Page 63 of Return to the Waratah Inn

Reeda frowned. “He sounds cute.”

Bindi laughed. “What do you mean? I didn’t describe him.”

“You mentioned him unprompted…” Reeda arched an eyebrow. “It’s a dead giveaway.”

Bindi blushed. “He is cute, but I’m married. Anyway, we’ve been hanging out as a group—they’ve all been very friendly, welcoming, invited me to go clubbing with them. We’ve had a great time. But now, I’m not sure what to do because I think he has a crush on me. I’ve responded to his messages with vague statements about being busy, but I’ll have to talk to him at some point.” Bindi pushed her fork into a fat chip and took a bite. She was conflicted over the Brett situation. Part of her wanted to continue being in his friendship group—she’d been so chuffed that she’d found some young, cool students to befriend. She hadn’t really made a lot of connections since she moved to Cabarita Beach two years earlier, and she’d thought that dry spell might finally be over. It was hard to give that up.

“I suppose you could allow him the benefit of the doubt,” Reeda said with hesitation in her voice. “Maybe he’s a friendly guy.”

“Yeah, that’s what I want to do. But I don’t know if it’s right.”

“What does Josh say about the whole thing?” Reeda asked.

Bindi chewed on her lower lip. “I haven’t told him yet.”

“What? Why not?” Reeda frowned. “I’m sure he’ll have an opinion.”

“Yeah, but he’ll probably be upset since I’ve never mentioned Brett. We haven’t exactly seen a lot of each other lately, and I forgot about his Detective’s Exam.”

“You haven’t mentioned Brett?” Reeda’s voice raised an octave.

Bindi looked around the restaurant. “Shhh…”

Reeda shook her head. “Bindi, what’s going on with you? You’re hiding things from Josh, seeing this guy without telling him about it, going out clubbing with a group of teenagers…”

“They’re not all teenagers. Some of them are only a few years younger than me, like Brett.”

“Oh, okay. Well, that makes it better.” Reeda said with biting sarcasm.

“I know… I have to tell him. But I liked having this different life. For so long I’ve been the woman with cancer, or the one who was fired from the TV station, or your sister, Nan’s granddaughter, now I’m Josh’s wife… I haven’t had fun, or been myself, for so long. I haven’t had friends in an age. It was nice to let loose.”

Reeda reached out to squeeze Bindi’s arm. “I can understand that. You’ve had a lot going on, and you needed to be young and carefree again. But you should talk to Josh about it. I’m certain he’d understand. Trust me, you can’t build a marriage when the two of you are headed in different directions. If you need to be young and carefree, do that together. Don’t create a life for yourself without him. Your marriage might not recover. Duncan and I did that. We let our lives go in two separate directions for so long that we almost didn’t make it back to one another. I’m grateful we have this second chance, and I don’t want to see you making the same mistake I did.”

“You’re right. Thanks, Reeda. I’m sure he’ll understand. I’ve been stressed for so long, and I know he has too. Now he’s dealing with becoming a detective and the pressure of work. I didn’t want to burden him with my issues. But I’ll talk to him.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

December 1953

Cabarita Beach

It took around twenty hours to travel by train from Sydney’s Central Station to the small station on the outskirts of the little country town of Murwillumbah. The train arrived around seven thirty in the evening. Mima climbed out onto the platform, dragging her suitcase behind her and blinking in the gathering dusk. The humidity surprised her. As the town was almost entirely encircled by gentle mountains covered in what looked like thick rainforest, it made sense that the air would feel as though she’d stepped into a tepid pool of water. It was much greener than the landscape she’d passed by throughout the day whenever she woke from her sleep to look out the window.

She hadn’t eaten or drunk much on the journey, since that would involve walking to the restaurant car on the lurching train. And she’d been so tired. Tired in a resigned kind of way. After leaving everything behind in Sydney, including her heart, she didn’t have the energy for more than a couple of trips to the loo and restaurant car for a drink and small sandwich.

Now that she’d arrived, her stomach clenched and grumbled. She was finally hungry. Ravenous. She hadn’t felt that way ever since… well, ever since it happened. She didn’t want to think about it, or even form the thoughts to say it to herself. She needed to hold herself together for a few hours more and figure out a way to get to Cabarita Beach and the Waratah Inn. She had no idea which direction to take, but surely someone around here would know.

Other passengers gradually disembarked. It was the end of the line. The locomotive had stopped at the station and would turn back for Sydney later that night. But for now, it was parked and silent. After hours of chugging and incessant vibrations, the squeal of the whistle or the brakes on the metal rails, the quiet was a welcome relief. Several men lugged boxes of mail, fruit and other supplies from the far end of the train. The driver stepped out of the engine and onto the platform to stretch his back, a pipe protruding from between his lips. Soot coated his overalls and streaked his cheeks.

The sun was low in the sky, and as she stood there, it dipped down beyond the trees behind the station, casting the entire train and everyone standing on the platform into a thick twilight. Lamps flickered on slowly, and Mima steeled herself to walk the length of the platform. She could’ve given her suitcase to the porter, but she no longer trusted anyone to take care of her. Instead, having the suitcase in her hand gave her a sense of security that she wasn’t yet ready or willing to give up.

She stopped by the station’s bathroom and checked herself in the mirror. She looked older. It took a few minutes of rambling, but she finally located her red lipstick in her toiletry bag. She applied it to her lips, then smacked them together. It wasn’t enough to make her appear normal again, but it helped mask the pain in her face a little. At least, she hoped it would hold any questions at bay for a while. She was too tired to answer them tonight.

It didn’t take her long to find a bus to Tweed Heads. Most of the passengers had boarded it already by the time she climbed the steps and found a seat. The trip was a short one, and she stepped onto the street with a sense of excitement to realise that she was almost there.

She asked around and found a taxi willing to make the trek to the Waratah Inn. The driver even seemed to know where it was, which helped Mima, since she wasn’t sure. She only knew it was in a place called Cabarita Beach, but beyond that, she was no help.

The car ride took her through a quaint beachside town that a sign announced was Kingscliff. Then it meandered along a narrow coastal road in the pitch dark for so long that Mima began to wonder if her driver was in fact a serial murderer who’d lured her out into the wilderness to kill her. But the taxi soon pulled into a circular drive in front of a building painted in what looked to be a deep pink colour under the glow of the car’s headlights.