Chapters (48)
- Cover
- Praise
- About the Author
- Also by Tricia Stringer
- Title Page
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Author’s Note
- Acknowledgements
- Excerpt
- One
While they ate he told her about his trip with his uncle. “Charlie came with us. He was the reason we got stuck out there. Left a door open and flattened the battery. It took us a while to get help.”
“Bad luck.”
“It was a useful lesson for Charlie. Consequences for actions.”
“But you and Ron had to suffer the consequences too.”
“Yep, and Uncle Ron sure let Charlie know.” Gabe laughed. “Charlie’s ears will still be ringing.”
Natalie sat back from her empty plate and took another sip of the wine. It was a sauv blanc semillon with last year’s date so it couldn’t have been in Ron’s fridge for too long. “You’re right, it does grow on you.”
Gabe finished his meal and they sat in silence for a while, both of them staring out into the night.
“I have to go back to Broome tomorrow.”
Natalie wasn’t prepared for the wave of sadness his words provoked. “I thought you had one more day here.”
“Plans have changed. It’s short notice I know, but if you want to go with me you’ll need to be ready early.”
She turned back to the scene before her: the night sky, a sprinkling of stars and a palm tree making a darker silhouette.
“You’re not ready to leave yet, are you?”
She shook her head. Gabe got out of his chair and bent over her, took both her hands in his. It was a shock. They’d touched before of course, shaken hands, and he’d helped her across rocks on several occasions or brushed her arm in passing, but this felt intimate. She didn’t pull away. He grinned. “I knew you’d like it here.” She looked up at him. His eyes sparkled with the light from the window. It was a look of friendship but still she felt a warm thrill spread through her chest.
He squeezed her hands a little tighter, leaned a little closer. “This isn’t reality, you know that. You have another life back home, family…a husband.”
She knew he would read the surprise on her face. She’d not mentioned Milt once to Gabe, she was sure.
“Sometimes it’s the things people don’t say that speak the loudest.”
She felt embarrassed then. “I’m not hiding anything. My husband…Milt…I’m not sure…”
He let go of her hands, and even though the night was warm she felt cold, the spell cast by his proximity broken.
“This is the place to find yourself. Stay on; Aunty Rosie will look after you. When you’re ready to go back to Broome she can organise it. I’m glad I met you, Natalie. Let me know when you come back to WA next.”
He left her then, striding away into the dark. She heard a soft thud, heard him swear. She smiled. He’d found the rock again.
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Five