Page 88 of Riding the Waves

“Oh.” Amy smiled weakly and turned away to put a mug under the coffee machine.

“The only other job I’ve seen which interested me was in a sports shop.”

She bobbed her head but didn’t turn around.

“Amy?”

“Yeah.” She glanced over her shoulder for long enough for him to catch the gleam of disappointment in her eyes.

“I don’t have any qualifications,” he said earnestly. “What sort of job did you think I was going to get?”

“I don’t know.” She waited for the coffee to finish whirring into the mug, then stirred in the milk.

“Sorry,” Damian said. “But surely you knew I wouldn’t be getting some fancy office job where I have to wear a suit and that pays decent money. Anyway, I already told you I’ll rent my house out so I’ll get money that way.”

The teaspoon clattered on the counter before Amy swung around. “I don’t care about the money.”

“You’re clearly not impressed by the idea of me working in a shop or a cafe.”

“I don’t care where you work.” She crossed the room and stood directly in front of him. “All I care about is whether or not you’re happy.”

“I think working in the cafe will be fine,” he said. “Clive seems like a good bloke, and I reckon there’d be a lot of flexibility. Plus, it’s really sociable which will suit me.”

“Okay,” she said, trying to smile before her chin wobbled and tears filled her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” He shifted on the stool and pulled her between his legs.

“Nothing.” She shook her head. “I honestly don’t have anything against you working in the cafe if you think you’ll enjoy it.” Pausing, she sucked in a shuddering breath. “I just feel bad that you worked so hard to build up the surf shack and now I’m taking you away from it.”

“You’re not.” He pulled back and took her face in his hands. “I want to be here with you and the boys. You’re not taking anything from me. You’re giving me everything.”

She nodded and licked a tear from her upper lip. “Okay,” she whispered. After giving him a lingering kiss she went to fetch her coffee.

“I should get some work done,” she said. “Then I can finish early today. We can do something with the boys after school.”

“Sounds good.” His eyes were drawn to her phone that began to buzz around the island. “It’s Anthony,” he told her.

“Oh.” She winced. “I forgot. He messaged me earlier asking if he can pick the boys up today and have them for the night. He’d bring them back tomorrow evening. I wanted to check with you before I replied.”

“Fine by me,” he said with a shrug.

She flashed him a smile then swiped her finger across the phone screen and wandered into the living room as she greeted Anthony.

Damian listened in on the conversation but couldn’t make out much since he couldn’t hear Anthony’s side of it. When Amy said goodbye he waited for her to come back and relay the conversation but he could see her fixed to the spot in the centre of the living room.

Wandering over he caught her staring pensively at the hideous painting above the fireplace.

“Everything all right?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Her smile was part grimace as she met his gaze. “Anthony is going to introduce the boys to Christina tomorrow and he wondered if they could come over here for a bit …”

“Who?”

“All of them. Anthony, Christina and the boys.”

Damian took a moment to digest the information.

“Anthony suggested a barbecue since the weather should be good.”

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