Kiss It Better

by Jenny Schwartz

  They were probably at the factory negotiating JayBay’s sale.

  She waited for a pang of loss or anger and found none. Theo could be trusted to manage JayBay and her dad would be free to pursue new projects.

  It felt great to see things in a sane, positive light.

  In fact, since there was no one home to have breakfast with she’d go into town to have company. The bakery had a café attached and they did a fantastic French toast. Suddenly she was starving.

  She nabbed the keys for her dad’s ancient, bush-bashing 4WD, leaving him the modern, comfortable vehicle. Bright spring sunshine flooded the garden, drying the dew on the leaves, while white cabbage moths fluttered in eddying, erratic patterns over the sprawling nasturtiums with their bright-orange, peppery flowers.

  The hinges of the garage door shrieked as she hauled it up. Sunlight poured through gaps in the walls where the aged timber had shrunk. The extra ventilation prevented the old building from smelling musty. The garage pre-dated the house. The old fishing shack that had stood on the headland had been demolished. It was beyond salvageable. But the garage had survived. The wooden walls were warped and grey, weathered from the sea air, but solid. Grass and weeds grew along the sides and the yellow of dandelions were dotted among the green.

  Cassie enjoyed it all, feeling as if her senses were coming alive again. As she climbed into the ancient 4WD she admitted to herself that maybe she should have confided in someone earlier.

  She’d make an appointment with Dr Glendinning before she had breakfast.

  The drive into town was short but picturesque. White lambs frisked in green paddocks and the old bridge over the Jardin River was as bumpy as ever. She bounced in the seat of the 4WD with its ruined suspension.

  Thirty minutes later she was seated at a red-checked, plastic-covered table with a generous plateful of French toast in front of her.

  Mmm. Dipping the toast in its surrounding pool of maple syrup was deliciously decadent.

  Locals queuing for bread and cakes knew her and asked questions about JayBay’s future, although tactfully avoiding mention of Leighton. She responded easily, mostly with ‘I don’t know, but you can trust Theo, and Dad is keen to try other things.’ They accepted that and she chatted with Amy, a friend from high school, till the other woman rounded up her two hyperactive toddlers and walked out with the bread she’d bought tucked under one arm.

  ‘Leighton is here,’ Maureen, the café’s waitress, whispered in passing.

  ‘What?’

  Her cousin marched in the door. Leighton was dressed for work, even though Mick had fired him. His black trousers were meticulously creased and his white shirt spotless. ‘You lying bitch.’

  The café went silent. Cassie put down her knife and fork.

  ‘You set me up. You and your dad and Mr Money.’ Leighton leaned over her table. ‘You can tell all the lies you want. You can drive me out of town. Hell, everyone here will believe you. Mick Freedom can do no wrong. And Saint Cassie, giving her life for starving babies in Africa. But I’m not going to wear this.’

  Outrage spiked in Cassie. ‘You are such a liar. You stole from us. From family.’

  The drama had everyone’s attention. The tourists were curious, the locals, riveted.

  ‘I did nothing of the kind.’

  ‘Dad has the evidence.’

  Leighton swore. ‘If I did it, why isn’t Uncle Mick pressing charges?’

  ‘Because you’re family, you weasel. Dad’s not pressing charges for Aunt Gabby’s sake. Your mum, remember? But do you care? It’s not the money you stole from JayBay that matters, it’s that you broke everyone’s trust.’

  ‘Break Gabby’s heart,’ someone said at a table behind them.

  Leighton swung around to glare at him. The two old codgers at the table scowled back. ‘Never liked his father either,’ said one. ‘He broke Gabby’s heart, too.’

  Leighton stared around the café. People looked back with curiosity or hostility. ‘Screw you all.’ He leaned in to Cassie. ‘And you most of all, cousin. Glooming home and sucking up sympathy while you do nothing. Coming back in time to rake in the money from Uncle Mick selling JayBay.’

  ‘You’re a vicious, twisted liar.’

  ‘Don’t worry, St Cassie. I’ll make sure you get what you deserve.’ Spittle landed on her plate before he stormed out.

  The engine of his sports car snarled as he sped off down High Street. Everyone in the café watched it go, then turned to Cassie.

  She picked up her coffee cup with a steady hand that hid the shaky aftermath of anger’s adrenaline rush and her own heartbreak. While Leighton was like this, she’d lost a cousin, but the pride that had hid the worst of her burnout remained, and it helped her find the right words. ‘There’s a speed camera on the corner of Hatgold Street. I bet Leighton gets a ticket.’

  ***

  Dr Glendinning pretty much repeated Theo’s assessment and advice. ‘Exhaustion. Sleep, eat well and don’t fight with your cousin. He’s not worth it.’

  Cassie grimaced. The bush telegraph had beaten her back to the surgery, racing her down the street for the appointment Dr Glendinning’s receptionist had squeezed in.

  The doctor had known Cassie and Leighton from before they were born. She was also a romantic. ‘Concentrate on the young man who took you to dinner last night. Tall, dark and handsome, I hear.’

  ‘He’s a doctor,’ Cassie said.

  Dr G peered over the top of her glasses as she continued tapping notes into the computer. ‘A real one or a PhD?’

  ‘Snob.’ Cassie laughed. She recalled that Theo had accused her of the same thing. ‘A medical doctor, sports medicine.’

  ‘But I heard he was running Brigid Care.’

  ‘Family business.’

  ‘Ah. Like JayBay.’ A pause as Dr G tapped a final button and focussed fully on Cassie. ‘Are you okay with its sale?’

  ‘Yes.’ She held the doctor’s unblinking stare.

  ‘Good.’ Dr G nodded, satisfied. ‘I’ll phone you if the blood tests show anything important. Remember to rest. I don’t want you to do anything until you’re so bored you’re sitting on the beach counting sand grains.’

  ‘One trillion, two hundred and three.’

  ‘Get out of here, smarty pants.’

  Reduced to seven-year-old status, Cassie ‘got’. She had a prescription for vitamins that she filled at the chemist’s and then she drove home.

  As embarrassing as the scene with Leighton at the café had been, it showed that the town’s belief and support was with her dad and her, and not with Leighton’s wild claims of victimisation. Still, she had to tell her dad and Theo.

  Feeling lazy, but remembering virtuously that Dr G had said to rest, Cassie parked at the factory rather than walking over.

  Poppy was manning the shop in Aunt Gabby’s absence, and although the sculptor begrudged every word, she crossed the room to hug Cassie in a silent show of sympathy.

  ‘Ow,’ Cassie said.

  ‘Sorry.’ Working with marble had really built Poppy’s muscles.

  ‘Is Dad here?’

  ‘Office.’

  They nodded at one another and Cassie left Poppy to terrorise tourists with her silence.

  In the office, she found the two men kicking back, talking. Or rather, her dad was talking about his new project.

  ‘The Ord River region has tremendous potential. The challenge is to have the intelligence and imagination to use if effectively. We can’t farm it with the same old destructive, intensive practices. We’ll have to explore — oh, hello, Cass. Is there a problem?’

  ‘Nope. Just Leighton tantrumming in the bakery.’ She was not about to mention his personal threats. They’d been uttered low enough that no one else would have heard them. If she repeated them now, her dad would never forgive Leighton, and Leighton had only been venting.

  ‘That boy.’ Mick swung his feet off the desk. ‘What now?’

  ‘Same story that upset Aunt Ga
bby. We’re all out to get him and poor Leighton is the noble victim. All the years he worked in the city and I was studying, I’d forgotten how annoying he was as a kid; cry-baby liar. But I didn’t kick him in the ankle.’

  ‘Self-restraint.’ Theo smiled. He stood, offering her the sole visitor’s chair.

  She grinned, liking the friendly tease, and waved him back into it. ‘I’m not staying. How are the negotiations going?’

  ‘Done,’ Mick said.

  Cassie showed her disbelief.

  ‘Theo’s offered a fair deal. Everyone’s taken care of. We’ll let the lawyers put it into their jargon, but it’s done,’ her dad responded to the unspoken accusation. He had a tendency to wonder off-topic, as he’d done with his lecture on possibilities in Australia’s northwest.

  ‘Mick’ll get independent advice before he signs,’ Theo reassured her. ‘We’re talking about some of the details of handover. I’ll need to get a manager in and a bookkeeper. We can sort a lot of that out by email, though, so I’ll be out of your hair today.’

  ‘I thought you were staying a few days,’ Mick said.

  ‘That’s when I thought you might need convincing. I’ll head back this afternoon. I should be able to catch a late flight to Melbourne.’

  ‘You’re welcome to stay a couple of days. A holiday, if you like,’ Cassie offered.

  ‘There are things I need to do back home. But thanks.’

  ‘Well, if you are leaving this afternoon,’ Mick dragged a notepad towards himself, ‘I have a couple of other points to cover.’

  ‘I’ll bow out.’ Cassie hesitated in the doorway. Her disappointment showed her how much she’d anticipated having Theo around for the week. Weird and wrong to think she knew him when she’d only met him yesterday. Her own reluctance to see him go made the decision for her. ‘Actually, I’d best say goodbye now, Theo. I’m popping out to see Aunt Gabby.’

  ‘It’s been an interesting twenty-four hours.’ His thoughts echoed hers to some extent. ‘I feel a bit like family, so…’

  Strong arms pulled her into his hard body. He bent his head to her ear, whispering so Mick wouldn’t hear and worry. ‘Have you made that doctor’s appointment?’

  It was bossy and nice. Too much, when you added in how good he looked and felt. ‘Yes.’ She pulled back. Sometimes life presented you with might-have-beens.

  If she hadn’t been a mess, so depressed and exhausted, perhaps there could have been more than passing kindness between them.

  ‘Bye. Have a safe trip home.’

  She walked out of JayBay and it felt as if she were saying goodbye to a whole lot more than a stranger, no matter how sexy and kind. The factory would no longer be in the family. She was saying goodbye to a large part of her life.

  ‘One month,’ she said. Then she had to build a new life.

  Chapter Four

  Cassie had all the kitchen windows open, the music pumping and was half-dancing as she stirred together a blueberry-and-white-chocolate muffin mix. The month of enforced rest had been exactly what the doctor — two doctors! — ordered. Plus her blood tests had been fine, just low on iron. She’d put on weight, losing the gaunt look of strain. Her skin was healthy, her eyes clear and she had energy.

  ‘Watch out world, I’m back.’ Not that she’d be returning to Africa. It wasn’t fair to over-stretched health teams to compromise their efficiency with the risk of her burning out again. That and she knew for her own survival, she needed to move on.

  Amazing how weeks of proper sleep enabled a woman to think clearly again. Aunt Gabby had dropped over her herbal tea mix to help with that, and Cassie had finally admitted that she needed help and taken it. One week had retrained her body and mind to shut down and rest. Bliss.

  She spooned the mix into muffin tins. The phone rang and she put down the bowl and licked gooey yumminess off her fingers. ‘Hello?’

  ‘Cassie, it’s Trish.’ She was the local paper’s chief reporter, retired from the national news circuit to a sea-change existence. ‘Your cousin Leighton has been talking to people.’

  Leighton had left Jardin Bay the same day as Theo, and Cassie had hoped he’d gone — not for good, but for long enough to change. From Trish’s tone, she knew Leighton hadn’t changed at all. ‘What sort of people?’

  ‘Media types.’

  Cassie winced as she slid the tray of muffins into the oven. As much as she loved Trish, the media could be ruthless. JayBay had benefited from kind treatment so far, but Tall Poppy Syndrome meant that it could switch to the opposite any time. And there was plenty of incentive in the price Theo had paid Mick for JayBay. Envy was a powerful motivator.

  Trish was still talking, crisp and clear despite the early hour. ‘A guy I used to work with phoned me from one of the big TV news programs. He was fact checking and thought he could get some off-the-record background from me. Brace, girl. Leighton has gone to the media with a hell of a tale.’

  ‘If this is the rubbish that Dad sacked him for protesting the sale of JayBay…’

  ‘The boy’s smarter than that. No, this time he didn’t attack the business. I reckon he calculated that now that Brigid Care owns JayBay, they would take legal action against any accusations of wrongdoing.’

  ‘Theo would,’ Cassie agreed.

  ‘Yeah. It was obvious that one took no prisoners. So Leighton attacked Theo personally.’

  ‘What? Is he insane?’

  ‘He’s your cousin.’ Trish was leaving the judgement up to Cassie. ‘Reason I’m calling you with a heads up is Leighton intends to use you to knife Theo. Like I said, brace. You’re going to get some media attention.’

  ‘Trish, you’re not making sense.’

  ‘I’m breaking it to you gently.’

  ‘Now that’s just scary.’

  ‘All right. Leighton’s story is that he’s your champion. Theo Morrigan arrived in Jardin Bay, saw that you were beaten down by your time in Africa and took advantage to steal your inheritance, JayBay, out from under you.’

  ‘Theo paid Dad millions. And JayBay was Dad’s anyway. I never — wait.’ She took a deep breath, leaning back against the counter, eyes on the slowly rising muffins in the oven. ‘That is such a ridiculous story. No one would give it airtime.’

  ‘Eligible bachelor. Vulnerable nurse. Iconic ethical brand. Big business shark,’ Trish ticked off points. ‘And according to my contact, Leighton has photos. Honey, I’m sorry to say it, but you looked like crap a month ago. Those photos alone will convince people.’

  Great. But even as she cringed at the thought of people seeing her how she’d been a month ago, there were bigger issues to deal with. JayBay wasn’t the family business any more, but she didn’t want its reputation tarnished. More than that, she owed Theo for his kindness. So did her dad who’d handed over responsibility for JayBay to Theo’s temporary manager and raced north to his new project in the Kimberley. Theo had given her family the key to new lives. She couldn’t step aside and let Leighton smear him. ‘Forget the photos. What do you mean Leighton is presenting himself as my champion? JayBay’s sale has already gone through.’

  ‘Leighton intends to get his revenge in your name. He wants JayBay’s customers to boycott the products now that it’s owned by such an unethical bastard as Theo.’

  Cassie’s pulse thudded loudly in her ears. Her cousin would sabotage JayBay, jeopardise family and friends’ jobs, and devastate her and Theo’s reputation rather than accept responsibility for his own actions. When you put it like that… ‘Trish, did you tell your friend about Leighton’s fraud?’

  ‘Mick didn’t press charges, so it’s not on record.’

  ‘In other words, no matter what, the story is going to run?’

  ‘Sorry.’ Trish hung up.

  Cassie got the muffins out, but her appetite for an indulgent breakfast had gone. Nonetheless, she took a muffin and a mug of tea with her to the front deck and forced herself to consume both before doing anything else.

  A pair of pelica
ns flew low, dipping over the dunes. She barely noticed their gorgeous ugliness. Further out a dinghy bobbed in the gentle swell. Someone else had made an early start, fishing.

  She finished the muffin and curled her fingers around the warm mug.

  Trish was convinced Leighton’s story would run and Trish had good media instincts. She’d probably warn Aunt Gabby what her son was doing now. For all the good that would do.

  Leighton had cut all ties with the family. He’d left town for no one knew where and his mobile phone was disconnected. No chance he’d answer an email either.

  If the story was unstoppable, then all Cassie could do was warn those most closely involved. Fortunately, her dad basically wouldn’t care. He’d be outraged at Leighton’s attack on JayBay, but his enthusiasm was now for his new project. In his mind, JayBay’s reputation would be Theo’s problem.

  Theo.

  Well, she wouldn’t use Trish’s method of trying to break things gently. Theo needed a heads up and he needed it now.

  Brigid Care’s receptionist didn’t quite see things that way. After a bit of a wrangle, she forwarded Cassie’s call to Theo’s secretary.

  ‘No.’ Cassie held onto her patience. ‘I won’t tell you why I’m phoning Theo. I want you to tell him that Cassie Freedom is on the phone and that I only need two minutes of his time, but I need them now.’

  ‘Mr Morrigan is busy. If you’ll leave your number — ’

  ‘Honestly, if the matter could wait, I’d have emailed.’ Okay. No, she wouldn’t. This wasn’t the sort of news you shared in an email, not when the scum of the earth threatening Theo was her own cousin. She owed Theo a personal conversation. ‘Two minutes, now.’

  ‘Very well. If you’ll hold a moment I shall interrupt Mr Morrigan’s meeting.’ Chilly reproof.

  ‘Thank you.’

  Cassie was left listening to Brigid Care’s taped audio-commercials. She rolled her eyes and started putting away the remaining muffins.