by Meg Buchanan
Cole breathed out slowly. For a moment Luke thought he wasn’t going to answer.
Then he shrugged. “No, that’s not it. I haven’t heard from her in over a year. That’s over.”
That must have hit Cole hard. He seemed pretty bowled over by Milly when they were together. It explained the constant stream of one night stands though. The thing Cole had going with Kiera had lasted a bit longer than one night but not much.
Cole turned on the jug. “Coffee? I’ve stayed in this job because I like working with horses.”
Luke put the folder with the contracts on the kitchen table. “Chapman’s pretty sure he’ll be able to find more work for us.”
Cole scratched the side of his cheek. “Things don’t always work out, but...” he nodded at the folder, “hand over the contract.”
Luke opened the folder and took out the two contracts he needed Cole to sign. “There’s one to sign up Chapman as your agent. And the contract with the festival promoters.”
He pushed them at Cole.
Cole turned the pages, so he could read them. “Have you read the fine print?”
Luke nodded. “It looks straight forward.”
“Should we get a lawyer to go them over first?”
Luke folded his arms. “Hadn’t thought about that. Maybe we should. I could do that in the morning before I go and see Adam and Noah. Are going to be around tomorrow? I’ll come back.”
“Yeah, I’ll be here. I’ll leave breaking the news to Tom until then.”
Luke left Cole’s cottage and headed for his parent’s place. So far nobody had signed. Tomorrow had better be better. He’d get in touch with his dad’s lawyer first thing. Cole had been right. They should get it looked at before they signed it. If the contract checked out, then he’d go to Hamilton. Getting these contracts signed and away could take him all day the way things were going.
Now to tell his parents. They must suspect something was up. They knew the meeting with McLean was in the morning, and he could have been back in the factory early afternoon. But he’d only made it there long enough this morning to announce he wouldn’t be back all day. And he wasn’t exactly dressed like a builder when he turned up either.
The timing should be about right. Once they’d had dinner and were settled in front of the television, he’d go home and break the news.
When he opened the back door, he could hear his parents talking in the dining room. Good. He could tell them both at once. But he’d timed it a bit wrong. They were still at the table. He’d been hoping they would have finished dinner and had had a few drinks by the time he’d arrived, so they’d be mellow and more accepting.
“Is that you, Luke?” His mother’s voice came from the other room.
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t keep you any dinner.”
“That’s okay.” He pulled out a chair and sat down. “I’ve got something to tell you.” This wasn’t going to go well. His father had been looking forward to retiring and he had one hell of a temper when things didn’t go his way.
“What’s that, dear,” His mother started collecting up the dessert plates and stacking them in the dishwasher. “Would you like some wine? There’s still a bit in the bottle.”
He shook his head and plunged in. “Stadium has work in Australia. We’ve just signed a three-month contract to play at a festival in Queensland.” He’d practiced the words, so they would come out smoothly like this was an everyday event.
His father leaned back in his chair. “When’s this going to happen?” The question was deceptively mild.
“We leave in ten days.”
“You what?” asked his father. It wasn’t quite an outraged shout, but it was close. Even if his father’s question was rhetorical, it seemed to need an answer.
“I’m quitting and going to Australia.” Besides, he had to keep saying it to believe it himself.
“But what about our plans? You were going to take over the business.”
He went for the brutal truth. “Your plans.” He’d never wanted that. He wanted what Chapman was offering. No way he was going to let this opportunity slip through his fingers.
“Is Isaac going too?”
Luke shook his head. “He said he needs to stay with Jess.”
“At least some people understand about loyalty and family,” his father fired back.
Luke didn’t bother to answer. He’d been pretty sure his father would be disappointed. But it could have been different. He could have been happy for him.
A deadly silence hung around the dining room. Work for the next week and a bit was going to be hell. His father wouldn’t take this without a fight. And he could be bloody unpleasant when he chose to be. Another week to get through and he was catching a plane, and if he didn’t ever come back to this it would be too soon.
“And I won’t be in tomorrow.” He waited for one of them to say something but got silence. In the end he stood up. Rose was waiting. She did say she’d cook them a nice dinner.
“I’ll see you at work on Thursday then?” He had exactly five days working at the factory to make sure he left things so Isaac could take over from him.
The next morning, in the café’s kitchen, Rose opened the oven door. The muffins looked perfect. Lucky because she’d been so busy puzzling over Luke she’d almost forgotten them. Last night had been wonderful, sitting in front of the fire eating the casserole she’d left to cook all day in the slow cooker, and then the slow, tender lovemaking with Luke. It would have been perfect if it hadn’t felt like he was trying to distract her.
She pulled the tray out and the back of her hand brushed against the rack above.
“Fuck.” She dropped the muffins on the stainless bench and sucked at the burn.
“You all right, sweetie?” asked Jilly.
Bloody Jilly. Rose ran the burn under the tap. I’m her boss and she treats me like a kid. “I burned my hand.”
“That’s not like you.” Jilly came over. “You’ve been distracted all morning. Is Luke the louse giving you grief?”
“Don’t call him that.” Rose kept her hand under the running water. Jilly picked up the tray of muffins, moved them to the cooling rack, and touched the top of one, and it bounced back the way it should.
“So, it is him,” said Jilly. “What’s he done?” Rose turned the tap off and checked her hand. “You should get ice on that, or it’ll blister.”
Rose nodded and went to the freezer to get the ice cubes. “Nothing really. I’m just over-reacting.”
Jilly got the roll of paper towels, ripped a couple off and ran one under the tap. “Wrap the ice in this.”
“Thanks.” Rose held the soggy mess against her hand. The cold of the ice did help numb the pain.
Jilly leaned against the bench. “In my experience if you feel something is wrong, and it involves a male, it’s worse than you think.”
Rose laughed. That was Jilly. She always looked on the bright side.
“And that comes from your extensive experience with males, does it?” she asked.
“More extensive than yours, sweetie. What’s the perfect Luke done to upset you?”
Maybe she could tell Jilly. She might give her another perspective on Luke not telling her he was going to Australia until he had to and lying about what he was doing on Sunday. Maybe Jilly would say she should trust Luke, and she had nothing to worry about.
So, while she was trying to help Jilly decorate the muffins that had already cooled, she told her the whole story.
Chapter Thirteen
Luke watched the old lawyer read the top page then flick through the next couple.
“It looks fine,” the lawyer said eventually. “When are you meant to have it signed by?”
“The end of the day,” said Luke. “I still need to go to Hamilton to get Noah and Adam’s signatures.”
The lawyer shut the folder. “Leave it with me for an hour. It looks like a standard contract, but it pays to be sure.”
“Okay.” He’d wanted an answer straight away, but it didn’t look like he would get it. His father used this guy, so he must still be on to it. He’d wait. It was starting to feel like he’d never get this finalised.
He didn’t want to go back to the factory while he waited. He needed to give the old man time to cool off and adjust. And Rose was at work, so no point in going to her house. He’d just have to wait for the hour and hope he got the green light.
The hour passed, the contract was fine. Now to get it signed and away. He was on his way to Hamilton. He’d texted Adam and Noah and they’d both be at the flat when he got there. At least they sounded keen. Finally.
“Have you sorted it out with the university?” Luke asked as Adam scrawled his signature on each page of the contract then pushed the page across the table so Noah could sign too.
Noah nodded then signed the last page with a flourish. “Time off during a master’s is not that unusual apparently. Everything I’ve done up until now will be kept on record, and if I come back within five years I can just pick up where I left off.” He looked over at Adam. “That’s what you were told too, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah.” Adam reached for his copy of Chapman’s contract and started initialling each page. “IT guys need time off too. It was easy.” He signed the final page and pushed all the paper back at Luke.
Luke picked up the pile and knocked the end against the table to straighten the sheets up. He slipped them all back in the file. Just Cole to sign, and it was done. Chapman said the contract would still be valid without Isaac as long as he gave permission for them to use his music. It was all working out.
“Where’s Tessa?” he asked. He didn’t think he’d been in the flat before when she wasn’t there, and he missed her.
“At Munros. It’s part of her internship to be there on Wednesdays this term.” Adam leaned back against the bench. “So, we leave in a week.”
Luke nodded. It was hard to believe. He still had to convince himself it was really happening. “What’s Tessa going to do about the flat.” He knew the lease was in her name, and he didn’t like to think of her getting landed with all the rent.
“She said she’d have no trouble getting someone to take our rooms. But we’re going to keep paying rent for the rest of the year at least. We like it here, and if there’s no work after the three-month contract, we’ll come back.”
Luke pulled out his phone. Bloody hell. Nobody seemed willing to commit completely. “I’ll see if Tessa wants company at lunchtime.” He fired off a text.
The answer came straight back. “Yes, yes, yes.” At least she seemed excited.
He put his phone back in his pocket. “Do you want to come?” he asked Adam and Noah. They shook their heads. “See you Friday then?”
“Have you told Harry yet?” Adam was still leaning against the bench.
“No, I’ll do it on the way. I hope he takes it well.”
“He might not want us this weekend after you’ve told him we’re leaving.”
“I don’t think he’s going to be able to replace us in two days.”
“Yeah.” Adam pushed away from the bench. “It might take him longer than that.
Luke left and headed for Munros. Lunch with Tessa. Visit Harry on the way and give him the good news.
He drove through the centre of town and then turned into the pub carpark. He could have just rung Harry, but, after three years of playing at his pub, it seemed polite to tell him in person.
Harry accepted the news philosophically.
“It was always going to happen,” he said. “You were always too good for this. You lot playing here was never going to last forever. Good luck.”
It would have been nice if his father had taken the news like that. He had four days at the factory to make sure he was leaving things sorted. He’d spend tomorrow working on the plans for the retirement village. There were a few things that he’d discussed with Mclean he would need to tidy up, and then talk the old man through them. He’d spend tomorrow sorting that out.
And there were a couple of jobs he’d been sent out to measure up. He’d get those drawn up and the materials ordered and see if his father wanted him to run through what needed to be done with Isaac or Steve. One of them would have to take over those jobs.
He found Tessa waiting for him at the entrance to Munros.
“I’m not due for a lunchbreak yet. Come and meet everyone.” She took his hand and pushed the door open. He followed her up the stairs to the next level where they’d had their photos done.
Tessa took him into the first room. “You’ve been in this area before, but I want you to see the rest of the building. It’s amazing what they have here and what’s going on. I’m learning so much.”
She looked great in a very restrained way. Just a short black skirt and little white blouse with narrow shoulders and a collar. Those designs Keira showed him wouldn’t have come as much of a surprise to everyone else as they did to him if this was the way she dressed here.
“Won’t they mind you bringing strays in?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I told Evelyn you were coming and asked if I could show you around.”
“Show me it all then.” With her hair piled on top of her head, just a jumble of escaping curls and soft subtle makeup, Tess looked bloody fantastic. Like a sexy librarian. She just needed the glasses.
Tessa showed him through a labyrinth of interconnecting rooms.
“This is the cutting room.” It was all long tables with rolls of fabric and paper patterns laid out or in untidy piles. A couple of people were at the tables cutting around the patterns. She touched a bright piece of silk waiting to be cut up. “We just make the samples here. The clothes for the shops will be made in a factory.”
Tess had always been fascinated by clothes. When they were at school, she tried every extreme look she saw in magazines. His favourite was the Britney Spears one with the school skirt and long socks teamed with bright red pony tail. She hadn’t been allowed to keep the skirt that short. Got sent home from school until she’d got a longer one. Her mum had been pissed at having to waste money on another skirt half way through the year.
She took him to the next room with machines set out all along one side. “After the fabric is cut out, this is where the samples are sewn together. There is a rush on at the moment to get ready for the next show.” Half-made and completed outfits were draped over mannequins. It looked like chaos in this room.
As they left that room, Tessa took a key hanging beside the door. “Now I’m taking you to my favourite room.” She gave him that sexy librarian smile, again.
“Which one?”
“The store room where they keep the fabric. Its temperature controlled, so it’s always a bit cooler than anywhere else in the building, but it’s like being in a beautiful cave. You’re surrounded by all these rich fabrics.” As she walked along, she dangled the keys and talked excitedly about the room she looked incredible. It had to be years since he’d been this drawn to her. When they first started going out together, all he wanted to do was be with her, and making love to her was all he could think about.
Now her hands shaped the colour and the drape of the fabric, fluttering like butterflies. “Silks and velvets and brocades in every colour you can imagine. It’s magical.” He remembered this was the way she used to act all the time and her laugh was the soundtrack of his youth.
She’d laughed a lot during what had to be the best day of his life. They played hooky. He talked her into going surfing with him instead of going to school. That day was the first time they made love. Up until then they’d fooled around a bit and talked about it but had never gone that far.
He’d just got his full licence and had bought a wreck of a car, but he was proud of it. He drove to Waihi beach, and then they’d walked around to Orokawa beach carrying their surfboards and had the whole beach to themselves all day.
The sun beat down on them so hot they hadn’t even taken their wetsuits out
of the car. With Tessa stripped down to just a bikini, and him in his baggies, they surfed until lunchtime. It felt like freedom. No rules. Nothing restricting them, and no one knew where they were.
Then they stopped for lunch. He shared the lunch his mother had made. Hard to believe his mother still made him his lunch each morning when he was seventeen.
Then slowly, in the shade of the trees, lying on their towels, they made love for the first time. Her perfect body with its long curves and smooth tan interrupted by the white lines her bikini left. The tumble of dark blonde curls matted by the salt water. Her arms around his neck. Her mouth against his. The shock of sliding into her for the first time, and how it felt like home. It was the most amazing thing he could remember. Everything about that day shone in his memory.
He waited by the door of the fabric room, watched her unlock it, and then followed her inside. She took the key out of the lock and pulled the door shut.
“We have to keep the door closed, so we’re not trying to air condition the whole building.” Tessa nodded at the deep shelves each side of the room and the heavy timber counter running down the centre. “See?”
She was right. It was like being in a beautiful cave draped in the most luxurious fabric he’d ever seen. The room was long and narrow, just a wide corridor really, with shelves each side and a counter running down the middle. Everyone who had been here before them must have unrolled the bolts to look at the material and then left them draping over the rolls, the shelves and the counter. Layers and layers of beautiful fabric.
Maybe when anyone came in here it became a magical experience playing with the stuff, then once they’d found what they wanted they rushed out with it and forgot the mess they’d made.
Tessa ran her hand over a length of velvet that had dark autumn colours splodged all over it.
“After you’re gone, my job is to roll all these bolts of material onto their tubes and put them back on the shelves. That’s how I know about this room. Evelyn brought me in here and showed me.”
