‘Nice to meet you, Julia.’ He sat down quickly.
Ry pulled out her chair and Julia arranged her coat on the back of it, before sitting down to join the party. As she straightened, she caught Lizzie’s stare. Her friend’s blue eyes were stunned and open wide, and she appeared to be attempting to smother a smile by pinching her lips together tight. Julia realised she wasn’t the only one at the table who had been appreciating Dan’s finer qualities.
‘Nice table, Lizzie,’ Julia said in her best friend’s direction. ‘It’s lovely to be near the fire. It’s freezing out there tonight.’
‘There’s no better place to be than right by the fire. Nice and hot.’ Lizzie raised her eyebrows on that last word and her lips curved into a grin. ‘Don’t you agree, Barbra?’
Julia couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her friend so discombobulated. No wait. It had been 1997.
‘Well, Ry,’ Barbra announced, ‘what did you have in mind for wine? I think we need a good red to go with this cold and stormy night and this fire, don’t you’
‘So I guess drinks are on me tonight.’ Ry sat back, placing an arm around the back of Julia’s chair. She was conscious of his body so close to hers, his forearm touching her back, leaning in close to her. God, this was starting to feel like a date. Which it most definitely was not. Not with three other people at the table.
‘It’s the least I can do. But I will defer to Julia’s taste in wine. Where’s the list?’ Ry passed the wine list to Julia and she accepted the challenge with a raised eyebrow, settling quickly on a Coonawarra cabernet sauvignon. Ry signalled for a waitress and he placed the order.
Julia glanced around the table at the party. Ry had a grin on his face that a nuclear disaster wouldn’t shift. Dan was deep in conversation with Barbra on his left and, across the table, Lizzie was tucking her short blonde hair behind her ears, beaming like a woman whose Christmases had all come at once.
What a tremendous pity for Lizzie that Dan seemed to be ignoring her and focusing instead all his attention on Barbra. Julia tuned into their conversation to take her mind off the heat from Ry’s arm pressing into her back.
‘Daniel, I simply cannot believe you couldn’t find a pretty girl to bring with you to Middle Point this weekend. I mean look at him, ladies.’ She leaned over and planted a noisy kiss on his cheek. ‘Aside from my own darling son, isn’t he the most gorgeous man you’ve ever seen?’
Julia watched Lizzie drop her eyes to study the tablecloth.
‘C’mon Barbra, you know the rule. The mother of my best friend is simply out of bounds. No matter how tempted I am to give in to this thing we’ve got going, I know your son would take me out to the Middle Point cliffs and push me off into the sea if I did anything about it.’
Their performance had everyone amused and Ry sat back enjoying it. He was used to this running joke between Dan and his mother, evidence of the closeness his family shared with Dan. He watched Julia respond to it, laughing. Her hair was wild and free tonight, and she had a plum-coloured lipstick on her full lips that had him entranced. He moved his arm from the back of her chair and let his hand come to rest on her thigh. When she turned to look at him, to share a laugh with him, he let her know with a squeeze just how he felt about the fact that she was there with his family. The waitress arrived with the wine and Julia shrugged away her offer to taste it before pouring.
‘Thanks, Kimberley,’ Ry said as she smiled and returned to the bar.
‘Julia darling, did you get on to a plumber yet? Poor thing had to come over and use your shower, Ry. She had no hot water for days.’
Ry’s fingers moved higher and he could feel Julia’s thigh quiver underneath his grasp. He swallowed. She’d been back in his house. Clearly her aversion to the ugliest house in Middle Point had passed, he thought with a satisfied grin. And she’d been in his bathroom. Wet and naked. Without him.
‘Your hot water system bite the dust?’ Dan asked.
‘Yes, right in the middle of a shower. But it’s been fixed, so I’m back in business. I couldn’t put the house on the market with no hot water. Especially at this time of year.’
‘It’s ready for the market?’ Ry asked in surprise. ‘The house? You mean you’ve finished? What about moving all that furniture?’
‘I helped with that,’ Lizzie added, ‘and the whole place looks amazing. Jools has done a beautiful job of it, keeping all those little beachy touches but modernising it.’
So she’d asked Lizzie for help instead of waiting for him. ‘I’m sure it looks great. I can’t wait to see it, Julia.’ She didn’t look at him, but bit her lower lip and turned the other way.
‘Are you staying here in Middle Point much longer, Barbra?’ Julia’s attempt at changing the conversation was pretty obvious and he wondered why.
‘Well,’ Barbra took a sip of her wine and rolled her eyes in delight at the taste. ‘I was going to leave this afternoon but Ry called me saying how important it was I come for dinner.’ She turned her gaze to her son. ‘Are you going to put us out of our misery now, darling, and tell us what this celebration is all about?’
Ry exchanged grins with Dan, and Barbra’s eyes widened.
‘I know that look. I’ve seen it before and it makes me nervous. What have you two cooked up?’
Ry tapped a knife on an empty wine glass and the happy party was silenced.
‘We have a double celebration tonight. The first news involves Lizzie. Stand up Lizzie.’ She pushed her chair back and stood, beaming at them all.
‘Breaking news everyone. As of very late this afternoon, Lizzie has agreed to become the manager of the Middle Point Pub. Starting a week on Monday.’
He watched Julia’s reaction. It was one of utter delight. She cried out in genuine surprise and jumped up to plant a kiss on Lizzie’s cheek and wrapped her up in a bear hug.
‘Ry called me just after I left your place this afternoon, Jools, and swore me to absolute secrecy.’
‘That is brilliant news!’ As if he’d ever needed evidence, he could see now how close they were, how proud and happy Julia was for her friend. Something shifted gears in Ry’s chest.
‘I’m thrilled Lizzie said yes to my offer, although she drove a hard bargain regarding her entitlements,’ Ry said with a laugh. ‘Since I bought this place, I’ve discovered how absolutely indispensable she is. The pub simply wouldn’t work without her and it’s time she was recognised for that.’ He turned to Lizzie. ‘Lizzie, you’ve already made some amazing changes and I can’t wait for you to officially take over.’
He raised his glass. ‘To Lizzie Blake!’
‘To Lizzie Blake!’ they all shouted in return.
Julia forced her wobbly legs to move and found her chair. She couldn’t ever remember seeing Lizzie so excited. So why had a sense of gloom washed over her? She knew. It was the realisation that she would soon be back in Melbourne and wouldn’t be able to share any of this success with her best friend. Her eyes welled in response to that emotional conclusion. She’d missed her so much and in a couple of weeks there would be a physical distance between them once again.
‘The second surprise is even better,’ Dan called out and then stopped himself. ‘Sorry Lizzie, not to take anything away for your promotion, of course.’ He winked at her and smiled generously.
Ry filled his glass and lifted it high.
‘You are now looking at the creators of Windswept, a new five-hundred-home development right here at Middle Point.’
Barbra gasped. ‘You got approval from the bank?’
‘Yep, and the local authority and we’ve got tenders ready to go out,’ Ry replied with relish.
Three of the five diners erupted in cheers and clinked their wine glasses together in celebration as Barbra leaped to her feet to hug the two men. It was a minute before Ry registered that Julia and Lizzie were sitting silently, exchanging glances.
‘What’s up with you two?’ he asked. When he noticed the solemn looks on their faces, h
is happiness faded in inverse proportion to the rise of his stubbornness.
Lizzie twisted her napkin in her fingers. Julia stared into her wine.
Finally Lizzie spoke. ‘Did you say five hundred homes?’ She’d turned to Ry, her lips drawn in a tight line, her brow crumpled.
‘That’s right. We’ve bought the Rumbelow estate on the other side of the Victor Harbor Road. It’s right between the beach and the hills, with unbelievable views both ways.’
‘And you got permission to turn it into a housing development?’ Julia asked quietly.
‘Yes, we did.’ He tried to control the flare of anger he felt.
‘That seems a lot of homes for a small-town like this,’ Lizzie noted.
Across the table, Dan sat taller in his chair and his eyes narrowed. He stared at Lizzie.
‘Don’t tell me. You think all development is evil, right?’
She sucked in a big breath. ‘And let me guess, you think anyone opposed to development is a naïve hippie.’ Lizzie put her drink down on the table with a clatter against the side plate and leaned across the table to face off with Dan.
‘Windswept will bring money and jobs into this town,’ he said tightly.
‘It’ll bring money and jobs, for sure. Money into your pockets and jobs that will disappear as soon as those homes are built.’ She turned to her boss. ‘I’m sorry, Ry, but I’ve seen this before. Big developers with big plans for homes that end up being nothing more than tiny dog boxes for people, with no more space than they have in the city. That’s not what people here need.’
Ry tried to quell his anger and keep his voice restrained. ‘Lizzie, it won’t be like that.’
‘It will. Look around … out of all of us here at this table, I’m the only one who actually lives in this town and I’ve been there, done that. We like it exactly the way it is. This development you’re planning will ruin it.’
Ry looked to Julia. She was fiddling with the stem of her wine glass. She hadn’t made eye contact with anyone.
Ry squared his shoulders. ‘Julia? What do you think?’
She waited a moment before speaking. ‘I don’t think you know what local people want.’ She looked up and met his gaze.
Ry turned away from her and took a gulp of wine. It felt bitter in his mouth.
‘I think I have a pretty good idea. I’ve been coming down to Middle Point since I was a kid. Spent quality time here when I was younger, as a matter of fact.’
Judging by the look on Julia’s face, she got the reference.
‘The very things people come to Middle Point for, the peace, the beautiful uncrowded beaches, the fresh air, will all be trashed if you build that many houses. There’s so little left of the original Middle Point as it is.’
Ry felt a tightening in his chest and a flare of resentment in his throat. ‘No, Julia. People will move into those homes because of the beautiful uncrowded beaches and the fresh air. Middle Point will be a haven for them. They’ll come her as an escape, not treat it as a place to escape from.’
Julia’s face was pale and her mouth fixed. ‘So there are nice views and a beach. Big deal. People want more than that these days.’
‘I think,’ Ry began, then drew in a huge breath to control his temper, ‘that when people see what Windswept will be like, they’ll never want to leave.’
Noticing the silence, he glanced around the table and caught his mother’s eye. He didn’t need words to know what she was thinking. Her death stare said it all. Ry looked to the others, hoping to at least have some back up from Dan. But everyone looked pissed off. Barbra because he’d ruined the night by fighting with Julia. Dan because Lizzie had accused him of being a white-shoe-brigade property developer. Lizzie because Dan had accused her of being a tree-hugger. Julia because … hell, he couldn’t figure that one out.
Ry took another gulp of wine, hoping it would suppress the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. What should have been the happiest night of his life had turned, on a dime, into a nightmare.
Julia stood up, unsteady. ‘I’m not feeling that well, a sudden headache. I think I’d better go.’
Lizzie stood too. ‘I’ll make sure you get home, Jools. Sorry, Ry, but I just don’t get it. No hard feelings on my part if you want to un-promote me.’
‘You’d better watch him,’ Julia smirked. ‘He gets a kick out of sacking people.’
That was it. Ry’s chair scraped along the wooden floor as he
stood up.
‘Lizzie, please sit down.’ He pushed a hand through his hair. ‘Of course I still want you to manage the pub.’ Then he turned to Julia and took her forcefully by her elbow.
‘We need to talk.’
CHAPTER
19
A bitter wind gusted up from the ocean and howled across the street, searing through Ry like a knife as he stood out front of the pub. The crashing sounds of the waves whipped up the rocky cliffs of the Point, roaring in his ears and in his chest. Julia was standing as far away from him as possible, huddled in the protection of the doorway of the old stone building, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. Her dark eyes were narrowed and fierce, her wild curls blowing uncontrollably about her face. She wouldn’t look at him.
The streetlights dangled precariously above them, swaying, and eerie shadows shifted on the ground as if a drunk with a flashlight was passing by. But they were alone. Every sane person in Middle Point was somewhere else on a night like this.
Ry paced, trying desperately to think about what he needed to say. Julia’s reaction to his news about Windswept had confused the hell out of him. A gnawing and dangerously familiar feeling in the pit of his gut was tormenting him. Was this his last chance? This wasn’t the first time in his life he’d been standing before her, too infuriated to speak.
Her car driving away. His feet frozen to the spot. The words ‘Fuck you’ and ‘I love you’ warring in his head. Not even turning around to take one last look. Gone.
Finally he spoke, summoning a calm he didn’t feel. ‘JJ——’
‘Don’t call me that.’ Her voice was angry.
‘Okay then. Julia, there’s something I need to tell you.’
‘Well, get on with it. I’m freezing my arse off out here.’
He took a step closer to her, staring directly at her furious eyes.
‘I want to make something perfectly clear. I don’t get a kick out of sacking people. I’ve always … always done the best I could for the people who work for me. I over-reacted when I saw you working here and I’m sorry for it.’
He could see her shiver and knew when she resolutely drew her lips tightly together that she was not going to back down. ‘Jesus, Ry. You think I care about that?’
‘Well, you threw it back in my face tonight so, yes, I think you do.’
‘Get over yourself, Ry. You really want to know what I care about?’
He glared at her in silence.
‘You think that all you have to do is throw your money around and people will fall at your feet. You and your money, the schools, the homes and cars. None of it impresses me, Ry. It never has.’
Is that what she thought? That he’d thrown all that in her face to win her? ‘I never wanted to impress you that way.’
‘You just can’t stand that your money won’t win you this one.’
Ry shook his head in frustration. ‘This makes no fucking sense. I don’t understand why you’re pissed off. Can’t you see that this town will die on the vine unless there’s investment here? It needs more people to keep it going, to keep jobs here. When there aren’t enough regulars to eat at this pub, I won’t be able to keep the restaurant going. When there aren’t enough people to buy beers, Lizzie won’t have a job. It’s that simple. It’s basic economics.’
She took a deep breath before letting rip.
‘And it’s all about the economics to you, isn’t it?’
‘When I’m the one putting up the money? Yes, it’s pretty fucking important. Last time I
looked I wasn’t running a charity.’
‘What do you think it was like growing up in this town surrounded by summer blow-ins like you and your mates? All that money and privilege, taking over the place, treating it like it was yours. That’s why I had to get out of here. How could little Julia Jones compete with all that … with people who drive down here in their expensive cars and buy the ugliest house in Middle Point?’
Her defiant words were shards of ice right into his chest, more savage than the freezing wind. They pierced him, twisted and lodged in his heart. This woman, whom he’d once loved with everything he had, was slipping through his fingers again.
And it seemed she wasn’t finished. ‘Everything you’ve done … and are about to do … will ruin what we have.’
Ry knew her insults were not aimed at any bricks and mortar. He knew who the real target was.
‘This has nothing to do with a housing development, does it?’ He stood apart from her, in silence, his jaw tight and aching, trying to keep calm as he watched her beautiful face slip away from him.
Julia fought with her hair, twisting her curls in her fingers to keep them under control. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘This is about you and me. You think I’m down here just to screw people over, don’t you?’
‘Well, aren’t you?’
‘You of all people should know how important Middle Point has always been to me.’
She paused a second before delivering another blow. ‘Why, because land is cheap?’
Ry’s head hammered. His fists clenched at his sides and he wanted to smash something. He’d wanted to show her that he’d changed in the past fifteen years. He desperately wanted to prove to her that he knew the old Ry Blackburn, the one who demanded she stay in Middle Point because that’s what he wanted, had been an arrogant shit. How could he show her that the older and wiser man he was today knew better? Those thoughts warred in his head and the arrogance, the hurt and finally the ego, the old Ry, won.
He took two steps back, crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her with fury and a cynical mouth. ‘For someone who drove away fifteen years ago without even looking back, you seem to care a hell of a lot for this place.’
Nobody But Him Page 18
