Page 11 of Outback Reunion

Gabi’s heart thudded. What was with Dante’s grandmother having the ability to appear as if from nowhere?

Almost as old as the circus—at least she looked and acted that way—Muriel Jimenez didn’t perform anymore but was still very much the matriarch and boss of them all. Everyone except Luna was terrified of her.

‘Um...’ Gabi swallowed. ‘I... it was busy.’

‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost,’ Muriel spat.

This almost made Gabi laugh: it was as apt a description as anything. The only thing more surprising than Mark appearing in front of her would be Dante doing the same.

She shook her head. ‘I’ve just got a bit of a headache. In fact, I think I might go lie down for a little while.’

‘What?!’ Luna and Muriel exclaimed in unison; Luna’s dark-brown eyes wide and Muriel’s many wrinkles stretched as if Gabi had just suggested she might fly to the moon.

You didn’t lie down in the circus—especially on build day. If you had a headache, you simply took two strong painkillers and soldiered on. Circus folk didn’tdosick days. The only excuse not to work or perform was death, and she wasn’t kidding. Once one of their Globe of Death riders had broken their leg and instead of getting six weeks’ rest like a normal person, they’d been given a wheelchair and told to come up with a few clown acts they could do while seated. Gabi had been performing almost up until she was in labour with Luna. And when Dante died, they’d cancelled exactly two shows—the matinee the following day and for his funeral.

‘I won’t be long.’ She leaned down and kissed Luna on the top of her head.

‘What about the food?’ asked Muriel, thrusting her finger towards the wagon, the boot almost full of grocery boxes and recycling bags. ‘Are you just going to leave it in the car to rot?’

Dammit; she’d totally forgotten about the groceries, and if she left the eggs, milk and meat in the car in this heat, it would be inedible. She sighed, desperate for a moment to think.

‘Don’t worry, Mummy, I’ll do it,’ Luna offered, already moving towards the boot, the dogs dancing at her heels. Although they were impeccably trained and well behaved in the ring, they tended to fight for their owner’s attention when not. ‘You go rest. You don’t wanna miss the beach later.’

Gabi’s heart swelled with adoration for her girl. ‘Thank you, my darling. Have I told you lately how much I love you?’

‘Only every day,’ Luna said, grimacing. She was getting to that age where PDAs or words of affirmation from your mother were embarrassing, but that wasn’t going to stop Gabi showering her with love and affection. Especially now she only had one parent left to do so.

Yet, although she wanted to flee to her caravan on the edge of the lot, Gabi couldn’t leave her little girl to carry all the heavy things. ‘We’ll do it together, and then I’ll have a quick lie-down before I’m needed.’

‘You’re a sight!’ Loud Mouth squawked from his cage as she approached after loading most of the food into their storage trailer. ‘You’re a sight. You’re a sight.’

Ignoring the parrot’s insults—she was used to his less than complimentary comments—she opened the cage so he could jump onto her shoulder before she headed inside into the cool air of the caravan.

Praise the lord she’d remembered to turn on the air conditioning earlier.

While Loud Mouth flew across to the sink and helped himself to a drink from the permanently dripping tap, Gabi grabbed her water bottle from the fridge and took a long sip. She wasn’t sure if she was hot because of the weather or because of her encounter with Mark.

‘What am I going to do?’ she said, retrieving a packet of painkillers from the bathroom.

‘Consult the cards,’ replied Loud Mouth. ‘Consult the cards. Consult the cards.’

She snorted as she popped the pills. They’d had a fortune teller called Jenny in the circus a couple of years ago and Loud Mouth had loved sitting with her during her readings in the intermission, so now this was the bird’s answer for everything.

‘This is serious. What am I going to do about Mark?’ Not that she needed todoanything, but she suddenly found herself desperate to know if he had a partner or kids.

‘Consult the cards,’ repeated Loud Mouth, and this time, his advice had her reaching for her phone.

The cards might not provide answers, but the internet might. ‘You’re a smart bird,’ she told him.

‘Pretty bird. Pretty bird. Pretty bird.’ Loud Mouth flapped across to land on the lamp next to the bed.

She’d thought about Mark many times over the years, and although it would probably have been easy to find him if she’d googled ‘Mark’ and ‘Essendon’, she’d never given in to the urge.

What good would it do?

Even before she’d found out she was pregnant, she had responsibilities to the circus, to the people who were as good as family to her. She couldn’t just up and leave them because of one night, but she hadn’t forgotten him. And sometimes when she’d slept with Dante, she’d fantasised that he was Mark. Even though she wasn’t Catholic, this caused almost as much shame and guilt as cheating had.

But although Dante’s presence still lingered in every corner of their caravan—Luna had begged Gabi not to remove his clothes or even his toiletries from the bathroom—he was gone now, and getting some intel on Mark couldn’t hurt.

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