‘How’d the shack shape up in the storm?’ he asked, shouting slightly over the noise of the engine.

‘Could have been worse—the only real damage seems to have been the ceiling falling in at the front part of the house.’

‘Shit. Thank God you weren’t there. Guess the rain must have got into the roof somehow.’

I nodded. ‘The ceilings weren’t looking so flash before the cyclone. When I first arrived there was a massive hole above the kitchen, and a possum had taken up residence and was helping itself to whatever it could find.’

Dan chuckled. ‘Possums can be cheeky buggers. Is it still giving you grief?’

‘Could be worse. I patched up the hole and now I’m leaving fruit outside on the porch for it. It’s weird that the part with the hole didn’t cave in. Anyway, I’d already spoken to Xiang’s grandson Wei about getting the ceiling replaced and he’d booked a tradesman in for next week. I talked to him last night about insurance and he’s contacting them today, but hopefully we can still go ahead with the original team.’

‘Geez, that was lucky.’

‘Well, maybe I was due for a bit of good luck.’

‘If you need any help cleaning up ready for the roof guys let me know.’

‘Thanks.’ It was a lovely offer, but I wasn’t sure I’d accept it as I didn’t want to feel in his debt. ‘Did your place suffer any damage?’

He shook his head. ‘Survived without even a scratch. Are you staying at Brewed Awakening?’

‘Yep. I could stay in the shack—the bedrooms, bathroom and kitchen are fine—but Jedda wouldn’t hear of it, at least until the rubble is removed. She says she likes the adult company but I’m also glad I can repay her generosity by writing this article.’

‘So, what’s the deal with you and your husband?’ he asked, surprising me with not only the swift change of topic but also his blatant nosiness. Who was interviewing who here?

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well,’ he glanced quickly at me, ‘although you mentioned you were married, aside from your ring and your aversion to thongs, I haven’t seen any evidence of such. Your husband doesn’t mind you coming up here every other week?’

I twisted said ring on my finger. ‘My husband and I are … complicated,’ I said after a long pause.

‘Like the Facebook status?’

I opened my mouth to say ‘no’ but it was as close to the truth as anything. ‘I suppose so. We’re kind of on a break.’

‘I see. Like Rachel and Ross?’ The corners of his lips lifted a little.

‘I wouldn’t have picked you as a Friends fan,’ I said, trying to distract him, but also myself from thinking about Adrian sleeping with another woman like Ross had.