Page 5 of Outback Reunion

‘My mother wasn’t exactly the kind of person anyone could get close to.’

And, as if he could tell she didn’t want to talk any more about this, he changed the subject. ‘If you weren’t a performer, what would you be?’

‘Um...’ Another question nobody had ever asked. She’d never allowed herself to think about any alternatives, but the answer came surprisingly quickly. ‘Probably something to do with animals.’ She enjoyed helping her father-in-law with the circus dogs, and sometimes she thought she loved Loud Mouth more than Dante did. ‘I wouldn’t mind working in a zoo or an animal shelter. Or maybe a vet?’

He grinned. ‘I reckon you and my mum would get along like a house on fire. She’s a wildlife rescuer.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah.’ He pulled out his phone, tapped the screen a couple of times and then angled it towards her. ‘These are some pics she’s sent me recently of her latest rescues.’

He swiped through a series of photos of a middle-aged woman posing with various native animals. In one she was bottle-feeding a joey and in another she was holding a tiny possum in a woollen beanie.

Gabi couldn’t help smiling. ‘Oh my goodness, that’s so cool. It must have been so exciting growing up around all sorts of different animals.’

‘I think I took it for granted and it was sometimes annoying when Mum asked me to feed them or clean a cage when I’d rather have been kicking the footy. We had a kangaroo as a pet for years. Dad hated it because of course to farmers, they’re pests. But Mum is good at getting her way.’ He chuckled. ‘Do you have any pets?’

In reply, she pulled her own phone out of her pocket and showed him the screen saver, a selfie with Loud Mouth perched on her shoulder. ‘This is Loud Mouth. He’s a rainbow lorikeet.’

She didn’t mention that the bird belonged to her boyfriend.

‘He looks like quite a character,’ Mark said as she put the phone away again. Although they were no longer sharing photos, they didn’t move back apart. In fact, it was almost as if there were an unseen force drawing their bodies closer.

‘That’s an understatement,’ she replied, swallowing.

‘Can he talk?’

‘Sometimes I wish he couldn’t. You can’t say anything private in front of him or he’s sure to repeat it at the most inappropriate moment to the last person you want to hear it. And he loves to swear. Got a mouth dirtier than a pirate’s.’

Their chips were delivered and as they ate they moved on from pets to favourite movies, music and deeper things such as his plans for the future.

‘Hopefully I’ll play footy for another decade or so, then head home to Bunyip Bay, settle down with a wife, some kids and a couple of kelpies.’

Gabi laughed at this picture, but despite his jovial tone, she could tell Mark had a vision for the rest of his life, whereas she didn’t think much beyond the next show or the next town.

‘Doyouwant kids?’ he asked, reaching for a chip at the same time she did.

Their fingers touched, their eyes met, and she felt a literal jolt to her heart.

Oh no, this was not good. The only time she’d ever experienced anything like it was when she was fifteen and had received an actual electric shot from a faulty toaster.

She sucked in a breath and tried to remember what he’d just asked. That’s right—something about kids.

‘I guess I do,’ she said, still not recovered from the feel of his skin against hers. Dante was Eve and Lorenzo’s only child, the light of their lives after multiple miscarriages, and they’d want him to have a family to carry on the circus, but she and him hadn’t spoken about such things yet.

And in that moment, it was hard to picture the rest of her life with Dante when she was feeling so comfortable with Mark and undeniably attracted to him.

He smiled across at her, then whispered, ‘Can I kiss you?’

Oh lord.Her heart tripped at the question and suddenly she forgot about all the reasons she should say no.

This couldn’t go anywhere—she was already in a relationship and even if she wasn’t, their lives weren’t in any way compatible. Allowing this to go any further would be cruel to both Dante and Mark, but almost as if she were no longer herself, but merely a character in one of the many books she read, she gave in to the butterflies swirling in her stomach.

‘I’d like that.’

His lips stretched into a smile again and he leaned even closer, gently cupping the back of her head with his hand as he drew her mouth to his.

Fireworks!

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