Something in the Wine

by Tricia Stringer

  “You’re still planning on going?”

  “Yes. I’ve booked a seat on a bus for tomorrow. I’m going to the Pinnacles first.”

  “I am glad you’re going ahead with your trip. Kat is travelling as well, did you know? Only she’s off overseas. Did you get a chance to see her before she left?”

  Keely stared at Maggie. What did she mean? “No. I mean yes… at least I saw her yesterday and she said goodbye, but I thought she was farewelling me.”

  “She flew home to Melbourne this morning. I think Flynn said she had another week before she left for Singapore to be with her boyfriend.”

  “But…” Keely didn’t understand. Wasn’t Flynn her boyfriend?

  A mobile rang from somewhere behind them in the apartment. “Excuse me a moment.” Maggie went inside.

  Keely frowned at the beautiful vista in front of her. Kat was with Flynn. She’d seen them together the day before. There’d been some remark about them all starting something new and Flynn had said Kat had given him wonderful news and he’d see her again at the flat.

  None of that made sense with what Maggie had just said. Maybe she’d misunderstood.

  Maggie stuck her head through the open doors of the sitting room. “I’ve just realised I’m totally out of milk for our coffee. There are some magazines on the table. I won’t be long.”

  “Maggie, are you sure Kat is going to Singapore?” Keely asked.

  “Quite sure. Flynn was here yesterday and told me all about it.”

  “And Flynn’s not going with her?”

  “Good heavens, no.” Maggie smiled. “Flynn had to tend to some urgent business back in Margaret River. Theo is selling him some land. Now you make yourself comfortable. I’ll be right back.”

  Keely stood up and leaned on the balcony rail, staring at the river. What was it with her and water? She seemed to have spent a lot of the last few weeks simply staring at it. She still couldn’t comprehend what Maggie had said. Keely had seen all the signs. Kat and Flynn were together and yet, if what Maggie said was true, they couldn’t be.

  A brief flutter of hope stirred inside her and then she banished it. Her Margaret River adventure was over. It was time to move on.

  The wind strengthened and goosebumps prickled her arms. She stepped back into the sitting room and heard the front door close.

  “Maggie, I’m here. It’s all done.”

  Keely stopped at the sound of Flynn’s voice. She brushed her hands down her sides, smoothing her skirt.

  “Maggie?” He paused mid-stride when he saw Keely.

  “She’s not here.”

  Flynn ran his fingers through his hair. “But I spoke to her on the phone a few minutes ago. She wanted me to…” He shook his head.

  “She’s gone to get milk. I was out on the balcony.” Keely nodded over her shoulder. “It got chilly.”

  Flynn continued to stare. Keely looked around frantically trying to think of something to say.

  “She shouldn’t…”

  “She won’t…” They both spoke at once.

  Flynn smiled at Keely. “There’s a shop just down the street, she shouldn’t be long.”

  “No.” Keely poked her toe at the pattern on the floor rug.

  “You staying in Perth long?”

  “I’m heading north tomorrow.”

  “I guess you’re glad to be on your way at last.”

  “Yes.”

  They were both silent. Keely glanced around Maggie’s beautifully furnished room.

  “I’m going to make myself a late lunch,” Flynn said. “Would you like something?”

  He began to move towards another door. Keely guessed it led to the kitchen. “No. I’ve eaten, thanks.”

  He paused, looking at her again. Keely held her breath until she felt as if she would burst.

  “Look, I’d better get going.” She picked up her bag from the side table. “Say thanks to Maggie. I’ve got a few more things to organise before I leave.”

  “Are you sure? She shouldn’t be much longer.”

  “I’ll keep moving.”

  He followed her to the door. “Keely.”

  She stopped with her hand on the doorknob. She sensed rather than heard him step closer behind her.

  “Thanks for everything you did. I…well, Euan and I appreciated your support. If you’re ever back this way…well, you’re welcome.”

  She opened the door, went through, then looked back at him. Her heart thumped and she forced the corners of her mouth into a smile. “I enjoyed my time in Margaret River. Levallier Dell is a special place. I hope everything works out for you and Euan.” Then with every bit of her strength she walked away.

  * * *

  Flynn was sitting at the table eating a sandwich when he heard his aunt’s key in the lock. He quickly opened the newspaper and lay it out in front of him.

  “Keely?” she called. “Flynn?”

  “In here, Maggie.”

  She came through the door and looked around. “Where’s Keely?”

  “She left about a half hour ago.” He turned the page of the paper. “Said she had things to do.”

  “Did you talk to her?”

  “Briefly. She was in a bit of a rush when I arrived. I don’t think she expected to see me.”

  “You shouldn’t have let her go without offering her some refreshments.”

  “I did but she declined.” Flynn had a flashback to the image of Keely, framed in the patio door. She had on a long flowing skirt and the light from behind silhouetted her legs. She’d looked beautiful, with surprise written all over her face, and he had let her bolt – again.

  Maggie put a magazine down on the table and started to clear up the things he’d left out.

  “Why did you want me to phone you when I was leaving the solicitors?” he asked.

  “I was worried about you.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m allowed to worry. You’ve done a lot of driving in the last twenty-four hours and you’ve had a huge amount on your plate.”

  “You needn’t have worried. I’m fine.”

  A soft snort came from behind him.

  “Where’s the milk?” he asked, as he turned another page of his paper.

  “Pardon?”

  “Didn’t you go out to get milk?”

  “Oh…how silly of me. I got talking to the fellow down at the shop and forgot all about it.”

  “Could have saved yourself the trouble, then.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Flynn grinned at her but she turned away quickly, snatched up a cloth and began wiping down the bench top.

  “There’s a full carton in the door of the fridge. You must have missed it.”

  He turned back to his paper and something soft and wet hit him on the back of the head.

  CHAPTER 37

  Keely strolled along the beach in the late afternoon. At last she was heading north. The bus trip from Perth had been uneventful and she’d arrived in Cervantes the day before with plenty of time to check in to the backpackers’ accommodation and book herself a place on the sunset tour to the Pinnacles. It had been worth it. The strange limestone formations were spectacular and it was amazing to watch them change through a range of colours she’d never seen before as the sun went down. Now she was walking the beautiful white sand of Jurien Bay, a little further up the coast.

  She stopped to watch the waves of the Indian Ocean pound in on the beach. Travelling alone, after the company she’d been keeping, was too quiet. Each day she was putting more kilometres between her and Margaret River and…She didn’t even want to think his name.

  She’d stopped at Jurien Bay with no particular plan and she felt restless with nothing to do but wander. She had a strange sense of loss and, if she was honest, she knew she was lonely.

  There weren’t many people on the beach. A family group stood together playing and chasing the waves at the water’s edge and a couple walked arm in arm further along. She turned to head back to th
e guesthouse. The wind was quite strong and whipped her hair onto her face. It was still long enough to wear up. Perhaps she’d try that tomorrow.

  She brushed at the hair across her eyes and caught a glimpse of a tall figure striding in her direction. She stopped, held her hair firmly away from her face and stared. The walk was familiar. It couldn’t be Marty, he and his mates would be much further north. Just for a moment, she imagined the man walking towards her looked like Flynn. She’d have to take herself seriously in hand or she’d become miserable.

  The man held up an arm and called out. The wind blew the sound away but it could almost have been her name. She stared hard and the figure waved again.

  “Flynn?” She half raised her arm. Was she seeing things? What would Flynn be doing here?

  He came striding towards her waving something in his hand. As he got closer, she could see it was a bottle of wine. He stopped just a step away from her. She continued to hold her hair to the side of her face and stare at him.

  He gave a slight bow. “A something more wine,” he said in a pompous voice, “the Scarecrow label is produced by one of Margaret River’s long-established wineries.”

  She frowned at him. More like something in the wine. Either he’d lost the plot, or she had.

  “That was how the judge described it.” He grinned and waved the bottle under her nose. “Scarecrow won. Levallier Dell’s new Haystack label…Scarecrow Dry White…won a trophy for best white blend. They rang me this morning.”

  Keely looked into his eyes and saw just a flash of hesitation. “That’s great,” she said quickly.

  “I tried to get you on your phone but I kept getting your message so I thought I’d come and tell you…in person.”

  The hand holding the bottle dropped to his side and they both stood in silence for a moment. The waves crashed on the beach beside them and the wind was loud in Keely’s ears, so she almost didn’t hear him when he spoke again.

  “Keely, I’m sorry.” Flynn took a little step closer and pinned her with his mournful look. “I let my annoyance at Maggie stop me from saying what I should have said to you the other day. I tried to ring you that night but your phone wasn’t answering and I had no idea where you were staying. By the time I got to the bus station in the morning, you were gone. I’d almost convinced myself to let you go but then I got the phone call about the wine winning first prize and I…” His voice faltered and he looked down.

  She’d seen the missed calls on her phone but had wanted to put more space between them before she talked to him again. “You drove all this way to tell me?”

  “I wanted to share the moment with you. You believed in me.”

  “How did you find me?”

  “Persistence.” He gave her a little grin. “When I explained you’d won a prize and didn’t know about it, the guy at the backpackers at Cervantes told me you’d moved on. There aren’t that many places the bus stops.”

  Keely looked at him, still hardly daring to move in case she woke up to find that she’d been dreaming.

  “I’m glad you came,” she said.

  His smile widened and he held the bottle up in front of her. “The wine is chilled but I forgot the glasses. We can drink a toast from the bottle or…from the container I had the ice in.” He lifted his other hand, which held an empty butter tub.

  “Let’s use that.” She let herself smile. Surely if she was dreaming he would have produced crystal glasses.

  They sat down in the sand and Keely watched steadily as Flynn unscrewed the cap and poured the wine into the tub. Then he stood the bottle in the sand in front of them and offered her the makeshift glass.

  “Thanks for coming up with the name…and the label.”

  She took a sip. “Thanks for coming up with a very good wine,” she said. “Which, by the way, won without the name or the label.”

  He took the tub and drank from it. “Just as well it’s a good wine. The drinking vessel doesn’t do anything for it.”

  His gaze locked with hers. Keely’s heart was beating so hard in her chest that she thought he would be able to hear it.

  He put the container down. “I’ve missed you. Last weekend was great.”

  “Everything worked out well.”

  “It wouldn’t have mattered if it hadn’t. I like being with you.”

  Keely glanced down at the tub of wine between them. The look in his eyes made her feel as if she were melting and yet all they could do was make polite conversation. “I like being with you, too,” she said softly.

  “I can’t believe how stupid I’ve been.” He gave his leg a slap. “I thought you didn’t like me but Maggie says you were giving me space, because you thought I was with Kat, even Euan did. Not that I was ready to listen to anything Maggie had to say, after that terrible attempt at getting us together the other afternoon.”

  Keely felt the heat spread across her cheeks and then the touch of his hand as his fingers gently lifted her chin so that her lips were level with his. He leaned forward and kissed her. Not a quick brush of the lips this time, but a long, slow kiss that left her in no doubt about how he felt. He pulled her gently to him and she reached around his neck and kissed him back.

  Finally, they took a breath. Flynn kept his face close to hers and ran his finger softly over her lips. Tingles ran up and down her spine.

  “I’ve wanted to kiss you for a long time,” he said.

  “I’ve been waiting a long time.” She kissed the tip of his finger.

  “I was going to suggest a toast but…”

  They both looked at the butter tub. The wind had blown sand into it and combined with the wine to make a gritty paste.

  “To heck with it.” She laughed. “Let’s drink from the bottle.”

  Their arms went around each other as they kissed again and clung together for a moment. His body was warm and firm and she loved the feeling of being held by him. She had waited so long for this moment. She exhaled slowly. She wasn’t going to hold her breath waiting anymore.

  Flynn reached for the bottle and kept her cuddled up with one arm while he unscrewed the cap.

  “A sip of Levallier Dell’s award-winning wine?” He offered her the bottle.

  “Made by the most talented young winemaker.”

  She already felt intoxicated as the sharp taste of the wine filled her mouth. Flynn gripped her tighter as he took a mouthful of wine and together they watched the sun disappear into the Indian Ocean.

  8 MONTHS LATER

  Keely peered at the numbers on the overhead panel and stopped beside the man in the aisle seat. His head was back and his eyes were closed. His face was covered in freckles and it was topped by wisps of faded gingery hair. She grinned. If he had a straw hat he would have made a good scarecrow. The attractive woman with auburn hair beside him smiled and nodded.

  “Are you going to find our seat, Mrs Levallier?” a voice murmured in her ear.

  She gave Dianna a little wave. Euan opened one eye and winked at her before she moved on to the seat behind.

  “You’re in a rush,” Keely said as Flynn strapped himself into the aisle seat beside her.

  “I want to have you to myself. We’ve hardly been alone all week, with wedding preparations, meeting all the rellies, entertaining the visitors, then the whole big wedding day…”

  “Which was wonderful,” she chided him.

  “Which was wonderful.” He kissed her.

  “Considering we had to do most of the organising over the phone from Margaret River, it all went well.”

  “Your mother had everything under control.”

  “Yes.” For once Keely was glad of her mother’s ability to organise. Working on the wedding together long distance had somehow brought them closer together. She found it so much easier to talk with her mother now, not just about the wedding but in general.

  “Even down to getting a cake, the one you wanted, at the last minute.”

  “That was pretty amazing, even for my mother.” Keely recalled t
heir panic when Maggie had arrived from Perth without Anna’s cake, three days before the wedding. Anna had insisted on making a traditional fruit cake with white plastic icing and paper flowers. She hadn’t asked Flynn or Keely what they would like, and Keely had hated it. Neither she nor Flynn liked fruit cake. She’d wanted something more modern with shards of chocolate and fresh flowers to match her bouquet. It was just like Anna to go ahead assuming she knew everything, as usual.

  “It’s a shame though,” Flynn said. “Anna couldn’t be at the wedding and she wanted to do something special for us.”

  Keely felt guilty at her uncharitable thoughts. “Do we have to tell her?”

  “Euan will smooth it over. His idea of holding a repeat wedding dinner at Margaret River once we get back is a good idea. He’s even agreed to Theo being there.”

  “It’s good to see Theo’s made a full recovery both in health and business. And I’m so glad he and Euan have buried their differences.”

  “Buried is the right word. I think it’s a difficult truce. Either of them could reignite their feud at any time.”

  “Hopefully not at our wedding celebration.”

  “I’m glad Euan suggested the dinner. We can invite people who couldn’t make it to Adelaide and Anna will be happy. She can cook up a storm.” He frowned. “I still can’t understand how Maggie could leave the cake behind. It’s unlike her to be so forgetful.”

  Keely had wondered about that herself. Maggie had been the only one she’d told about the kind of cake she would like to have and Keely’s mother had taken it all in her stride when Maggie arrived without Anna’s cake. Something like that would normally have sent her into a tailspin. When it came down to it though, it wouldn’t have mattered what the cake was. They were all too busy having a great time to notice. Bec had delighted in her role as Keely’s only attendant and had also caught the bouquet. She was planning to come over for a visit as soon as they were back from their honeymoon.

  Keely looked at Flynn and smiled. “It doesn’t matter. It really was a very special day.”

  “Last night was even better,” he murmured in her ear.

  Keely felt the warmth spread across her cheeks and down her neck. They’d spent their first night together as husband and wife in a beautiful hotel overlooking the sea at Glenelg. She didn’t recall getting much sleep.