AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Hewasgoing through the motions on a daily basis, trying to fool himself into liking the job and for what? Another futile attempt at getting his dad’s approval? He should know better by now.
His cell rang and he swiped his hands down the side of his jeans before fishing it out of his pocket. His heart sank as he saw the museum’s number flash up on the screen.
He’d barely answered when a female voice said, “Aidan, it’s Dorothy MacPherson here, from the museum.”
Surprised a volunteer would be calling him, he stabbed the shovel into the dirt and propped a foot on it. “What can I do for you?”
“I’ve got a bit of a problem. A tour company in the Northern Territory just called, requesting up front payment for the extra four wheel drive vehicle your father has booked. And there’s no one here to authorize it, so I don’t know what to do. They sounded pretty uptight and said it was urgent so—”
“There must be some mistake. My father’s not in the Northern Territory, he’s taking indefinite sick leave in Queensland.”
Dorothy paused before clearing her throat with a nervous little cough. “Um, the tour company faxed through an invoice and it has a lot of other items on it. When I asked to speak to your father, they said he was searching some caves in Kakadu.”
Aidan froze. Disappointment roiled in his gut, thick and heavy, as he gripped the handle of the shovel so tightly tiny splinters of wood drove into the newly formed calluses on his palm. He barely registered the sting. It had nothing on the pain and disillusionment exploding through him, the agony of finally waking up and facing the truth.
His father had manipulated him, again.
Abe wasn’t so ill he needed to rest interstate. Oh no, he was off chasing artefacts in the outback while his son was chained to a desk, doing exactly what dear old dad wanted.
Damn, he’d been a fool.
He’d thought the old man had changed, had reached out to him in an effort to bridge the yawning gap between them.
He’d thought wrong.
Frustrated to the point of wanting to snap the shovel in two, he threw it away while gripping his cell to his ear with the other.
“Don’t worry about the invoice, Dorothy. I’ll come in and take care of it.”
The sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line alerted him to the fact that some of the bitterness flooding him must’ve spilled over into his voice and he took a calming breath.
“And thanks for contacting me. You did the right thing.”
“Okay, Mr. Voss. Bye.”
He slid his cell into his pocket, picked up the shovel and moved over to the empty flower beds. He had a lot of digging to do to ease the animosity making him want to jump on a plane this instant, find his father, and ram the truth down his lying throat.
At least he now knew what he had to do.
And when it was done, let Beth tell him he wasn’t the right guy for her.
* * *
Beth trudged into the museum,her feet dragging.
She wassoover this.
The sooner Lana threw away her crutches and took over the tours, the better. In the meantime, Beth would suck it up and try not to cringe over the harsh stuff she’d said to Aidan because she was too immature to handle the truth: that for the first time in her life, she wanted more than a fling.
His wounded expression when she’d told him that whopping great lie—that she could never go for a guy like him—played on repeat in her mind, no matter how hard she tried to forget it. She could go for him all right. She already had and, like the finestMoretti’schocolate, one taste had her addicted.
“Hey Beth, wait up.”
Sighing, she fixed her usual ‘all’s right with the world’ smile on her face, something she’d been doing her entire life, and turned to Dorothy.
“Hi Dot…” the rest of her greeting died on her lips as she took in the young woman’s new layered haircut with highlights falling around her face in soft waves, colored contact lens, figure-enhancing bottle green skirt suit, and snappy black patent ballet flats.
“Some transformation, huh?” Dot flicked her hair over her shoulder and winked.
