The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots (30 page)

‘Right.’

‘Kind of exhausting, really. TCN put on drinks at Point Samson afterwards for the management staff. Radar was real pissed not to be invited – missed the best gossip in town.’

‘Oh yeah,’ Lena responded absentmindedly, her mind still on Mike’s sudden about-face.

‘Yeah, you’d never believe it. Dan picked up some local chick at the bar.’

Like someone flicking the channel on a radio over, Lena was suddenly listening. ‘He
what
?’

‘Funniest thing.’ Harry nodded innocently. ‘He got talking to this blonde for over an hour at the pub and then took her phone number before she left. Saw that part myself. Pretty girl too.’ He took his eyes from the road to send Lena another reassuring look. ‘So you really needn’t worry about those rumours about you and him. They are definitely dead.’

Dead was exactly how Lena felt inside. What was going on? Dan had said he would wait for her. Had there been a five-minute time limit on that she wasn’t aware of?

She licked her lips and addressed Harry again. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Certain.’ Harry nodded, oblivious. ‘In fact, morale is so completely restored that everyone really wants to do their best. I think that’s why the board game has been so successful – everyone has pitched in and stuck to the plan no matter what.’

Lena barely heard his words. She was too busy running through probabilities in her head. If Leg or Radar had told her Dan had picked up some girl, she would have written it off immediately. They were famous for their embellishment. But this was Harry she was talking to. He would never make up tales.

‘Lena.’ Harry recalled her to the present once more. She was shocked to hear something close to The Tone in his voice. ‘I thought you’d be a bit more excited about being the project hero!’

Lena shook her head. ‘You’re exaggerating.’

Harry glanced at her briefly. It was the first look Lena had ever seen on him that was even vaguely patronising. ‘Lena, you complain when no one gives you any credit and now when they do, you don’t want it.’

Thankfully, Lena wasn’t required to respond because the ute turned into the site, kicking up a cloud of red dust as they left the main road. She was glad. There was too much whirling around in her head for her to deal with more small talk.

Like the fact that she couldn’t believe Dan would deny their relationship point blank and then start dating someone else to prove it. A lump formed in her throat.

That’s because he’s not seeing another woman as some sort of elaborate cover.
It was too ridiculous a plan to believe. So what was she supposed to conclude? That he’d changed his mind about her?

Sharon would know the truth.

She got out of the ute, scanning the yard for her friend. Sharon was nowhere in sight but the bus was parked in its usual spot. This, at least, meant that Sharon wasn’t on the wharf: she was somewhere around.

Excellent!

The other thing she noticed was that men were striding around with a little more purpose in their faces. There weren’t the usual packs of idlers waiting around for the next shipment of goods. Everyone was doing something. So maybe the board game
had
worked its magic.

‘Thanks for the lift,’ she said to Harry before walking off towards the main office donga.

Running up the office steps, she entered the dust-ridden cabin and took in the messy decks, the coughing air-conditioner and the smiles of greeting from various cubicles.

‘Hi!’

Impatiently, she did the rounds, greeting everyone and fielding the usual ‘How was your break?’ questions. There was no hint of the animosity she had left. Perhaps even a few sheepish looks lingered on the faces of her peers as they addressed her.

Gavin gave her his usual cocky grin, totally shame-free. ‘So you’re back, are you?’

No, Gavin, what you’re seeing is a hologram.

She was too distracted to stop and tease, however, so she merely nodded and asked, ‘Have you seen Sharon?’

‘Nope. Have you seen Carl?’

‘Not yet.’

Carl could wait. On this thought, she made her way back out to the bus. Sharon wasn’t sitting in it or cleaning it, so she jumped out and decided to try the smoko donga. Perhaps Sharon was stacking the fridge or the storeroom.

The smoko kitchen was empty but she saw Sharon’s handbag on one of the tables – which was odd – so she headed to the back of the donga where the storeroom was.

Grabbing the handle, she swung open the door. ‘Sharon, are you –?’

Lena stopped, open-mouthed on the threshold, completely forgetting the reason she was there. Sharon was in the storeroom all right. But so was Carl. He had her back up against some shelving and there wasn’t a single part of their bodies that wasn’t connected. Lips to lips, chest to chest, thigh to thigh. He had his hands on her waist . . . no, her bum. And Sharon’s hands were in his hair, pulling at tufts with such force that Lena couldn’t resist tilting her head to one side to see if Carl was starting to get any bald patches.

They gasped for air as their lips pulled apart. Sharon’s fingers slipped from Carl’s hair to his neck and they turned, cheek to cheek, to look at her.

‘Lena!’ said Sharon.

‘Fuck!’ said Carl.

Both their lips were red and puffy and Carl’s hair was standing at least an inch off his head in all directions.

Struggling to hide a smug grin, Lena began to back out of the room. ‘Oh, don’t mind me. I’ll just get out of your way.’

‘Lena.’ Sharon broke away from Carl as she turned to go. ‘This –’

‘
This
,’ Lena said as she turned back, ‘is exactly as it should be.’

‘It is?’ Sharon touched her hair self-consciously.

‘I’d be more worried about his.’ Lena pointed at Carl’s mop.

Sharon turned around to examine her sweetheart. ‘Oh shit.’

Carl put his hands up to feel his coiffure. ‘Fuck!’ he said again.

They both started patting him down, which was the funniest thing Lena had ever seen and also the most endearing. They looked great together. They fit. Even while they were engaged in this silly task, you could see the love in their eyes.

She let an indulgent smile tickle her lips. ‘I’m happy for you guys: seriously.’

Carl glanced uncertainly at her, his ears a little red around the rims. When they were done patting down his hair, he came forwards. ‘Look, Lena, I know after the way I took you to task over Bulldog you’re going to think I’m a fuckin’ hypocrite, but no one knows about this and –’

The mention of Dan brought Lena’s reason for being there back to her. But as she studied Carl’s anxious countenance, she couldn’t bring herself to drag Sharon away at that moment. It would be hard but she could wait a little longer.

‘Relax, Carl. I’m not going to tell anyone.’

His shoulders slumped in relief and Sharon squeezed one fondly. Lena backed towards the door, grabbing the handle as she passed it. ‘I want details, Sharon,’ she warned with a grin. ‘I’ll talk to you later.’ She pulled the door shut and dusted her hands with satisfaction as she strode off.

Carl and Sharon. Who would have thought?

Lena spent the rest of the morning catching up on her email backlog, though Dan was never far from her thoughts. It was an effort to sit there when all she wanted to do was rush down to the client’s offices and ask him if he’d moved on. Pride restrained her.

Instead, it was Leg and Radar who made a special trip to visit her just before lunch. They came in carrying a pink box
about the size of a hard hat and put it on Lena’s desk, looking as pleased as two rabbits with a bunch of carrots.

‘Hey, Madame E. Bought you a gift.’

Lena studied the poorly constructed box – it was held together with duct tape rather than ribbon – and then back at them.

‘Is this a prank?’

Leg wrung his hands, his eyebrows drawing together. ‘Now really, Madame E, have we ever given you any reason not to trust us?’

‘Yes.’

Radar grimaced, swatting the back of his hand on Leg’s chest. ‘Shut up, you knob. You’re making things worse.’ He turned back to Lena, apology singing soulfully from his eyes.

She leaned back in her chair and folded her arms.
This ought to be good.

‘Well, we felt really bad about, you know.’ Radar rolled his eyes. ‘Accusing you of being with Bulldog when it turned out you weren’t.’

‘And we didn’t mean to have a go at you,’ Leg added. ‘Especially after you’ve been so good for the project and protecting us from Mike and everything. I mean . . . we should’ve stuck up for you whether you were with him or not.’

‘Told the other guys to piss off.’ Radar nodded seriously. ‘It’s not anyone’s business who you date and we should have told ’em so like real friends.’

Lena’s heart warmed. ‘That’s very big of you.’ It was the first time the guys had suggested that they considered her as more of a friend than a boss. It was nice to have the confirmation.

‘Damn straight.’ Radar beamed in pleasure. ‘Now you have to open our gift.’

‘Oh.’ She glanced back at their peace offering. ‘I guess.’ She pulled off some of the duct tape and opened the lid of the box. Hmmm. Synthetic brown fur. Dubiously, she tugged the item
out. It was a stuffed kangaroo. A cute little skippy – except for one thing. Someone had taken a scratched, dented Mitsubishi emblem and stapled it to the kangaroo’s chest.

An unwelcome suspicion assailed her. She touched the emblem with her finger. ‘Where did you guys get this?’

‘Didn’t you hear?’ Leg asked brightly. ‘Bongo was a total write-off. Radar pulled the emblem off the bonnet as a souvenir.’

‘Especially for you,’ Radar added.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ She put the kangaroo down. ‘Why on earth would I want a souvenir of the day I killed a roo?’

‘It was a fun night,’ Leg began and then when he saw her face quickly added, ‘Oh, except for that part.’

‘Besides, kangaroos are your thing,’ Radar tried to explain from a different perspective. She raised her eyebrows, daring him to continue. But he was completely unperturbed. ‘You know. First there was that one that jumped off the jetty and now there’s the Bongo-bashed one. We wanted to give you a personal gift.’

‘Oh, it’s personal all right.’

‘You don’t like it.’

She sighed. ‘No it’s fine. A little macabre, but fine.’ She put the stuffed kangaroo on top of her computer and glanced back at them. ‘There. Happy?’

They were. In that weird way men are when they think they’ve done something sentimental when really they’ve only stuck their foot in it.

The final hours of the day passed without mishap and at last Sharon and Lena were lounging on the front step of Lena’s donga. It was beer o’clock but instead the two of them were drinking cola.

‘You seem pretty tense,’ Sharon commented. ‘You better start at the beginning.’

Lena didn’t need any further encouragement. Although she didn’t think it her place to give Sharon the details of Dan’s
court case or his private family woes, she did spend a lot of time recapping having Dan over for soup and sleep. She told Sharon about the momentous ‘I love you’, the promises exchanged and how confused she now was to hear rumours he was seeing someone else.

‘Is it true, Sharon?’ Lena demanded anxiously. ‘Have you heard them?’

By the look on her friend’s face, she knew she wasn’t going to get the answer she was hoping for.

‘I wish I could tell you a different story,’ Sharon frowned, ‘but Harry’s pretty much spot on. Carl told me about it afterwards too. Said Bulldog was taken with some hot blonde he met at the bar. Apparently, at the end of the night, he gave her his phone and she typed her number into it.’

Icicles seemed to form on Lena’s heart. ‘I don’t get it. He said he would wait for me.’

Sharon squeezed her hand. ‘Well, I wouldn’t say Carl or Harry’s story is concrete evidence. After all, there could be any number of reasons one stranger might give another one their phone number.’

Lena perked up a little bit. ‘Of course there is.’ But when she tried to come up with one, nothing sprang to mind.

Seeing her struggling, Sharon jumped in to the rescue. ‘For example, she could be his sister, freshly moved to town, just passing on her new contact details.’

Lena bit her lip. ‘Dan hasn’t got a sister. He told me all about his family.’

‘All right then, how about a cousin or even a friend?’ Sharon suggested optimistically.

‘In a crowded bar, on a balmy night in Point Samson?’ Lena’s voice sounded sarcastic even to her own ears. ‘I don’t think so.’ She paused with difficulty. ‘Maybe he got back to site and realised how foolhardy us as an item really is. I mean, morale before the arbitration was so low. Why go back there and put the project in jeopardy?’

‘I think you’re over-thinking this.’ Sharon shook her head. ‘You won’t know the truth until you ask Dan yourself.’

‘Should I call him?’

‘I think it would be better if you did it in person.’

‘When? How?’ Lena cried. ‘Everybody’s watching all the time.’

Sharon was thoughtful for a moment. ‘I’ll convince Carl to lend you his ute at knock-off tomorrow. You can drive up to the client dongas and catch Dan at his office. He always stays late.’

It seemed like a good plan so Lena agreed. After all, what other options did she have? After that, she firmly shook off her demons to focus on Sharon. ‘Enough about me. What’s the deal with you and Carl?’

Sharon blushed. ‘It all happened so fast. Carl was giving me a lift back to camp one night when . . .’ Her lips curled shyly. ‘One minute he was taking me back to my donga and the next we changed direction and were heading somewhere else for dinner.’

Lena squealed. ‘He hijacked you!’

‘Oh, I wanted to be hijacked.’ Sharon grinned. ‘And I made that perfectly plain. But you know what, Lena? He’s a great guy.’

‘I don’t doubt it.’

‘I mean, I’ll never have to worry about him lying to me or playing games. He’s brutally honest.’

‘I can see how that would be the case.’

‘He’s protective too. Like every night you’ve been away he’s invited me back to his place so I don’t feel lonely at camp.’