Page 194 of The Storm Boys Series Collection

Yes. Yes, I was going to.

Until my phone rang.

I saw the number on the screen and my heart almost stopped.

National head office.

All thoughts of fellatio were gone. God, I could hardly speak. “Tully.”

“What’s wrong?”

“What if they...? Tully, they’re going to tell me— I can’t leave. I have too much work to do, and I have you.”

The phone kept ringing.

And ringing.

Until it stopped.

“Jeremiah,” Tully said. “What are you doing?”

“I’m not answering it.”

“You have to.”

“If I don’t answer, they can’t tell me to leave.”

He was clearly confused. “Leave where?”

“Leave here.”

“They’re not gonna tell you to leave.”

I gestured to the very dark dashboard. “It’s not as if I can actually do any work.”

“They didn’t tell you to leave last time they called. You spent a week helping the airport weather-station crew.”

“What else is there for me to do here? The repair team still haven’t confirmed the ETA.”

“Maybe that’s what they were calling for.”

Maybe.

Except I didn’t think so.

My phone rang again. “Why did they have to fix the cellular network already?”

Tully snorted and picked up my phone, hit Answer, and held the phone to my ear.

I glowered at him and sighed. “Doctor Overton, Darwin office.”

“Doctor Overton,” a familiar voice said. Peter, manager of the national head office. “I trust you’re well.”

“Yes, thank you.” I took the phone from Tully and put it on speakerphone, considering he could hear it anyway. “Any word on the refit? I’m hoping you have good news for me.”

“Yes, and no.”

“I’m not sure how news can be both, Peter. It really is more of an either/or situation.” And I was betting on the bad news being what I’d been dreading.

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