Page 39 of Blackout

‘Harley,’ was all Zach had a chance to say to me as my finger on his lips stopped his words.

‘We can’t change what’s happened,’ I said honestly to Zach. ‘We can’t change that we haven’t seen each other for ten years. We can only be grateful that life has brought us together again and move forward.’

I stood on tip toes to kiss Zach’s cheek, then whispered close to his ear, ‘I’m hungry. Take me somewhere yummy to eat.’

There was a mischievous look on Zach’s face, and I knew exactly what he wanted to eat.

‘Food.’ I slapped Zach’s chest. ‘I want food.’

‘I want you,’ he whispered in my ear. His tongue wet the bottom of my lobe then he took my hand and moved us in the direction of food.

Twenty

Even as the time ticked closer to midday, Fitzroy was a busy Melbourne suburb. Finding a park at this time of day near my house should have been easy. But with my grandparents, mother and sister all needing parks as well, Zach and I were going to have to walk at least two blocks.

My family hovered on the veranda of my house as they tried to block out the chill that hung in the Melbourne air. Zach gave my hand a quick squeeze before he let me go and I made my way over to my family. I hugged everyone hello before I opened my front door and let everyone in.

My grandparents had made themselves comfortable at the small kitchen table, while my mother and sister made their way to the lounge in my living room and sat down. Zach followed me into my kitchen and reached to entwine his fingers with mine.

My grandmother was always good at breaking the ice. ‘It’s good to see you, Harley.’

‘You too, Grandma.’ How long had it been since I had seen anyone in my family? Had being stuck in Groundhog Day kept me from spending time with all of them?

No one was impressed a family meeting had been called. What had changed in our lives that we didn’t spend time together anymore? Had we not spent time together since Grandpa and Grandma James insisted we move out of their house and into places of our own? That had been five years ago when I began managing the bakery. Why was I only seeing now that our family had drifted apart? Was I the only one holding us together by managing the family business? Would the dare that Addison gave me tear us further apart or would it bring us closer together? Only time would tell.

I returned the squeeze of my hand then moved my arm around his waist. ‘Everyone, this is Zach. We lived next door to him in Mulwala for a year. Zach, you remember my mum, Mia, and sister Addison. The couple at the kitchen table are Grandma and Grandpa James.’ I didn’t need to point out who was who. Zach had already figured out who everyone was.

There was a silence as everyone looked at one another while we waited for this family meeting to start.

‘I appreciate that everyone could make it today. It has been a while since this family has been under one roof.’ My grandfather spoke in his usual gruff tone.

But having lived with my grandfather for five years after my father died and working alongside him at the bakery, Grandpa’s temperament never bothered me.

‘It has also been a while since we have all sat down to talk as a family,’ Grandpa continued before he took a moment to look from my mother to Addison then to me.

I followed Grandpa James’s gaze around my living room. My family seemed put off by the fact that this meeting had been called. I had never rocked the boat before and disappeared. But couldn’t they see that even though I was the gel holding the family business together, I couldn’t be that gel any longer. Something bothered me as my grandfather’s eyes met mine. Was my grandfather hiding something? I wasn’t sure, but now that the thought had crossed my mind, I was going to try to find out.

‘I want to know what happened. Why have you not been at the bakery for the last four days, Harley?’ Grandpa didn’t waste any time with pleasantries.

What could I say? How did I explain how I got to this moment? Did I just blurt out I’d found out-of-date business terms that left me wondering who actually owned the James Family Bakery? Did I tell my family that Addison dared me to sing and if I didn’t sing, she was going to find a way to take over the business and kick me out of this house? But instead, I answered honestly and told my grandfather, ‘I needed a break.’

‘Why didn’t you just come to me, Harley?’

Maybe he was slightly offended I didn’t confide in him about this earlier. In the last five years, my family and I had only caught up a handful of times, the most recent Addison, who had shown up four weeks ago when she enlightened me about her dare.

Did everyone think that because I showed up to work every day that everything in my life and at the bakery was fine? Well, they weren’t, and they hadn’t been for a while. I truly needed a break, one that was longer than four days.

‘It’s not that simple.’ My grandpa knew in some way or another that it wasn’t. A lot rested on my shoulders now that I was manager. He had managed the bakery previously, and if he’d wanted a break, he’d had my dad before he died and me after my dad died. But who did I have?

‘Harley.’ The sound of my name was meant to caution me.

But I brushed off his caution. ‘If you want more information, then you need to ask Addison.’ I kept my gaze on Grandpa and avoided Addison and the look I knew she glared at me.

Grandpa shifted his focus from me to Addison. ‘Why, Addison, have you all of a sudden shown up for shifts at the bakery?’

‘I needed a job,’ Addison told her grandfather with a shrug of her shoulders as though Grandpa should have known her answer already.

‘I have asked you on many occasions to come and work for the business, and every time you told me no, so why now? What’s changed?’ Grandpa’s tone had an edge to it.

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