Page 89 of Outback Reunion

‘She’s already got a kid—Luna—but yeah, I’d like us to have a couple more.’ He reckoned Luna would make an awesome big sister. Bossy, but awesome.

‘Woah there, cowboy! This seems fairly quick for a guy who just last week said he was sworn off relationships.’

Mark shrugged. ‘When you know you know.’ Although it felt like they’d fit a year’s worth of dating into the last few days.

‘That’s true. I knew the moment I first laid eyes on Ryan; he took a little bit more convincing.’ Grant picked up the mugs—both now steaming with delicious smelling coffee. ‘Let’s take these into the lounge room and we can work out a game plan. It was starting to warm up outside and the flies were pestering me. That’s one thing I despise about the country—so many damn flies.’

Mark followed Grant down the hallway into the front room, which also appeared to have had a makeover. There were two shiny, black leather couches on either side of a glass coffee table with the sculpture of a black dragon in the middle. They settled into one each.

Nursing his mug in his hands, Grant frowned a little. ‘Let me get this straight—she doesn’t want to leave the circus, and you can hardly run away and join them.’

Mark chuckled at the thought. ‘That would definitely be a last resort.’ What would he even do? He might be coordinated when it came to a football, but he couldn’t even juggle two tennis balls! ‘The thing is, I’m certain shewouldlike to leave. She told me as much, but she was born and grew up there, and because of her daughter, and Luna being her in-laws’ only connection to their son, she feels obliged to stay.’

Grant took a sip of his coffee and thought for a few moments. ‘Then it’s not only Gabriela you need to convince to stay, but also Luna.’

‘What do you mean?’

Grant grinned. ‘Mothers will do anything for their kids, so you need to make her believe that being here in Bunyip Bay would offer Luna more than she can experience on the road with the circus.’

‘Yeah, you could be right. I mean, she does feel like she owes her in-laws because they practically raised her when her own mother died, but if Luna didn’t want to be there, she might put those feelings aside.’ Mark started to feel excited. ‘And Luna loved spending time with Heidi at Adam and Stella’s, and yesterday on the beach she had a ball kicking the footy and swimming with some other kids. If they could stay another month or so, it would be easy to show her that she and Luna could have a really good life here, and still visit her grandparents on school holidays. The problem is, I don’t have another couple of months. The circus leaves on Saturday.’

Grant frowned. ‘Have you told Gabriela how you feel? That you love her?’

Mark shook his head. ‘No. I kinda only just worked it out myself, and I think it might freak her out. I don’t want to scare her off. She’s been hurt badly before and...’

‘But she told you she wants a normal life, normal friends, and to join a community group or something.’

‘That’s right.’

Grant grinned. ‘Then you need to show her the life she could be having if she took the plunge and left the circus. You need to throw her a party. It’s the best way to introduce her to loads of locals, make her feel like one of us and show her everything Bunyip Bay has to offer her and Luna in a short time.’

‘A party?!’ Mark couldn’t think of anything worse, but on the other hand, he could see the idea had merit. ‘Won’t it look a bit suss?’ And not just to Gabriela. He’d been living like a hermit for months and now he was supposed to beg everyone to come to his place? ‘I don’t have a reason to throw a party.’

Grant frowned. ‘Hmm.’ Then his eyes lit up and he clicked his fingers, before aiming the index one at Mark. ‘You’re right, which means we need someoneelseto throw a party and you can invite Gabriela and Luna as your dates.’

‘I can’t ask anyone to do that.’God.He shouldn’t have come. Since when had he needed help in the woman department anyway? ‘Besides, we don’t have time. She’s leaving on Saturday, and they’ve got shows every night.’

‘Parties don’t have to be at night,’ Grant mused, rubbing his chin with his non-farmer fingers. ‘We’ll throw a garden luncheon.’

Mark had visions of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party or worse, something his mum and her CWA buddies would organise.

Maybe heshouldjust tell her how he felt. Lay his cards and his heart on the table.

‘I’m not really a party kind of guy,’ he said, wondering how he could get out of this stupid mess he’d dropped himself in.

Grant waved his comment away. ‘Okay, not a party then. Just a simple barbecue. And I’ll be your someone. We can have it here in the backyard, so the kids can swim in the pool while the adults mingle, and you can be shirtless and send your woman crazy with your sexy abs and fabulous sixpack.’

‘A barbecue?’ Mark asked, ignoring the comments about his body. That didn’t sound quite so bad, and it would give Gabriela the chance to connect with a few key people.

Then, if she had a good time, he could gently tell her his idea.

‘Okay. What do you need me to do? Of course, I’ll pay for everything, but do you need me to organise anything else? And are you sure Ryan won’t mind?’

Grant winked. ‘You just go and invite your girls. Leave my strong, silent but very sweet husband to me.’

Chapter Twenty-two

‘What are you doing here?’ Gabi couldn’t help the skip in her heart as Mark strode across the lot towards her, Rookie dancing around on the leash like a string puppet on steroids.

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