Page 34 of Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon
Brett smiles, his eyes crinkling again. She really likes how they do that.
‘It’s not for everyone,’ he says. ‘So …’ He pauses, then grins. ‘I’d love to take you out to dinner one night. Could I have your number? I’ll ask the boys at work if they know any restaurants and call you once I’ve found a place.’
Another pause and she hopes he can’t hear how loudly her heart is beating, because to her it sounds as if it’s thumping all the way out of her ears.
DINNER? What?
After she recovers from the shock the first thing she thinks is that she can’t tell her parents about this, so she’s going to have to come up with a story to explain why she’s going out at night.
‘If you’d like to have dinner with me, that is.’ Brett’s words suggest uncertainty but his tone does not, and she really likes that too: he’s not nervous, and he’s not cocky either – he’s confident. Like she wants to be.
‘I, um …’Breathe, Josie, breathe.‘I would. Y-yes. Thank you.’
Now he grins so widely she can see his back teeth. ‘Great!’ Still with her handbag tucked under his arm, he pulls a notepad and pen from his back pocket with his other hand and holds them out to her. ‘For your number,’ he says.
Just before she takes them from him she remembers she lives at home and one of her parents will probably answer the phone and will want to know who the strange man is calling their daughter. No, that won’t do.
‘Um, I, uh …’ How to get around this? Maybe she shouldn’t even try. ‘I live with my parents and it’s their phone.’
He shrugs; he likes doing that. ‘That’s cool. So do I. But how about I see you at the surf club at lunchtime on Friday and we can talk then?’
Relief!
‘That would be great.’
They stay standing, staring at each other, smiling, and she has no idea what to do next.
‘I’d better give you your bag,’ he says, handing it over.
‘Oh – thanks.’ She pulls out her keys.
‘See you, Josie.’ Now Brett grins shyly as he waits for her to unlock the driver-side door.
‘See you on Friday,’ she says.
He will never know how much it means to her that he waits for her to start the engine and pull away from the kerb, giving her a wave as she does, but it’s enough to make her start crying as she drives off and turns left to head for the coast road that will carry her past Avoca and toward home, and she alternates between crying and laughing with surprise all the way to Gosford.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The other day Babs, one of Trudy’s regulars, told Evie, ‘You have a spring in your step.’
Evie couldn’t deny it. Because she can feel it, these days. Almost as if she wants to pirouette through the day, like Cinderella with her little birds flying around or whatever happens in the Disney movie. Or is it Snow White? One of them, with the birds. That’s her. Although it’s probably more accurate to say she’s living as if she’s in that Carpenters song about birds suddenly appearing when someone is near – ‘Close to You’, that’s it. And theyouin this case is Sam.
When Babs had said what she said she’d looked meaningfully from Evie to Sam and back again. Luckily Sam had his back turned otherwise Evie would have been embarrassed. Inside, she felt like giggling at the idea of someone noticing the change in her.
Stevo had said something about it too.
‘You got a fella?’ he asked this morning when he picked up Billy for sport. Then he was going to take Billy home for the night because Evie is heading out on the town with Fran.
‘No!’ Evie said. ‘Why?’
Stevo had narrowed his eyes. ‘You haven’t been this happy in … ever.’ He cocked his head, like he was sizing her up, and she felt a little guilty because he was basically saying she had never been this happy withhim. Which was true. They weren’t happy when they were together. She tried to get happy, and so did he,probably, but they weren’t a match. It’s a mystery to her why two such people can come together and make a kid as great as Billy.
When Billy was a baby Evie went to see a psychic who had a little crystal shop in the arcade across from Terrigal Beach. She was trying to figure out what to do about Stevo, which was really a way of trying to figure out what to do with herself. They knew they didn’t belong together but she didn’t want to be a single mum. Or so she thought.
‘You have a son,’ the psychic told her, which freaked out Evie because she hadn’t told the psychic anything. Then the psychic took two puffs of her cigarette and blew the smoke in Evie’s face, which made Evie wonder what she’d gotten herself into.
‘He is a strong boy,’ the psychic went on. ‘Very strong. Strong enough to make his way into this world.’ One puff, another blow. ‘He brought you and his father together.’ The psychic’s eyes met hers. ‘But now that job is done.’
