Page 21 of Ignite

Whoever said confession is good for the soul knew stuff-all about relationships. Darin confessed and begged me to forgive him.

I’d stormed out and spent the next two days crying in my old bedroom. I’d craved the solitude of my old family home. No one lived there anymore, but I’d paid a local mother to come in and clean weekly. Not to touch anything, just to make it still feel like mummy and daddy were about to walk through the door. In the early days, when overwhelmed by grief from burying daddy, I used to turn off my phone, park my car in the garage so no one would think about stopping by, and bake chocolate chip cookies. I baked until the home filled with the scent of butter and chocolate, all to feel the warmth of happy memories.

I’d been grateful to still have my family home to run back to until I pulled myself together and decided that the years Darin and I had invested in our relationship were worth a second conversation. But, by the time I went home, Darin no longer sought my forgiveness.

He’d moved on with the girl he’d promised was a one-night stand.

They were only waiting for me to move my stuff out so she could move in.

Two days.

After six years, he couldn’t wait forty-eight hours?

That had been three months ago.

The morning of the car accident, Darin Kidd and Trixi Louise—I kid you not, that was her actual name—got engaged. I’d woken, gone for a run and by the time my first cup of tea had brewed, my newsfeed had become jam-packed with mutual friends wishing the happy couple all the love in the world.

In a small town, my friends were also his friends. After the breakup, our friends also became Trixi’s. I’d backed away, not wanting friends to choose between sides. I’d given Darin and Trixi space to be a couple, and me the space to heal.

I hadn’t expected Darin’s football teammates to adopt me as their little sister. Out of respect for my father and I, and out of friendship with my brother, the team spoke. After losing the grand final, Darin’s services as Captain-Coach were no longer required. At first, I thought it was just to keep me onside—I still maintained the fire trucks, bringing them back to life after each season. But as weeks and months passed, I realized the guys had always thought of me as their little sister. When I’d questioned Darin’s sacking, Reece had assured me the decision hadn’t been hard.

Their support should have made me feel better—not bitter.

But, Darin had shat on me, and our life. Even if he and Trixi split up tomorrow, I’d never trust him again. And trusting the man in my life was not negotiable.

I sighed and thought back to Ethan Cooper.

Why did the first man who made my lady parts come alive have to be so stubborn? The RFS had long been the heart of our community. Meringa and the nearby towns came together to support our surf-lifesaving club, our football team, and the RFS.

I didn’t care how good-looking Ethan Cooper was. I didn’t care that he was fun to be around, or even that I’d smiled more around him than I had since my father had died. I didn’t care.

I did care. I cared more than I wanted to care. But if he refused to join the RFS, well, then that made falling in love with him not negotiable.

Ethan

“Fancy seeing you here.” I picked up the frozen dinners that Rylee had placed on the counter at the local grocer. “Hmm, frozen lasagne, frozen shepherds pie, and frozen chicken parmi.”

“Are you judging my choice in lunches?” Rylee asked as I quickly handed the boxes over to the cashier to ring up.

“I thought you ate at the pub like everyone else?” Actually, Reece had once mentioned that he and the boys had run into Rylee at lunchtime at the pub and I’d been going there ever since. If she was going to beat anyone at pool, I wanted it to be me. If she needed a doubles partner, I wanted it to be me.

If she wanted someone to chalk her cue tips, yeah, I wanted it to be me.

“I’ve got a custom job arriving in a couple of weeks.”

“Nice. Gonna let me in on the secret?” I quickly calculated that with the frozen vegetables in my freezer, I could turn my piece of beef into a stir fry for two instead of a meal for one. Yes, I’d still be hungry, but that’s what country folk did; they invited someone over for a bite.

“What secret?”

“What car are you going to be bringing back to life this time?” I held up my hand, “Wait. Don’t tell me now. How about you come over and I’ll cook us dinner.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I’m interested in the work you do.”

“Or, you’re just worried about your ute.” She handed over her credit card and got ready to leave with her frozen dinners. “I’m waiting on a couple of parts before I can start. I haven’t forgotten you.”

Before I had a chance to defend myself or explain that sometimes dinner was just a dinner and not an accusation about my ute the door was swung shut behind her.

---