Page 11 of Lime Tree Hill

“I secretly hoped you two might get together once you’d matured.”

“Mum!” Tayla chuckled. “How can you even say that after how he treated me?”

“You can’t blame him for jumping to the wrong conclusion. He was just trying to look after Norman’s interests.”

Tayla sipped her tea. She never understood why her parents appeared to be lifetime members of the Mitchel Harrington fan club.

“He’s done so well with that business,” her mother continued, “even owns a commercial property in town. Anyway, he’s engagednow—to a girl from Tulloch Point. Prue someone. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen her around lately. She’s not really my cup of tea. All made up with false eyelashes and those squared-off nails with different patterns on them. Beautiful, though.”

Mitch’s comment about bad decisions flashed through her mind. Was ‘Prue someone’ mixed up in his bad decision?“Hey, Mum. I’d better go. I need an early night. Give Dad a hug from me.”

“I will, sweetheart. And, Tayla?” She heard the catch in her mother’s voice. “Thank you. It must be difficult for you right now. Is there a chance you and Hayden will get back together?”

Tayla sucked in a breath. She’d forgotten about Hayden for a moment—how she shouldn’t be in love with him anymore. Anything she said would be a lie, or at least, part of one. “I don’t think so. But I’m fine, so please don’t worry.”

Her mother went quiet. “Do you still love him?” she eventually asked.

Tayla’s breath hitched before she had a chance to catch it. “We’ve drifted apart over the past few months.”If only that were true.“You know how it is.”

“Look, if you want to return to Sydney, you go. We’ll manage somehow.”

Tayla rubbed her eyes, eager to end the call before she let something slip that she shouldn’t. How many little white lies could she tell in one go? “No, I’m fine. Actually, I’m looking forward to the break. And I have lots of leave owing, so that’s not a problem. But those preserved apricots might all be gone by the time you get home.”

“You eat them up. That’s what they’re there for. Talk soon.”

“Love you. Say hi to everyone for me.”

Tayla strolled through the house, switching off the lights as she went, her thoughts not on Hayden for a change, but on Mitch. Why put in an offer he couldn’t settle on? And what had happened to ‘Prue someone,’ the fiancée?

On her run along the river track the next day, Tayla mulled over her conversation with Mitch. Did the guy really expect her just to lie down and say, ‘yes, I’d love to marry you’? Reality TV aside, how could anyone even contemplate a fake marriage? It was stressful enough planning a real one.

And yet, maybe his plan held an iota of merit. It would get her parents out of the red, and at least she wouldn’t have to sleep with the guy. Although, when she thought about it, sex with her fake-husband-to-be would scratch the itch she hadn’t dared touch in the past. What would Hayden say about that?

She shut down that mental picture. Plotting revenge on Hayden was childish, and she didn’t like where her thoughts were going. Sleeping with Mitch would only complicate their agreement—without a doubt. And yet…

Her interest in Mitch had developed the first time she’d laid eyes on him, the day he’d sauntered up to the checkout where she worked, carrying a shopping basket full of snacks, chocolate, and condoms. As much as she’d tried to push away that teenage crush over the years, and despite their history, she still found him one of the sexiest men she’d ever met. With his slightly too long hair, cut-to-perfection body, and that amused smile playing on his full lips, Mitch was a handsome man. But her fascination with him had little to do with his good looks. It was more his presence. A confidence that would seem like arrogance on other men.

As an impressionable seventeen-year-old virgin whose only experience of romance came from chick flicks and novels, she’d once used the word ‘dreamy’ to describe him. Now, many years later, ‘egotistical jerk’ seemed a better fit.

By the time she arrived back at her family home, the sun sat above her in a relentless haze of heat. She’d head back down to the river later to test the water and her hesitance. Her swimming coachhad continually stressed the ‘you can, and you will’ approach, but right now, she needed to call Tim.

Tim Benson and Tayla had been close friends since high school—sometimes inseparable, other times linked by nothing but their patchy social media posts. But that bond they’d formed over being different—he gay, she a goth nerd—remained strong. No matter how many years or miles separated them, he still had her back. Always.

Tayla grabbed her phone from her bag and sank onto the sofa. Putting her feet up on the coffee table, she hit Tim’s number.

“Hey, you.” Tim’s voice breezed over the speaker. “How are you settling in?”

“Okay. It’s quiet without Mum and Dad here. And what’s with the traffic?”

“What do you mean?”

“There is none.”

Tim laughed.

“Anyway,” Tayla continued, “if you’re not busy tonight, can I cook you dinner? But I need you to come alone.”

“Just as well Brandon’s away, or he’d be devastated.”

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