The Happy Endings Book Club (8 page)

Jake began unloading the car. “It’s a bit of a hike and we have to carry everything.”

“Isn’t there a porter?”

“It’s his day off.” He handed her a trolley. “That’s not just any trolley. It’s like the 4WD of trolleys. It handles rough terrain.”

They loaded the trolley up with supplies, hoicked some backpacks on, and last but not least Jake shoved his surfboard under his arm. Then Michi gestured for Jake to take the lead.

“After you.” She watched him walk off. “You can deal with the snakes first.”

“The first person scares the snake,” Jake called over his shoulder. “The second person gets the bite.”

“Thanks, Bear Grylls.” Michi’s eyes darted around.

It was not quite 8 am but it was already hot, and the flies were out. It was difficult to swoosh them away when your arms were loaded with supplies. Michi had to make do with blowing them away using air from her mouth. There were a couple of moments when lounging by her parents’ pool was suddenly appealing.

It took about fifteen minutes to reach the campground, but it was worth it. It was a pristine stretch of land leading right onto the beach. There was a barbecue and a toilet, and two other tents set up, but other than that, picturesque wilderness as far as the eye could see.

“What do you think?” Jake beamed at her, visibly thrilled to get back to nature.

“It’s great.” Then Michi pretended to be worried. “No yowies?” She wondered if he knew about Australia’s version of Big Foot – perhaps she could have some fun and convince him the mythical beasts were real.

“None sighted since July.”

Damn.

Jake led her over to the far corner of the campground, away from the other tents. Finally, they dumped their stuff. Jake clapped his hands together—down to work.

“Right, where’s your tent?”

“My what?”

“So, did you bring a tent?”

Michi looked confused. “Was I meant to?”

“Well, we’re camping, so yes.” Jake gave a wicked laugh. “You can share my tent.”

Michi immediately jumped into attack mode. “Listen, I’ve already told you—”

“Settle down, Michi, you’ll scare the wildlife away.” Jake tossed her a large pack. “There’s your tent.”

And with that he turned and set up his own—in what would have to be record time, thought Michi. She’d never seen anything like it. If Armageddon hit and they all had to survive in the wild, she wanted Jake on her team. Meanwhile she was still laying her tent out flat and trying to work out where the poles went.

“Want some help?” called Jake.

“No, all good thanks.”

Jake tidied up the rest of the gear, pulled out a wetsuit and stripped.

Holy mother of god, thought Michi. He’s freaking hot! He had Speedos on, but other than that she got a good look at every muscle, every golden brown ripple, and every bulge. By the time he zipped his wetsuit up, Michi was completely flustered and ready for a cold plunge herself.

“Stupid bloody tent.” She let him know she was concentrating on the tent poles.

“I’m gonna hit the waves. See you in a while.”

“Great. Enjoy.” Michi stood and watched him run down to the beach, board under his arm. “Oh. My. Gawd.”

Then she turned back to the tent. “Right, you bastard. I’m going to conquer you if it’s the last thing I do.”

*

And conquer it she did. By the time Jake returned from the beach her tent was up, she’d set up the canvas camp chairs and had the billy on for a cup of tea.

“Wow, I’m impressed.” He meant it too.

“Wasn’t that difficult,” Michi lied. She’d worked out Rubik’s cubes with more ease.

“It has a bit of a tilt to it,” Jake pointed out.

Michi waved off his concerns. “It adds character.”

She pretended to ignore him while he ripped off the wetsuit and wrapped a towel around his waist. The guy was built. If she was the type of woman who was interested in casual flings, she’d seriously consider it. But she wasn’t, so it was out of the question. Still, the barometer definitely rose each time he took off his shirt.

Jake sipped the tea Michi handed him. “I thought I’d take you on a coastal walk. There are some amazing Aboriginal sites around here.”

“Is Bouddi a local Aboriginal word?”

“It means both
water breaking over rocks
and
heart
.”

“It’s both of those.” Michi surveyed the landscape. “How do you know so much about Aboriginal history?”

Jake shrugged. “The more connected I feel to this land, the more I want to understand the Traditional Owners. For instance, we’re currently standing on Darkinjung land. You can’t connect to this place without recognizing that the Darkinjung are not only the Traditional Owners … they are this place.” He stomped his foot on the earth. “They’re this.”

Jake threw on shorts and a T-shirt. “Come on, let’s go for a hike. I want you to get a feel for the area.” He looked her up and down for a second. “Put on a hat. I don’t want you to get burned.” He tapped his own nose with one finger. “Although your freckles are gorgeous.”

*

Michi couldn’t ever remember such a glorious day. The sun beat down on them, there were insects galore, but the scenery was spectacular, with jaw-dropping ocean views, sheer cliffs, sandstone boulders and the trails through the ancient forest. Jake pointed out unusual plants, and a couple of bush turkey nests. At one point he held out his arm to stop her, and she noticed a snake slither into the bush.

“Not venomous,” he assured her.

It turned out he was also a certified bird nerd, and knew the names of many of the one hundred and fifty species of birds the area was home to.

“Some are real jetsetters,” he joked. “They fly in from New Guinea for the summer.”

But the highlight was undoubtedly the Aboriginal rock engravings and charcoal drawings. Michi stood there in awe of the ancient markings. She wanted to place her hands on them, but Jake stopped her, explaining that they needed to respect them, and not touch.

“How old do you think they are, Jake?”

“I don’t know. I’ve read that other carvings in this region are only about five thousand years old, so probably a similar age.”

“Only five thousand?” Michi couldn’t even begin to comprehend how long that was.

“Quite young, when you think that Aborigines have been living here for at least forty thousand years. Shits all over some of the historical sights you line up for in Europe.” He stared at the markings. “And still people just don’t get it.”

Michi could see that baffled him. When put like that, in this place, it baffled her too. And on some level, it shamed her. It took an Englishman to open her eyes to this. The irony was not lost on her.

Michi spoke quietly. “I feel embarrassed. I barely know anything about the people who lived here.”

“Just start at the beginning.”

“And what’s that mean, Jake?”

“Respect where you’re standing.”

*

It was beer o’clock back at the campground. Michi went for a swim to cool off, and then joined Jake in a canvas chair, with a beer in hand and an amazing view. She leaned back and let the last rays of the afternoon sun warm her face.

“What a great day.” She looked across at him. “Thank you so much for bringing me here.”

“I love the place, so I’m happy to share.”

“Do you feel this way about your own country, Jake?”

He thought about this for a moment. “Sure I do, sometimes. The last few times I’ve been back I’ve gone camping, much to my parents’ horror. And I’ve got to say, parts of Britain are truly impressive. But there’s something about this country … It’s bloody harsh, and yet it’s familiar to me.” He sighed and looked up. “I love the sky. It’s so vast. You’re very lucky to have grown up in such an open place.”

“Yeah, Mosman in the nineties was open, all right.”

“Now you sound like a Pom,” Jake laughed. “Stop whining, will you? I’m going to make you dinner.”

They had a barbecue dinner of steak and salad, followed by cupcakes and wine as the sun went down.

“I’m impressed with the feed. You’re like the king of camping, Jake.”

“King of Camping is my other nickname, right after Nature Boy.” Jake cracked open a bottle of wine and poured her a glass.

“You’ve outdone yourself. The plastic wineglass is a nice touch.”

“You like it? I put a lot of thought into it.”

“Do you take a lot of girls camping?”

Jake pulled a face. “God no.” He looked at her serious all of a sudden. “I used to go camping with Phoebe, my ex. But other than her … this is my thing, my time. If I bring someone with me I want that person to add to the experience.”

Michi gulped her wine. “That’s a lot of pressure. I hope I’ve added something.”

Jake smiled, light again. “I’ve enjoyed having a laugh at your tent-pitching skills.”

“So I’m like the camping comedy channel?”

“Yep.” He pretended to remember something. “Oh and I did like the way your bottom swayed from side to side as you walked up that hill this morning.”

Michi tossed back some more wine, horrified at the thought of him watching her bum. “That’s me, a laugh-a-minute arse swayer.”

Jake reached over and switched off the lamps. “Easier to stargaze,” he explained.

And that’s what they did. They talked and laughed and looked at the stars until late into the night. The night sky was dazzling. At times Michi was certain she could put her hand up and pluck a star from it.

“You know, Aborigines were practicing astronomy long before the Greeks. If you look up there, you can see an emu.” Jake’s finger traced the sky.

“An emu?” Michi squinted a bit. “Nope—I can see the Southern Cross, though.”

“Its head is at the bottom left-hand corner of the Southern Cross,” Jake explained. “Then it stretches out into the galaxy.”

“An emu?”

“There’s an Aboriginal legend about a blind man who used to send his wife out to collect food. One day she didn’t return home, so he went to find her. He discovered her body. A giant emu had killed her. Anyway, the blind man speared the emu and sent it up into the Milky Way, where we can still see it tonight.”

“Unlike the blind man,” Michi said.

“Yes, I was never sure how he saw that emu.” Jake shrugged as if the answers to these things weren’t important. “There are countless ways to see things. What’s it mean to see something, anyway?”

“It means a lot to those people who get the cornea transplant.”

“I have no doubt,” said Jake. “Sight is a sense I would hate to lose. But
to see
, well that’s rather subjective.”

“In what way?”

“A perfect example is how this country moves me and you to see something very different in it.” Jake swiveled in his chair a bit.

“I’ve seen it differently today,” Michi admitted. “With you.”

“Perhaps truly seeing is the ability to see things through the eyes of others.”

They locked eyes. He looked like he was about to reach out for her. She certainly wanted to kiss him. Or more. She remembered the kiss at Luna Park and her body flooded with heat. A shadow crossed his impossibly handsome face, and he seemed to retreat again.

“I’m crapping on,” he said. “It’s the wine.”

“I think it’s time to go to bed, Jake.”

His eyes lit up. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Michi just rolled her eyes and made her way into her own tent. “Night, Jake,” she called.

“Night, Michi.”

Michi lay awake in her tent for a long time. Eventually, she could hear Jake unzip his own tent and climb in. It was silent outside. Or as silent as the Australian bush could be. There were cicadas, and other insects buzzing around. In the distance she could hear a lyrebird screaming. Either that or it was a woman being attacked, probably by a yowie. Something scratched outside.

Something scratched outside?

Michi sprung upright. She could hear something snuffling. Something was out there. Something large by the sounds it was making. She could hear it plodding around the tent. What the hell was it? Did they have wild pigs around here? What if it was a yowie?

“Shoo,” Michi hissed. “Pssst.”

Something hit the side of her tent.

“Jake!”

And then the whole tent collapsed on top of her.

“JAAAAAKE!”

She heard him come running. “Michi, Jesus, what the fuck?”

Michi flailed around while Jake yanked at her tent and lifted it off her so she could crawl out. She swung around, trying to see in the darkness. What if that thing was still nearby?

“Something was sniffing around my tent. It knocked it over.”

“It
was
hanging by a thread.”

“Listen, I don’t know if there are mountain lions out here—”

Jake threw his head back and laughed. “Or drop bears.”

Michi eyeballed him. “You don’t believe me?”

“I just think it’s your way of getting to sleep in my tent.”

Michi looked horrified at the thought. “I’m not sleeping with you.”

“Listen, there’s no way we can put that bloody thing back up with nothing but this torch.”

He had a point. “Perhaps if you shine it there I can find the pegs.”

Jake laughed at her. “Michi, don’t be daft. Come into my tent. I’m the lesser of two evils.” He leaned in close. “I did hear something out here.”

Michi was in Jake’s tent like a shot. Jake grabbed some of her bedding and dragged it in with him.

“Here, you’ll need this.”

“Thanks.” She lay her bedding out next to his.

Jake crawled back onto his mat and drew the light camp sheet over himself. “Just try and keep your hands to yourself, Michi.”

“I’ll do my best, Jake. Goodnight.”

And as much as she thought she’d never fall asleep, she was sound asleep in minutes.

*

The next morning Michi woke before Jake. She stared at him, sound asleep. He had endless lashes. There was no doubt that he’d backed off since Luna Park and been nothing but a gentleman and a friend since. She was glad, although part of her still wished he’d kiss her again. Chemistry like that didn’t come around often. She was almost temped to wake him and explore that chemistry. After all, a few more days and she’d never have to see him again. But deep down, she knew that was something that scared her.