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The town was different somehow and, as he walked down the high street after parking the car, it took him a moment to realise why – no one was avoiding him, or giving him the side-eye, or shooting him pitying glances, or pretending he didn’t exist. Homelessness cloaked you with a very strange invisibility indeed; you were seen, but not seen. Today, no one took the slightest notice of him precisely because he blended in with the other people on the pavement. He did catch the eye of one woman as she almost bumped into him when she darted out of a shop without looking, but instead of a hasty and embarrassed look away, she smiled at him as she apologised, her glance sweeping across him in an appreciative manner. He smiled back and carried on walking towards his destination.
Ron had always found the graveyard comforting, even if he missed the lack of a headstone to focus on, and he aimed for his favourite bench and sat on it, instant tranquillity filling his soul.
Not caring who might be in earshot, he murmured, ‘It’s been a while, Mum. I’ve got lots to tell you.’ Then he leaned back, closed his eyes, and silently shared his news, thinking of all the things that had happened since he’d last sat in this very spot just before Christmas.
When he’d finished, he kept his eyes closed, enjoying the last of the August sun warming his face and colouring his closed lids in sunrise shades.
As he sat there, Ron could almost feel her presence, almost hear her whispered reply in the sighing of the wind through the trees. But most of all, he sensed her love, and when he imagined the gentle boop of a canine nose on his leg, he smiled. His mum and his dog were still with him in spirit, in his memories, and most importantly, in his heart, and he felt more at peace than he had done for years.
In some ways Beverley reminded him of his mum, but when he whispered into the air, ‘You’d like her, Mum,’ it wasn’t Beverley he was referring to – it was Annabelle.
Ron sat on the bench for a little while longer, then realising it was time to meet Kate, he slowly got to his feet and took a last look around. It might be a while until he was here again, but he knew his mum would understand.
***
Kate was sitting at a table near the window of the cafe directly opposite the charity shop where she worked, and she waved when she saw him.
‘How did it go?’ she asked getting to her feet and kissing his cheek.
‘Good,’ he said. ‘Really good.’
He’d told Kate that he had met with Louise and Gordon yesterday evening, and now she fired question after question at him before he’d even had a chance to sit down.
Over toasted sandwiches and salad, they caught up with each other’s news, and even though it had only been just over a week since he’d seen her last, it felt as though it had been far longer. He’d missed her and Brett, and the children – Sam especially.
‘He’s fretting about going back to school,’ Kate told him, around a mouthful of assorted leaves. ‘He’s starting at the comprehensive and it’s freaking him out a bit.’
‘He’ll be OK, though, won’t he?’ Ron asked, concerned.
‘Of course he will. He’s done all the transition—’ She saw Ron’s puzzled expression, and explained, ‘That’s when the primary school pupils get to visit the comp to familiarise themselves. They meet the teachers, their form tutors, and the kids from the other primaries. It’s designed to make settling in easier, but you know what Sam’s like, he can be a bit of a worry-wort on the quiet. Talking about new schools, how are Jake and Izzie feeling about starting theirs? I spoke to Annabelle a couple of days ago, and she was planning on taking them shopping for their school uniform.’ Kate chortled. ‘Good luck with that, I told her. I always hated that. I still do! Portia is a nightmare to shop for, shoes especially.’
Ron pursed his lips. ‘I don’t know,’ he admitted. ‘I haven’t spoken to her.’
‘Not at all?’ Kate asked, incredulously.
‘No.’
‘Why ever not? I thought you two...?’ She raised her eyebrows.
‘I thought so, too,’ Ron said, pulling a face. ‘Then Troy turned up and...’ He trailed off.
‘Yeah, but Troy was soon out of the picture,’ Kate pointed out. ‘So, what else is going on? Why did you really leave?’
‘Because I didn’t want to muddy the waters. It’s complicated. ‘
Kate snorted. ‘What are you – a Facebook status? When you say you didn’t want to muddy the waters, what do you mean?’
‘I thought Annabelle might find it easier to decide whether or not to go back to Australia with Troy, if I was out of the picture.’ It wasn’t the sole reason he’d done a runner, but it was a ruddy great big part of it.
‘She never intended to go back,’ Kate said, popping the last bite of her sandwich into her mouth and wiping her lips on a serviette.
‘I know that now.’
‘So what gives?’
‘You saw how she was, that last day in Rest Bay. She practically ignored me.’
‘You ignored her, too.’
