“No doubt,” he returned happily.
Out on the street, she took several deep breaths and shook her head. That had to be the weirdest experience she’d had in this small town. Simon, her boyfriend? Where the heck had Will gotten that idea? Cripes, she’d only been here a couple of days!
Moving down the street, she passed the butcher and baker. Glancing into the bakery, she saw Molly serving a customer. Molly caught sight of her and waved, a wide grin crossing her pretty face, her eyes sparkling with mirth.
Wondering what the heck she found so funny, Elissa waved back and moved onwards.
The window of the bookshop showed a surprisingly interesting array of books. Making a mental note to explore it another day, she walked past the café and furniture store before turning into the newsagency.
Dee looked up from where she was sorting through a pile of what looked to be newly unpacked comics and magazines.
“Well, hello,” she drawled. “If it isn’t Simon’s new girlfriend.”
Chapter 7
“What the hell…?” Elissa stared at her.
Dee’s grin was slow and decidedly mischievous. “Just saying what everyone else is.”
“I’m not his girlfriend!”
Dee held her hands up, palms out. “Settle down, sister, before you stroke out.”
“I don’t get it!” Elissa dropped the bags onto the counter.
Without a hint of shame, Dee peeked into the bags. “I’m guessing these are for tonight?”
“What? Yes.”
“Glad to see you got the cheese and onion flavoured chips. Love ‘em.”
“Forget the damned cheese and onion.”
“Oohh, someone’s a little testy. Did you want the salt and vinegar instead?”
“Forget the damned chips!”
“You also got chicken flavoured and original. Just thought I’d point that out.”
Elissa braced her hands on the counter. “What’s going on?”
“Is something going on?” Dee continued checking the contents of the bags. “Yum, popcorn. Been ages since I had popcorn.”
Elissa smacked Dee’s hand away from the bag. ‘Forget the damned popcorn.”
“Did you just smack my hand?”
“What is going on?”
“I’ve killed people for less, you know.”
“I’ll kill you if you don’t start answering questions.”
“My, really testy.”
Elissa glared at her.
Dee grinned and leaned her elbow on the stack of magazines and comics. “Okay, ask away.”
“What is going on?”
“You mean about you being Simon’s new girlfriend?”
“I’m not his girlfriend!”
“Huh. Then why are you asking me?”
“Dee!”
Dee shoved back a thick hank of blonde hair that had fallen over her shoulder. “All right, don’t get your knickers in a knot.” She looked around before leaning forward confidingly.
Automatically, Elissa leaned forward as well.
“Word on the street,” Dee murmured.
“What word?”
“Girlfriend.”
“Oh for-”
“Word on the street is that you and Simon are shagging the sheets off the bed.”
“What?” Horrified, Elissa stared at her.
“Yep.” Straightening, Dee resumed checking through the magazines and comics, separating them into different stacks.
“The word is that we’re having sex?”
“Yep.”
Elissa gaped at her. “Yes?”
Dee nodded.
“She’s a lying cow.” Del appeared beside her.
“You go back to your shop,” Dee said instantly. “This is a private conversation.”
“Sure. If it wasn’t already going the rounds.”
“Going the rounds?” Mortified, Elissa stared at her. “You mean-”
“Not as bad as you think,” Del assured her. “The word,” she cast her cousin a jaundiced eye, “is that you are Simon’s new girlfriend.”
“But the sex-”
“Dee made that up.”
Elissa swung her incredulous stare to Dee. “You what?”
Dee shrugged nonchalantly.
“Why?”
“Hey, I thought it could do with some juiciness.”
“Oh, thank God.” Elissa sagged against the counter.
Dee rolled her eyes.
Del helped herself to a lollypop from the container at the edge of the counter.
A sudden thought struck Elissa. “Hang on. Dee, you’re not spreading the sex around, are you?”
“Ryder would kill me if I spread sex around. He has this idea my womanly secrets are his only.”
Del stopped pulling the paper off the lollypop to gawk at her. “Your womanly secrets?”
“We’re not all crass like you,” Dee informed her primly.
“Cripes. Seriously? Womanly secrets?”
“I don’t like to call it a ‘twat’.”
“You call everyone’s a ‘twat’.”
“That’s everyone else’s. I don’t care about everyone else’s twat. Mine is womanly secrets.”
“What do you call his?’
“Ryder doesn’t have a twat.”
“I mean his manly secrets?”
“Manly secrets?” Dee laughed in her face. “Why would I call them manly secrets?”
“Because you have womanly secrets.”
“His donger is no secret in this town, let me give you the tip.” Dee paused. “But he’s through with dipping it into every-”
“Oh, please.” Del held up her hand.
“He knows I’ll castrate him if he ever strays.”
“Like Ryder would stray,” Del scoffed. “He might be a randy bastard but he’s as loyal as they come.”
“I know that. So why did you-”
“I didn’t. I just didn’t want to hear the rest of that sentence.”
“Since when?”
“Since now.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to know about Simon’s new girlfriend.”
Elissa, who had been watching the byplay with her mouth hanging open - seriously, did these cousins talk like this all the time? - snapped to attention. “I am not his girlfriend!”
Word on the street.” Dee tapped the side of her nose.
“Oh for - you too?” When Dee raised one eyebrow curiously, Elissa added, “Will tapped the side of his nose, too.”
“Because he knows about you two shagging?’
“If you told everyone that, I’ll rip out your blonde hair by the roots!”
“Sister, you touch my hair and I will pound you into the ground. I don’t do girly fights.”
Elissa glared at her.
Dee rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine. I didn’t tell anyone that you and Simon were shagging. Okay?”
“You mean that?”
“I don’t say what I don’t mean.”
“Unless she’s stirring shit,” Del added unhelpfully.
“Well, there is that,” Dee acknowledged. “But not in this instance.”
“Thank God.” Elissa sagged against the counter.
Dee and Del exchanged a glance. The smirks on their faces were almost identical. Feeling suddenly exhausted, Elissa waited resignedly.
Sure enough, it came. “But I am hurt that you didn’t tell us about you and Simon first.”
“Dee, Del, I swear to God, we are not together.”
“Why not?” Del popped the lollypop into her mouth.
“Well, because…” Elissa floundered. “Because…we just aren’t.”
“But he bought you breakfast.”
“That’s not the same as an engagement ring.”
“It is in Gully’s Fall.” At Elissa’s horrified expression, Del grinned. “When he buys you lunch, you’re married.”
“Tell me she’s joking.” Elissa looked at Dee’s stoic expression. “Fo
rget it. I’ll ask Ash.”
“That girl’s too sweet for her own good, she spoils a good ragging.” Dee stopped sorting the magazines to again lean one elbow on them. “Look, you were seen on the back of Simon’s motorbike, you were seen having breakfast together, and most tellingly of all…”
When it became apparent that Dee wasn’t going to go any further, Elissa demanded, “What? What was most telling?”
“He held your hand.”
“He held my hand.”
“He held your hand.”
“That’s it? He held my hand?”
“You held his hand, too.”
“I held his hand?” Oh wait, yes, she had held his hand.
“Yep. You held each other’s hand.” Dee looked at Del. “Right?”
“Abso-freaking-lutely.” Del nodded, the stick from the lollypop sticking out of her mouth as she spoke around it. “You held his hand, he held your hand, you both held hands. That qualifies as holding each other’s hand.”
Dee wiped the top magazine. “You’re spitting.”
“Sorry.”
These girls were going to give Elissa a headache. “But it was just hand holding.”
“You hold other men’s hands?” Dee’s eyebrows rose.
“Well…” No. No, she didn’t.
“So this is new for you?”
“I held my brother’s hand once.”
“When you were what - five?”
“I started young. Four.”
“Brothers don’t count.”
Elissa pressed her fingers to her brow. “It was only this morning.”
“Small town,” Del said. “Big news.”
“That’s big news?”
“It was to you,” Dee pointed out.
“It was a shock to me, not big news.”
“It was news to you as well.”
“Well, yes, but - oh, shut up!”
Dee’s eyebrows shot up.
“I need to think.”
“Oh, by all means, use my counter to think on after insulting me.”
“This’ll be good,” Del said.
Resting her head in her hand, Elissa sighed.
The only sounds in the newsagent were Dee flicking through the magazines and comics while Del fiddled with the lollypop.
Cripes, the gossip around town was that she and Simon were together. Oh boy. It wasn’t true, was as far from the truth as Australia was from England, as right was from left.
I mean, me and Simon? Well, yes, they had held hands, she had ridden on his motorbike, he had bought her breakfast, but that was all. Nothing else. Hand holding didn’t mean anything. Didn’t matter that she’d never held another man’s hand like that, nope.
And it wasn’t like Simon was interested in her like that anyway.
Wait, there was that heat in his eyes. That was interest. That was carnal. That was carnal, right? Sure as God made green apples her own heat had been carnal. But he hadn’t taken it further, had looked at her oddly after. Probably wondering what the hell he’d seen in her.
Maybe it was because her crotch had been all scooched up to his fine arse. The motion of the bike had rubbed her against him. Bound to make any red-blooded man get a bit horny, right? It didn’t actually mean anything. She’d known men who got horny just flicking through a girlie magazine, the sight of those huge, fake breasts making them pant, and the naked crotches making them wank themselves until - Oh God, now she sounded like Dee.
Dropping her forehead to the counter, she groaned.
“I think she’s getting somewhere,” Del announced.
“You think?’
“Yep.”
Oh God, she was so confused. And mortified. To be truthful, holding his hand had been nice, had made her feel all warm and protected and stuff. Hell, a handsome man holding her hand was a dream. But Simon, he - “Oh shit!” She shot upright.
“Okay, she’s thought of something.” Del popped the lollypop from her mouth.
Dee watched Elissa expectantly.
“He’ll know!”
“Know what?”
“The gossip!”
“Not necessarily.”
“No?” Elissa felt a flicker of hope.
“The blokes went out on one of their motorbike rides, left right after breakfast, remember?”
“Oh, thank God.” Relieved, Elissa sagged against the counter.
It occurred to her that she was doing a lot more sagging in the last ten minutes than she’d done in her whole life.
“They’ll be gone until later this afternoon,” Del agreed. “That lot love cruising the highway, flying free as Simon calls it.” She winked at Dee. “Simon.”
“Of course,” Dee drummed her fingertips on the stack of comics, “they’ll come back. Then he’ll hear the local gossip.”
“Yep.” Del nodded.
This was a nightmare. Elissa closed her eyes. “How do I stop this?”
“Oh honey, you can’t stop it.” Del patted her arm.
“So what do I do?”
“Let it run its course.”
“Something else will come up,” Dee assured her. “Someone else will do something to take the heat off you.”
“This is true. You’re actually neck-and-neck with Dee.” Del jerked her thumb at her cousin. “Everyone is wondering how she’s going to make Ryder pay for the damage done by the kittens.”
Immediately Dee scowled. “That dumb arse. I’ve told him a million times to shut the bloody door when those miscreants are here.”
“Why not leave them back at Ryder’s house? I did mention that to you before.”
“Because Ryder doesn’t like to leave Jezebel and the furry horde alone for the night. You know what a sucker he is for them all.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“Don’t worry, I have a plan. I’ll get that money out of him if I have to wring him dry.”
“Oh, he’ll like that.”
“Not like that, you dirty-minded-”
“Forget your plan,” Elissa interrupted. “What am I going to do?”
Del and Dee looked at her then at each other and grinned.
Elissa’s shoulders slumped. “There’s nothing I can do, is there?”
“It’ll blow over,” Dee assured her. “Just lie low, say nothing and it’ll go away.”
“Unless you get to the lunch stage,” Del added.
Dee gave a snort of laughter.
“You’re not helping,” Elissa said.
“Sure we are.” Dee patted her hand kindly. “We’re listening to you, being all sympathetic and shit.”
“That’s your brand of sympathy?”
“You got a problem with it?”
Del leaned in. “We’ve got your back, Elissa.”
Okay, that sounded hopeful. “So you’ll let people know Simon and I aren’t a couple if they mention it to you?”
“Sure.”
“Good. Good.” Taking a deep breath, she straightened her shoulders and grabbed the handles of the plastic bags before releasing them again. “Wait. I came in here for some magazines.”
“Got all the new ones right here.” Dee tapped the stack of magazines. “What do you want?”
As Dee fished out the two magazines Elissa requested, Elissa spotted the local newspaper and picked it up. “This too, please.”
“Going to check out the house ads?” Del queried as Elissa paid for everything.
“What? Why?”
“You and Simon will need somewhere to live after the wedding.”
“You are a pair of dickheads.” Elissa left the cousins howling with laughter inside the newsagency.
Walking home helped clear her head, but it also brought up a whole lot of troubling thoughts. Thoughts such as it wouldn’t be so bad to be Simon’s girlfriend, she wasn’t his girlfriend, he hadn’t asked her to be his girlfriend, she didn’t want to be his girlfriend (right?), and being his girlfriend would bring a whole lot of other things with it.
Things such as snuggling up to him, feeling those brawny arms surround her, being tucked into his side, having him laugh with her, share intimate jokes…and that last thought led to other intimate thoughts that had her step quickening, her heart beating a little faster, and a whole lot of heat filling her. Mostly because the thought of lying back on a bed with that tall, muscular body above her, those lean, strong hips against hers, his hard heat filling her - hells bells, if she wasn’t careful she’d end up having to change her knickers.
Even with no one to see her or hear her thoughts, her cheeks were flushed.
Tightening her hold on the plastic bags, she lengthened her stride. Besides, she had her life ahead of her, other plans. Okay, she had no real plans, she just knew she needed a job, wanted a home of her own, be free to make her own decisions without constant scrutiny and criticism.
Plus her problems might not be over. Her family and Calum might still decide to contact her, harass her. If they decided to push things, the shit could hit the fan, and if it did she didn’t want anyone else in the line of fire.
Yeah, too much baggage yet to even contemplate a relationship with anyone.
Why that thought had her shoulders sagging and a morose feeling enveloping her, she had no idea. She’d never thought or planned a relationship with anyone, she’d just been focussed on finding herself, doing what she wanted no matter how inconsequential it seemed to anyone else.
Until Simon came along. Now she wondered ‘what if?’ What was it about him that attracted her, made her suddenly wish for things she’d been determined not to do yet?
And there wasn’t even a relationship, was there? So why was she even thinking such stupid thoughts?
“You are such a drongo,” she muttered. “For God’s sake, it’s just small town gossip. You don’t want Simon, he doesn’t want you. It’s just gossip.”
Ignoring the dip of her heart, she kept walking.
~*~
“Come on, Arthur,” Simon wheedled, holding out the bowl of ‘roo meat. “It’s fresh. You’ll like it.”
Out of his one remaining eye, Arthur peered at him from halfway down the backyard. The tattered old tom didn’t look like he was ready to move.
“At least get your arse off the cold ground. It’s getting late, the sun’s almost down, dew is starting to come down. Do you want to catch a cold?”
“I don’t think he can catch one through his arse,” Ryder said.
Fly with Me Page 19
