Page 35 of Unbreak My Heart

Simon surprised himself with the words. They probablywould. Finn was as laid-back as Ryan. Nothing seemed to ruffle the little fellow. Not yet anyway. He’d yet to hit the so-called terrible twos.

Eva’s face softened. “Thank you, Simon. I know that must have been…” She sighed. “I could’ve killed Mum for saying that. Asking you those questions. And Matty never runs for strangers like that. I mean,never. He’s only like that with me and Mum and Dad. And my brother when he lived here.”

At Simon’s questioning look, she expanded. “He moved to Adelaide about six months ago. He’s an engineer. Moved for work.”

Simon nodded. He could see how sad that made her. He understood; he didn’t know what he’d do without his family.“You know, all these people with fancy degrees and jobs could make a guy feel a little out of his depth.”

Eva glanced at him sharply and opened her mouth. He beat her to it. “But it doesn’t.” He smiled to strengthen his words. “I saidcould, notdoes.”

He rubbed his jaw and sighed. His next words would determine the entire direction of their friendship, or anything else, whether now or in the future. “You were talking earlier about how you sometimes feel out of place? That you don’t feel you fit? That was me my whole schooling years. I’m dyslexic. I had these super-smart siblings and spent years thinking I was plain stupid. I managed to fudge along until upper high school. Most of my teachers were either too stressed or had too many kids in the class to realise what the problem was. I did really well on the manual arts side of things, so I took classes that required less book work. Many of them had practical exams, which I did really well at. Until year twelve. Halfway through the year we had a change of English teacher. She realised what was wrong and tried to help, but by then I just didn’t care. She helped me pass English at least, by making me watch the movies of the books we were reading and letting me give a verbal report on the movie instead of the book.”

He shrugged and looked out the window. “I felt so damned dumb, needing special consideration and the like. Most of my friends were off to uni. Even my brothers.”

He glanced at her, not surprised to see the compassion that lined her expressive face. It wasn’t why he was telling her, but for some reason it didn’t make him feel weird.

“Gabe is a vet. Max has a business degree. He studied economics and hated it, then changed into business management.” He let a self-chastising smile tilt his mouth. “I somehow even managed to hide it from them, and believe me, that wasn’t easy. Pushy bastards,” he joked. “And here I was, noidea what to do with my life. I ended up working for my dad on his cattle property for years, learning all I could about that by hands-on training. When Gabe came back and started his own vet practice, he bought a small herd and I helped out with that as well, until Dad decided to retire. He asked if I’d like to take over the herd instead, but Max had just bought the Cow and asked if I’d like to be his bar manager. I thought it would be nice to do something different and said yes.”

He looked at her, then. “That was almost twelve years ago. I did some basic courses; the whole workplace health and safety, first aid, RSA, that type of thing. I even have advanced barista certification—all stuff that could be done without written exams. Max wanted me to go further, but…” He held up his hands and watched the highway flash by as they headed for the Crossing. “Honestly? It’s difficult. I can read and was fine at maths; that’s not the issue so much. It’s just that the letters get all mixed up and the harder I try, the more it hurts my head. Literally. I get migraines from concentrating.”

Did he dare tell her the most important part? Was he way off-base?

One way to find out, I guess.

“The reason I’m telling you this is that I want you to knowme. And that there are some things I can’t change, if…”

If you are interested.

Dammit.

Why was he even thinking this? Why couldn’t he just let it be?

Why was he so damned attracted to her?

It left him feeling so confused, so damned guilty for being so attracted.

The town limits came into view, the sign flashing past as he thought of what he should—or shouldn’t—say next.

Eva was silent for a few minutes. They came to the roundabout, and she headed toward the council car park where he had his ute parked. He’d messaged Max earlier, before they’d gotten to the cinema, just so Max wouldn’t worry when he didn’t turn up that morning.

He’d received a thumbs up, Max knowing he wouldn’t want to talk.

His brother was good like that. He always seemed to know when to push and when to leave him alone. Max would also know he’d been to the bakery before he’d seen Eva. Either Darb or his mother would’ve told him, and probably told him that his head had been in a crap place when he’d left.

Simon glanced at Eva again. Somehow, she’d known he hadn’t wanted to be alone this morning, despite him telling her to leave. He’d never been so glad to be ignored.

They pulled into the spot next to his ute, the car park mostly full; the few spots left were on the far side where he preferred to park.

Eva put the ute into park and pulled the handbrake. She turned to look at him, the engine still running. Those eyes that didn’t miss much bored into his soul.

“My dad drives one of the dump trucks in Bialga. He’s had the same job for the last eighteen years. It’s a good job. Not aniceone, but a good one. I was fifteen when he started it, and boy, did I cop flack over it. Everyone thought it was hilarious that the awkward girl with the frizzy red hair’s father was the bin man. And my mum worked at the mushroom farm—she was a picker—until she decided to leave a perfectly good job she’d had for years, to become a day care mum so that I could go back to work after Matty was born. I didn’t come from money. Or privilege. And you know what the most important thing they taught me is?”

Simon couldn’t look away from the ebony eyes that seemed to hold him in thrall.

“Not to judge someone by thetypeof job they have, or what education they might or might not have achieved. My brother and I were really lucky. We had teachers who recognised a talent we had and guided us in that direction. Not everyone has that, as you yourself have shown. And we were lucky that we didn’t have any learning difficulties. It’s hard out here in the sticks. There wasn’t a lot of help then for kids who needed a bit extra. I know a lot of kids who fell through the cracks even when I was at high school. But you didn’t let it stop you. You kept going and you found something you enjoyed. So, it was working for family? So what? What’s family good for if not a bit of nepotism when it’s needed? What youdidn’tdo was sit on your ass and expect someone else to look after you.”

She didn’t say it outright, but Simon knew that last bit was aimed directly at her ex-husband.

“And I admire people who keep going. Keep trying. I don’t care that you don’t have a degree. Plenty of people get one and do absolutely nothing with it. What Idocare about is kindness. Honesty. Genuine people. You arekind, Simon Jameson.”

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