Page 9 of Out of Luck in the Outback

“Your poor father with eight daughters and only one son.”

“You’re not the first to say that. I get some pretty funny comments and questions.”

“Like what?” he asks, leaning forward.

“You’d be surprised how many people ask what the Costco bill was like or how many tampons we went through a month.”

“You’re joking. People actually ask that?”

I nod and take another bite of my food. “Ever since puberty. Anyway, it was also expensive to have all of us travel together. You can imagine the ticket prices. And don’t get me started on how much it would have been to even go to a certain amusement park in Florida. It would have been over a thousand dollars for the whole family to spend a single day there. That’s not even the travel there and hotel. Big families equal small vacations. What about you? Big family?”

“Only child,” he says. “I have a ton of cousins, though. My dad is an only child, but my mother has four siblings that are more akin to rabbits than humans. It was pretty fun to grow up around them. I remember I loved it when they came over for the day to go out on the…uh, fishing boat. That must have been what it was like at your house all the time.”

“We’re all close. I have friends with one or two siblings, and they aren’t as close as I am with mine. I think the bigger the family, the tighter it is.”

We finish our sandwiches, and Maddox orders another round of beer – pitchers this time. We talk and joke in the booth until I look out the window at the setting sun. Time flies with him.

“What are you going to do in the center?” he asks.

I shake my head sadly. “I don’t know. I’m making this trip up as I go along. My boss wants me to be spontaneous, so I guess I’ll be spontaneous. Incidentally, what are you going to do?”

He straightens. “I’m going to be spontaneous. I thought I’d head to Yulara with the twins. I mean, not with the twins. I’ll probably just ride up there. I like hiking, so I may hike Kata Tjuta or something while I’m here.”

“That sounds interesting. Don’t you have to get back to work?”

“Nah. Fish will wait.”

We clear our table and stretch as we get out of the booth we’ve occupied for far too long. Even though my knees need to move, I’ve enjoyed talking to him. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I’ve enjoyed talking to someone so much.

We head back to the room and find it empty. “The twins must be in the quiet car.”

“A quiet car? What’s that?” I ask.

“Just how it sounds. Reading. Work. You can do anything there as long as you don’t disturb people.”

I kick my shoes off and put them under the bunk. As I sit on the bed and push my ballet flats underneath the bed, my motorcycle romance slides out from under the pillow, plopping on the floor at Maddox’s feet.

“What’s this?” he asks, bending over to retrieve the book.

I grab it quickly and tuck it back under my pillow. “I like motorcycle romance. No biggie. Just a book.”

“Calvert, that looked like some hot shit.”

“You’re just saying that because there was also a half-naked woman on the front.” I look anywhere but him. Heat creeps into my cheeks, and I’m sure I’m as red as the beets on Australian burgers.

“I like to read,” he coos, his voice thick with insinuation that he wants to read the book under my pillow.

“What do you read?”

He scratches his chin. “Mostly sci-fi, but I’ve never read a motorcycle romance. I’d be willing to try something new, though. Want a story time?”

“A what?”

“We could get our pajamas on, and we could read to each other from your motorcycle romance book.”

Holy shit.

Story. Mr. Gosnell. An adventure I’ll remember to my death bed. Those are the thoughts in my mind as I quietly nod and grab my pajama shorts from my suitcase before slinking to the bathroom.

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