He passed it to her. “Are you holidaying in Perth?”

“For a while.”

“So are we.” He waved to where his two friends waited by the luggage carousel. They were both very blonde and tanned. All three wore faded t-shirts and shorts. “I’m Marty and that’s Steve and Mike.” He grinned at her and Keely found herself grinning back.

“I’m Keely.”

“Are you heading to the city? We could share a taxi.”

“Oh…I…”

A loud whistle shrilled across the space. Marty spun around.

“The bags are coming,” called one of his mates.

He turned back to her and smiled again. Keely noticed a dimple on his left cheek. “Come on, why pay full price for a taxi?”

She looked from Marty to his mates, who were engaged in an animated conversation. Why not? This was the beginning of her adventure and she hadn’t come all this way to be on her own.

“Thanks,” she said, and followed him back to the luggage carousel.

* * *

Euan lugged his surfboard in its bag away from the oversized luggage area. He was glad he’d decided to spend a few days in Perth before returning home. Even though he’d slept on the plane he still felt tired. He wanted to get to his sister’s place and have a good night’s sleep in one of Maggie’s comfortable spare beds. He’d become used to Eastern Standard Time and now his body clock was out of kilter.

I must be getting old, he thought wryly. Deep down the idea scared him. He couldn’t imagine himself as old, but he had to admit that at sixty-five he couldn’t keep up the pace he used to without some extra sleep.

He’d enjoyed his break away from Levallier Dell. A couple of times a year he made the trek to the east, usually to meet distributors in Victoria and New South Wales, and he always managed to catch up with old friends and surf. The surfing had been excellent. Even though his patch of WA offered some of the best surf beaches he enjoyed the change. That had been his saviour, pretending for a couple of weeks that he was twenty again with nothing but the search for the perfect wave to worry about. The total indulgence of it was hard to shake. And now there was another reason to make the long flight to the east.

He dragged his feet at the thought of returning to home and work. The deals he had to make to ensure a market for Levallier Dell wines were getting harder. He didn’t like that side of the business but he still insisted on doing it. That was his excuse to go east.

Raucous laughter erupted across the room. He looked over to where a group of young men were collecting their bags. Keely stood among them looking a little out of place. He hadn’t realised she knew them.