Page List

Font Size:

‘I’m no good with people.’

‘People. Well, that’s a big word, my love. Reckon if I had to be good with every darn person out and about, I’d be quaking at the knees.’

She smiled. ‘I do not believe your knees have ever quaked, Kev.’

‘Shoulda seen me the day I married my Marigold. Wobbly as one of your toffee custards I was. Point I’m making, Vera, is you don’t have to be good with people all at once. That’s the great thing about us. We come in ones and twos as well as in great noisy bunches.’

She blew out a breath. ‘My track record with dealing with them in ones and twos isn’t so crash hot.’

‘You let someone down? Someone let you down?’

‘All of the above.’

‘You’re hurting, Vera. I’m sorry about that. But there’s good people here in Hanrahan, ones who won’t let you down.’

Kev reached a hand across the table, palm up, like he was waiting for her to place her hand in his.

She twisted the cleaning cloth she still held into a knot. ‘I wish I could believe that.’

‘Sure you can believe it. You’ve got me in your corner, haven’t you?’

She smiled, and gestured to the nook they were sitting in. ‘Literally.’

‘You know what I mean. Your café manager, Graeme? He in your corner?’

‘I guess he is.’

‘Little Poppy Cody’s been here working every day since she rocked up to town; she must think you’re okay.’

‘Well, yes.’

‘And my little Marigold’s taken a shine to you. She’s hoping you’ll join her yoga classes down at the park. She salutes the sun every dawn, and it’s a treat to see that pink sunrise reflecting off the lake.’

‘Okay, Kev, don’t take this the wrong way, but most dawns I’m here already with my whisk whipping up eggs in a mixing bowl, and your little Marigold is a six-foot-high tower of intimidation.’

Kev cracked a smile so wide she could see a gold filling glint in one of his teeth. ‘That’s my woman, all right.’

Vera looked over at the table where Marigold was slicing cardboard into strips: people were laughing and comparing projects, and old George was stirring a heaped teaspoon of sugar into yet another cup of tea.

‘One person at a time, Vera, that’s all it takes.’

One person at a time. Maybe she could do that. Maybe then she’d work out sooner rather than later if a person she was befriending was as big a rat as her ex-boss Aaron Finch.

‘Those people over there, some of them have reasons, like you do, to be shy of people. But they come out anyway, and have themselves a little chitchat and community time, and it puts a spring in their step. You just watch.’

Kev was right. George was clearly happy to be surrounded by chattering women. Everyone looked … content. She should unbend a little, socialise, stop suspecting everyone she met of being the next candidate to betray her friendship. The empty glasses could sit for a second longer while she chatted to Kev—he was as perfect a candidate as she could think of to practise socialising.

‘Thanks, Kev. They do look happy, don’t they?’

‘Happy as galahs in a wattle tree.’

She smiled. ‘A success, then. How was the food? Enough? And what about the tea? The orders seem to have slowed down a bit.’

He gave her a wink. ‘First night fever, my love. They’ll be regretting how much they’ve consumed when they spend all night shuffling to the bathroom.’

She giggled. Where was Kev when she was busy making bad decisions about guys?

‘Marigold’s put the word out. Everyone’s to leave ten dollars in the kitty for a biscuit and a cup of tea and a contribution to wages. They order anything off the menu, they’ll pay their own. If you find yourself short, you come and find me.’