Page 61 of Forever Summer

“So, you spoke to Adam then?”

“Yeah, we had dinner.”

“Oh, nice,” I said, trying not to sound like it was a big deal. “And he never alluded to—”

“No, he never said a word, just that he had to drop you off because you missed the bus.”

Had to? Sounded like a chore.

“But let’s face it, Ellie, he’s not going to talk to me about it, is he?”

“I guess not.”

“Which brings me to my next point. You haven’t exactly shared any of the juicy details about last night.”

I stopped in my tracks; it was like I was under a sudden spotlight and for once in my life I really didn’t want to be.

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Some things are just … private.”

Tess burst out laughing on the other end. My brows narrowed. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, Ellie Parker, you really are in love.”

Hearing Tess spell out the obvious, saying it out loud, I knew she was exactly right.

I was in love with Adam Henderson, and I was in so much trouble.

Thirty

I was wide awake. Curled up on the couch eating, perhaps even sulking a little over the fact Adam hadn’t called, or texted me. Maybe he was regretting last night, maybe he just had some personal stuff to take care of. Maybe I should just bloody call him. Would that seem desperate? Would I usually call him at ten o’clock on a Monday night? I tried to think back to all the times we had spoken lately.

Munching on the last of the chocolate Maltesers, I had decided to re-watch The Blues Brothers. I was smiling to myself as I watched Carrie Fisher threaten John Belushi in a dark, muddy tunnel with a semi-automatic weapon; he was on his knees pleading for forgiveness.

“You go, gurl,” I said, with a mouthful of chocolate.

Yeah, nobody puts Princess Leia in the corner.

After the movie was over and the Maltesers long gone, I shuffled along, dumping the bowl into the smallest sink, in the smallest kitchen in all the world, before getting ready for bed. If nothing else, I really needed to put my thoughts to bed. I tried to tell myself that he hadn’t messaged during the day because maybe he thought I was at work. I was struggling to think of other excuses for all the other unaccounted hours in the day, but at least that made me feel a little better. The thought of Adam being like any other typical boy, that he had simply used me for sex, well, that just was too much to bear. I had held him on a pedestal all my life. He wasn’t that man, Ellie, you know that. He didn’t manipulate women or treat them badly. He was a larrikin, but he was also a gentleman. Surely he hadn’t simply used me. I peeled back the doona I had held him on a pedestal all my life. I couldn’t bring myself to think badly of him, not just yet. I peeled back the doona to my freshly made bed, basking in the clean sheets. One foot hadn’t even left the floor by the time I went to hop in when my phone rang, always scaring the life out of me. My main objective was to just answer it as quickly as possible, scrambling for it and juggling it to stop the ear-piercing ringing.

“Hello?” I answered, settling into bed, adjusting the pillows for the night.

“Tell me a story?” a familiar voice asked.

There was no controlling the grin that spread across my face, or the way my heart skipped a beat just by simply hearing his voice.

“So you made it home safely then, I see?” I didn’t mean to sound snarky, I didn’t want to be that girl, but I was still kind of pissed at him.

“Chris, God bless his soul, called me up to do a grog run while I was in the city. I won’t be answering that call next time.”

“Oh noooo.”

It was the common theme whenever anyone did a trip to Maitland. It was usually accompanied by a list from Chris with a “Can you do me a favour?” We all caught on pretty quickly to head to the city on the down low, if we didn’t want to have to return with a boot full of slabs, and a back seat of Samboy Salt and Vinegar chips and bottles of tonic water; we had all been there.

“Yep, there goes a few hours of my life I won’t get back.” Adam sighed; he sounded tired, no chance of a nap by the sounds of it.

“How was work?” he asked. I couldn’t quite bring myself to admit that I had been so exhausted from our all-night rendezvous that I had to go home early. It really was as bad as it sounded and I couldn’t bring myself to voice it.

“Good,” I said, trying to keep my voice neutral. “So how was dinner with Tess?”

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