Page 102 of Outback Reunion

She’d barely closed the car door before Eve rushed out to greet her. ‘Oh, Gabi, thank God you’re back.’

Her heart shot to her throat at the panic in her mother-in-law’s voice and the fact that she didn’t even comment on their arrival in a police car. ‘What’s wrong? Has something happened? Is it Lorenzo?’

Please, God, don’t let him have had another heart attack.

None of them could deal with any more loss.

Eve shook her head. ‘Not exactly. It’s the Saad sisters. They did a midnight runner. Last night. I went to see if they needed anything from the shop just before lunch and found this note.’

Gabi took the piece of paper Eve thrust at her and read:The three of us can no longer work together. To save our family we have decided to go home and find different work. Please accept our camels as payment for leaving you in the lurch.

‘Payment!’ Eve made a sound not unlike the camels spitting. ‘Those beasts are a pain in the behind. They’re no good to us at all without their trainers. Never mind their upkeep and food. Lorenzo is working himself up into such a state.’ It sounded like she wasn’t far behind him. ‘The stress isn’t good for his heart. Can you go talk to him?’ she begged. ‘You always seem to know what to do in an emergency.’

‘Of course.’ Gabi screwed up the paper and shoved it into her pocket. There wasn’t time to be angry at the Saad sisters, although she couldn’t help resenting their ability to forgo responsibility and run. ‘Where is he?’

Eve pointed towards the trailer they used as the office, ticket booth and occasional temporary storage area. ‘He’s in there, trying to work out how to fill tonight’s show without the Saads.’

‘It’s going to be okay,’ Gabi promised and then hurried towards the trailer, her heart sinking as she realised there was no way she could even contemplate leaving right now.

Lorenzo looked up as she entered, his face grey and the lines around his eyes deeper than usual. He’d aged years in the six months since Dante had died; these days things he’d once have treated like water off a duck’s back really hit him hard. ‘You’ve heard?’

She nodded, her heart squeezing with guilt.

‘Why do people always leave under the cover of darkness?’ He dropped his head into his hands. ‘How are we supposed to fillthree actsat such short notice? And who will man the food trucks?’

That’s exactly why the Saad sisters had left in the middle of the night; they’d known that if they’d tried to resign properly, Lorenzo and Eve would have tried to change their minds. At least until they could find someone to replace them. Not that that would be easy. Ever since Covid, when many performers had fled back to their own countries, not wanting to be trapped in Australia, they’d struggled to find quality acts.

‘Take a deep breath,’ Gabi said, grabbing a bottle of water from a box on the floor and handing it to her father-in-law. ‘And have a drink. It’s going to be fine. I promise.’

She sat down beside him and pulled their latest program towards her.

‘You and I can do the contortion act. Me in the boxes and you distracting the audience. The Dangerous Duo can add some time to the Globe of Death—the audience can never get enough of that anyway. I’ll do another floor act and Desmond can add some more audience involvement.’

Fifteen minutes later, they’d worked out a new schedule with the performers they had left, and Gabi had sent out emails to their contacts and agents, letting them know they needed new acts if anyone was interested in a change of scenery.

Lorenzo looked like he was going to cry with relief. ‘I think I’m getting too old for this, but now that Dante’s gone... the circus is all I have left.’

‘That’s not true.’ She squeezed his hand. ‘You have Eve, and you have Luna, and you have me.’

He put his free arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him. ‘You’re absolutely right. What would I do without you as my right-hand gal? Promise me you’ll never let anything happen to you.’

‘I promise,’ Gabi whispered, fighting hard to keep from crying. If it wasn’t for her, he’d still have his son to help in times of crisis.

‘But what the hell are we going to do with those bloody camels?’ he asked, attempting a chuckle, clearly trying to lighten the mood.

‘I’ll take care of the camels,’ she said. ‘If we don’t use them in the performance, we can use Lenore at least to give rides to the kids before the show, but let’s not worry about that right now. We need to tell everyone about the new program.’

Gabi stood, patted Lorenzo on the shoulder and then walked outside and almost straight into Mark. It was like their collision in the supermarket.

Had that really only been a week ago?

‘I’m so sorry for not being honest about the party,’ he gushed, his hands landing on her arms to steady her. ‘You’re right. What I did was stupid. I’m an idiot, but I do love you, and I reckon you feel the same about me.’

God.Her heart squeezed. What would be worse? Telling him she loved him but couldn’t be with him, or lying?

‘I’m not like Dante, I promise,’ he added.

‘I know. I’m sorry I said that. I was just...’ She shook her head and pulled him away from the trailer so Lorenzo couldn’t hear them. ‘I was in shock, but now’s not a good time to talk about this, Mark.’

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