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Dad chuckled as he spread Vegemite on his toast. “Of course it is. It’s easy to throw yourself into a project. Projects don’t talk back and they won’t break your heart. But you’ll have to face him at some point, Sugar Pie.”
“I know, Dad.”
“If you ask me, you’re better off without him. But it’s not up to me.”
“Thanks, Dad. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You were always too good for that city slicker.”
“Really?” Bea arched an eyebrow. This was the first she was hearing on her father’s opinion of her husband.
“Yes. I never said anything about it because I didn’t want to push you further away than you’d already run from me and from our family. Mum wouldn’t have wanted that, so I stayed quiet. But he wasn’t good enough for you then, and he definitely isn’t now. Any man who’d do what he’s done…” Dad waved his knife around. “Doesn’t deserve you.”
“Well, I happen to agree with you on that, Dad. I still don’t understand what he was thinking. We were a family, the four of us…” She swallowed around a growing lump in her throat. “I suppose that doesn’t mean as much to him as it does to me.”
Dad rested a hand on her arm. “It means everything, and if he doesn’t appreciate that, then he’s an even bigger fool than I thought he was.”
Just then, her phone rang. She pulled it out of her back pocket and stared at the screen.
“Speak of the devil.” It was Preston.
She walked to the back door and answered as she stepped onto the porch. “Hello, Preston. How are you?”
“Thanks for picking up Bea. I’m well, thanks. You?”
It was surreal to hear his cheery voice on the other end of the phone, talking as though nothing had gone wrong between them.
“I’m great.” She tried without success to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.
He cleared his throat. “Right, fine. Well, I think it’s time we got together to talk through our divorce. Don’t you? I’d prefer to keep the lawyers out of it if we can. They’re so expensive, and I’m sure we can work it out fairly between the two of us. What do you say?”
She ran a hand over her face and groaned silently. There were about a million other things she’d prefer to spend her time doing than to sit down with her husband and talk through their divorce settlement. Pushing splinters beneath her fingernails came to mind as one possible option.
“Uh, yeah, sure. Of course, we should do that.”
“Great. How about tomorrow?”
“Listen, Preston, I’m not really close by. I’m still on Coral Island with Dani and Dad, so it will take me a minute to get there.”
He paused. “Oh, I see. I didn’t realise you’d stay so long.”
“Yes, I’ve moved back to the island.”
“Permanently?” His tone was laced with disbelief.
“Yes, it’s permanent.” That was the first time she’d admitted the move was anything more than a temporary fix, an in-between step to getting her life back on track. But there it was. The words hung between them like a balloon waiting to be popped.
“Oh, wow. I wasn’t expecting that. I thought you loved Sydney.”
“No,youlove Sydney. I loved you and wanted you to be happy, so I embraced our life there.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because our family was the most important thing to me. I knew it was best for the kids, would give them the opportunities they deserved, to be in the city. But now I’m questioning all of it. Maybe I’ve been wrong and should’ve thought of my own needs more. Certainly, no one else will do that for me.”
He coughed. “Well, I don’t know if that’s true. I’ve certainly done my best as a husband and father…”
“I don’t want to get into an argument with you, Preston.” She’d never spoken up to him like this before, and it felt good. “I’ll come to Sydney next week, and we can work everything out.”
