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“I’m just glad you’re going with Neri to keep her safe.” His eyes flashed, remembering what I’d confessed about Ethan. The darker side of him spoke to the darker side of me, grateful that I wasn’t afraid to get my hands dirty to keep Neri protected.
I reached for my beer and took a healthy sip.
“You didn’t tell him about his visa status, did you?” Neri croaked. “Please tell me you didn’t tell this guy that Aslan is an illegal immigrant, Dad.”
Jack scowled. “Do I look like a moron? Of course, I didn’t.”
“We merely said that for now, Aslan is working on getting his residency,” Anna said, doing her best to calm her daughter.
“How? Through work?” I asked, taking another drink, doing my best to school my nerves.
“No, through marriage.” Jack puffed up. “I’ve protected you, Aslan. Believe me. He’s okay with this. It’s not unusual for people to hire under the table here. Mostly in trades but sometimes in bars and backpackers too. As long as you treat him right, he’ll treat you right. And I intend to stay friends with the bloke, so the chances of him ever waking up one day and thinking ‘Oh, I know, I’ll call the tax office about my awesome employee and dob him in’ just won’t happen. I swear, you’re safe. Both of you. I promise this will work. I’ve even ensured your name is not on the lease, see?” Jack leaned forward, tapping the paper in Neri’s hands. “It’s only in your name, little fish. I doubt you could find another two-bedroom place that would allow just your name on the agreement, especially being a first-year uni student.”
“Seems you’ve thought of everything,” I murmured. I didn’t know why my hackles had gone up. Jack had done us a massive favour. He’d given us a place to live. A place to call home. A place where I could be as safe as possible when heading to a city with over one hundred and fifty thousand people instead of the close-knit community of three and a half thousand in Port Douglas.
More chance for anonymity but less community.
Less familiarity of a small town and the fact that I’d been seen around this place for the past six years.
I was somebody here.
The guy at the dive shop knew me, the manager at the local supermarket always asked about my day.
I was a local here, but there...I would be a nobody. Which was both a good and a bad thing.
“Say you’ll sign and accept it,” Jack muttered. “Please don’t go to Townsville next week. It’s too soon.”
“Jack, sweetie, they’re going to have to leave eventually,” Anna said.
“Yeah, I know.” He gave Anna a sad smile before looking back at me. “But not yet. I’ve watched you guys trawling the listings online. I’ve seen you applying for studios and one-bedroom places, and I wasn’t going to interfere, because this is your life now, not mine, but when Neri said you guys would have to leave early to find a home before the term started, I decided enough was enough.”
“Oh my God, the lease starts two days before I begin classes!” Neri waved the papers. “How am I supposed to move in, get settled, and go to class within forty-eight hours of moving there?”
Jack grinned. “That’s Aslan’s job.”
“Excuse me?” I coughed on my final mouthful of beer. “What do you mean?”
“I mean...you will leave here together—at the last possible moment, mind you—so I can milk all the remaining time I can with you both. You’ll take a few essentials so you’re not sleeping on the floor, and then it’s your job, Aslan, to renovate and furnish the apartment. It’s Neri’s job to go to uni and learn.”
I held his stare, knowing what he’d done and trying to curse him for it but finding I was utterly unable to. “You’ve ensured I stay busy.”
“Not busy.” He grinned. “Sane.” He saluted me with his beer. “I know you, Aslan. You can only do so much sudoku or math papers online before you go stir-fucking-crazy. You need a job. Neri isn’t going to be around much while she studies. If you don’t have something to fill your days with, you’ll get into mischief and probably be deported.” He laughed.
I forced a laugh too.
I knew he meant it as a joke, but it was a little too close to home.
I’d been fearing the same thing.
Wondering how long I could sit in a tiny apartment, kissing Neri goodbye each morning and desperately waiting for her to return to me in the evening.
I was already half insane with missing her, and we weren’t even there yet.
My half-hearted laughter faded as I grabbed the contract from Neri.
“Do you have a pen?” I asked Jack.
“I do indeed.” Whipping a ballpoint out of his short pockets—ever the scientist to record important data and numbers—he tossed it to me. “Make my daughter sign that, start a list of what you need to take with you, then tomorrow, we’re all going to Mark Blythe’s house two streets over for lunch.”
