Home For June Page 8

  ‘I’m looking forwards to helping you out over the next six weeks,’ she said. ‘It is going to be great. This place is going to be great, I can feel it.’ She smiled and took a deep breath, absorbing the moment and the vision she had just described. Imprinting it all into her memory.

  She was moving away from home, to find a new one. And he was creating his own, right here. Not only here, but in the place that had been hers, and would one day be only a memory.

  Chapter 11

  By the end of the day Luca had sorted out the initial details with the real-estate agency, registered his business name and website domain name, and sighed with relief when he arrived ‘not home’ at Nathan’s house.

  ‘Long day?’ asked Nathan, his bare feet propped up on the coffee table and the newspaper in his hands.

  Luca sat on the couch opposite. ‘Not long, but full-on. Started plans to launch the restaurant. Oh, and bought a house.’ He shrugged with a small smile.

  Nathan’s feet dropped from the table to the floor. ‘Already? Really?’

  Luca gave a nod. ‘Yup. Should all be settled and ready to move in in about eight weeks.’

  ‘Awesome, man.’ He held up his hand. ‘We should go out for a drink later to celebrate.’

  Luca laughed when he high-fived it. ‘That’s the second high-five I’ve had today.’

  ‘Did the estate agent give you one when you made the offer?’

  ‘Nope, Hannah did. As part of our old special handshake. But it was kinda to do with something else as well.’

  ‘Oh yeah?’

  ‘I’ve hired her to manage my restaurant launch.’

  ‘Great idea. She’ll do a good job.’

  ‘I know she will. Already has and we’ve barely begun. Name all decided and registered thanks to our first meeting today. Home, it’s going to be called. Fits what I want for the place perfectly.’

  Nathan’s gaze went upwards. ‘Home... Hmm, I like it. Different. And not lame or predictable.’

  ‘Thanks. Might get confusing though... “I’ll see you at home!” “Wait, which home? Home, or home?”’ He chuckled, as did Nathan.

  ‘You should get the paper to do a story on it.’ Nathan jabbed his finger at the newspaper.

  ‘Yeah. I guess Miss Delaney will advise me on that in her six-week plan she’s presenting to me on Monday.’

  ‘Ha, she likes her plans, that one.’

  Luca tilted his head a little to the side. ‘Do you know her well?’

  Nathan shrugged. ‘Guess so. Sorta. Not much to do with her anymore.’ He flipped the page over, then glanced at Luca over the page. ‘What about you, were you two an item back in school?’

  Luca shook his head. ‘Us? Nah, never. We were just good friends.’

  ‘And now?’

  ‘Now? It’s been two decades, bro. Hopefully we’ll keep in touch after she moves.’

  Nathan put the paper down and rubbed at his jaw. ‘I hope I didn’t have anything to do with her wanting to leave town.’

  Luca leaned forwards, his elbows on the coffee table. ‘What do you mean?’

  He sat back and relaxed into the couch. ‘Ah. Nothin’. I’m sure she’s forgotten all about it.’

  Nathan narrowed his eyes, and his hands tightened with the sudden feeling of wanting to defend or protect Hannah. ‘Did you two have some sort of falling out?’

  ‘Not really. No hard feelings. She’s awesome and we always enjoyed a good chat. I just wasn’t interested in her in that way.’

  How could he not be? Luca found himself wondering. Especially being an outdoorsy, practical guy. Nathan and Hannah would be a good match.

  ‘Wasn’t interested in anything really, back then, even if Jessica Alba had made a move on me.’

  ‘Whoa, mate, someone must have hurt you bad.’

  ‘You could say that. Anyway, all in the past now.’ He flicked a hand in the air and picked up the paper again.

  ‘But Hannah... she felt otherwise?’ Luca didn’t normally probe anyone for personal information like this, but he couldn’t restrain his curiosity, and he cared about Hannah. If someone had hurt her, even unintentionally, he wanted to know about it.

  He scratched his cheek. ‘Seemed so. No big deal, just a misunderstanding. But in hindsight I think I overreacted when she tried to kiss me.’

  Luca couldn’t imagine Hannah making the first move. She was too patient, too proud, too... Hannah. But maybe she had changed.

  ‘I didn’t mean to reject her so... directly. I just wasn’t into it at the time. I apologised later but she shrugged it off as if nothing happened, although things became different between us after that and she stopped asking me over to help out with work.’

  ‘Probably didn’t want you to feel awkward.’

  ‘Yeah. Anyway, all in the past.’

  ‘As you said.’

  ‘Yep. So,’ Nathan got up. ‘Let’s get that drink, dude.’

  ‘Sounds good to me.’

  In truth, Luca wanted to collapse into bed early, as he had a big weekend ahead of him in the city to pack up some more things and see his brother for his birthday. But he hadn’t realised how much he’d missed this... having a good ol’ chat with a friend over a relaxing drink. Nathan was a new one, but they’d hit it off pretty well and he seemed genuine. And he didn’t appear to have done anything bad by Hannah, except for not feeling the same. Nothing one could do about things like that. But still... he couldn’t completely understand why he wouldn’t have been at least a little bit interested. Especially if she’d clearly indicated she liked him.

  If Hannah had made a move on him back then, he probably wouldn’t have objected. But as for now, he wasn’t so sure. Life was more complicated the older you became. And he wouldn’t do anything to risk his friendship, or reunited friendship, with Hannah HD.

  Chapter 12

  The chooks scooted around Hannah’s feet as though sensing that changes were afoot, and an earthy warmth settled in her skin after the physical labour of cleaning up the coop. ‘It’s okay, girls. You’ll like Luca. And I’ll be back to visit.’

  I will?

  Or would she make a clean break from the town, and Luca, and only come back to Tarrin’s Bay periodically to see her parents?

  Time would tell, but if she was going to make a big change in her life she may as well do it properly. No half-hearted attempts. All or nothing, like her work.

  ‘And your eggs will be going to a brand-new restaurant, how exciting! People will love them!’ She crouched down to chook level and watched them moving about, making noises as though talking to each other.

  Yep, this was what her social life had become. Having conversations with chooks. They had always been good company, and she would miss them. She might even be able to convince Karen to get a few chooks for her small backyard. It could be done. But... one step at a time. And at least she would be bringing Scarlett with her to Sydney and would have her loyal animal friend by her side to ease the transition.

  Her verbal reassurances seemed to work, as many wandered out into the open air and scattered themselves around the paddock. She stepped outside the coop and inhaled the refreshing winter air, the light film of sweat on her skin cooling down.

  Now that the chicken duties were done for the morning, she could get to work on sorting through the belongings in the house, donating unwanted items, throwing out anything that wasn’t needed, or even selling anything that was valuable and no longer needed. But with her temporary job with Luca, she would now have some immediate cash flow, so her original plan to do some eBaying before the move probably wasn’t as essential.

  Hannah left the paddock and returned to the house, stopping on the verandah where Scarlett sat, nibbling on an old ball. She gave her a pat and looked back out at the landscape, as though she needed to continually check it was still there... as though by her decision to move it would suddenly rebel and disappear. But it was the same wide-open space she’d known her whole life. The hills to her right in the dis
tance, the grassy paddocks in the middle, and the willow tree in the far-left corner of the property that her first dog, before Scarlett, had been named after, and buried under. Willow had been a great companion, growing up alongside Hannah. She hadn’t wanted a new pet after Willow died, and when adolescence came with intensity, she focused on other things until Scarlett came into the picture. She was glad her parents had surprised her; Scar had become another life companion, growing with her into adulthood. They’d suggested calling her Rosie, but Hannah took one look at the scarlet-coloured sunset that graced the sky on the day she was presented with the gift, and knew her name had to be Scarlett.

  So many sunsets she’d watched right here on this verandah. The spring and summer ones were the best, but she’d be out of this place before then and would see them no more.

  She had many photos of such sunsets, and even one with Scarlett in the foreground, which was framed in a padded fabric frame her mother made, and positioned on her bedside table.

  Compelled with the urge to get out her photo albums, Hannah went inside. She would have to go through the boxes anyway and figure out what to take and what to leave with her parents. And many of the older photos should really be scanned and stored digitally to preserve the memories. Maybe she could take a bulk load into the local printing place and get them to do it.

  She stood on a chair and pulled down an old shoebox from the linen cupboard in the hallway. There were several more, but she grabbed the nearest. She took it to the rug in the living room and sat cross-legged on the floor, the box in front of her. She rifled through old dusty envelopes containing printed photos and negatives and chuckled at how much technology had changed. It was easy now to take photos, but she preferred this old way, when you knew you had a limited number of photos to take in a roll and had to pay for each one, you made them count. No ‘hang on, the lighting’s not great’ or ‘let’s take it again, I have a double chin in that one!’ With the old way, you took it and had to accept it. And you didn’t even know what they would look like until you got the film developed. There was an excitement in that, not knowing what the pictures would look like until that moment. It was like life, you never really knew what would develop on a particular day, and what photo opportunities would present themselves. She wanted more of that. Consistency and predictability were nice and comfortable, but she wanted more of a chance for life to develop in an exciting way.

  She lifted out an envelope containing slides. Actual slides that her dad used to put in a slide projector for family slide show nights. She thought he had taken them all with him when they moved out, but this one had been mixed in with the regular photos.

  Her mind wandered back many years to her early teenagehood and one of their slide-show nights, when her dad had included photos from her parents’ wedding and honeymoon. She’d been all ‘Dad, c’mon!’, covering her eyes at the pictures of them cuddling and kissing on the ski slopes at Thredbo and seated near a fireplace in a candlelit restaurant. That’s gross!’ she’d said.

  But now, she realised what a gift it was. How lucky they’d been to find each other and stay together all those years, when divorce was so common nowadays and relationships ended via text messages, an old-fashioned love and loyalty like her parents had, and still had, was a fading treasure.

  She took out a random slide and held it up to the light. It was of the willow tree. The next one was of her dad building part of the old chicken coop. The next was a laughing young Hannah trying to put a knitted hat on a chicken as it scurried away. The third one was of a young Hannah also, probably around seven years old, wearing denim overalls and sitting next to Willow on the front step of the house. Of home. Her smile so wide and free, so natural, exuding joy and the certainty of being loved and cared for.

  Hannah’s chin trembled a little and her vision became glossy. She was so lucky. She’d had a safe, loving, and fortunate upbringing with hard-working parents who’d taught her everything they knew. She wiped at a tear falling from her eye and sniffed. How she’d love to have the chance to do that herself, to live a life like they’d had... to raise a child like they had.

  But at thirty-five, the chances of that were less likely by the minute.

  Life didn’t always turn out as planned, as hoped. But she had a great one, and planned to make the most of it.

  She shoved the slides back into the box and wiped away the remaining tear, then stood and took the box back to the cupboard.

  Better focus on the practical things first, she thought. Not the sentimental.

  If she didn’t, she could get carried away with emotions and cancel everything. And she couldn’t do that. Wouldn’t. She’d made her decision and she would make it the right one, even if it wasn’t.

  While the linen cupboard door was still open, she withdrew a pile of sheets and blankets that she wouldn’t need in the next eight weeks and put them into a large, plastic, zip-up clothing bag she’d got from the discount store, which would be perfect for packing and moving light-weighted items.

  She also removed the spare quilt and quilt cover, and a couple of spare pillows.

  No sleepovers or guests coming up in the near future.

  She shoved them into the bag.

  Soon, only the near-future essentials remained. Apart from the photo boxes. She would get back onto them later.

  She was about to close the door when the slide images flashed into her mind, and then the memory of the family slide shows again.

  A smile tickled the corner of her lips. She dashed to her notebook from yesterday and jotted down an idea:

  Old-fashioned slide show for the launch event. Photos encompassing ‘home’. Possibly an ongoing feature.

  And then another idea:

  Different slide shows for different events. Theme nights. Classic movie nights. Family movie nights. Photos of customers from the feature wall...

  She imagined the restaurant having slides clicking over on a screen or wall while patrons dined, a much nicer and atmospheric option than just music or a TV screen with sports like the bars and bistros had.

  And he could have special pre-booked themed nights to break up the usual night-by-night dining, such as... 1920s fancy-dress night with vintage table decorations and meal ideas... Nights for different cultures and their associated traditional food... Seafood nights with an underwater theme... Even trivia nights and fundraisers...

  The ideas flowed and she couldn’t wait to share them with Luca, and considered calling him now to run them by him. If he was here now they would probably get excited and jump on the couch and high-five each other. But this wasn’t a school project, this was her job, and she would do it properly and professionally. Just like any other client, Luca would receive a detailed plan and schedule on Monday or Tuesday once she had written it up. But this was the weekend, and she would focus on her house-related tasks. By the end of the weekend, her goal was to have removed as many things as possible from the house that she no longer needed. But she knew that getting rid of a lifetime of memories could be a little challenging. As would getting through the weekend without thinking about what lay ahead for the next six weeks, and what would also have to be let go of after her time with Luca.

  Chapter 13

  ‘Happy birthday, bro!’ Luca gave Stefan a man-hug (AKA: back slap) as he entered the innercity apartment, then an over-the-top squelchy cheek kiss that he always used to give him, despite his reluctance, since they were kids.

  ‘Oh man, c’mon! I’m thirty-two now, I thought that kissing business would end at least on my thirtieth.’

  ‘Never.’ He gave him another one. It had started when Stefan was about six months old, and their mother would go crazy over Stefan’s chubby cheeks, gently pinching and squeezing and kissing them with such affection. Three-year-old Luca latched onto the act, and Stefan would giggle in delight whenever he received one from either of them. He eventually resigned to kissing his brother only on birthdays and special occasions. But thirty-odd years later, the giggles w
ere no more.

  ‘At least we’re not in public.’ Stefan gave a sigh of relief. ‘Until tonight anyway. No cheek kissing at the bar, please.’

  ‘Wouldn’t dream of it. I’ll leave that to all the ladies. How’s the online dating going?’ He placed his overnight bag, mobile phone, and keys on the coffee table and sat on the couch.

  Stefan sat next to him and got out his phone. ‘One week in, and twelve matches already. At this rate, I’ll have a wife by Christmas.’

  ‘Wife? Who said you wanted a wife?’

  ‘Just joking around. But I have a date tomorrow. Hopefully I’m not too hungover. I’ll be happy just to get some action and take my mind off everything that’s happened in the last few months.’

  Luca shuffled on the couch. ‘Why not take it easy, man. Don’t jump into things. Try getting to know some women as friends first.’

  ‘Since when did you get all fatherly?’

  Since Dad died, actually, when you were only twelve.

  Although, in truth, the only way he’d acted like his father back then was to train as a chef. He wanted to carry on some part of his dad’s life, while Stefan was the opposite, doing something completely different by working in finance and the safety of numbers, and drowning his grief in an oversupply of pastries and cakes.

  ‘We’re not getting any younger. When you get to my age you start to realise that instant gratification isn’t so gratifying after all.’

  ‘It is from what I remember.’ Stefan chuckled, and held his phone in front of Luca, a pretty woman on the screen. ‘This is her. Can’t believe she wants to meet up, actually. She must get loads of dates.’