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It sounded like a challenge and she nodded. ‘Of course I am. But you hardly know enough about my skills to have confidence in me for an expansion like the one you’re talking about.’
‘It’s not going to happen overnight. There’ll be more administration staff needed to handle the increased load. Another receptionist perhaps and someone in the back office.’
‘Do you plan to settle here?’
Morgan straightened as the waitress placed the food on the table. He watched her go to another customer before he spoke. ‘I’m planning on three years to start with. A lot will depend on my parents’ health. If I have partners, it won’t be such a disruption if I go away again.’
Becca faced her quiche with a vastly reduced appetite. She forced it down, mouthful by mouthful, but she couldn’t find words for idle chitchat over the meal. Morgan seemed to have lost his desire to eat as well, poking at the pie with his fork and eating the chips with his free hand, dunking them in the generous dollop of aioli.
‘I met your children yesterday.’
Becca dropped her fork with a clatter onto the plate. She’d had Gabby telling her all about Morgan over the dinner table and her sly looks and leading questions had given away her line of thought. If Morgan had come to the same conclusion …
‘You were at your parents place after you left work?’
‘Yes.’ He placed the cutlery neatly on the plate beside his half-finished food. ‘Could you explain how my parents came to be your babysitters?’
The air left her lungs with a woosh that must be obvious to the man watching her so closely. Not the question she was expecting, but a difficult one all the same. ‘I got to know them better after you left. The last time. After the … accident. I did them a favour and they offered to help with the babysitting. My mother hadn’t long passed away and Aunt Bea was in Brisbane with Dan while he was in rehab.’
‘I’m sorry about your mother.’
‘It was a relief in the end.’
He glanced around the room again before pushing his plate away. ‘My parents know about Gabby, don’t they?’
Becca quelled the nausea that sent bile to the back of her throat. ‘I can’t say.’
‘Look, Becca, I’m not trying to cause trouble in your family. There are reasons …’ He rested his forearms on the table. ‘I’d like to get to know her.’
The room didn’t have enough oxygen. She sucked in a hoarse breath and stood. ‘I have to go outside.’ She fumbled in her bag for a twenty dollar note and tossed it on the table. ‘I’m sorry.’
***
Morgan found her at the other end of the block, staring at the bridge over the creek. The sign behind her said Maiden’s Bridge, Redemption Creek and it seemed strangely apt. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her body, the posture defensive. The vulnerability stirred an uneasy sensation in his gut, reminding him of the first time he met her properly, hiding in the shed at the back of the Maiden place. He’d been playing cricket with the guys and they’d wanted a haybale to stand in as a wicket because Ben had left his set at home.
She must have been about six or seven to his ten years and he’d crouched down to talk to her. He knew who she was because he’d seen her waiting for the school bus with Dan often enough. It was summer holidays and she was wearing an old hand-me-down boys t-shirt and shorts. Her left arm was badly bruised and he reached out to take her hand to get a better look. She’d flinched away and he’d spoken softly, gentling her like a wounded puppy.
She’d told him a long, convoluted story about falling down the steps at home. Not surprising considering how narrow and rickety they were. Dan had confirmed it when he turned up to see why he’d taken so long. ‘She’s always taking a tumble. Little idiot.’
Years later, he’d wondered if her proneness to accidents had something to do with her alcoholic stepfather but after his death, she’d still occasionally turned up with the same bumps and bruises.
Dan had been typically dismissive of her, not interested in someone who was almost like a younger sibling and a girl as well. He’d been annoyed and embarrassed when she started hanging around their group. Not participating, but often watching their games or perched on a rock by the river watching them swim. Morgan wondered exactly when Dan’s attitude to his step-cousin changed.
‘Becca?’
She hunched her shoulders and he couldn’t tell if she was feeling the cold or rejecting him. Probably both.
‘I told you I don’t want to stir things up. It shouldn’t be hard for me to spend time with Gabby if she’s at my parents’ place.’
She looked up warily. ‘Only Gabby?’
There was a thread of something in her tone that sounded like disapproval.
‘Obviously if Edward is there too, I’ll spend time with them both. But Gabby …’
‘Gabby looks like you and Edward looks like me. I suppose I can understand that. You wouldn’t want to be reminded of me and the mistake you made, would you?’
She had it all wrong, but she’d marched away, turning up the street that ran along the park overlooking the creek before he could explain. Why would she be offended because he didn’t want to spend time with her other child? He’d have expected she’d want to keep him out of it. With a sudden clarity, he realised she hadn’t agreed to anything. Hadn’t agreed to him seeing Gabby.
