by Alison Kelly
‘Don’t laugh!’ she chided. ‘The way I look, if went to the beach and lay down to sunbathe, people would probably start throwing water over me and trying to push me into the sea, thinking I’d beached myself.’
Reb began to caress her very noticeable belly. ‘Stop being silly. You’re barely six months.’
‘I know. I’m going to look like two whales by the time I get to term.’
‘C’mon, A.J.,’ he said coaxingly. ‘Five months ago I might have expected this sort of self-indulgent, self-pitying act from you, but nowadays it smacks of overkill. So tell me what’s really bothering you.’
She sighed, and chewed her bottom lip before answering. ‘I’m frightened Savvy’s reading more into the interest Josh and his friends are showing in her and Kara than is there.’
‘Ah… I see. You think Josh just sees her as a friend and Savvy has more romantic notions.’
‘Kinda,’ Amanda-Jayne hedged, knowing he didn’t see at all, but deciding it would be better for everyone if she didn’t disillusion Reb’s innocent perception. Besides, this was a typical girl problem which she could alert Savvy to with nothing more than a few carefully chosen words.
‘You do know he agreed to go to the dance with her?’ she said, so Reb wouldn’t think she’d abandoned the subject too quickly.
‘Mmm. But that’s hardly a big deal. They’re going in a group with half a dozen others, aren’t they?’
‘Yes. But don’t you think Josh and his private school buddies might be a tad out of place at a V.L. High dance?’
Reb gave a wicked laugh. ‘Worried Josh and his sports car-driving cohorts might get on the wrong side of some of the more…er…physical local guys, are you?’
‘Among other things, yes,’ she said. ‘And there’s no need to sound so amused by the prospect. That’s my brother you’re talking about.’
‘I know. And Savvy is my cousin.’ He winked. ‘Trust me, my Bad Boy rep is sufficiently legendary for no one to be stupid enough to cause Savvy, or any of her friends, a moment’s distress.’
‘Oh, gag me with a spoon!’ she exclaimed. ‘You think you’re oh, so tough, don’t you, Browne?’
‘Yep,’ he said smugly, then, with unexpected swiftness, gently tumbled her onto her back on the sofa. ‘Wanna try and take me?’
Amanda-Jayne grinned. ‘Of course. I make it a rule never to turn my back on a challenge.’
A week later, Amanda-Jayne’s ‘carefully chosen words’ blew up in her face.
‘Oh, I get it!’ Savvy raged, her hands pulling scathingly at the dress she wore. ‘I’m good enough to lend clothes to, but I’m not good enough for your precious brother!’
‘Savannah, that’s not what I mean at all! You misunderstood.’
‘Oh, right! I misunderstood, “Don’t you and your friends go getting too attached to or involved with Joshua and his mates, because, much as I hate to say this, Savvy, I think they’re only out for one thing!”’
‘Savvy, let me explain—’
‘I don’t need you to explain! I know precisely what you meant,’ the teenager shouted. ‘You think that the only possible interest someone from Josh’s background could possibly have in someone from mine would be getting laid! Like everyone else in this town, if you’re female and live south of the bridge it’s automatically assumed you put out on request, on demand and on cue with every guy around!’
‘Savvy, stop it right now!’ A.J. insisted, grabbing the younger girl’s arms. ‘It’s not your morals I’m questioning.’
‘Yeah, right! You’re implying your brother’s a slut.’
‘No,’ she said firmly. ‘I’m not. But all those guys are extremely handsome, hormone-driven seventeen-and eighteen-year-olds who have grown up hearing everything you’ve just accused me of believing. I grew up with boys like them, Savvy. They think responsibility begins and ends with having good manners and carrying a credit card and a condom at all times.
‘I’m not saying Josh is like that, Savvy,’ she stressed. ‘I’m just cautioning you that most guys his age are more interested in adding notches to their belt and scoring with the prettiest girl around than they are in any sort of long-term commitment. Only a fool would look at you and believe you aren’t going to be the prettiest girl there tonight. I’m not telling you not to be friends with Josh, I’m just cautioning you to be careful.’
Seeing the tears building in the younger girl’s eyes, she tempered her tone and slid her hands down to grasp Savvy’s.
‘Savvy, I love my brother, despite the wedge my stepmother tried to drive between us. But I’ve come to love you too, which is why I don’t want to see you hurt. And it’s precisely because Josh is my brother and circumstances being what they are that you and he are going to cross paths at family functions a lot in the future. I don’t want that to be a painful experience for you, Savannah.’
She gently nudged the girl’s chin up. ‘Can you understand now what I’m trying to tell you?’
Savannah nodded.
‘It’s crystal-clear to me too, sis!’ At Josh’s angry voice both women spun in unison to the external stairs. ‘But hey, don’t count on me at all those family reunions you’re planning, ’cos as far as I’m concerned you can go to hell!’
Reb, who’d been tightening the hinges on the bathroom door and had overheard A.J.’s emotive heart-to-heart with his cousin and consequently Josh’s unexpected input, emerged to find his pregnant wife standing shellshocked, silent tears streaming down her face as she stared down the outer stairs in her brother’s wake. Savvy was also crying, only more loudly and around declarations that she was going to die of embarrassment and would never be able to face Josh again.
‘Oh, God!’ he muttered, moving to grab his swaying wife before she collapsed.
‘Oh, Reb, we’ve got to go after him! Explain that I didn’t mean—’
‘Shh, honey, take it easy. You’re not going anywhere in this state.’
‘Oh, no! What about the dance?’ Savvy wailed. ‘It starts in an hour and now my make-up is wrecked! Oh, Reb, what am I going to do?’
Reb bit back the curse that rose to his lips and settled a now sobbing A.J. onto the sofa before answering. ‘Savannah, if you’re going to die of embarrassment, loss of cosmetic face or any other damn thing any time soon kindly do it quietly. Because right now all I’m concerned with is calming A.J. down before she brings on labour!’
A.J. snatched at his hands, her face pleading. ‘No, no. I’ll be all right. Really, Reb…I…will. But please… please go find Josh. He’s so upset.’
Who wasn’t? Reb thought, debating whether he’d placate her more by going rather than staying, as he wanted to.
‘Please, Reb, go…hurry.’
‘Okay, honey. I’ll go, but not until I’ve phoned Debbie to come sit with you, okay?’
Her face damp with tears, she nodded. ‘All right. All right. Just find him for me.’
Reb wondered how long it would be before she calmed down enough to realise that he’d heard enough of her concerns to want to bring Josh and every one of his mates back…dead rather than alive?
Sighing, he reached for the phone. So much for the quiet, romantic evening he’d been planning… ‘Hi, Deb, it’s me. Listen, we’ve had a small domestic drama here and I’ve gotta go find Josh. A.J.’s upset and I don’t want to lea— Thanks, Deb; I owe you one.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
IT TOOK Reb all of five minutes to catch up with Josh, whose car was pulled to the side of the road behind a highway patrol car. Easing back on the throttle, he pulled over in front of the Ferrari, wondering how much worse this night was going to get. He got his answer when he climbed off his bike and recognised the cop standing over Josh’s car as the bane of his own teenage life, Constable Richard McCoy.
He’d heard McCoy had been transferred back here, but until now he’d had the good fortune not to run into him. So much for good fortune! he thought, pulling off his helmet.
‘You okay, Josh?’ he as
ked. ‘Josh?’
The kid thumped the steering wheel. ‘Yeah, Reb, I’m just fine!’
‘He won’t be if he keeps drivin’ the way he does. The snooty brat’s lucky he came off his “P” plates last month or this’d cost him his licence.’
‘My night gets any luckier,’ Josh grumbled, ‘I’ll get struck by lightning.’
Feeling for the kid, Reb decided to pursue the vain hope that his nemesis had mellowed with age. ‘Look, McCoy,’ he said. ‘Is this really necessary? Josh is a clean skin; as far as I know he doesn’t have any previous driving offences—’
‘I don’t!’ Josh chimed in earnestly. ‘Not even a parking ticket.’
‘I imagine you didn’t have any priors at one stage too, Browne,’ McCoy said, not looking at him. ‘But we both know you racked ’em up real quick after the first one.’
For a moment, Reb wondered if the consequences for decking a police officer wouldn’t be worth the momentary satisfaction; then he remembered A.J. and knew he wasn’t going to let this mongrel shadow his future as he had his past. But watching the guy begin to inspect the car in the hope of nailing Josh for something in addition to speeding made the déjà vu of the moment too strong to keep him mute.
‘Get real, Constable McCoy,’ he said, knowing Josh paid more attention to the condition of his tyres than A.J. ever would. ‘You seriously think you’ll be able to find a reason to slap a defect sticker on a car registered to a Vaughan?
‘Look, we both know the law allows for cautions; can’t you just give the kid one and forget the whole incident?’
‘I don’t believe in cautions, Browne. You oughta remember that,’ he sneered. ‘And I don’t care what his name is; I’m charging him.’
‘For what? Being eighteen and upset?’
‘For doin’ a hundred and fifteen in a one ten zone.’
Reb shook his head. ‘You know, McCoy, for someone who rumour has it was busted down a few ranks and booted back to Vaughan’s Landing because of an attitude complaint from a citizen, it seems to me you’re not exactly taking the right steps to address your PR problem.’
The man’s eyes narrowed. ‘Don’t push me, Browne. If I’d had the radar gun on you comin’ outta that curve I’d be writin’ you up right now too.’
Reb smiled. ‘Then I guess it’s my lucky night, not yours, eh?’
With a hateful glare, the cop ripped off the ticket and tossed it along with Josh’s licence back into his lap. ‘You both got lucky tonight,’ the cop added, slowly closing his ticket pad. ‘I saw the way you came round that curve, Browne; whatever minor success you might’ve enjoyed on the Grand Prix circuit, just remember you’re back on my turf now. I’m going to be watching you like a hawk.’
‘I appreciate the tip, McCoy,’ Reb said smoothly. ‘Oh, and by the way, thanks… If it hadn’t been for the burning desire you instilled in me to leave this town, I wouldn’t have ever made it onto the pro circuit. Those minor successes were enough to change my life for the better!’
The cop spun on his heel and strode towards his car. Reb watched him go, waiting to see if he’d throw his foot out and knock the stand from under his bike as he’d once done years ago. He didn’t. In fact he all but jogged to get into his car and away.
‘I take it you and him have a past,’ Josh said.
Reb turned to look at him. ‘Yeah. And one day I might tell you all about it, but right now we’ve got other things to talk about.’ With that he walked around and climbed into the passenger seat.
‘Okay,’ he said on a resigned sigh. ‘How much did you overhear, Josh?’
‘More than I wanted to.’
‘I heard the whole lot.’
The kid paled ten shades. ‘Oh, great! So now you believe that I’m only hanging around to score with Savvy and you’re going to start throwing punches left, right and centre to teach me a lesson! Fine!’ he said, turning to face Reb and tapping his chin. ‘Go for it! What do I care? My own sister thinks I’m scum, you might as well!’
‘Take it easy, Josh; I’m not here to teach you a lesson.’ Reb stifled a grin at the kid’s sceptical expression. ‘Although for the record,’ he added, ‘if I were, trust me…it would take only one punch.
‘Furthermore your sister doesn’t think you’re a scumbag; she loves you. The only reason I’m here instead of being back home, where she’s sobbing her heart out over what happened, is because she wants the chance to try and explain things to you.’
‘What’s to explain? I heard what she said.’
‘Yeah, but you haven’t analysed the situation any better than she has.’
‘Analysed what situation?’
‘Well, for starters, A.J.’s physical state and the havoc it’s playing with her hormones, not to mention her emotions.’
Reb sighed. Josh’s expression let him know he wasn’t getting off to a roaring start in trying to explain the situation. Patting himself down in search of his cigarettes, he came up empty, then remembered he’d stopped carrying them three days ago.
‘You got a smoke, Josh?’
‘A.J. doesn’t approve of smoking.’
‘I know,’ Reb said, digging into his pockets for a stick of the gum he was certain was going to give him RSI of the jaw. ‘Which is why I’m driving myself insane trying to quit. You don’t seriously think I’m putting myself through this for the sake of my health, do you?’ he quipped, opening the console ashtray to dispose of the gum wrapper and finding several white-tipped, lipstick-stained butts lying in the bottom.
‘Ah, Savvy’s preferred brand,’ Reb observed, sending a sideways glance to Josh. ‘Hope you’re not encouraging her in vices I’m trying to break both of us from.’
‘No! Gee, why is everyone suddenly convinced I’m trying to corrupt Savvy’s morals, health and every other damned thing? I like her; I think she’s a great kid, but—’
‘Okay, okay! I get the picture.’
‘No, I’m not sure you do!’ he spat back. ‘I’ll admit I’m not a saint, but, contrary to what Amanda-Jayne thinks, I don’t exist for the sole reason of laying every girl I meet! Has it occurred to anyone that maybe Savvy isn’t the only reason that I like hanging out at the garage? And—’
‘It’s occurred to me.’
Josh went silent, his expression one of disbelief.
‘It’s true, Josh.’
‘Yeah, right.’
‘Look, I know from personal experience that trust isn’t a commodity that’s all that easy to give when a person hasn’t had much experience at receiving it, but at least hear me out before you decide I’m lying.’
The younger man hesitated a moment before saying, ‘Well, get on with it.’
That the kid was prepared to listen only solved half of Reb’s problem…he didn’t have a clue where to go next. In the end he decided he’d just have to fly blind.
‘Righto,’ he said firmly, hoping to at least sound as if one of them knew what he was saying. ‘For starters you’ve got to understand that it’s not easy getting used to being part of a real family when you’ve never had one. Or trying to be a parent when you’ve had no one to take your example from.’
‘You’re talking about Amanda-Jayne.’
‘I’m talking about all of us. You, me, Savvy and, yeah, A.J. But we’ll start with her ’cos she’s the catalyst of all this.’
Reb took a moment to formulate everything he wanted to say into some sort of order, anxious to sort things out as quickly as possible so he could get back and make sure A.J. was all right.
‘To begin with, Josh,’ he said finally, ‘for all the wealth and social advantages you and A.J. had growing up, your family was every bit as dysfunctional as mine and Savvy’s and it’s no secret what that was like. On the surface the Vaughan existence looked ideal, but scratch that surface and we both know what it was really like, don’t we, Josh?’
At the sad, uncomfortable expression on the kid’s face he answered the question himself.
‘Your old man spent mo
re time building the family business than he ever did building a family. My take on things is that to him his kids were merely walking billboard advertisements for the Vaughan name and its wealth. Your mother pretty much agreed, but she resented A.J. so much, she made a career out of making her life difficult at every opportunity. You, on the other hand, she pampered and showered with every material thing you could possibly ever desire, except,’ he said, pointedly, ‘love and affection aren’t material things.’
‘I survived. I never asked for pity.’
‘No, and neither did A.J. or Savvy or me. In different ways each of us toughed it out. We all went on thinking we were independent and strong individuals who could survive on our own, until suddenly something happened to make our worlds collide.’
‘You and Amanda-Jayne got married.’
Reb didn’t bother to say that wasn’t precisely the collision point, grateful that the kid was at least listening and following him.
‘Our marriage was a giant culture shock for A.J. and the start of a huge learning curve for her, Savvy and me. You came to the wedding, but then faded back into your own world while the rest of us butted heads and scraped our emotional knees and elbows trying to get a handle on this whole family concept.’
He smiled. ‘Then I guess all those maternal instincts of A.J.’s began to kick in and somehow she got things to start blending. I’m not saying it was easy for her or us, but things just started to…to click. Savvy stopped being so surly and rebellious. She stopped sneaking out at night and started spending more time at home. Even her grades picked up.
‘As for me…’ Reb paused to try and condense all the positive changes that had occurred in his life these few short months. Lord, the list was endless! ‘Well, mostly I guess I lost that big chip I’ve carried on my shoulders all my life.’ He grinned. ‘Well, a considerable chunk of it anyway. I still wanted to deck that copper McCoy something fierce, but I didn’t. What stopped me was the changes A.J.’s brought into my life; because of her I now want to focus on my future, not my past.’
