Page 43 of Birds of a Feather

Before Elise knew it, their lips were touching and the tingle along her spine had returned.

Chapter 22

Beth

‘What do you make of all of this?’ Nick asked, before taking a sip of his pint. ‘Your gran and Aunt Gerry, I mean,’ he added by way of unnecessary clarification.

‘Well,’ I started, piling the beer coasters into a satisfyingly neat stack in front of me. ‘It’s a lot, I guess.’

We were sitting at a small wooden table by the window of a tiny pub on the street corner near the hotel. The floor, tables, chairs, bar and roof beams were dark timber, and the smell of furniture polish was valiantly competing with the smell of beer and stale cigarettes, the latter despite the ‘No Smoking’ signs dotted everywhere. A portrait of a jowly boxer dog dressed in full military regalia hung in a gilded frame over a fireplace with a crackling fire.

‘I had always thought my grandparents were happily married. It shouldn’t have come as a shock that they had relationships before they met each other, I suppose. But it was a bit of a surprise to learn that Gran’s first love – Gerry – was a Geraldine and not a Gerald.’

‘I’ll bet,’ Nick said with a soft chuckle.

He was using his middle finger to trace the patterns of the wooden table top. They were nice hands – strong yet elegant. His long fingers were tipped with admirably tidy nails.

‘Also, I feel sad they had to hide their relationship from the world, and that Gran suffered her heartbreak alone,’ I continued.

‘I think women like your gran and Gerry got pretty good at holding their secrets close to their chest,’ he replied.

A series of high-pitched squeals pierced the air like an alarm. A twenty-something woman wearing a short black dress and impossibly tall high heels toddled through the doorway and towards two similarly clad women standing at the bar.

‘So, tell me more about yourself,’ Nick said, seemingly oblivious to the commotion. He didn’t even flinch when the barman tripped and smashed a glass in his haste to serve the women. ‘What do you do when you’re not helping your gran rediscover romances of yesteryear, or working to save possums?’

‘Well,’ I began, scrambling for anything that would be interesting enough to share. I doubted he would be impressed by my fastidious domestic regimen or my impressive discipline for regular dental check-ups and timely tax returns.

‘I run. I read. I enjoy hiking. And I volunteer with Gran on her flora translocation projects whenever I can. I spend as much time as I can in the bush, really.’

‘I would love to visit Australia one day,’ Nick said. ‘I’ve travelled quite a bit, but my ex-girlfriend never wanted to go. She was terrified of snakes and was convinced the place was overrun with them. But I’ve always wanted to see the outback and spend time exploring the coasts,’ he continued wistfully. ‘As a kid I had a guidebook of Australia’s “big” attractions. I loved that book, and used to spend hours looking at pictures of the Big Pineapple, the Big Prawn and the Big Merino, planning a fantasy road trip to visit them all. From memory, there was even a Giant Earthworm that you could visit.’

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the Giant Earthworm had closed down.

‘I guess I liked the idea of a place that was naturally good-looking but with a sense of humour. A bit like the Australians who live there.’

I assumed he meant Margot Robbie or the Hemsworth brothers but the corner of his mouth slid up to create a decidedly endearing lopsided grin, which made me think he meant something else.

‘Hopefully I’ll get there one day, and maybe you can show me around.’

‘I’d love to,’ I said, instantly regretting using a phrase that made me sound like a Disney princess accepting an offer from a prince to dance. I cleared my throat awkwardly. ‘I mean, yes. No worries. Of course I will. There’s loads to do. We have normal-sized things to see as well.’

He smiled eagerly. ‘I’d love to take a selfie with one of those friendly looking fellows that I see all over Instagram too … a quacka?’

‘A quokka,’ I corrected.

‘Ah, of course!’ he said, slapping his palm to his head like a character in an old slapstick movie. He drained the rest of his beer. ‘What about travel, Beth?’ he asked. ‘Apart from this trip, do you have travel plans in your future?’

‘Well, actually,’ I began, ‘I do. But let me get another round first.’

Nick had bought the first round, and I was determined to buy the second, even though my glass was still half full, or half empty, depending on your perspective. It was nice enough of him to take me out; I didn’t want him to feel like he was burdened by the bill too. And, while I wasn’t planning on spending with reckless abandon, thanks to my lotto win, buying a beer or two didn’t require me to recalibrate my entire holiday budget.

‘Thanks,’ Nick said, as I returned to the table and placed the drink in front of him. ‘So. Travel. Any exotic destinations on the cards?’

‘Well. Maybe,’ I started pensively. ‘I’ve had some … unexpected changes to my circumstances recently.’

His right eyebrow raised slightly as his body inched towards me. ‘Go on,’ he encouraged.

I thought about the brochure that Amarita the lotto win concierge had given me that warned against telling people about my lotto win. It was true that I couldn’t be sure Nick wouldn’t use this information to rip me off. But Gran had told me Nick and his family had ‘come from money’, so it seemed unlikely he had a habit of befriending Australian tourists in the hopes they had recently struck gold. Also, I wasn’t sure if it was the jetlag, or the beer, but I felt a keenness to share the news with him. Apart from Gran, I hadn’t told a soul.

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