Set the Stage (A Rivervue Community Theatre Romance, #2)

by Daniel De Lorne

  He relieved her of the garments, noting the red dress and the tuxedo. ‘I’ve been better but I wanted to say I’m sorry about how I behaved the other day. It was rude and uncalled for.’

  ‘Forget all about it, darling. I have.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  She kissed him on the cheek and they walked towards the gazebo. ‘Dasha said she saw you and Bruce have a bit of a lover’s tiff earlier today.’

  He hung the dresses on the clothes line.

  Can’t anyone in this town mind their own business?

  Angela greeted his mother, but her prying only piqued Sofia’s interest.

  ‘Thank God, you’re here, Angela. He won’t tell me what this fight with Bruce was about.’

  ‘They had a bit of a blue in the cafe, or so I’m told.’

  Gabriel sat in his chair while Angela took the other. ‘We just had a disagreement so if you two—’

  ‘Sounded like a big disagreement,’ Angela said. ‘Something involving a man you were meeting at the cafe?’

  ‘Mijo!’

  ‘I’m not cheating on him. ¡Joder!’

  Angela tittered. ‘No, nothing like that, Sofia, but Dasha said he had some plans for the theatre.’

  Was she trying to trap him? He had to run.

  ‘Look, now that Angela’s here, I might head out for a bit.’ He jumped out of his chair.

  ‘¡Quieto!’ Her tone was a leash choking his neck. ‘What’s going on?’

  He looked down on his ailing mother and the expectant Angela. He reached for a convincing lie but the truth kept getting in the way. Two hours it had taken for the news of his fight with Bruce to reach Sofia; it wouldn’t take much longer for the truth about Andrew and Y Studio to be exposed. It was probably already snaking its way through Brachen. His chest constricted, repelling reason but he had to let it out. He gripped the back of the chair.

  ‘The man I met was my boss from Sydney. He …’ He closed his eyes and breathed out a little of the tension. Speaking hadn’t made it easier. At least he wasn’t in any danger of being hit. ‘The firm I work for has been contracted to do the designs for the proposed theatre redevelopment. Before I left I sketched some possible ideas for it … and they’re the ones the council liked.’ Sofia exchanged puzzled glances with Angela before turning her eyes up to him. ‘I don’t understand. You knew about this the whole time?’

  ‘No, well, yes. I just did some sketches but I didn’t think they’d use them. The day I drew them I got the phone call that you were in hospital and I left. I’d meant to destroy them but, in my rush to get here, I forgot about them until Andrew showed up today. I was going to quit, but I didn’t get the chance.’

  I was needed here.

  Sofia twisted the rings on her fingers, retreating with each turn. He wanted to crouch beside her and stop her worries. If she was worrying, she wasn’t getting better. This is what he’d been afraid of. But he froze. One move and she might push him away and that was worse than his father’s abuse.

  ‘I don’t believe it.’ Angela stabbed the table with her finger. ‘We’ve been trying to save this theatre from demolition and you’ve been working against us from the inside?’

  ‘No, I haven’t! I hadn’t spoken to my boss since I left and I didn’t want to have anything to do with it but I was stuck. It was a mistake. Mamá, please, I’m sorry.’

  ‘Is that why Bruce is upset with you?’ Sofia said. ‘Because of the theatre?’

  She still wasn’t looking at him but he nodded anyway. ‘I didn’t want to tell anyone. I was ashamed. I should have quit the moment I was given the job.’

  ‘Why didn’t you?’

  ‘I was scared. I was worried there wouldn’t be anywhere else for me to go.’ And that he wouldn’t want to go anywhere else, which meant he couldn’t take care of Sofia.

  His mother’s eyes glistened and a few silent tears dripped onto her cheek. She hurriedly wiped them away.

  ‘Mamá, please talk to me.’

  ‘I’m fine, Gabriel.’ She sniffed, wiped her eyes again. ‘I think maybe you should go see Bruce and explain.’

  He didn’t want to see Bruce. ‘I’m not leaving you.’

  ‘Angela’s here, she won’t mind staying for a while.’

  ‘After a shock like that, it’s not safe for me to drive,’ Angela said.

  ‘See?’ Her smile lacked warmth, power, hope. ‘Please, I think it’s best if you go.’

  Was she upset with him? She seemed fragile, like a touch from him and she’d shatter. Numb, he kissed her on the cheek and she squeezed his hand. She was adamant that he leave her alone, although shouldn’t he stay and make this right? But if he’d learned anything over the years, it was always better for him not to be around. He’d let out another secret and like a bullet from a gun it had caused more injuries than if it had stayed in the chamber. He walked out of the backyard, his ears ringing, his body stiff and anaesthetised as he wandered through Brachen’s quiet and deserted streets.

  ***

  Gabriel reached the theatre with as much enthusiasm as an old horse being dragged to the knackery. He had nowhere else to go, no-one else to talk to about his betrayal. No-one but Bruce. The whole journey there he’d bargained with himself. If Bruce were at the theatre, he would explain properly what had happened, then if that went well, he’d do the same with Sofia. But if Bruce weren’t there …

  He didn’t want to think about what he’d do if Bruce wasn’t there.

  At least he was saved from doing so—Bruce’s ute was parked at the back of the theatre. The stage door was open too, the entrance dark and malevolent. He resisted, scared for the fate that might befall him. Would Bruce be any more willing to listen now than he had been earlier in the day? Yes or no, he had to try. He wanted to be with Bruce but if they couldn’t get past the theatre stuff, if Bruce couldn’t accept that there was no malice behind anything he’d done, then it was better to know now before Sofia worsened.

  Kinder, in the end, to get it over with.

  He took a deep breath and entered the theatre.

  Backstage was silent and empty of people but the final set was propped up on work tables with Bruce’s tools placed neatly where he could reach them. Safety matting was down as required, not just by OH&S: this was also in step with Bruce’s own personal beliefs. No noise came from the stage or front of house. He was alone. He waited, sitting on the edge of a road case, both hands at his temples, massaging them, smoothing out his arguments—what he would say, what he would let out.

  He heard Bruce before he saw him, a one-sided conversation he was having with his phone.

  ‘I understand things are a bit tight at the moment, Janet, but the invoice is three weeks overdue. How about you get me half now and half in a few weeks?’

  He stopped short when he saw Gabriel. His green eyes hardened, his jaw square enough to use as a ruler. He pulled back his shoulders, gaining a few more inches of height. Bruce had taken up his battle position, and Gabriel’s stomach sucked in and readied for retreat.

  He forced a breath but it shook coming out of his mouth.

  ‘Yeah, okay, fine. Thanks Janet.’ Bruce hung up and slipped his phone into his back pocket.

  Gabriel slid off the road case to stand on unsteady legs. ‘Hi.’

  ‘What do you want?’ He marched over to the set, scanned it, focused elsewhere. Bruce’s shoulder wasn’t cold, it was arctic.

  ‘I came to talk,’ he said, surprised he couldn’t see his breath with the frost surrounding Bruce.

  ‘I’m busy.’ Bruce picked up his drill and a fistful of screws, and got to work like Gabriel wasn’t there. The intermittent whirr of the drill, the boring of the wood, punctured Gabriel’s attempts to speak. He waited for space when he would be heard but Bruce didn’t leave him much. He had to shout.

  ‘I told Mum.’

  No reaction.

  ‘I think she’s in shock. Probably not the best thing to do to a sick woman.’ The drill fractured his weak laughter.
Bruce ignored him and the drill burrowed into his brain, scattering his attempts at apology and boring into his core. How could he explain that he’d done nothing wrong if Bruce wouldn’t listen?

  ‘I know I screwed up about the theatre and I’m sorry. What more can I say?’

  Bruce snapped upright and ripped off his safety glasses. ‘You don’t get it. It’s not about the theatre, it’s about you. I don’t trust you, Gabriel.’

  His words nail-gunned their way deep into Gabriel’s heart so fast he didn’t notice the pain. The shock numbed him, allowed him to keep going, allowed him to fight. He could ignore the hurt, believe it was a mistake, that he wasn’t bleeding.

  ‘Why? Because I didn’t tell you about some sketches? Jesus, you’d think I was the one knocking Rivervue down.’

  ‘You may as well be.’

  ‘I don’t believe this. Are you even listening to me? It wasn’t planned, it wasn’t malicious, it was a mistake and I wanted to quit but in case you hadn’t noticed I had more important things to worry about.’

  ‘There’s always an excuse.’ Bruce threw his glasses onto the wood and they spiralled across the top of the set. Bruce never threw things.

  ‘You’re being impossible. I haven’t done anything wrong.’

  His hands closed into fists. Fists crossed forearms and folded beneath his biceps. ‘What about Jason?’

  ‘What? We’re on this again? I’ve already told you that nothing happened between us.’

  ‘Not when you were in Brachen. When you were in Sydney.’

  A nail ripped out of Gabriel’s heart and too late he braced. ‘Where’s this coming from?’

  ‘So it’s true.’

  Another nail gone. His heart was going to be left with holes. Ugly ones. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘I spoke to Jason today and he said the two of you slept together when you were in Sydney.’

  Another and another and another. They hadn’t hurt going in but they stung when they were clawed out. Bits of flesh went with each one. He could deflect. Jason was already enough of a liar that he could discredit him more and keep that little secret of their indiscretion to himself. But seeing Bruce’s anger and hurt, he knew who Bruce would believe more.

  ‘It’s not what you think.’

  ‘Goddamn it, Gabriel.’ Bruce’s hands exploded out of their holsters. Crimson surged up his face and bled into his scalp. ‘I’ve given you every opportunity to be straight with me but you just can’t help yourself.’ He approached fast, near enough to feel the air charging out of his nostrils.

  Gabriel’s whole body flinched and he dug his nails into his palms. ‘Please let me explain.’ He hated how much it sounded like begging.

  ‘Your explanations never do a very good job of clearing things up. You always keep something back.’ Bruce stepped away and Gabriel sucked air into his lungs. He had to fix this and if Bruce needed to hear some truth, then he could ignore the bile tanging at the back of his throat.

  ‘Yes, I slept with Jason but it was an accident, a drunken mistake that I regretted the moment it happened.’

  ‘That’s supposed to make me feel better? That you get drunk enough to make those kinds of mistakes? That even inebriated you’d still go there?’

  ‘I’m not proud of it, Bruce. I was lonely and missing home and it seemed like a good idea at the time.’

  ‘Like the theatre? Like the fact that you’re fobbing your designs off as your mother’s?’

  He stilled. Dread swamped his suffering. ‘How did you know about that?’ If Bruce said anything to anyone …

  ‘I pieced it together. It wasn’t hard. Everyone else might think Sofia had some sudden burst of creativity but I spent enough time with you to understand how you work. Fantasy and reality? That’s you through and through, just one lie after another. How am I ever meant to trust you knowing all this?’

  Bruce didn’t understand. And if he didn’t understand, he didn’t see Gabriel for who he really was. ‘Everything I’ve done has been to protect someone else.’

  ‘To protect yourself more like.’

  Well, I’ll protect myself now. ‘Your little black-and-white world can’t cope with the fact that there’s some grey in it, can it? Yes, I haven’t told you absolutely everything but those things don’t matter. They didn’t change how I felt about you, Bruce, and because of that, I wanted to protect you.’

  ‘I’ve heard all these arguments before. My father tried to convince me that my keeping his secret was what was best for the family. I tried and it failed. Everything fell apart all because I went against my gut. I thought I was helping everyone but the only person I was really worried about was myself. Because to speak the truth was more terrifying and infinitely harder.’

  ‘Yeah, well, the last time I decided to speak my truth I got beaten up and landed in hospital so excuse me if it’s the coward’s way out but I’d rather keep my secrets than risk breaking everything.’

  ‘Even if it means a broken heart?’

  ‘You’re breaking your own heart here, Bruce. I never wanted to hurt you so that’s why I didn’t tell you Jason and I slept together long after you two were over. I thought I’d never have the chance with you so what did it matter?’

  ‘It matters to me. I won’t build a relationship on lies.’

  ‘And I won’t build a relationship with someone who thinks I’m a bad person. Do you honestly believe that I did any of this to hurt you?’

  ‘It’s not what you lied about; it’s the fact that you lied.’

  Gabriel had failed at doing the one thing his secrets were meant to avoid and that was hurt people.

  Damned if I do, damned if I don’t.

  ‘Go home, Gabriel. I’m done.’ Bruce turned away and Gabriel’s heart collapsed, releasing all its anguish in a sickening flood that rose his gorge. Was that really it?

  Bruce put on his goggles and started the sander. The sound drowned out any chance of talking about this any longer, not that words had been successful. It was better when they kept everything to themselves and he could rest his head in Bruce’s lap and watch the stars and keep how much he loved him locked up inside.

  Had loved him.

  He was done with the theatre and he was done with Bruce Clifton.

  He walked outside, the fading daylight brighter and airier than the stuffiness of the theatre, but it failed to fill his lungs and clear the ache gripping his body. He stopped in the middle of the suspension bridge and looked down at the river flowing out to the coast, leaving Brachen behind. Once Sofia was better, he’d be leaving too.

  His phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and answered.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘Gabriel, it’s Angela. Your mother’s collapsed. I’ve called an ambulance. How fast can you get here?’

  Chapter Twenty

  Gabriel thundered back into the theatre, and Bruce scrambled to get off the floor and onto his feet. Gabriel didn’t need to see how much their fight had taken from him, especially if he’d come back for another.

  ‘What—?’

  Gabriel’s fingers were going double-time on his scar. ‘I know you hate me right now but Mum’s collapsed. Can you drive me home?’

  Gabriel’s panic struck Bruce’s heart and an awful certainty tolled inside his mind.

  Please, no.

  Without a second thought, Bruce grabbed his keys and ran out to his ute. Gabriel jogged to keep up. He gunned the car down the quiet streets of Brachen. They didn’t speak, the rumble of the engine barely making it over his heart thudding in his ear.

  Let us get there in time.

  A few sharp turns and three minutes later they were outside the house. Gabriel jumped out of the car and ran. Bruce followed him into the backyard where Angela was kneeling beside Sofia’s unconscious body on the deck of the gazebo.

  ‘The ambulance is on its way,’ Angela said. ‘She just collapsed.’

  ‘Mamá!’ Gabriel sank down beside her, shaking her gently, searching
for a pulse, listening for her breathing. ‘Mamá, please, wake up. Can you hear me?’

  Her chest rose but it dropped sharply with each breath out. Her colour was the wrong side of pale.

  ‘How long did the ambulance say they’d be?’ Bruce asked.

  ‘About ten minutes.’

  It might be quicker for him to take her in the ute, but he didn’t want to risk moving her and making it worse. Sirens wailing in the distance tugged his attention but they weren’t close enough yet.

  Gabriel kept his finger on Sofia’s wrist, his eyes never moving from the shallow rising of her chest. His gaze was willing her to hold on. ‘Mamá, I’m here. You hold on okay? The ambulance is coming. You’re going to be alright.’ He talked to her over and over.

  Angela sought to comfort him but he shrugged her off. Bruce wanted to do the same. He hated the distance between them but after what Gabriel and he had said to each other, Bruce couldn’t offer any solace that Gabriel would accept. All he could do was stand there. He’d never felt more useless in his life.

  They remained in their strange tableau for too long before the high-pitched scream of the ambulance broke through. Bruce ran out to meet it and guide the paramedics with their gurney and equipment through to the back garden. Angela answered their questions. Gabriel wouldn’t leave Sofia’s side, even when they said they needed to examine her. Bruce locked his hands around Gabriel’s arms as gently as he could and pulled him back. He relented but as soon as he was clear he shook Bruce off and hovered over the paramedics.

  They examined her and tried to rouse her. Blood pressure and pulse were taken, worried looks shot between the paramedics. They didn’t wound Gabriel though. He never took his eyes off Sofia.

  ‘We’re going to take her to the hospital, okay?’

  A few well-practised manoeuvres later and she was being wheeled into the ambulance. Gabriel climbed in, the doors closed and the ambulance reversed. Sirens blaring, it sped off towards Nowra. Would Sofia make it in time? Bruce was left behind with Angela and he wished he’d gone with them.