Page 103 of Outback Reunion

‘Please, don’t do this. Don’t push me away.’

‘I’m not,’ she promised, her heart aching at the anguish in his eyes. ‘I overreacted, but now’sreallynot a good time. We’re dealing with a bit of an emergency.’

He frowned. ‘Why? Has something happened? Is it Lorenzo’s heart again?’

‘No. It’s the Saad sisters. They ran away in the middle of the night.’

Mark’s eyes widened. ‘People really do that?’

‘Yes, and the Saads are a huge part of our act at the moment, so they’ve left a big hole.’

‘How’s it possible to do a midnight runner with three camels in tow?’

‘It’s not. They left the camels.’ Gabi sighed. ‘Do you have any idea how much work it takes to cart those things about and look after them?’

‘I can imagine.’

‘Anyway, I can’t worry about that right now. We’ve still got a show to put on in a few hours.’

‘Let me help.’

‘How?’ she spluttered.

He smiled. ‘You tell me. I’ll do whatever is needed. I’ll help backstage, be an usher or sell hot dogs or something. Anything so that the rest of you can focus on performing.’

Gabi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at his offer. ‘Why would you do that?’

He gazed down seriously at her. ‘You know why, Gabriela.’

Shivers ran through her body at the warmth in his eyes and his voice, but could she really allow him to do this when she couldn’t givehimwhat he wanted?

As if reading her mind, he said, ‘No strings. Honestly. Let me help you get through this evening and we’ll talk after that.’

Chapter Twenty-seven

‘That is not the way you make a hot dog,’ snapped Muriel, snatching the bun out of his hand. She grabbed the tongs, and removed the frankfurt he’d just placed in the bread and turned it around the other way. ‘Thatis the way you make a hot dog.’

Frankly, he didn’t see any difference, but he got the feeling Dante’s grandmother wasn’t going to find anything he did acceptable. But he wasn’t here for her anyway. Gabriela had told him she wasn’t angry and that she’d overreacted, so as long as being in this hot, stuffy food truck made her evening a little easier, that was all that mattered. ‘Noted. I’ll do better with the next one, Muriel.’

She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘That’sMrs Jimenezto you.’

‘Mrs Jimenez.’ He offered his most charming smile and then turned back to the family he was serving, passing their food to them. ‘Two dogs, three buckets of popcorn and three raspberry slushies. Enjoy.’

Just before the show began, Gabriela rescued him from Muriel’s evil eye and delivered him to the Big Top where she gave him a torch and told him to stand by the entrance and usher in and out anyone who required the restrooms during the show.

He joked that he’d always wanted to be a bouncer and then she was gone again.

Aside from when she was in the ring making visual magic in the air and on the ground, he hardly saw Gabriela at all until the last of the audience had disappeared into the night. It had been manic watching the circus through a behind-the-scenes lens, and he was in awe of how much work and energy the performers put in, night after night. Footy training and games were rigorous, but when he was out on the oval, he never thought once about the crowd, whereas Gabriela had to be constantly smiling and interacting with them.

He couldn’t imagine how exhausting that would be, and she’d been doing it her whole life. No wonder she craved normality.

‘You were a godsend tonight,’ she said, coming up to him where he’d been waiting patiently. Loud Mouth was on her shoulder and Luna and the dogs at her side.

‘Big nose. Big nose. Big nose,’ squawked the bird.

‘Why thank you,’ he replied.

This made Luna giggle. ‘Don’t worry, Mark, he says that to me as well.’

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