by Cathryn Hein
Bunny followed him to the bar. ‘You and Teagan were looking pretty intimate just then.’
‘I could say the same for you and Cherub when I passed.’
‘I can’t help it if my toyboy finds me irresistible.’
Lucas regarded her seriously. ‘He doesn’t want to be your toyboy, Bunny.’
Her face fell. ‘Oh.’ After a few seconds she perked up again. ‘Never mind, it was good while it lasted.’
‘What’re you on about?’
‘You just said he didn’t want to be my toyboy.’
‘Yeah, because he wants to be more, you twit.’
Delight glowed across her face. ‘Really?’ She smoothed her top, trying to be cool again. ‘I mean, that’s great. But I’m too old for him.’
Lucas wrapped an arm around her broad shoulders and gave a brief squeeze. ‘Yeah, and he’s got three kids and an ex-wife and a shitload of baggage.’
‘I know.’ She stared miserably at the floor.
‘You know, for a smart woman you’re pretty thick. I meant that all that stuff makes you perfect for each other.’
‘That’s what Vanessa says.’
‘Well maybe you should believe her.’
Bunny’s eyes sought out Dunks. He was by himself, poring over the score sheets with a pencil stuck between his teeth and fingers tapping intently on a calculator. ‘He’s too good for me.’
‘Bullshit. No one’s too good for anyone. Just go for it.’
Bunny regarded Teagan, who had shifted across a seat to chat to Vanessa and Penny. Callum was in the line for the bar along with Dom, the two men standing deliberately apart. ‘Maybe you should take your own advice.’
He shook his head. ‘This one’s a slow one.’
Bunny’s gaze narrowed. ‘Maybe, maybe not. Personally I think a good long shag would do her wonders.’
Lucas laughed. ‘Is that your medical diagnosis?’
‘Trust me,’ said Bunny, hoisting her chin. ‘I’m a vet.’
The evening carried on with more hilarity, hard thinking, and extravagant mincing by Peter. Dunks had done a brilliant job of compiling questions to suit all ages. After finishing last in the first round, Lucas and Teagan hit their straps in the second before slumping again in the third. But by round four they had risen to midfield. The top four comprised Vanessa and Callum, Dom and Penny, Bunny and Tony, with, to everyone’s shock, Col and Kathleen as leaders.
Competitiveness hit the front-runners. Callum and Dom were eyeing each other off like a couple of circling bucks, oblivious to the eye rolls Vanessa was exchanging with her sister and Bunny. Lucas had lost count of Teagan’s wine consumption and didn’t care. She was at that giggly, touchy-feely state of intoxication that made her seem sweet and incredibly kissable. Something he was thinking seriously of trying at night’s end.
As Dunks called the teams back for the start of round four, Lucas lazily stretched his arm across to lightly thumb lines over Teagan’s back. For a moment she stiffened, then her posture loosened and she began to press against the pressure.
‘Right,’ said Dunks, glee in his eyes. ‘Gird yourselves for the master round, the most important of all subjects and the one destined to sort the men from the boys,’ he saluted Kathleen’s way, ‘and the young and clever from the old and wise.’ He paused to lift his question sheet and scan the main contenders who were all huddled forward, intent and poker-faced. ‘Question one in sport: How many gold medals did Australia win at the 2000 Olympics?’
Teagan groaned and flopped forward to rest her head on her arms. Laughing, Lucas pulled her back up and put his mouth close to her ear. ‘I know this.’
‘You do?’
‘Yeah.’ He picked up the pencil and wrote down sixteen. ‘Told you we’d be right.’
He knew the next answer too, and the next. His chest began to puff with the admiring glances Teagan kept sending him. He slid his hand further up her spine and spent a few seconds toying with her silky hair before slipping his fingers underneath to stroke the tiny hairs at the back of her neck. Her mouth parted, and he felt her breathing become rapid. Glancing down, he caught the tiniest glimpse of an erect nipple against the silky thin fabric of her shirt. A throb started in his groin. Taking the van had been a mistake. With his ute in the carpark he could have driven her straight to Astonville.
He shifted uncomfortably and looked away, catching Vanessa’s eye. She lifted a single finger and waved it slowly from side to side. His own ceased its caress. Vanessa was right. Only an arsehole would take advantage of a woman half-pissed. He didn’t want that anyway. When it happened, Lucas wanted them both sober, not with their senses dulled by alcohol. With a subtle nod, he withdrew his hand and placed both arms on the table.
The final question of the night had competitors looking at one another and Dunks grinning in satisfaction. ‘That’ll sort you out,’ he declared when a few protests were voiced.
As soon as the timer went off there were more groans. Lucas folded his and Teagan’s scoresheet and handed it over to Peter, who took it with a gameshow-hostess flourish before twirling on.
‘We’re on a ten-minute break while I add these up,’ announced Dunks. ‘And don’t forget the raffle. This is your last chance to earn your choice of top-to-toe beauty treatment or remedial massage from one of the experts at our sponsors, the Wellness Centre.’
‘Home for druggies, you mean,’ yelled Kathleen, followed by a ‘Hear, hear’ from Col.
‘This village wouldn’t have a cricket team without the centre’s help,’ shot back Dunks. He nodded at Dom. ‘The team and its supporters are very grateful for your sponsorship.’
Dom rose in a little half-bow. ‘Happy to support the local community in any way I can.’
With a pro-Wellness Centre crowd and the club’s majority regarding them with animosity, Col and Kathleen prudently kept their mouths shut.
Everyone wandered off for drinks and gossip. When Teagan made no move, Lucas remained seated, too.
‘Enjoying yourself?’ he asked.
‘I am.’ She suddenly looked surprised. ‘I really am.’
He maintained eye contact. ‘You should have good times more often.’
‘I don’t think my liver could take it.’
He tucked a loose tendril of hair behind her ear. ‘You don’t have to do it with booze.’
‘What do you suggest then?’
There was a definite tease in her voice, reminding Lucas once again of their moment by the waterfall. So he’d silently agreed not to try anything. Stiff shit. No rules against laying some groundwork, but as Lucas began to lean in to say ‘wouldn’t you like to know’ he caught the flash of a dark trouser leg out of the corner of his eye.
‘How do you think you fared?’ his father asked, smiling at them both.
‘Hopeless,’ said Teagan. ‘But I hadn’t expected anything else. How did you go with Mum? Not too badly by the rankings.’
‘Your mother was a revelation.’
‘Really?’
Dom nodded. ‘Penny knew most of the entertainment questions and many of the culture ones. She also knew a few of the science questions.’ He cast a look across the room to where Penny sat now with Bunny. ‘We even muddled our way through sport.’
‘Yeah, well, I guess she had a lot of time for magazine reading while Dad was ripping us off.’ Teagan’s hand flew to her mouth. ‘God, sorry. I didn’t mean to bitch like that.’
Lucas gave her arm a squeeze, wishing Dom would piss off. He threw him a pointed look, but Dom was in no hurry to leave.
‘Have you given any thought to you and Penny coming to the Wellness Centre for a day?’ he asked Teagan. ‘I think your mother would enjoy it a great deal.’
Teagan looked across at Penny and down at her hands. ‘It’s not really our scene. I know other people believe in that stuff, but it’s not for me. I doubt it’s for Mum either.’
‘You don’t know until you try. Think about it. Please.’
Lucas watched
Dom return to his seat, wondering what he was up to. Then his father bent across and exchanged a few words with Vanessa and his suspicions faded. A pamper session would be exactly the sort of treat Vanessa would try to organise for her sister and niece.
Dunks called them to attention. The night was closing, and a few participants were more than a little wobbly. People took their time coming back from the bar and finishing their conversations. Even Dunks was looking tired.
‘First up, any last-minute raffle-ticket sales?’ When there was no response he lifted up a box in which Peter had placed all the scrunched-up tickets. ‘I’d like to call on the owner of the Wellness Centre, Domenic Ashe, Falcons sponsor and generous donor of this prize, to draw the winning ticket.’ As Dom made his way to the table, Dunks continued. ‘And just so you know, the raffle raised three hundred and sixty-five dollars. A big round of applause to yourselves for that.’
As he reached Dunks’s side, Dom commandeered the microphone. ‘As a gesture of personal support, I’d like to make that up to a thousand with a donation of another six hundred and thirty-five dollars.’
Callum’s scowl was nearly as deep as Kathleen’s and Col’s. Lucas almost felt sorry for him. He was the one who’d signed up to play and yet here was Dom stealing all the glory with sponsorship, prize and cash donations, not to mention a mini-van and driver. Any counteroffer of Callum’s at this point would only make him look like a wannabe. But Callum hadn’t become a successful businessman for nothing. With a casual stretch, he placed one arm behind Vanessa’s back and rotated his body towards her. The message was clear. Dom may have won that skirmish, but Callum was still the one with the girl.
To Dom’s credit he remained outwardly cool. He dipped his hand into the box and shuffled around, making a show of picking a ticket right from the bottom. He opened the folded ticket and threw his head back with laughter.
Dunks plucked the ticket from him and grinned, his gaze zooming across to the farthest table. ‘That’s funny, Col. I don’t recall you buying a ticket.’
Colin had the good grace to at least wriggle under Kathleen’s furious stare. ‘Bought it for young Maggie.’
‘And your hard-working daughter shall receive,’ said Dom, drawing an envelope from his pocket and crossing toward them. ‘A top-to-toe spa session is hers. Unless you require a remedial massage?’
Colin thought for a moment. ‘I do have a bit of trouble with my back.’
‘Colin Walker, you will not accept that prize!’
Col jerked in fright at Kathleen’s commanding tone. His lip trembled a little.
‘Mrs Ferguson,’ said Dom smoothly, ‘I appreciate you’re not the Wellness Centre’s greatest fan, but Col bought a ticket and has fairly won a prize. He’s entitled to take it up.’ He held the envelope out to Col. ‘Your daughter is one of our most liked staff members. I’m sure she’d appreciate this prize very much. In fact, to encourage her to take it, I’ll give her an extra day’s holiday.’
He waggled the envelope. Colin hesitated and then snatched it, muttering a thanks and avoiding Kathleen’s disgusted stare as the Falls Farm contingent let out a whoop and cheer.
‘Right,’ said Dunks. ‘Now onto the trivia winners. Tight doesn’t even begin to describe this competition. Only one point separated the top three going into the final round, and only one point separates the winner from the runner up.’
A murmur went around the bowlo.
‘In third place, earning themselves a twenty-dollar bistro voucher, and proving that old heads can sometimes be wiser, Colin Walker and Kathleen Ferguson.’
The applause was embarrassing for its paucity, changing to laughter as Peter hammed it up in delivering their prize. After seizing it from Peter and ignoring Colin’s outstretched hand, Kathleen neatly pocketed the envelope.
‘We have some competitive people in our village, folks, and some clever ones by the looks,’ continued Dunks. ‘We have two very successful businessmen with us tonight who have made this an epic battle. What surprises me is that both not only seemed to know the main characters of The Bold and the Beautiful, but they also knew that Beyoncé and Jay Z’s baby was called Blue Ivy.’ He nodded knowingly, playing to the crowd. ‘It seems our local businessmen have hidden depths.’
‘More like clever partners,’ yelled Bunny.
‘Certainly the truth in my case,’ yelled back Callum before Dom could say something similar. He gave Vanessa a deliberate squeeze and kissed her cheek. ‘Beautiful and clever.’
Dom’s amused expression didn’t carry to his eyes.
‘Without further ado, and with a prize of a fifty-dollar bistro voucher, the runners up are . . .’
Bunny slapped a drum roll on the table to add to the drama.
‘Dom and Penny, which means tonight’s winners of a hundred-dollar bistro voucher are Callum and Vanessa. Well done!’
Bunny began laughing so hard she fell off her chair. Dunks abandoned his microphone to help. Dom’s expression was mutinous, Callum’s ecstatic. Penny and Vanessa exchanged a look before laughing and rising to hug one another.
Lucas grinned at his father who, to his amazement, suddenly shrugged and held his palms up as if to say, c’est la vie, leaving Lucas to ponder if the gesture was real or for show. He suspected the latter, but Dom stood and shook Callum’s hand, before kissing Vanessa. He draped his arm around Penny, kissed her cheek and waved to the group. ‘As thanks for coming along and adding to a great night for the Falls Falcons Cricket Club, I’d like you to join me at the bar for an hour when drinks will be on me. Thanks.’ And in that single swoop, Callum’s victory was once again stolen from his hands.
Lucas had to give it to his father, he knew how to take on a rival. Pity he had no clue how to be a dad.
Teagan roused and tried to roll over, but the sheets had her locked down tight. She screwed up her nose as her brain registered a terrible stench. She opened one eyelid and yelped as Blanche stared back, her hairless silvery brow heavily wrinkled as though in feline disapproval.
‘Oh, go away,’ she groaned and then groaned even louder as the alarm went off.
Reaching out an arm, Teagan banged her fingers around until she found the right button, the other hand pressed to her throbbing head. Her mouth was dry and disgusting, and as she came awake, she experienced the creepy, rising horror that she’d done something extremely embarrassing the night before.
A knock sounded and the door was pushed fully open. Lucas leaned against the jamb with his arms crossed, looking unfairly perky and sexy considering he was still wearing the previous night’s clothes.
He nodded at Blanche. ‘Nice bedmate. I thought you didn’t like cats.’
‘Someone forgot to tell Blanche that.’ Teagan attempted to free herself from the tangle of sheets and stopped, hand once more across her forehead. ‘Oh, God, my head.’
‘Not much I can do about that right now. But if you get up, I’ll take you home and give you my famous cure.’
‘Cure?’
He grinned. ‘Panadol, Berocca and a bacon-and-egg sandwich.’
From the roll her stomach gave, Teagan wasn’t confident she’d keep any of those items down. She glanced at the clock. Five-fifteen a.m. She needed to get moving if she was to make it to work on time.
‘Come on,’ said Lucas, no trace of sympathy in his voice. ‘The quicker you have a shower and get dressed the quicker I can get you home and a cure into you.’
‘Why not cure me here?’
‘I need to get Merlin into exile.’
‘Merlin?’
‘Long story. Are you going to make me carry you to the shower?’
Teagan waved him off, the movement causing more pain in her head. She shoved aside the blankets, tipping Blanche to the floor, disappointed when the cat made its usual elegant recovery in landing. She swung out of bed and stood, confused by the sight of her white bikini bundled wet on the floor. The horror that had been creeping around the edges of her consciousness struck in full force as s
he remembered. Both hands flew to her mouth.
This wasn’t just bad. This was kill-me-now tragedy.
Lucas coughed. ‘Um, Teagan.’
‘What?’ Her voice came out a squeak.
He nodded towards her lower half.
Teagan looked down and what little self-esteem she had left shrivelled to the size of a dried pea. She slammed her hands over her bright-copper bush, whimpering as she hunted for something to cover herself. With only her bikini in sight, she launched back on the bed and buried herself in the sheets.
‘Oh, God!’
‘Shh, or you’ll wake the house.’ The sheet was pulled back from her head. ‘Go and have that shower.’
He left her to her mortification. Teagan considered remaining in bed and sulking, but she couldn’t leave Nick in the lurch. She needed this job, and she still had vague hopes of moving into his staff quarters. After last night, she sure as hell wouldn’t be moving in with Lucas.
Although the shower had made her feel slightly better, Teagan could barely bring herself to look at Lucas as they drove to Astonville. Instead, she kept her head pressed against the cold side window, staring at the dark. Each time she closed her eyes another flash of last night manifested itself.
She groaned as a snippet of her pool conversation with Lucas filtered into her pulsing brain.
‘What?’
‘Did I . . .’ She couldn’t say it. It was far too shameful. She bit down on her knuckle.
‘Proposition me last night?’
‘Gnnnn.’
He laughed, which only made her feel worse. ‘You did.’
Teagan closed her eyes and banged her head against the glass, trying to rid herself of her resurrected memories. Not only had she flashed him this morning, she now recalled, in excruciating detail, that she’d practically offered herself to him like some pink-and-white bikini-wrapped present.
She groaned again. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘For what?’
‘Everything. Living.’
‘Cut it out, Teagan. It’s not that bad.’
