AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And the anger.
I wasn’t at all prepared for that.
But there he was, hot as hell with a smile I’d missed more than I’d realised.
He used to smile at me like that.
I was still in a bit of a daze as we all piled into his Cruiser. The crew-mover kind, fitted out like an army truck, or as if he was fully prepped for the zombie apocalypse.
“So how do you know each other?” Marit asked.
Her question struck me out of my thoughts and my gaze darted to Paul. I was sitting in the back opposite him, with a clear view of the side of his face. He had a small scar on his cheekbone that he hadn’t had before...
I wonder how he got that.
When I hadn’t answered, he did. “Ah, we used to work together in Darwin. A long time ago.”
His eyes cut to mine in the rear-view mirror.
What he said wasn’t a lie. Wehadworked together in Darwin years ago. That was how we’d met.
What he’d left out was that we’d also lived together. For two years. We’d met as co-workers at a bar and I’d needed to find a new place when my lease was up. He was looking for a roommate. We fell into stride with each other and then fell into bed.
But like he’d said, that was years ago.
I gave a nod. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
Sounded about wrong too, but whatever...
I checked my phone, noticing the bars of reception deplete the further we drove. Paul spoke most of the way, giving a sightseeing tour as we made our way deep into the park, first on tarred roads, then on dirt trails. Vegetation went from savannah woodlands to wetlands and then onto the lowlands. Towering rock walls, gigantic termite mounds, every tree and palm you could name. And Paul could name most of them.
First stop was the rock carvings, which were interesting and all, just not really what I was here for, but I was still glad to see it. It was good to see the three women enjoy themselves and, of course, getting to see Paul in his element.
I gave him some space, kinda hung back a bit.
He waited for me, a confused and uncertain look on his face and obviously decided to leave me alone.
Not that I could blame him.
The way we’d left things five years ago wasn’t great.
Correction.
The wayI’dleft things five years ago wasn’t great.
I didn’t want to rush him. We had five days, after all, and I didn’t want to ruin the whole thing on day one.
Next stop was the river cruise with the jumping crocodiles. I took a seat away from the edge of the boat, and after Paul got the two Norwegian girls and Norah—with an H, as she’d told everyone several times so far—settled in, he spoke to the staff on the boat for a few minutes. He clearly dealt with them regularly because they were all smiles.
He really had a whole new life now.
New business, new job, new friends.
New life.
New boyfriend, probably.
That twisted in my belly enough to make me feel nauseous. What did I expect? What we’d had together was five years ago. Of course he would have moved on.
