After Summer

by S R Silcox

  On the positive side, I now have a room inside the main house. Jason managed to convince Dad and Julie to let him use the guest house as a games room, so I get the room Jason was using as a media room. Jason helped me set my room up, convincing me to keep my single bed from my old place after he and Damo sanded it back and painted it for me, and Mum’s ashes box now takes pride of place on the window sill, looking out over the garden at the side of the house.

  I’m lying on my bed, reading one of Julie’s trashy magazines, when Jason sticks his head around my door. “Hey. Scott wants to see you outside.”

  This must be important because apart from seeing Dad at dinner the last few days, neither of us have really made an effort to talk to each other. I know from the stilted dinner conversations that construction has started on the development and that the Minister came down the following day to do all the publicity stuff. So in reality, we only delayed Dad by a day. I haven’t heard anything about Rosie or the turtles, and I’m hoping that Dad paid attention to the protest and actually did something about it. I guess I’ll find out soon enough.

  When I get to the garage, Dad’s pulled the paddle boards out and is putting together the paddles.

  “Hey, Riles,” he says when he sees me. He doesn’t sound angry, which makes me feel a little suspicious. Is he lulling me into a false sense of security? I don’t remember ever being punished by Dad, so I’m not really sure what to expect.

  “Hey, Dad.”

  “I thought we’d go out on the water for a bit. Are you up for it?”

  I shrug. “I guess.” If this is his way of punishing me further, he’s totally missing the mark. We pick up the boards and head down to the beach. Dad doesn’t say anything again until we’re both in the water.

  “Just so you know, we going over to the island. There’s something I want to show you.”

  We paddle in silence for a while and then Dad says, “You know your mother was obsessed with the island?”

  “No,” I reply. “I didn’t.”

  “We used to go over all the time before we were married.”

  “What did you do over there?” I ask.

  “Bird watch. Swim in the ocean. Lay out under the stars at night.” He turns to me and smiles. “Watch the turtles come in.”

  “You knew about the turtles?”

  “They’ve been coming for years,” Dad says. “Not many, years ago. More now. You’re mother loved them.”

  I’m a little confused. “Then why would you develop the island?” I ask. “Won’t that harm them?”

  “Not if I can help it,” Dad says. “Looking after the turtles was something your mum and I used to talk about a lot when we were kids.”

  When they were kids? Nothing is making any sense. “How long did you know Mum before you got married?” I ask.

  Dad turns and looks at me, seemingly surprised by my question. “Why do you want to know that?”

  I shrug. “You weren’t married for very long. How long were you together for?”

  Dad takes in a breath and lets it out slowly. “Well,” he says. “I guess you could say we got together when we were fourteen, but we kind of grew up together.”

  “Fourteen? But that doesn’t make sense.”

  “Why not?” Dad asks.

  “Because, Mum told me you met at work.”

  Dad seems shocked. “She told you that?”

  “Yeah. She told me she used to write your display home ads when you were starting out in your business.”

  “Yeah. She did do that, but that was way after we got together.”

  “Wow. Why would Mum lie about that?”

  “I don’t know,” Dad says. “Your mother, she was a bit of a free spirit. Always in her own head. Maybe she thought it was easier for you to think we weren’t together for very long.” We paddle on in silence for a bit and then Dad says something that surprises me. “I should never have pressured her into marrying me.”

  “Why not? Didn’t she love you?”

  “Of course she did, Riles. She just wasn’t ever going to be happy staying in Roper’s. She wanted to get out and see the world.”

  “Why didn’t you go with her?” I ask. It makes perfect sense to me that they should’ve left Roper’s together. That Dad should’ve gone with her, and me, not stayed behind.

  Dad stops paddling, kneels down on his board, and then as it glides to a stop he sits, his legs dangling over the side. I paddle up beside him and do the same. “Lots of reasons,” Dad says. “It was a complicated situation, Riles. I guess, someone would’ve had to compromise and neither of us wanted the other to give up our dreams and hold the other back.”

  I can feel a lump forming in my throat. “But, you had me though, right? Why couldn’t I keep you together?” Warm tears start rolling down my cheeks.

  Dad looks up at me and his face softens. He reaches out and takes my hand. “Oh, Riles. If I could take back the last thirteen years, I would. Letting you go with your mother was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but there’s no way I would have been able to give you the life she gave you.”

  I wipe the tears from my cheeks. “You don’t know that.”

  “You’re right,” he says. “But it doesn’t matter now. What’s happened has happened and no matter how much we want to, we can’t go backwards.” He starts paddling and then he stands up. “Come on. Enough sad talk. I’ve got something that’ll make you feel better.”

  I’m struggling to digest all of this new information. Part of me wants to just go home and not worry about whatever it is Dad wants to show me. I could turn around and head back to the mainland, but when I look behind me, I realise that it’s too far away. Maybe Dad’s right. Maybe it is easier to just keep going. I turn back toward the island and start paddling.

  Dad and I skirt around the development site and head to the other side of the island. We wander up the beach until we spot Rosie’s camp site. Rosie greets him like an old friend, which surprises me considering what’s happened the last few days. “Is it here?” Dad asks, and Rosie points to a tree stump in a small clearing behind the dune. I follow Dad over and when we get there, he kneels down in the sand and places his hand on top of a blanket that appears to be covering something. I kneel down beside him.

  “I wanted to keep this under wraps until I knew what was happening for sure. I wish I could have told you sooner, because it might have prevented the events that have occurred over the last few days.” He rubs his chin. “The truth is, I’ve had this in the works for as long as the development has been but it’s taken longer to get it finalised. I was going to reveal it with the Minister on Monday but, well, we all know how that turned out.” He raises his eyebrows, but surprisingly, there’s no hint of anger in his voice.

  “Anyway, Riley, I did something that I hope you’ll appreciate and that I hope makes you realise that, no matter what happened between me and your mother, I did still care about her, and you.” He pulls back the blanket to reveal a long wooden sign. Carved into it is a name. It says:

  Amy Fisher Nature Refuge

  That’s Mum’s name. I feel tears welling up in my eyes again. “You named the island after her?”

  Dad nods. “I did.”

  I swallow hard. “What about Julie?”

  Dad half laughs. “Julie doesn’t care for islands much. I promised her I’d name my first resort after her.”

  That makes me laugh. I trace the letters on the sign and suck in a breath. “She’d love this.” Dad puts his arm around me and pulls me into a hug.

  “She would, wouldn’t she?” he says, and I hug him back.

  Thirty Two

  Brooks

  I haven’t seen or heard from Riley in three days. Jo’s been around once, just to let me know that C.R.A.G is disbanding, which is good news, and she just had to tell me that she’s dating one of the researchers from Rosie’s monitoring group. Apparently they met at the protest. I’ve got no idea why she felt the need to tell me, but whatever. Dad’s been
around to tell me he’s seeing a specialist about his knee, finally, and I’ve seen Mum once since Dad picked me up from the police station and that was only because I went home to help him in the yard. She said hello, and I could tell even that was an effort. At least we’re back to not yelling at each other, which I suppose is something.

  Ben’s also made a point of paying me out for moping around the house over the last few days, and that’s only because he’s so head over heels for Nicki and can’t wait to introduce her to Uncle Pete when he comes back at the end of January. At least someone’s happy I guess. The only reason I’ve left the house now is because Gloria called me and asked me to come in to the Hut to taste test a new pizza for her. I know it’s probably something Ben cooked up with her to get me out of my pyjamas, but it’s free pizza, so I’m not complaining.

  I’m sitting outside the Hut, surfing the net on my phone when a shadow falls across the table. I look up to see Riley standing there, smiling down at me. She’s with Jason. I glance around but don’t see Scott or Julie, so I reckon I might be safe enough to talk to them.

  “Hey, Brooks,” Riley says.

  “Hey.”

  Riley sits down on the chair beside me. “How’ve you been?”

  “Okay,” I shrug. “Does your dad know you’re here?”

  “Yes,” Riley replies. “He’s lifted my and Jason’s house arrest, but we have a new curfew of nine pm, which totally sucks.” When I don’t say anything in return, she says, “I have some news.”

  “About what?” I ask.

  “The development,” Riley replies. When I roll my eyes, she says, “It’s good news, Brooks, I promise.”

  I look up at Jason, who nods. “Okay. What is it?”

  “Dad’s making part of the island a Nature Refuge,” Riley says, like it’s some great thing he’s doing. “To protect the turtles.”

  “So this is his way of apologising for what that dog did? I don’t buy it.” I look back down at my phone. Riley takes my phone out of my hand and puts it on the table. She scoots her chair closer, so our knees are touching.

  “He knew about the turtles before he even put the plans into council,” Riley says.

  “I knew it!”

  “Let me finish,” Riley says.

  “Fine.” I’m still not convinced about anything Scott Fisher has done, but I’ll hear her out.

  “Dad knew about the turtles and he was the one who pushed for funding for Rosie to do her monitoring over the last couple of years.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “You don’t have to, because it doesn’t even matter. Dad decided that as part of the glamping development, he wanted to turn part of the island into a Nature Refuge, and get Rosie to run tours, showing people the turtles and teaching them about them.”

  “So it’s a way of him making more money?”

  Riley huffs. “You’re not listening to me. I know you don’t like Dad, but can’t you just give him some credit for trying to do the right thing? Even if it’s just for me?” She sits back in her chair, her arms folded.

  I sigh. “Fine. So what does all that mean?”

  “It means that Rosie can do her monitoring, and she can show people what happens when they nest, just like you showed me. And,” she says, leaning in, “it’s not even the best part.”

  “What’s the best part?” I ask.

  Riley puts both her hands on my knees and leans in close. “The refuge is going to be named after Mum.”

  She’s so unbelievably happy that it’s hard not to be happy for her. And I guess I should be happy too, because regardless of whether Scott had the refuge planned all along, or whether it’s something he’s decided to do to make himself look better after all the bad publicity he got after our protest, the main thing is that the turtles will be protected now. And Rosie gets to keep doing what she’s doing. I take Riley’s hands in mine and I try my best to mirror her excitement. “I’m really happy for you, Riles.”

  “Thanks,” she says. “So, I wanted to ask you something, and you can say no if you want, but I hope you don’t.”

  She pauses, seemingly expecting a response, so I say, “Okay.”

  “We’re going to have an official naming ceremony for the refuge this afternoon when the signs go up. It’s just going to be Dad and Julie, and Jason and me and probably a few people from the government and the council. Dad wants to have something in the paper so there’ll probably be some reporters and stuff there too.”

  “So just something small?” I tease.

  Riley slaps at my leg and says, “Anyway, like I was saying, we’re going to scatter some of Mum’s ashes in the ocean, so it really feels like her place. I’d really love it if you could be there. Will you come?”

  “Are you sure your dad will let me?”

  “He doesn’t have a choice.”

  “That doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence, Riles.”

  She takes my hand in hers. “It’ll be fine. I promise.”

  She smiles and I give in. “Fine. I’ll be there.”

  Riley jumps off her chair and hugs me, and then she kisses me. I had no idea how much I missed her until right this minute. She pulls away and says, “I have to go meet Julie to put the finishing touches on the ceremony. Are you coming, Jason?”

  “I might just hang out here for a bit if that’s okay,” Jason says. “I’ll come over to the island with Brooks.”

  Riley bends down and kisses me on the cheek. “I’ll see you both on the island then.”

  Jason and I both watch her as she walks away, holding her hat on her head to stop it from flying off in the wind. As soon as she’s gone, Jason drops down into the chair beside me and says, “You have to help me stop the ceremony.”

  “Why?”

  Jason picks at the edge of the table.

  “Jason, what did you do?”

  “It wasn’t me. It was Damo. We were, just…” Jason drops his head and trails off. “Riley protects that box like it’s something important and we just wanted to see what was inside it. That’s all.”

  I can’t believe he’d be so stupid. “That’s all? That’s all?! Are you kidding me? Of course it was something precious. It was her mother, Jason.”

  “I’m sorry,” he says.

  “What did you do with the ashes?”

  Jason looks extremely uncomfortable. His leg starts bouncing up and down and he starts fiddling with a napkin.

  I snatch the napkin away from him. “What. Did you do. With the ashes?”

  “They went all over the floor and Damo panicked because she was coming and we didn’t want to get caught so we swept them under the mat and then when we came back the next day to pick them up, Flora had been and I think they’re in the vacuum cleaner.” Jason says it so fast it all comes out as one word, but I get the most important part, which is that Riley’s mum’s ashes no longer exist.

  I close my eyes and take a deep breath, telling myself to stay calm. Losing my shit at him isn’t going to help, and my biggest concern is how Riley’s going to react when she discovers the ashes are gone.

  “What are we going to do?” Jason whines.

  “You are going to stop hanging around with Damo,” I say. Jason opens his mouth to protest but I shut him up by raising my hand. “He gets you into so much trouble it’s not funny, and if you think almost getting arrested for climbing up the water tower was bad enough, you have no idea what it’s going to be like dealing with Riley if she finds out that Flora sucked up the remains of her mother in a vacuum cleaner.”

  “I didn’t get arrested,” he says. “And besides, I didn’t do it for Damo.”

  “I don’t care why you did it. You could’ve gotten into a heap more trouble than you did.”

  “I did it for you,” Jason says.

  “You what?”

  Jason runs his hand through his hair and sighs. “I found out about the protest you were planning on the island.”

  “So?”

  “So,” Jason says
, like it should be self-evident what he’s talking about. “I heard Dad talking to Donaldson after you had that fight with him at his office. He figured you’d be up to something. Anyway, Damo and I decided we’d distract the coppers so they wouldn’t pay attention to what you guys were up to.”

  I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “You deliberately risked your life so C.R.A.G could do our last protest?”

  Jason nods. I’m not sure whether to be angry with him or thank him. I settle for neither and change the subject.

  “I don’t see what that has to do with you destroying Riley’s mother’s ashes.”

  Jason leans in a little. “Well, you kinda owe me.”

  I laugh at his audacity. “Mate, you are in no state to be calling in favours right now.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because,” I say, stabbing him in the chest with my finger, “you’re the one in trouble here. Not me.”

  Jason slumps back in his chair and pouts. Damn it, I hate it when people pout at me.

  “She’s going to kill me,” he says. One final attempt to play on my emotions.

  “She’s not going to kill you.”

  “Oh you know that do you?” Jason asks. He looks at me all sullen and then he says, in all seriousness, “She’s going to kill me and put my ashes in that box and scatter them in the ocean.”

  I stifle a laugh. “She’s not going to kill you because I’ll help you out.”

  Jason brightens. “You will?”

  “Of course I will.”

  “So you’re not going to tell her then?”

  “Me? No freaking way.”

  “What are we going to do then? She wants to do that ceremony thing and scatter the ashes. There won’t be anything to scatter.”