Page 55 of Outback Secrets
Chapter Fifteen
When Henri walked into The Palace on Sunday night, her belly wobbled as if she’d just stepped off the Gravitron ride at the Perth Royal Show. The thoughts inside her head were so loud she barely registered the sounds of Radiohead blasting from the stereo, or who else was around. She hadn’t seen Liam since 3 am that morning when he’d escaped to have a shower and she’d fallen asleep on the couch.
Exactly six hours later she’d woken to an empty apartment—no sign of him, no sign of Sheila, only the faintest hint of aftershave still lingering in the bathroom. She’d dressed quickly and gone downstairs, thinking she’d find him in the office, the storeroom or out in the workshop, but she couldn’t find him anywhere.
It was then that she first wondered if he’d disappeared on purpose. Had she pushed him too far asking probing questions about his family?
She’d gone home, hoping to find something outside to distract her but had been roped into helping her mum, nieces and nephews make gingerbread houses instead. Not exactly the manual labour she’d felt she needed and, although she’d been busy and distracted by the kids, she hadn’t been distracted enough not to have plenty of time to stress about Liam.
All day she’d been trying to convince herself she was worrying about nothing. Perhaps he’d simply had somewhere else to be that morning and hadn’t wanted to wake her to say goodbye?
Whatever the case, she’d dithered about coming in tonight, eating popcorn and watching Elf on TV with her mum and Macy, who was sleeping over again because Tilley and James had a Christmas function on in Geraldton. When the movie finally ended, her mother had wanted to know whether Henri was heading into town tonight, and she’d been tempted to say no and stay home, but decided it was best to face Liam and see where they stood. To apologise if she’d overstepped the mark last night.
If he wanted to end their charade, she’d understand. It had been a ridiculous idea and a lot to ask of a near stranger anyway, but the thought of not having an excuse to spend time with him anymore left her numb. Maybe she could offer to continue the surfing lessons anyway?
As the multicoloured fly strips swished behind her, Liam glanced up. Their gazes snagged and Henri’s breath caught in her throat.
She’d never be able to look at the logo of an alcohol company again without her heart beating a little faster. Or eat a Tim Tam.
Ignoring the urge to turn and run away, she hitched her bag on her shoulder, held her chin high and headed towards him.
‘Hey!’ he said as he came around the bar and leaned in to give her a quick kiss. ‘You smell like ginger.’
‘That’d be because I’ve spent the whole day surrounded by it. I was helping Mum make gingerbread houses with the kids.’
‘Yum. Did you bring me any? As your boyfriend, shouldn’t I at least get a sample?’
She relaxed immediately. If he was joking about being her boyfriend, he couldn’t be too mad. ‘Sorry. Didn’t think. I’ll see if there’s any left and bring you some tomorrow.’
‘All good.’ He placed his hand in the small of her back and led her over to the bar.
Henri said ‘Hi’ to Dylan, who was loading clean glasses from a tray onto the shelves beneath the bar, and then climbed up on a stool next to Sexy Rexy—a name as ill-fitting as ever there was, but that was country folks for you. They loved nicknames and they loved irony. She nodded an acknowledgement.
Miraculously, the town drunk didn’t skedaddle away as he normally did when she attempted conversation. Maybe it was because Henri was later than usual, and he had enough Dutch courage to make talking to strange women not quite as scary.
‘Can I get you a drink?’ Liam asked.
‘Rumour has it you make a pretty good cocktail.’
Liam lowered his head in one slow nod. ‘That rumour would be correct.’
‘Excellent. Then I’ll have a Sex on the Beach, please.’
Where the hell had that come from? Henri didn’t even know what Sex on the Beach entailed—well, not the drink variety; the literal variety she imagined would be very, very sandy and not particularly comfortable. But if the colour Liam’s cheeks suddenly turned was anything to go by, then he was thinking about the latter as well.
Her Kegel muscles squeezed of their own accord.
‘Coming right up,’ he said, already starting to gather the ingredients.
As she watched him skilfully mix vodka with peach schnapps, orange and cranberry juice, her thoughts once again turned to last night. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d stayed up that late, or rather early.
The game of Truth or Dare had made the night feel flirtatious, even though a lot of what she’d told him had been anything but light. It was one of the weirdest conversations she’d ever had because the serious nature of what she’d shared had felt in stark contrast to the low-level hum sparking between them.
‘Here you go, one Sex on the Beach.’ Liam placed a glass containing a colourful drink topped with one of those paper umbrellas in front of her. ‘Enjoy.’
He kept a straight face, but Henri felt fireworks skate across her cheeks. She really couldn’t work him out. Was he flirting with her or merely in character?
‘Thank you,’ she managed, then took a much-needed sip of the cool, sweetly delicious liquid.