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‘I know your game,’ Joy said, reaching the stall from which the customers had melted away at her approach.
They now stood in a huddle, just within earshot, clearly determined not to miss one second of this altercation.
‘You think you’re so smart,’ Joy continued, pointing her finger at Cleo.
Cleo flinched and automatically recoiled, wishing she could turn and run. But she stood her ground. This washerstall. Joy was the intruder.
‘Just you wait. You won’t think you’re so smart when I’m finished with you – you and Will Rankin.’ Joy spat Will’s name as if it was dirt. ‘You and him – you don’t know who you’re dealing with. Just you wait!’ She pushed her face into Cleo’s, forcing her to take two steps backwards. Then she was gone.
Cleo realised she was trembling. Her heart was racing.
The groups which had moved away when Joy Taylor arrived, slowly drifted back to make their purchases, but Cleo was too shaken to make her usual pleasant conversation. She just wanted it to be over, so she could go home.
‘What’s the matter? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.’
In her daze following the shock of Joy Taylor’s appearance, Cleo had forgotten Bev would be returning to help pack up for the day. ‘Tell you later,’ she muttered, as she helped Bev dismantle the stall ready to be set up again next day. She didn’t want to go over what happened now, and at the back of her mind was the fear of what Joy intended to do. Did she plan to return next day, to disrupt the stall, or was her venom going to be directed at Will?
It wasn’t till they got back to the café that Cleo felt able to talk about what had happened. Bev, aware something had upset Cleo, insisted on making her a cup of chamomile tea and forced her to take a seat while she drank it.
‘Now, tell me what happened to turn you into the nervous wreck I found when I came back,' Bev demanded, but her voice was filled with compassion.
‘It was her. Joy Taylor. The woman who’s been pestering Will. She was there. At the stall. It was horrible, Bev. She yelled at me. Everyone could hear.’
Bev’s eyes widened. ‘What did she say? Did she threaten you?’
Cleo tried to remember, but Joy’s actual words were a blur. All she could remember was the venom in the woman’s voice and the terror she had felt. ‘I’m not sure, but she scared me. I felt the same when she saw us on the beach – Will and me. Oh, Bev, I really feel she intends to harm one of us – if not both. What should I do?’
‘You need to tell Will.’ Bev sounded decisive. ‘He needs to talk to the woman, persuade her to go home, leave you both alone. This has gone on too long. It’s not fair on you. Ailsa’s little ploy doesn’t seem to have worked – though it did bring the pair of you together. You can be grateful to her for that.'
'Mmm.’ Cleo took a sip of her tea. She was beginning to wonder if it was worth it, if her forming a relationship with Will had been the catalyst for this vindictiveness. She didn’t need this sort of angst in her life. She’d been perfectly happy before she met Will Rankin – and could be again. It had been nice – more than nice – to be desired again, to experience the pleasure of having someone to talk to, to comfort her, and, yes, to cuddle up to in bed. But she could do without experiencing the hate she’d seen in Joy Taylor’s eyes.
Thirty-seven
Will was feeling on top of the world when he knocked on Cleo’s door. He hadn’t made it back to the Pandanus stall at the food and wine event as he’d intended. The joint publicity they’d put in place had been successful – almost too successful. He’d been overrun with requests for lessons and board hire from family members of people who had come to enjoy the food and wine festival but who preferred to spend their time in the surf.
Now he was ready to relax and eager to hear how Cleo’s day had been. If the crowds around town and on the beach were any indication, her day would have been as busy as his. But the expression on Cleo’s face as she answered the door told a different story.
‘What happened?’ he asked, as she buried her face in his chest and began to sob.
‘Joy Taylor.’
‘Joy? I thought she’d left town.’ Will hadn’t seen or heard from the pesky woman lately and had assumed – wrongly it seemed – that she’d got the message and gone back to where she came from.
‘No.’ Cleo shook her head. ‘She’s still here and she’s angry.’
Will’s stomach lurched.What had the woman done now? ‘Sit down and tell me what happened.’ He took Cleo by the arm and led her into the living room where he sat down next to her on the sofa, one arm around her shoulders.
‘Oh, Will, I don’t think I can go on like this.’
Will felt the hair on the back of his neck lift.What did Cleo mean?
‘Like what?’ he asked, filled with unease.
‘Us… I don’t think we can continue to see each other, not like this.’
A cold shiver ran down Will’s spine, filling him with a sense of loss and the realisation of how much Cleo had come to mean to him. ‘You don’t mean it – you can’t. You can’t let that woman spoil what we have together. It’s what she wants. It’d mean she’s won whatever weird game she’s playing.’
‘That’s just it, Will.’ Cleo pulled away from him, putting a distance between them. ‘I’m not sure it is a game. I think she’s in deadly earnest when she talks about what she intends to do. Oh, she didn’t say anything specific,’ Cleo said as Will opened his mouth to ask exactly what Joy had threatened. ‘She’s too clever for that. But you didn’t see her face, hear the venom in her voice. She scared me. That’s why…’
