Page 9 of Meet You in the Waves
“I didn’t realise anyone else was out here,” I said, taking the beer from him.
“Yeah, sorry. I was sitting over there,” Nick said, ducking his head a little guiltily. “I didn’t mean to listen in on your convo.”
“That’s okay,” I sighed heavily, taking a sip of my drink.
“Sounds like the good news is your stepdad’s mum is doing okay,” Nick offered with a cheeky grin. I could only laugh, the unexpected nature of it instantly lifting that heavy weight off my shoulders. I wondered if that was Nick’s superpower, always making those around him feel good.
“Cheers to completely healthy step-grandparents,” I returned, holding my bottle out as Nick clinked his against mine.
“Also sounds like maybe your stepdad is a bit of a dick,” Nick finally ventured, leaning on his arms the way I was doing and sending me an assessing glance.
“Probably. That’s the vibe I’m getting.”
“You don’t know him well?”
“I have literally met him twice,” I said, angling my body towards Nick. “On my mum’s wedding day and the day before that when we had ameet the familylunch.”
“Right.”
“It was kind of a whirlwind romance, you know,” I said, not sure why I was suddenly divulging all this stuff to Nick. I generally played my cards close to my chest but there was honestly just something about Nick that made me feel like I could say stuff to him. Like I knew he wouldn’t judge.
“What do you mean?”
“Like, it’s just been me and my mum for years. There’s my sister Emily too but she moved out of home the minute she could. Tassie was always too small for her.”
“Wait, you’re from Tassie?” Nick asked, genuine curiosity on his face.
“Born and raised,” I quirked a smile at him. “And no, before you ask, we don’t have two heads.”
Nick ran an obvious eye down the length of my body before he smirked at me. “Depends which heads you’re talking about.”
I admit it took me a few beats until I caught his drift and I found myself laughing again, something I seemed to do a lot in Nick’s presence.
“In that case, maybe I’ll have to reassess my standard answer,” I returned.
“I mean, I can only see the one,” Nick continued, still with that cheeky grin on his face. “I’d have to check to confirm the existence of the other.”
My laughter died at the look on his face. Or maybe it was the tone in his words, like maybe he might have wanted to check. Something landed in my gut but I quickly dismissed it, trying to get my train of thought back on line.
“Sorry, I interrupted you,” Nick said. “You were saying it was just you and your mum?”
“Yeah,” I replied, dislodging some of those errant thoughts from my head. Talking to Nick was always a little confusing like that. I kind of felt like I was always a step behind him, like maybe he knew something I didn’t. It was a little disconcerting. “We were really close too. Like, I never went through those teenage years where I was embarrassed by my mum.”
“You and I have that in common,” Nick answered with a small smile. “I think my mum is the greatest.” See? Total sweetheart.
I grinned. “Just a pair of mama’s boys, huh?”
“Proud of it too,” Nick grinned back, that smile of his completely disarming me and making me lose my train of thought. Again.
“So anyway, yeah. It’s just been me and Mum for years. All my life I’ve wanted to go to the Conservatorium of Music in Sydney. It’s one of the best music schools in the world and I knew I needed to be there. My high school back in Tassie didn’t have enough kids to run a year twelve music program so I was faced with not even having the pre-requisites to apply. So I ended up applying for a scholarship at the music college in Sydney where Dane went. I don’t know if you’ve seen the fees but we could never afford to send me there.”
“Huh,” Nick mulled, a quizzical expression on his face.
“What?”
“I had kind of assumed you were just another entitled rich kid from Sydney’s best postcodes,” he admitted.
“It’s dangerous to make assumptions,” I returned, eyebrow raised.
