‘Unfortunately,’ she began, ‘there were a few members of this team who have used the property and the resources of this organisation for illegal activity. The act committed was of a serious nature and those members of staff will not be returning to this place of business, nor will they be redeployed to any other branch of the Olsen Corporation.
‘At this stage, the matter has been turned over to law enforcement officials. As far as I know, all parties involved are now known to police and the Olsen Corporation is doing everything it can to assist the authorities.
‘Our challenge over the coming days and weeks will be to maintain our work ethic and continue to be the productive and committed team we have shown ourselves to be.’
She looked around the crowd and her eyes found Travis. He stood, poker-faced, with his arms folded across his chest. Neither his expression nor his stance gave any indication of how he was feeling.
She looked at the other faces. Everyone was listening intently.
‘There is the possibility that these events may bring media attention to our doorstep. I have been advised by the company’s legal team on this matter, and so I ask that if you are approached by any media outlet, you respond with “no comment”. Does anyone have any questions?’
One of the dispatch workers raised their hand. ‘I want to know if our jobs are safe.’
Dee stilled, desperately wanting to tell this hard-working woman that her job was safe, but that wasn’t an assurance she could make.
‘I can’t make any promises about job security. No one can. What I can do is encourage you to work as hard as you always have, and I assure you that I will do everything I can to support you over the next week or so.’
‘Next week? Only a week?’ Another worker called.
‘Olsen Paper will do everything they can to support you over the coming weeks and beyond,’ she finished.
When the meeting was over and the staff begin to file out of the break room and back to the factory floor, Travis stayed behind.
‘You didn’t tell them you’re leaving.’
‘I think telling them about the arrests was enough for them to take in for today,’ she said. She walked to the vending machine, fed it some coins from her jacket pocket and pushed the buttons for a bottle of water.
‘When do you plan on telling them? They do have a right to know.’
‘I will tell them,’ she said.
Pulling the cold water from the shoot, she twisted off the top and took a huge slug. The speech had made her thirsty.
‘I will tell them. Next week. Speaking of telling people, what are we going to tell Annie? She has a right to know, perhaps more than the staff.’
Travis shrugged. ‘Just say goodbye. Say goodbye when you leave. Whatever.’
Dee was taken aback. She placed the bottle of water on an empty table and curled her hands into fists. ‘Travis, I’m not sure you realise how close Annie and I have become.’
Travis shrugged, an act that made every muscle in Dee’s body clench.
‘Annie will get over it. She’s used to people leaving her. You do your thing and let me worry about Annie.’
Her blood grew hot, way beyond a simmer. She wanted to slap him so badly and it took a huge amount of self-control to hold her position next to the table. Either Travis didn’t possess the understanding, or he didn’t care how difficult leaving would be for Dee.
She worked hard to keep the emotion from her voice. ‘I want to worry about it. I care about Annie. A lot.’
Travis’s expression hardened. His eyes narrowed and his already icy demeanour cooled further. He seemed a far cry from the man she’d come to know over recent weeks, a far cry even from the distant man she’d first met on her arrival in the valley. He looked angry, almost sinister.
‘You’re the one who’s choosing to leave. That’s your choice, so don’t make me feel bad about how it affects Annie. That’s on you.’
Dee’s frustration built. She felt guilty enough as it was. She was heartsick and devastated about leaving Annie, and now Travis was making her feel even worse.
‘Travis, I have to take this job. Don’t be an arsehole. You would do the same thing if you were in my position.’
He let out a quick, sarcastic laugh and stared at her through ice-cold eyes. ‘Thing is Dee, I would never be in your position. You and I, we’re very different people. You value status and money. I value love and family. I guess we were brought up differently.’
His words cut her like a knife. The was so strong, its impact so hard it affected her balance and she had to take a step back to steady herself.
She spoke though a breath. ‘Why are you saying these things? Why are acting like this?’
He was unmoved. ‘I’m just telling you the truth as I see it.’
‘Well, the truth as you see it is utter bullshit,’ she quipped.
He shrugged again, an act that made her want to charge him like a bull at a matador.
‘Truth hurts, Dee,’ he said. And then he was gone.
Later that night, Dee sat cross-legged on her bed. She’d been looking at the website for the new development she’d soon be managing. It looked sleek and stylish—luxury apartments in a prime location. A basic marketing strategy was already in place, but Dee would be in control of sales and customer service and would work closely with the construction manager. It was amazing—such a golden opportunity.
Her email pinged. The contracts had arrived and she opened the attachments. Seeing the Olsen Corporation letterhead gave her a sense of certainty. Working for the Olsens was easy and comfortable.
She scrolled through the documents, but her mind drifted back to her fight with Travis. He’d been so cruel and harsh, convincing too. In the hours since, Dee had been wondering if she was, indeed, shallow. Did she only value money and status? Was wanting a career a hallmark trait of the shallow-minded?
She shook her head. Self-reflection was fine, but she couldn’t allow Travis’s bad vibes to mess with her head.
She returned her attention to the contract and, finding it standard and professional, entered her digital signature and sent it back to HR.
The deal was done.
34
Travis and Dee barely spoke over the weekend. It was easy to avoid each other. Travis and Annie spent most of Saturday up at Dianne’s, and on Sunday, Dee decided to go for a drive. She wanted to take her final opportunity to spend time in the strangely beguiling hills and to feel the cold wind in her hair once more.
She had planned to have lunch at The Hill Above, but they were fully booked, so she did the unthinkable and pulled up out the front of Tammy’s Tops Tucker and pushed her way through the heavy glass door.
A couple of middle-aged women in black polo shirts were bustling about behind the counter.
‘How are ya?’ one of them asked as Dee stepped onto the greying linoleum floor.
Shelves to her left housed boxes of various brands of chocolate bars and lollies. To her right sat a handful of table settings of different sizes and shapes. The only uniform element was the little vase of lavender sprigs that sat in the centre of each table.
‘I’m good,’ Dee said. ‘Do you have coffee?’
‘Sure do,’ the woman said.
Dee caught a glimpse of the woman’s name tag. It seemed she was about to be served by Tammy herself.
‘Cappuccino?’ Dee asked.
‘Can do,’ Tammy said. Her dark hair was pulled back from her face, and when she smiled, a pleasing set of wrinkles framed her eyes. ‘Something to eat?’
Dee looked at the menu board above Tammy’s head. Anything that could be deep-fried was on offer, including a Mars Bar. They offered hamburgers and hotdogs as well as a selection of sandwiches. Normally, Dee would go for a sandwich, but a proclamation had been written on the sign under the burgers menu item, stating, voted best burgers outside Melbourne Metro.
It was an odd and slightly ambiguous form of advertising.
Voted by whom? Dee wo
ndered, but hunger and curiosity won out over scepticism and she ordered a burger.
‘Newspaper’s over there,’ Tammy said, nodding towards a table at the front of the store.
Dee grabbed a newspaper and took a seat at the smallest of the tables. The shop smelled of fat, but it was clean, and the table offered a good view of the main street. Dee people-watched for a while. The street was quiet as most of the shops were closed. An elderly lady ambled along the footpath using a walking frame to steady herself. A few hundred metres behind her was a young family. The children were rugged up and ran ahead of their parents who called them back, but there seemed little need—Mason’s main street posed few dangers on a Sunday afternoon.
Dee turned her attention to the newspaper—the local paper, Mason Community News. As she read the front page headline about the new mural that had been painted on the wall of the picnic shelter just out of town, her coffee arrived.
Dee thanked Tammy and took a sip. To her surprise, the coffee was magnificent.
The next page of the paper offered news about the upcoming community dragon boat race, whatever that was, and there was also a section called Bouquets and Buckets where people could anonymously thank or criticise other residents. It contained mostly bouquets—people thanking others for helping them take their groceries to the car, or for driving them home—the kind of small-town stuff that reminded Dee of Blaxland Falls. There was one bucket—someone complaining about a neighbour’s noisy dog.
This newspaper was a far cry from the lengthy tomes that she would find in Melbourne. Part of her role would be to ensure those tomes carried full-page spreads featuring the apartment block.
Dee took another sip of her coffee. She’d only been in the valley for a just over a month, but if she were to assess the situation like a sane, non-emotional person, she’d say that—for the most part—her time here hadn’t been easy nor had the town been a welcoming place to live. She’d had more than her fair share of grief since arriving and enough weirdness and drama to last her a decade, if not a lifetime. The thought of leaving, of packing her bags and heading to the big smoke to start a job she’d always dreamed of doing should be cartwheel-inducing. She should be smiling non-stop, her body should be tingling with excitement, but it wasn’t.
She felt sad to be leaving Annie and Dianne, disappointed about leaving her job at the factory incomplete. Most of all, she was miserable about turning her back on the person who ignited her soul, who left her body tingling with excitement. Travis. She was leaving Travis, but even though he didn’t seem to care, even though he didn’t seem to like her anymore, the thought of leaving him left her cold.
Tammy arrived with her burger—and it smelt mouth-watering. Dee’s mind and body were overridden with thoughts of Travis and her stomach churned with adrenaline or dopamine, or whatever, so she didn’t feel hungry … but the sight of that burger—the glistening beef patty, the gooey, oozing cheese, the thinly sliced lettuce … this thing demanded to be eaten.
Tammy hovered as Dee lifted the burger from her plate and not so deftly brought it to her mouth. The beef and cheese were delicious while the bun delivered soft comfort and the lettuce a pleasing crunch.
Tammy tapped her on the shoulder. ‘Not bad, is it?’
Her hands were on her hips and her smile was full of knowing. The look on her face said, I’ve got you hooked now. You’ll be back. Dee wondered if that was the look drug dealers gave new clients as they experienced their first hit.
‘It’s amazing.’ Dee spoke the muffled words through her second mouthful.
Tammy cocked her head to the side. ‘I haven’t seen you in here before. You run the paper factory, don’t you?’
Regretfully, Dee placed the burger back on its plate. ‘I do. For a few more days, at least. I’m moving on to a new opportunity on the Mornington Peninsula.’
‘That so?’ Tammy pursed her lips together. She seemed to be gathering her thoughts, and Dee got the feeling that Tammy was about to deliver an opinion—possibly several opinions—whether Dee wanted them or not.
‘Word is that you’re doing a good job. The ladies and lads like you, that’s for sure. And you caught Vince and his minions in the act, they say?’
Dee nodded. She wasn’t sure if she should play coy, or soak up the opportunity to have her time in the sun as a hero. Chances were, the opportunity wouldn’t repeat itself.
‘I did,’ she confirmed. ‘With the help of … a friend.’
‘Yeah well, word about town is, what went down at your factory is part of a much bigger operation running out of Cleeve Gully.’
‘Really?’ Only a small part of Dee was interested. She really hoped the police were able to shut the drug ring down and catch up with everyone responsible, but her part in the whole affair was well and truly over. She had other things to worry about.
Tammy seemed to be inspecting her. ‘You live with Travis Parker, don’t you?’
Dee startled at the sudden change in the trajectory of the conversation, but then she nodded.
Tammy whistled. ‘Lucky lady. What a fine piece of arse!’
Tammy sat across from Dee, and Dee, sensing that the exchange was progressing beyond the realms of a quick chat, picked up her burger and continued to devour it while Tammy spoke some undeniable truths.
‘I mean, those eyes. You seen his eyes?’
Dee nodded again. The thought of Travis’s eyes on her was enough to turn her insides to goo. Hunger left her like a wayward spirit leaves a body, but still, she pushed her burger into her mouth. She wouldn’t let thoughts of Travis—who’d gone out of his way to be a right prick over the past few days—destroy her gorging experience.
But then Tammy upped the ante. ‘We all love watching him when he comes into the shop, especially when he’s wearing a tank top, with those arms of his exposed.’
Tammy winked and licked her lips, as though the thought of Travis’s arms caused her to salivate like one of Pavlov’s dogs.
Dee was desperately trying to distance herself from Tammy’s words. She was working hard to keep her focus locked on her burger, but the thing was disappearing fast, and once the last mouthful was gone, she’d be left with only Tammy and her words to focus on.
‘Then,’ Tammy said, her voice brimming with intensity as she nudged Dee knowingly, ‘we get to watch him leave. Those jeans, phew!’
Tammy made a show of fanning herself with her hand. Travis and his jeans were clearly too hot for her to handle.
Dee swallowed the last of her burger, and Tammy shook her head.
‘Why would you want to leave this place? Especially when we have burgers like that and men like Travis? Are you mad?’
Dee stared at her blankly, the burger sitting heavy in her gut.
‘I think I might be.’
35
It was Friday, and to say Travis was having trouble keeping his temper in check was an understatement. He’d been snapping at people left, right and centre all week.
He tried keeping his distance from Dee, but living in the same house made some things inevitable, like running into each other in the kitchen, walking into the same room at the same time, and seeking out Annie’s company.
Annie lapped things up. She was the centre of everyone’s attention—his, Dee’s and his mother’s. Well, she’d always been the centre of his mother’s world, but the friction in their house meant that there was a silent battle for Annie’s attention, and annoyingly, Dee always seemed to win.
Travis tried to temper his mood. He made a conscious effort to walk into work each morning with a smile on his face. He greeted everyone and tried to be polite, and to their credit, they’d return his greeting. However, within an hour, he’d feel like punching at least two people, usually three, and always over small infractions, like leaving a machine running for a minute longer than necessary, or not returning the shrink wrap to the right place.
What he wouldn’t give for Vince to be around, so he could punch someone, someone who deserved i
t. He tried to keep his thoughts from Pete, but it was hard work. They had often worked in the same area, and Trav had always liked it that way. They knew each other well enough to intuit each other’s actions and thoughts. Trav realised that Pete would often have a quiet word to the machine operators, getting them to shut down their machines when they weren’t in use, or would use his initiative to put away the shrink wrap. Travis missed his mate.
Things were no better at home. By the time he got back to the house each night, there was no hiding his feelings. He was downright snappy, and his conversations with Dee didn't extend beyond clipped, two-word sentences.
‘Get milk?’ she’d asked him on Wednesday night.
‘No. Did you?’
‘No.’
What got to him the most was how restlessly he slept. His dreams were the problem. They rode the spectrum of all the things he had done and could do with Dee, from talking to arguing, to other things. Erotic things. Things that made his blood hot and his dick hard.
It didn’t matter what his dreams were about, he woke every day feeling angry, horny and frustrated about his life.
To make matters worse, he had to see her, daily, in his house. Everything about her was difficult to look at—from the curve of her cheek, to the way her mouth hitched at the sides when she smiled. It was hard to be in the same room with her when, despite the almighty effort he put into “not looking”, his eyes would capture the turn of her buttocks. Then his heart would still and his stupid mind would reminisce about the feel of her skin under his palms.
The whole situation made him cranky and surly.
By Friday night, he was a ball of frustration and stress, and his mum noticed straight away. Luckily, they were alone—Dee had taken Annie out for dinner, presumably to tell her she’d be leaving the next morning.
‘What’s going on with you?’ his mum asked.
To Travis’s surprise, she looked good. Not tired, not drawn, not hunched over. She looked healthy and strong. She looked at him with that stern, questioning expression he knew only too well from his childhood. Her hands were planted firmly on her hips and her tone was commanding. It said, I want an answer, and I want it now.
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