Page 14 of Versions Of Us

“Oh, you two are as bad as each other!” My mother waves a hand at us and heads over to boil the kettle. “You have no idea how long it took me to get all of that dough out of my hair.”

“I think there might still be some in there,” Ben mutters under his breath, but Mum hears him and aims a tea towel at his head.

This only serves to intensify our hysterics. “Oh, Mum,” I say, more sympathetically this time. “It can’t be as bad as helping Mr. Owen’s cow give birth.”

As a veterinarian, my mother has had to deal with a lot of gross things. And as freaked out as she seems over this incident, I know she loves her job. She has a kind heart and she’s worked extremely hard for her career, enduring countless hours of research. She’d worked her way up from vet nurse to veterinarian as a single mother with very little support. Whenever I think about throwing in the towel with my own studies, I think of her.

She’s my inspiration.

“I think it was worse,” she replies. “But anyway, how was your day?”

“Great, actually,” I answer, a grin making its way across my face. “I got a position at the Cliff Haven helpline. It’s a volunteer thing, but it will count towards workplace training for my post-grad degree.”

“Kristen, that’s fabulous!” My mum spins around and pulls me into a hug.

“Good work, kiddo,” Ben says as he gives me a pat on the shoulder.

“Thanks. I had a phone interview this morning and then I dropped in to see if Liv needed any help with the engagement party plans.” I reach for the grapes sitting in the fruit bowl on the kitchen bench and pop one into my mouth. “By the way, you guys should have got an invite in your inboxes.”

“Oh, that’s lovely. I’m happy for those two kids,” Mum replies. “That reminds me. I got a visit from Henley at the clinic today.”

“You did?” I ask, genuinely curious. “Why?”

And why has the thought of Liv and EJ’s engagement reminded her of it?

“I don’t know. He said he came by to see how I was doing, but he seemed off.” She reaches for a coffee cup on the top shelf of the kitchen cabinet.

“Off how?”

“I’m not sure. It was the weirdest thing. Maybe I’m imagining it, but it was like he was nervous about something,” Mum answers, cutlery clashing noisily as she fumbles for a teaspoon in the top drawer.

“Nervous? Henley? I doubt it,” I scoff.

In the whole time I’d known Henley, I’d never known him to be nervous about anything. He was confident, self-assured to the point of arrogance at times, completely stoic.

“Yeah. I’m sure it was nothing,” she says with a wave of her hand. “The clinic was busy this morning so like I said, I could have been imagining it.”

I feel my forehead crumple in a frown. When Liv had mentioned Henley giving off a weird vibe, I didn’t want to admit there might be something there. But if my mother has noticed it too there’s a high chance something is going on with him.

It wouldn’t be the first time Henley has dropped by the clinic to see Mum, but it’s not something he does often, and he usually has a specific reason when he does.

Maybe Liv isn’t so far off the mark after all. Maybe, as confusing as it seems, his feelings have grown into something more.

But even more confusing to me is the way the thought of that has my lips upturned in a reflexive smile.

Chapter 6

HENLEY

We’ve been getting smashed this afternoon. People have been filing in through the tavern doors faster than we can pour drinks and fill plates. It hasn’t helped that Corey called in sick this morning and I’m stuck out the front on bar service with the new guy, Dylan.

Dylan has only been working at the tavern for a week and he seems nice enough. He keeps to himself, so I don’t know his story or where he came from. But he keeps his head down and does his job which is all that really matters to me.

“Can I get a Heineken?”

I look up from where I’m standing behind the bar. That gruff voice is all too familiar to me. It seems Old Tommy is starting early today. The guy comes in every single day without fail, drinks himself into a stupor and ends up being forced to leave.

I know it isn’t any of my business, but it infuriates me how anyone could choose to live their life this way.

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