Page 65 of Sexy as Sin
“Hm.” Willow pulled out her phone. “I’d like to share your story. Do you mind, if you’re here to listen to what I say?”
Azra looked alarmed. “With whom? It’s not exactly a human-rights issue of interest to the world media.”
Willow smiled. “With somebody who specializes in solving problems, and who seems to want to solve mine. With Brett.”
“Hey.” Brett answered on the first ring. “That’s my favorite voice to hear in the morning.”
He always made her feel a little shy. She did her best to be brisk to counter it. “I need your opinion. Actually, your advice. Do you have a call you need to be on?”
“In five minutes. Go on and lay it out for me. If I need time to consider, I’ll call you back.” Crikey, but his competence was sexy.
“Right, then,” she said. “I’ll be brief. Azra’s mum came. They’re serious about taking her back.”
“Airline tickets already bought for Monday,” Azra put in. “We’re supposed to be having ‘mother-daughter time, darling, in Sydney, which will be exciting, won’t it? We’ll shop.’ Which means she’ll tell me what would look good on me if I lost weight, like one of us is trained in fashion, and it isn’t me. Wonderful.”
Willow relayed that, then told Brett, “She doesn’t want to go, but she’s afraid of her mum overwhelming her with pressure, and there’s that pesky work visa that won’t come through in time. Any ideas, other than running away? Or do you want to ring me back?”
“I don’t have to,” Brett said. “For right now, you call Rafe and ask for his help.”
“Uh... Rafe?” She was, obscurely, disappointed. She’d honestly thought Brett would know, like he could wave that magic wand after all.
“He’s got a house here,” Brett said, “I’m guessing a great one, and nobody in it. If Azra goes to stay in it for as many days as her mother is here, how’s her mother going to know where she is?”
“Her job, though,” Willow said. “This woman is determined. She’s bound to turn up there today and waylay Azra on the pavement outside the door. Not to mention turning up here tonight, when my temper’s short already, and demanding to know where she is. That will end well. The mushroom explosion will be nothing to it.”
“I’ve got that one, too,” Brett said. “Dave. For Azra, that is. For you? You come stay with me, of course. You’ll make me a happy man. As for the rest of Azra’s problem, I’ve got an idea for that, too, but I’ll tell you later.”
“Uh... Dave?”
“My driver. If Dave hasn’t doubled as a bodyguard, if he isn’tmybodyguard, for that matter, I miss my guess. Dave will take her to work, and he’ll bring her home. Just tell me when. Today, and Monday, too, in case her mother sticks around. I don’t care how tough the woman is, she’s not getting through Dave. He has footy tickets now, and there could be more. There could beseasontickets, for that matter. There’s a lot a man will do for season tickets.”
“Footytickets?” Brett was mad, or maybe his brain just worked three times faster than anybody else’s. She had a feeling it was that. “What does rugby have to do with it?”
“Excuse me,” Brett said. “Dave’s an Aussie Rules man all the way, and the Geelong Cats are looking good this year. They made it to the prelims last season, and they could go all the way to the Grand Final this year. You may not be aware of this, but Richmond is looking rubbish. We have high hopes.”
Willow was in the van when Azra rang, sounding breathless.
“All right?” Willow asked.
Azra said, “Brett must be in love with you, because Dave was at the flat fifteen minutes after you rang off with Rafe, like he’d been waiting around the corner. I had my things packed already, though, and I’m out of there. Rafe’s house, though... that’s the best house in the world. Why aren’t we living there?”
“Same reason you’re not living at home. It isn’t actually the best, though.” Willow admitted it at last. “The one Brett’s hired is even better. Just as vintage and as posh, a kitchen I couldn’t have designed better if I’d done it myself—well, maybe one or two tiny changes—and views for kilometers over the hills, out to the lighthouse and beyond. Not to mention a flower garden that you could cut from for days and never scratch the surface, a pond down the hill that’s more like a lake, and a pool and spa tub I still haven’t managed to get into. We won’t show the garden to my aunt, or I’ll haveheronmydoorstep, telling me to find a way to stay there. We’ll both have a hard time going back to the flat, you’re right about that.” She’d packed a few of her own things herself before she’d left and thrown them into the van, preparing to hide at Brett’s and frustrate Jamila Amal beyond anything in her Chanel-covered life.
For three days,she promised herself again.On Monday, Cinderella’s coach becomes a pumpkin, and you start solving your own problems again. It’s a pleasant break, not a change in your life’s direction.“Where are you now?” she asked.
“At work,” Azra said. “I went in early, and the way Dave walked behind me, looking around the whole way like he was hoping for a kidnap attempt so he could use his skills...” That was a distinct giggle. “I’m fully protected. He’ll be back for me at five-thirty, he says. I’m in a meeting in five minutes, thank goodness, so I can’t worry about whether my mum will come here to find me. I’m calling on the work phone, because I left my mobile at home.” A deep breath. “She’ll cry, you know, if I talk to her. She’ll tell me she’ll lose me, and I’ll think about losing her forever, too, and wonder how I can possibly do it. I can’t listen, Willow. Ican’t.”
“And you don’t have to,” Willow said, putting all her firmness into it. “Turn the mobile off unless you need to call Dave or me, and turn it off again when you’re done. Tell the person at the front desk that you can’t be disturbed, and to please say you’re unavailable. Six months from now, when you’re in the new job and on your way, and your mum and dad see their ultimatum isn’t working, will they really risk losing you forever to get their way? Your mum won’t. I heard her. And if you findyoucan’t do it,” she decided to add, “or if the job and being on your own isn’t what you want after all, you can change your mind, you know. You can still go home, and, yes, they’ll take you back again. And before you say it—I don’t care what your father says. If your mum doesn’t run his heart and his home and hislife, call me surprised. That is a woman who rules her world. You don’t get that battle command from nowhere.”
A long silence, and Azra said, “Yes. She does.”
Willow smiled. “Thought so. Trust your mum to find a way, if you show her you mean it.”
“She’ll hate you, you realize,” Azra said, getting some laughter in her voice at last. “It’ll be all your fault. Quite possibly a lesbian, or a prostitute after all. The cooking’s your clever front, that’s all.”
“Lesbian prostitute,” Willow agreed. “Pity I’d be hopeless at either. Destined to live with and never marry that bloke in the burger shop, though, because I let him catch me with his dirty hands and persuaded him not to throw me back. I won’t be able to get him to put a ring on it, because I’m too old and too skinny, and then there’s my harlot past. Fortunately, I’ll still have my sad, lonely, pathetic career.”
Azra laughed again, then said, “Got to go. Good luck today with your own problem. I should’ve asked you. I just realized I didn’t.”
