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‘Phew, Dad. She’s quite a character,’ Owen said, when Joy had left, and they were driving back to the house Owen shared. ‘I can see why you’re trying to offload her. But it’s good luck for me. Do you have any more stalkers floating around who want to buy my boards?’ He chuckled.
‘Not funny. And I’m sure you don’t need my help. I thought business was good?’
‘Only joking. It is. I can barely keep up with orders. I may need to take on someone to help out.’
‘Thought you had Nate?’
‘Yeah, but he doesn’t want to do it full-time. He likes his gig at the club too much to give it away altogether. Think he enjoys the attention.’
‘Attention? Ah, I see what you mean.’ Will recalled the groups of young girls who frequented the bar at the surf club when Nate was working there. ‘But he doesn’t seem to hook up with any of them.’
‘No. His interest lies elsewhere.’ He tapped the side of his nose.
‘Elsewhere?’ Will was puzzled but only for a moment. ‘Hannah? Do you mean Hannah? But you all share a house. Wouldn’t it be easy to…?’
‘Not for Nate. He and Han are good mates, and I guess he’s afraid to make a move in case it ruins everything.’
Will shook his head, glad he wasn’t twenty any longer. He didn’t think he and Coop had ever worried about ruining things by approaching a girl they fancied. But things had been different back then. They hadn’t been sharing a house with girls. They’d been living at home and subject only to the restrictions and curfews set by their parents and which they’d often flouted.
‘Come in for a beer?’ Owen asked when they arrived at the house, and he was leveraging himself out of the van. ‘Be glad to get back to normal,’ he said with a groan.
‘When do you get rid of the moon boot?’
‘Have an appointment on Wednesday. It’s okay,’ he said, as Will started to speak. ‘Nate’s going to take me. Then I won’t need you any longer. I appreciate your help, Dad, but I’m sure you’ll be glad when you don’t need to chauffeur me around anymore.’
Would he? Will wasn’t sure. Driving Owen to and from his workshop had added to his days, but he’d enjoyed spending the time together. He’d miss it. ‘It’s not been all bad,’ he said. ‘And about that beer, thanks, exactly what I need after Joy Taylor.’
Owen chuckled.
Inside the house, it appeared Owen’s housemates were preparing for a barbecue. Hannah was chopping up lettuce and various other vegetables, and Nate was outside firing up the barbecue.
‘Hi, Will,’ Hannah said, ‘Come to join the fun? Help yourself to a beer.’ She nodded towards the fridge, while Owen hobbled off to his room.
‘Back in a tick, Dad,’ he said.
‘What’s happening?’ Will asked, taking a beer from the fridge and leaning against the doorframe.
‘Didn’t Owen say? Nate’s mum and Martin are coming over for a steak, and Mum said she’d try to drop in when she finishes up at the café. Owen was supposed to invite you, too. It’s our way of thanking you all for helping us move in.’
‘He didn’t say.’ Will silently cursed his son for omitting this important information when he asked him in for a beer. If he’d known about the barbecue, known Cleo was going to be here, he’d have detoured via home to shower and change. As it was… he glanced down at his working shorts and surf school tee-shirt and grimaced. What would Cleo think of him? He looked like a dag.
‘Hey, Will. Good to see you. Come straight from the beach?’ Martin’s voice in his ear made Will look up.
‘Coop. Yeah, Owen didn’t tell me about the barbecue. Hi, Ailsa,’ he said, seeing her behind Martin.
‘Hi, Will. Good to see you again.’
Will was about to take a swig of wine, when Martin took hold of his arm. ‘A word, mate.’ He drew him outside.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘I need to tell you something. I was taking photos at Dolphin Beach on Friday and there were a couple of guys who looked like surveyors. Thought it was odd at the time, then it struck me – what if they were from the developers?’
‘Surveyors? Already? What would they need with them?’
‘Dunno, mate, but it could signify things have gone further than we were aware of. Might need to act sooner than we thought. When’s the next meeting of council?’
‘Not for another two weeks. But, if you’re right, we need to get onto our guy on the development committee right away.’ Will had barely finished speaking when he heard Cleo’s voice inside the house. ‘Call you tomorrow,’ he said quickly as Cleo and Ailsa walked out to join them.
