Meet Me in Bendigo

by Eva Scott

  ‘This is great coffee.’ Ed looked surprised.

  ‘Of course it is,’ said Joe, sounding outraged. ‘I made it.’

  Ed looked at Annalisa as if for confirmation.

  ‘She can’t make coffee for nuts,’ said Joe. ‘We’ve been at her for ages to up her game but nothing. Nada. Zip.’

  Ed laughed. ‘Would it help if I told you I was a barista in a former life?’

  ‘Great, you can give her some tips,’ said Dave.

  ‘Before she poisons someone,’ said Joe.

  ‘Settle down,’ said Annalisa. ‘My coffee is not that bad. You’re just dark because I won’t buy a coffee machine.’

  ‘She’s holding out,’ said Terry.

  ‘I can’t afford one,’ said Annalisa. ‘We’ve got to increase sales before we can think about a coffee machine.’

  ‘Yeah, now that Carpenter’s joint is going in things are going to get tougher,’ Joe muttered.

  Annalisa sighed. ‘Maybe but we’ve got something they don’t have. We have old-fashioned customer service, local knowledge and community history. They can’t offer that. They come from Melbourne and think they know the country. Well, they don’t.’

  Ed nodded as he looked around. ‘This place looks like it’s got a lot of history attached to it.’

  ‘That’s his way of saying it’s old,’ said Dave as he rearranged his hand of cards.

  ‘I meant that you can see the place has lineage.’ She swore she could see a flush along Ed’s very fine cheekbones.

  ‘He’s just teasing,’ said Joe. ‘Annalisa’s family have owned this place since the 1850s. She’s the last one standing.’

  ‘Gee, thanks, Joe.’ Annalisa frowned. ‘You make it sound like we’re nearly extinct. What’s Nonna? Chopped liver?’

  Joe shrugged and took his turn, like it didn’t matter to him one way or another.

  ‘That’s a huge legacy,’ said Ed.

  ‘Sometimes it feels pretty heavy. I grew up in this store. I know every nook and cranny. I can’t imagine this place not being in my life.’ Annalisa looked around at the faded yellow walls and the floor that needed repainting. Everything looked worn out. How was she going to compete with all the shiny newness Carpenter’s had to offer?

  Ed sipped on his coffee and watched the old guys resume their game as if he’d never interrupted it. ‘I guess the Cappellis are a tight family.’

  Annalisa nodded. ‘Yep, they were, although there’s only Nonna and me left now. Mum and Dad were killed in a car accident when I was a kid.’ Her old emotional scar twitched down deep as she spoke. ‘It was a long time ago and I don’t remember very much about it.’ She’d gotten used to adding her caveat before anyone could ask her about missing them.

  ‘You should have met Big Al,’ said Terry, throwing the line over his shoulder like he was fishing, hoping for a bite. ‘Great man.’

  ‘My dad,’ Annalisa filled in the blank.

  ‘Oh.’ Ed nodded.

  ‘Wait for it,’ Annalisa whispered, knowing what was going to come next.

  ‘Not a patch on his father, of course,’ said Dave.

  ‘Best friend I ever had,’ said Joe. None of the old guys lifted their eyes from the cards in front of them. Why would they when they knew this script inside and out? Annalisa knew it by heart too and had to hold back from saying the lines along with them. It was like a scene from a bad play.

  ‘Lorenzo was my best friend,’ said Joe, slamming down a card with such force the table rattled.

  ‘Shame,’ said Dave, as he slid his card into place.

  ‘May he rest in peace,’ muttered Terry, who crossed himself as per Catholic ritual.

  ‘What are you doing?’ demanded Joe. ‘You’re Episcopalian.’

  Terry shrugged. ‘Lorenzo was Catholic,’ he said, as if the gesture acted like a benediction on the dearly departed regardless of denominational specifics.

  Ed looked at Annalisa, questions stamped all over his face.

  ‘My grandfather, Lorenzo, died of a heart attack. My dad took over the store and the rest is history.’ She kept her voice low, not wanting to provoke a long story session about her grandfather. She didn’t want to put Ed off with sad stories of the past. Delicious, sexy, smells-good Ed.

  ‘And you run the store now?’ He looked at her with those eyes of his, clear and blue, like a summer day.

  Annalisa nodded, the creeping sense of self-consciousness making her look away. ‘Nonna wanted to take a step back and I was at a loose end …’ She shrugged one shoulder, as if the events that had led her back home had been nothing out of the ordinary, while her fingers crept to her locket.

  He picked up a flyer. ‘Macramé classes. A girl of many talents.’

  ‘Carpenter’s may have sausage sizzles and jumping castles and more variety of stock than I can ever hope to house in a lifetime, but I have this.’ She smiled at him, wanting him to see her as someone who was capable and fearless, and not as she felt inside—completely outside her comfort zone and panicking like mad. ‘I have my community.’

  ‘Good for you,’ said Ed. The way he looked at her made her think he meant it and a warm halo set up around her heart. ‘Community is important.’

  ‘I want to do my family proud. I want Cappelli’s to be here, to pass it on to the next generation. I mean, when I eventually find someone and get married and all that.’ She blushed, possibly as red as her T-shirt.

  ‘I wish you all the luck in the world,’ he said as he put down his coffee cup and picked up his new hammer. ‘If I need anything else, I’ll pop back.’

  ‘Bring snacks next time,’ said Terry.

  ‘Do you play poker?’ asked Dave.

  ‘Probably better than you do,’ said Joe. ‘Come tomorrow if you’re not busy. We’re old and we need some entertainment.’

  Ed laughed. ‘Let me check my schedule. I’ll be around for a few days and I’ll have some free time.’

  Then, as he was leaving, he turned and held her gaze. A ripple of something, some kind of energy, passed between them. The jolt she felt sent her half a step back, and she was grateful for the counter between them. Grateful the old guys hadn’t noticed.

  Ed stood there, saying nothing and looking at her as if he were memorising every inch of her face. She was sure Joe would make a smart remark and break the spell. Slowly, a smile, like a patch of sun on a winter’s day, spread across Ed’s handsome face and Annalisa knew he’d sensed the magic of the moment too.

  He raised the hammer in salute and pushed the door open. ‘See you tomorrow,’ he said before he disappeared out into the world.

  ‘Wow,’ she said. What the hell just happened? This was how Sleeping Beauty must have felt, coming to after spending an age fast asleep. She just flirted with a sexy man and even had feelings. Wait until she told Mel. Maybe there was hope for her yet.

  ‘Good-looking man,’ said Joe to no one in particular.

  ‘Reminds me of myself when I was his age,’ said Terry. ‘You gonna play your move or do you want me to do it for you?’

  ‘What are you talking about? You were never handsome.’ This from Joe.

  Annalisa grinned, a bubble of happiness holding her taller and straighter than she’d been for days. A tingly sensation, like someone had hooked her up to an electric current, buzzed through her body. Suddenly, the future held the possibility of possibilities. More than she’d hoped for this morning, anyway. She hugged the sensation close, not wanting it to evaporate, hoping that this was what healing looked like.

  ‘I’m going out the back to work on my plans for the doll houses. Call me if anyone comes in,’ she said. Between Delicious Ed, her craft courses and her doll houses, things had definitely started to look up.

  Ed kept it together as he walked across the road to his car, conscious of the eyes watching him from the hardware store. He walked as if he hadn’t a care in the world. He even tossed his keys casually into the air and caught them again. He might have whistled.

  Once in t
he safety of the car, Ed let out a huge sigh and gave in to the feelings he’d been holding at bay. He was in trouble. Big trouble.

  She was a Cappelli—the Cappelli—the owner of the hardware store. The one he’d come to negotiate a deal with. Annalisa was not just a girl he liked online. This complicated things in ways he hadn’t fathomed yet. Ed ran his hands through his hair and blinked at his startled reflection in the rear-view mirror.

  Holy crap.

  He’d meant to walk into the shop and tell Nancetta Cappelli he was Ed Carpenter here to do a deal. Straightforward if not easy. When Nancetta had turned out to be Annalisa he couldn’t find the words. How could he tell her he was both Ed Carpenter and GardenerGuy94?

  No wonder she railed against big business the way she did. Carpenter’s Warehouse was tantamount to a death sentence for Cappelli’s Hardware. He hadn’t seen that little complication coming. What the hell was he going to do?

  The moment she’d appeared from behind that door, catching him by surprise, he’d known things were not going to go well for him. Then there was the other shock. Annalisa had turned out to be more than he’d imagined.

  She’d stood there with the light behind her, that long dark hair tumbling about her shoulders, inviting him to run his hands through it. Her curves highlighted by that red T-shirt and snug jeans. She’d looked at him with a sense of recognition he’d felt in his soul.

  Ed looked at the hammer lying on the seat beside him. He did not need a hammer. Maybe he did not need a screwdriver and some screws too. A reason to come tomorrow and try again, aside from the invitation to play a good old game of poker.

  He started the car; promising to take him away from his complications, the engine revved into life. Ed sighed. Why did this have to happen? Why did he feel such an undeniable connection to her? The whole situation felt like some cosmic joke. The one girl he’d managed to fall for happened to be the one girl he shouldn’t have anything to do with at all.

  Ed pulled away from the kerb, throwing a glance towards the shop where he could see the outline of the old men still at it. Annalisa was nowhere to be seen. He should keep driving, go back to the relative safety of Melbourne. Forget he ever met her. Cut off all contact. Stop messaging her. Tell his brother and sister everything was fine; no one to worry about. He should pretend Annalisa Cappelli didn’t exist.

  But could he?

  The spark that had arced between them had been undeniable and rare. He couldn’t ignore that, and he somehow knew that she’d felt it too. Sure, he’d fancied himself in love before but nothing—no one—had ever made an impact on him like this. A warm buzzing sensation had set up in his chest: euphoria was pushing aside his doubts, replacing his worries with optimism.

  This moment was all Ed had and he’d be damned if he was going to walk away from something so magical for anyone or anything, even Carpenter’s Warehouse.

  His stomach rumbled. The possibility of love made him hungry. First stop, the bakery, then back to the site office to make sense of this mess as best he could.

  GardenerGuy94 MON @ 5:46 PM

  How did the rest of your day go?

  GoldfieldsGirl MON @ 5:50 PM

  Very optimistically. I’ve been making plans for my doll-house orders and for more craft classes I think I can run successfully. Hopefully generate some income. Sometimes I wonder if I’m in the right life. Do you ever feel that way?

  GardenerGuy94 MON @ 5:54 PM

  All the time. I spend part of every day plotting how to get out of here and restart my life. I used to have a landscape gardening business before the pandemic. I used to spend my days with dirt under my fingernails and I loved it. Now I’m cooped up in an office focussed on profit margins and marketing strategies. Not fun.

  GoldfieldsGirl MON @ 6:02 PM

  It’s like you’re being held captive in an ivory tower somewhere and you need someone to come and save you. But at least you have Ripley, right? I sometimes wonder if living alone would be easier if I had a dog.

  GardenerGuy94 MON @ 6:05 PM

  Nothing like the love of a good dog. Ripley does make things easier to bear. That and a good glass of red now and again. You’re going to be fine. At the very least, you’ll be able to say you gave everything you had. Can’t do better than that. Your doll house rocks. You could make mini hospitals or schools or maybe even a vet surgery … just throwing ideas out there.

  GardenerGuy94 MON @ 6:07 PM

  Hey, how about making doll-house kits? They’d be easier to post and your customers would get the satisfaction of building something for their kids without the hassle of creating from scratch.

  GoldfieldsGirl MON @ 6:11 PM

  OMG you’re a genius. I could kiss you! I would never have thought of those things. I’m going to go and sketch some more ideas out.

  GardenerGuy94 MON @ 6:15 PM

  Put your armour on when you’re done and come save me. Ripley too.

  Extract from The Goldfields Gazette, Friday 28 December 1900:

  PREPARATIONS UNDERWAY FOR FEDERATION DAY CELEBRATION IN WONGILLY

  Preparations for Federation celebrations are well underway and the owners of Cappelli’s Hardware & Supplies are front and centre, planning to show the town of Wongilly their loyalty to their adopted country.

  Mr Raffaello ‘Raffa’ Cappelli opened his store in 1856 at the height of the goldrush in Wongilly. He became a naturalised Australian when his son, Agostino, was born in 1857. Agostino now operates Cappelli’s Hardware & Supplies in his father’s place, aided by his own son, Giuseppe, also known as Joe.

  Three generations of the Cappelli family and their wives are dedicated to creating a triumphant display of national pride on Federation Day, 1 January 1901, and invite the residents of Wongilly to come and inspect their marvellous window display.

  The town parade for Federation Day will take place at ten o’clock sharp, leaving from outside Cappelli’s Hardware & Supplies and progressing to Harrington’s Public House where speeches will be made.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Annalisa woke suddenly to a jittery sensation in her legs, as if bees were buzzing in her blood. The feeling crept upwards, making her restless. When the storm reached her heart, it began to pound most uncomfortably, like someone had laid a house brick on her chest.

  Panic set in, her breath now little gasps in the dark as she grappled with the tsunami engulfing her. The locket in her grasp, she knew exactly what was going on.

  Nonna used to call it the Jinn of Anxiety. She said it used to visit grandfather Lorenzo all the time after he came back from war wounded in ways you couldn’t see. Annalisa had never understood what Poppy’d experienced, until now. So this is what it feels like, she thought, as the Jinn stomped through her mind, searching for her inadequacies, howling for all her fears and doubts, raging through every nook and cranny until it uncovered every negative thing she’d ever thought about herself, every terrible scenario and possibility she could imagine, before dragging them back and forth across her mind like a demented child running a stick across a picket fence.

  She buried her head in her hands. How could she possibly save the family business when she had nothing—was nothing? No skills, no business sense, no one to guide her except her grandmother and a bunch of old men. How could she stand up against a giant like Carpenter’s Warehouse? She could see it now, she a miniature David, hurling words ineffectually at their Goliath. It was a hopeless situation. She was hopeless.

  She should give up and go back to the city, get a meaningless job somewhere and be grateful to be out of the fight. She didn’t have the strength for it. She wasn’t her grandfather with his enormous warrior’s heart, nor could she be compared to any one of her ancestors who came to this country. Those men and women had withstood greater challenges than she faced and, together, had built the Cappelli legacy. She was the last of her line. She was the loser, the one who’d lost the lot.

  When the storm finally passed, Annalisa lay still and exhausted. Both her body and mind ha
d taken a battering. She took a large gulp of harsh night air and trembled.

  While she knew she’d just had an anxiety attack, every horrible thought resonated as truth. Who was she to think she could make a difference? Who would listen to the rantings of an inexperienced business owner who didn’t have a clue what they were doing? She wouldn’t for one.

  Annalisa waited for her heartbeat to subside then threw back the covers and swung her legs out of bed.

  Outside, the land remained covered in a cloak of darkness and the dawn chorus had not yet begun. Her bedside clock told her it was too early to get up and yet by the time she’d get back to sleep she’d just about have to get up again. She found herself stuck in a kind of no-man’s-land, that place where your thoughts could run wild, hand in hand with your worries.

  She couldn’t let anxiety overwhelm her like it had overwhelmed her grandfather. His situation had been so very different to hers. He had seen things, done things, that had scarred him for life.

  Annalisa pushed her tangled hair back from her face and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She needed to find a way forward. If Cappelli’s Hardware was destined to go down, then it would go down with a fight.

  Sometime later, Annalisa yawned and stretched in front of the boiling kettle. She’d spent the pre-dawn hours looking at ideas for doll houses and saving things on her Pinterest page. A whole world had opened up for her and the excitement of making cute doll houses had chased her demons away but she’d pay for her lack of sleep later.

  She made her tea and took it to the kitchen table. Instead of watching the sunrise, she sat and flicked through the sketches she’d made last night. Coming up with a costing for her doll-house commissions would be her biggest challenge today. Maybe GardenerGuy94 could give her some advice.

  Smiling, she scrolled through their messages. He wanted her to come save him and his dog. Annalisa tried to imagine a chocolate labrador bounding about the house, climbing up on the furniture and bugging the old guys for their snacks. Maybe she should think about getting a dog of her own.