he crafted into beautiful art.

At first, she’d put his reticence down to the loss of his family—some kind of self-protection against that kind of hurt again, maybe even some kind of survivor guilt. But last night when he spoke about Kate, it became clear there was so much more to it. He was still hung up on her. Probably still in love with her. Henri didn’t buy for a moment his line about her marrying someone else and him moving to Australia being a happy ever after for everyone!

She wished with every last molecule that made her that she could be the woman to heal him and help him move on from the hurts in his past, but he’d made it blatantly clear that he didn’t feel the same way about her, and she wasn’t going to make a fool of herself chasing after something that wasn’t meant to be.

She felt Tilley’s hand against her arm. ‘You okay? You look like you’re about to faint.’

‘I’m fine, it’s just my ankle. Hard being on it too long.’

Tilley nodded. ‘Of course. I’m sorry, Janet, but I’ve got to get Hens to the car.’

Henri was already hobbling towards the door, and despite the crutches, her sister had to walk fast to keep up with her as she headed for the four-wheel drive.

‘What exactly is going on?’ Tilley asked, once the crutches were safely deposited across the back seat and she’d climbed into the driver’s side. ‘You’re acting very weird.’

‘You said you don’t need to be at the shop till lunchtime? Can you take me to Geraldton, please?’

‘Geraldton? Why? Do you need to do some last-minute Christmas shopping or something? We’ve actually got some pretty cool gifts at The Ag Store—I’m trying to expand the business.’

‘No. I don’t need presents. I … I need to get the morning after pill.’

‘Hang on …’ Tilley had just turned the key in the ignition, but instead of reversing like Henri willed her to, she turned and scrutinised her. ‘I thought you said you and Liam weren’t actually together, so how could you possibly need—’

‘Please, just take me and I’ll explain everything on the way.’

‘Fine. But you’re buying me a coffee when we get there, because playing taxi was not what I had in mind for my kid-free morning.’

Henri breathed a sigh of relief; coffee she could do.

‘Time to start explaining, little sister,’ Tilley said when they were two minutes outside of Bunyip Bay and Henri still hadn’t said a word.

‘You know that first night I stayed over at the pub?’

Tilley nodded. ‘Sure, the night we all had dinner and I was trying to get you to come back to my house because I was worried that you’d drive home drunk.’

‘I would never drive home drunk! Just because I’m the youngest, you all treat me like a baby, but I’m not stupid.’

‘Sor-ry,’ Tilley said, sounding more like a teenage girl rather than the almost forty-year-old woman she was.

‘Anyway,’ Henri continued, ‘I did spend the night in Liam’s bed but not for the reason I said later. I was so tired that the drinks went to my head and I passed out on a couch in the pub. I guess Liam found me there when he closed up and he took me upstairs and put me in his bed.’

‘He didn’t take advantage of you when you were drunk?!’

‘No, of course not. Liam would never do anything like that. He slept on his couch and then made me breakfast the next morning. That would probably have been it, if I didn’t run into Eileen Brady at the IGA afterwards.’

Henri explained everything—how the town busybody had started casting aspersions about Liam, which got her goat and caused her to make up something outrageous.

‘That’s crazy,’ Tilley said as she sped up to overtake a massive road train. ‘Why didn’t you just tell her she was being a narrow-minded, judgemental bigot? It’s not like you to hold back your opinions.’

‘Because the moment I said it, it suddenly seemed like a good idea.’ When Tilley hit her with a sideways glance, Henri continued, ‘Since I got home, Mum had been blathering on again about me finding a suitable match, you know how she does—listing off potential husbands without any care as to whether the guy is actually someone I’d choose for myself—’

‘I’ll admit she can be a little intense sometimes, but she—’

‘You’re not really any better. That night I had dinner with you and Frankie and everyone in the pub, you were all ganging up on me about my non-existent love-life. The moment I lied to Mrs Brady about me and Liam, I realised it was the perfect way to get you all to leave me alone.’

‘I’m sorry.’ Tilley sounded genuine this time. ‘None of us meant anything by it. We just love you and we worry about you being alone and away from home all the time.’

‘I’m fine. I like my job but when I come home for the holidays, it’d be nice if I didn’t have to put up with everyone trying to fix things in my life that aren’t broken.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Tilley said again.

‘Would you stop apologising? It doesn’t matter now anyway.’

‘Okay. And Liam agreed to this?’

‘Obviously,’ Henri replied, realising how crazy it was that he actually did. Perhaps he’d always intended to seduce her into a fling? ‘Don’t you believe me?’

‘Oh, I believe you,’ Tilley said, sounding amused. ‘It makes so much more sense than what you originally led us to believe.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, if you’d said from the beginning that you’d had a one-night stand with Liam, I’d have totally bought it, but the way you made it sound like a relationship heading for commitment after being back in town five minutes? That didn’t ring true for two people who, up until then, all evidence pointed to being commitment-phobes.’

‘I’m not a commitment-phobe, I’m a realist.’

Tilley didn’t comment on this. ‘It might have been more credible if you hadn’t started staying over there almost every night, but that felt like you were trying too hard to look legit.’

‘Why didn’t you say anything?’

Tilley shrugged. ‘Maybe I’m not actually as interfering as you seem to believe. I wasn’t sure what you were up to, but it also wasn’t my business, and every time I saw you together I thought maybe I was wrong.’

‘Do you think Mum suspected anything?’

‘Noooo. She’s so desperate for someone who lives in the Bay to sink their claws into you and keep you here that she only saw what she wanted to.’ Tilley glanced across at her. ‘What are you planning to do when you leave? Are you going to keep pretending to be together indefinitely?’

‘No. I was going to tell Mum on Boxing Day that we’d decided to end things. I was going to say we broke up because Liam, like her, didn’t want me to keep flying.’

‘Oh, she’ll hate you and love him for that.’

‘That was the idea. Hopefully she’ll have forgiven me by the time I come home again.’

‘If not, you can always stay with Liam.’ Tilley cackled as if that was the funniest thing ever. ‘So, you’ve just been staying over at his place because of the charade?’

Henri looked out the window, so Tilley couldn’t see her face. ‘Something like that.’

‘Well,’ Tilley said, indicating to go around yet another road train. ‘This story has made my day. I wish you came home more often, Hens; you certainly make life more exciting.’

Henri didn’t both replying, and instead switched on the radio. The latest song by Lady Gaga filled the car. Neither of them said anything else until they were just passing the ‘Welcome to Geraldton’ sign, then Tilley reached out and shut off the music.

‘Hang on,’ she said, looking away from the road long enough to frown at Henri. ‘If all this was just a ruse, then why do you need the morning after pill?’

Busted. Heat flooded Henri’s cheeks, but it wasn’t embarrassment so much as anguish. She couldn’t bring herself to tell her sister the whole truth—it would be too painful to say aloud.

‘Well, pretending to be together meant a lot of fake kisses and a lot of fake touching. We got a little carried away last night.’ If Tilley chose to believe it was only last night, that was her prerogative.

‘Carried away as in you had sex?’

Henri didn’t need to look at her sister to know she was grinning like a lunatic.

‘Yes! What else would I mean? But it was just that. Just sex. It doesn’t mean anything, so don’t go reading anything into things,’ she snapped and pointed up ahead. ‘I think there’s a chemist just off the corner on the next road.’

‘Don’t bite my head off,’ Tilley said after another minute’s silence, ‘but you seem pretty wound up over a one-night stand that didn’t mean anything.’

‘I’m just annoyed we forgot to use a bloody condom and I have to go and sort it out. I’m also annoyed that I can’t do it myself because of this damn ankle.’

Henri was fairly certain her sister didn’t buy the story but for once Tilley didn’t push the issue, and for that she was grateful.