“I’m just saying.” Brayden shrugs. “You’ve been off the grid for fourteen years. Time to catch up, yeah?”
“I think I’ve got a few other things to catch up on first.”
He laughs. “Fair enough. But when you’re ready—” he taps his phone “—I’ll sort you out.”
“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.”
I don’t tell him I already have the only woman I’ll ever want.
I take out the phone Grandad got for me, and he rattles off his number.
Still getting used to it. Thinner. Faster. Does too much.
“Mate, you don’t have to hunt and peck it,” Brayden says. “It’s not a typewriter.”
“I’m aware.”
He laughs.
Jarrah’s quieter. Always has been.
“What about you, Jay?”
“Yeah, I’ve been seeing someone. Mackenzie. It’s been a few months now. It was on and off at first, but it’s settling into something more serious.”
I nod. “Good on you, mate.”
He nods back once.
It winds down the way these things do—no clear ending, just a gradual shift. Keys in hands, phones checked, that quiet drift toward the door.
“We’ll do a catch-up soon,” Lachie says. “Go for a beer or something.”
“Yeah, I’d like that. Still haven’t actually had a beer.”
He pauses, thrown. “Hadn’t even thought about that.” Then a crooked grin. “Reckon that means you haven’t had a woman either. That’s rough, mate.”
You’ve got that one wrong, Lachie.Verywrong.
We talk for a while after that. Nothing heavy. Nothing that needs pulling apart. Just the kind of easy conversation I didn’t realize I’d missed until I’m standing there in the middle of it.
Eventually, it’s time for them to head off.
Lachie pulls me in—quick, solid. “Good to have you back, mate.”
Brayden lingers a second, gives me a look—half apology, half you know how I am.
“Good to see you,” he says.
“Yeah.”
Jarrah’s last out, pausing at the door. “Good to have you back.”
“Good to be back.”
Then they’re gone.
Charlotte comes into the kitchen a few minutes later.
