Page 80 of Begin Again Again

If lightning had penetrated Lara’s ceiling and struck Beth down right there, she couldn’t have been more surprised. She checked the name on the message preview. Checked it again. Ten days of radio silence and Byron had messaged her to say he’d been listening to Wine Wives? Beth’s palm buzzed as another message landed.

What are you up to this arvo?

Beth shot to her feet, phone clenched to her chest like an amulet.

“What’s going on?” Lara asked, wandering back into the kitchen.

“Nothing.” Beth shoved her phone into her pocket and turned, knowing that Lara would be able to tell what happened as soon as she saw her face. “I’m gonna walk to Code Black, want a coffee?”

Lara held up her Keep Cup. “We just had coffee.”

“Yeah, but I want more coffee.” Beth grabbed her tote bag and headed for the door. “See you soon.”

Her phone buzzed as she headed down the garden path.

Take you to Blackwood Pool at 4? It’s a swimming hole out north.

Beth wanted to jump up and down. She settled for bouncing on the balls of her feet, then half-jogged, half-danced down the street. All stress of the last ten days felt very far away and the half hour she and Byron had spent crammed into a plastic castle felt very close. It took her twenty minutes and one shaky almond latte to craft the perfect response.

If you’re driving, then sure, I’d love to go.

His reply came in seconds.

See you soon, Horoscopes.

Chapter 13

“Idon’t think your housemate likes me.”

Beth glanced across at Byron. She could still barely believe she was in the passenger seat of his manly man car, on her way to go swimming on a summer afternoon. “Don’t take it personally, she’s a senior manager with a baby. Her sleep cycle is fucked.”

Byron nodded, but not like he believed her. Like he understood she was passing the buck. “Her handshake was very, ‘How dare you be here on a school night.’”

Beth laughed. “Maybe she’s practising for when her kids grow up?”

“Maybe.”

Beth thought Lara hadn’t been too weird toward him considering her reaction when she said she was ditching work to see Byron. Lara had glared at her over her laptop. “It’s gonna be like that, is it?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re gonna let him walk in and walk out whenever he feels like it? Even if it makes you a fucking mess?”

“It’s fine. I know it’s a situationship and—”

“What the Sam fuck is a situationship?”

“You know, messing around. Letting something be what it is. Not trying to force everything into a relationship.”

Lara rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I remember that from the 2010s when it was called ‘just hanging out.’”

“Okay, so it’s nothing new, but don’t act like I don’t know what this is. I do. Byron’s twenty-five and he used to playprofessional football.”

Lara didn’t smile. “We keep trying to reinvent the wheel and in the end, it’s always a fucking circle. You could save yourself a lot of time and energy and just nip this in the bud.”

But Beth didn’t want to do that. She didn’t need Lara to tell her she was setting a terrible precedent agreeing to a date at a moment’s notice, but she didn’t care. If the week of silence had showed her anything, it was that she was willing to take what she could get from Byron. And as long as she knew that, what was the harm?

She frantically cleared her inbox and rushed upstairs to shower, shave her legs and do her make up. Her stomach had tingled as she put on her forest green bikini and white lace sundress. It was drugs.Hewas drugs. Nothing else could take you from a three to a ten like this. She came downstairs and found Lara playing “All I want For Christmas is You.” She sang along with Mariah Carey, unable to hide her grin. Lara rolled her eyes. “You’re a dork.”

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