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He nodded. “She got away from me, scrabbled over the rockfall and was gone.” He stepped forward, reaching down and snapping the lead onto Bluebell’s collar.
“I didn’t know you had a dog.”
“I didn’t, until the day before yesterday. Picked her up from the shelter in Orbost.” He straightened, met her gaze with a smile, stealing the breath from her lungs. “I’ve already taken her to the beach a few times and she was fine, normally has really good recall. But she must have got a sniff at something, because she was off like a shot and I couldn’t call her back.” He gave Bluebell a pat on the head. “I was very worried that she’d head off up the river and be gone for good, so thanks for grabbing her.”
“No problem.” And then it happened. It always happened. They descended into awkward, strained silence. His presence always created turmoil in Leah. He made her blood run hot, he intimidated her, he made her remember a time in her life that was so much better than what came after. And she was acutely aware that he remembered none of it. He’d been the first man to kiss her properly and the last man to kiss her senseless. It felt like yesterday to Leah; the cool summer breeze, the streets busy with late night revelers, the pavement sparkling like diamonds in the wash of fresh rain. And Callum. The scent of him surrounding her, the taste of him on her tongue. The breathless, giddy feeling when she’d climbed into the taxi after he’d said goodnight. But he didn’t remember it. At all. She didn’t blame him. Wasn’t resentful. It was a long time ago and a lot had happened to both of them since. He’d gone on to have a successful music career and she’d…well.
She refused to be haunted by the ghost of a promise unfulfilled. Instead, she’d promised herself she would do better. Be better. Be more assured. So she said, “Would you like a coffee?”
There was no mistaking his surprise but he answered quickly. “Sure. That’d be great.”
She turned and headed towards the cabin, pulling her cardigan tight again. “So, Bluebell, huh?”
“It was the name she came with.”
Leah glanced back as she climbed the steps of her back deck. Bluebell was idling along next to Callum, sniffing at the ground. “It suits her. We can have our coffee outside, if you like, so she doesn’t have to be out here on her own,” she said, when he moved to tie the dog to the deck railing. Leah took a deep breath as Callum followed her inside. Her house was tiny. The deck led to the sliding door, that opened onto the loungeroom, that only had room for a sofa, a small coffee table and her art easel. Beyond that was a space for a dining table, then the kitchen, which was in dire need of renovation. Her bedroom was off to the left and an ensuite effect bathroom finished off the space. It wasn’t much, but it was all hers and she loved it. But she didn’t have visitors very often. Only Mikayla and Juniper, her two best friends. And come to think of it, she’d never had a man visit before. How strange. She moved into the kitchen, acutely aware that Callum had stopped behind her and was looking around.
“I like what you’ve done with the place.”
“Yeah?” She asked, getting the milk from the fridge.
“Yeah, I know how it used to be when Old Man Henderson lived here. You’ve done well.”
“Thank you.” She’d done her best, and even though she had quite limited resources, she’d utilized all of her creativity to bring as much life to the space as she could. She loved color, adored it, so she’d made a bright, colorful space for herself, from the prints on the wall, to the new sofa and cushion covers she’d made, to the floor rugs. “It’s a work in progress, but I’ll get there.”
“You’ve got plans for it, then?”
“Modest ones. I’m saving up to get the bathroom done. I’d love to get the floors sanded and stained. And the kitchen. I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I think the roof will need replacing at some point.” She laughed. “So, maybe not so modest plans.”
“I can check out the roof for you, if you like?” he asked with a smile that had her heart skipping a beat. Since he’d come back to town, Callum had taken up working in his father’s handyman business. Leah had no idea why, or how long he intended to stick around, but he seemed to like it, so hopefully he wasn’t leaving again any time soon.
“Sure, that’d be great, thanks.”
“And the bathroom.”
“Oh. Yes, okay. Thank you. Although I’m a long way off getting the money together, if you can give me a quote, I can work towards it.” She pushed her hair behind her ear. “Then maybe people can start calling it Kaplan’s Cabin instead of Henderson’s Hut.”
He didn’t say anything and another one of those awkward silences fell. Leah couldn’t think of a damn thing to say to alleviate it, so she just went about making the coffee. She glanced at him as she waited for the milk to warm up. Not so long before, Callum’s sister, Mikayla, had made a comment about him wanting to kiss her every other minute. Standing on the other side of the small kitchen bench, eyeing her impassively, he didn’t seem remotely interested in kissing her, from what Leah could tell. He was always polite to her, and sometimes friendly, most often quite kind. But it seemed to Leah that the time when Callum wanted to kiss her was in the long distant past. She sighed. Well, at least they could be friends. She was getting much better at that, thankfully. “Sugar?”
“No, thanks.”
“Here you go then.” She handed over his coffee, risking a fleeting look up at him as she did so. He had that same flat, impassive look on his face. Very guarded.
“Thanks.”
“No worries. You want to sit outside with Bluebell, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
So they moved back out to the deck. Leah sat on the top step, while Callum sat on the second lowest step, with Bluebell, who was very excited to see him after waiting so patiently. He held his coffee up high while she hustled, climbing into his lap and trying to lick his face. “No, don’t do that.”
Leah smiled as she watched him try to wrestle with the excitable pup with one hand, while also trying not to spill his coffee. He looked like he needed help, so she scooted down to the same step he was sitting on and took his coffee. He gave Bluebell a vigorous pat, putting her on the ground between his feet when she seemed to settle down a bit. “You gonna stop being such a psychopath now?”
“You talk to her?” Leah asked in some amusement.
“Yeah, but she doesn’t answer back.”
“Maybe she doesn’t speak English.”
