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I found Derek standing at the edge of the campsite, looking out at the view. It was green wetlands to the horizon. Simply amazing. “Is this actually the Never Never?”
I almost laughed. Everyone knew that name from Crocodile Dundee. “No. That part of the park is about a hundred kilometres southeast of here.”
He nodded. “It’s impressive. I can see why you like it here.”
“You should see it in the wet season,” I said. “Electrical storms all afternoon. The whole sky is a light show. The wetlands come to life. There’s nothing like it.”
His gaze cut to mine before he turned back to the view. “Can you get here in the wet season? I thought it’d be cut off.”
“I live here,” I admitted. “All year round. I spend very few nights away. The roads aren’t great, and when the rains hit, there’s very few visitors or tourists. Not up here where we are, anyway. The wetland tours still run. I do have a guy that comes this way in the wet season. He chases storms and studies them. Likes the lightning, apparently. Sometimes he’ll stay here if the roads are impassable.”
“He likes lightning? Is he insane?”
“No. He’s a nice guy, actually. A bit of a wildcard, but you’d have to be to be setting metal equipment up in a lightning storm, right?”
His eyes flinched, hardening at the horizon. “Is he... are you...?”
Am I... what?
He didn’t finish the sentence, and before I could ask, Norah appeared by our sides. “Now, that’s not exactly a terrible view,” she said. “Any direct walking trails from here?”
Distracted by her question, I explained where the trails were, showing her which was best, longest, shortest etc, which of course just fuelled more questions. When I looked back, Derek was gone.
Is he... are you...?
Was he trying to ask if the storm guy and I were a thing?
Tully Larson was a nice guy. Late twenties and yeah, maybe he was cute. But I had no idea if he could be interested because I had no intention of acting on it.
I hadn’t acted on any impulses in a long time. I’d been busy, for one thing. Sure, I’d tried to have some one-nighters not long after Derek and I broke up. But they didn’t feel right, just left me feeling hollow and empty, like I was trying to fill a void that could never be filled.
A Derek kind of void.
So I gave up trying after that. I hadn’t looked at or touched anyone since.
“Tonight we’ll be hiking up to the top of the escarpment,” I told Norah. “It’s not exactly arduous and I’m sure it’ll be easy for you, but I promise you the view is worth it.”
“I’m sure it’ll be a walk in the park,” she said, waiting for me to catch the pun. “Get it?”
I faked a laugh. “Oh yes, a nice and easy walk in the national park.”
She preened a little, and she told me how she’d hiked the Overland in Tasmania last year. She’d also done Machu Picchu and had hiked some of the Appalachian Trail in North America as well as some walking trails in England along Hadrian’s Wall, just to name a few.
It was remarkable, yes. And she certainly had some fascinating stories, which I was going to hear all about over the next five days, I was sure. But she was nice, if not a little preachy, and Marit and Kari were super friendly, and along with Derek, I was happy with the small group of clients. Everyone was amenable, pleasant enough.
But I really just wanted some alone time with Derek.
I wanted to talk to him, ask him about everything that he’d done these last five years, how everyone in his life was going, and what was the reason for the pools of sadness in his eyes.
“Who’s up for a small hike to the top of the ridge?” I asked the group, pointing to the rocky outcrop that framed the righthand side of the campsite. “A picnic and a Kakadu sunset for our first night here. How does that sound?”
Everyone was in agreement, excited even. Except for Derek. He nodded and shrugged, but to use the word excited would be a stretch. “Sure,” he said.
“Let’s leave in thirty minutes,” I said, making a point of checking my watch so they would too.
I packed some fruit salad, and cheese and crackers, and the plastic wine flutes that we could drink our juice or water from. And as we began our hike, I led the way with Norah behind me, then Marit and Kari, and Derek was last.
I hadn’t planned it that way, but it actually worked well.
