Page 67 of Outback Secrets
Chapter Eighteen
The island was practically deserted when they disembarked. Glenn bid them farewell and flew back to the mainland for another charter, promising to return later that afternoon to collect them.
‘Wow.’ Henri glanced around as the plane became a distant speck in the sky. ‘I feel like we’re in the middle of nowhere and nowhere is paradise.’
Her hair was flapping around her face as the wind blew vigorously, but the only other sounds around them were the gentle waves nearby and the occasional cry of a bird overhead. They were standing at the edge of the red-dirt airstrip—island shrubbery and little shacks on one side, pristine ocean on the other. The sky was blue, the temperature comfortable, and Liam had to agree with her description.
‘What do you want to do first?’ he asked as she dug a cap out of her backpack to restrain her hair. ‘We could go for a walk and find somewhere to put the geocache, or do you want to start with a swim? I brought snorkel gear for both of us and snacks. Are you hungry yet?’
He was babbling as if nervous and perhaps he was. It had seemed like a good idea—albeit a risky one—to encourage Henri to try to conquer her fear of flying, but now that they were here alone, he wondered how he was supposed to be on his best behaviour around her for the next few hours with no one but the wildlife as chaperones.
But Liam didn’t need to be nervous.
It turned out they weren’t completely alone on the island. Glenn and another pilot for Geraldton Air Charter returned in just over an hour with a group of tourists and, on their walk around East Wallabi, Liam and Henri ran into a couple of islanders as well.
They didn’t exchange more than brief greetings with the other people over the course of the day, but when they were alone, he felt completely at ease and relaxed in her company. Yes, he was still crazy attracted to her, but the friendship developing between them felt even stronger—she knew things about him and he about her that no one else did—and he didn’t want to jeopardise that.
Liam had thought he was doing fine without such a friend in his life—that he got all the social interaction he needed in the pub—but Henri made him wonder otherwise. He hoped they’d stay friends and hang out again next time she was home.
They spotted a couple of wallabies, lots of birds and a large lizard sunning itself on a rock as they searched for the perfect place to plant their geocache, before they came upon the abandoned school.
‘I thought this might be a good spot,’ Liam suggested. ‘How about under that rusty old slide?’
‘You did do your research.’ Henri sounded impressed as he pulled an old biscuit tin out of his backpack and showed her the pencil, small notebook, Palace souvenir keyring, tiny first-aid kit and a Bunyip figurine he’d bought from the CRC. ‘It’s like you’ve done this before or something.’
‘I’d never even heard about geocaching until you mentioned it, but I guess I can see the appeal.’
She smiled triumphantly. ‘Told you it was fun.’
They worked out the coordinates and then Henri logged onto the app on her phone and registered their brand-new geocache. ‘Considering you can only get here via air or sea, it’ll be interesting to see how long it takes someone to find it,’ she said.
‘How’d you get into geocaching?’ Liam asked as they walked back towards the beach where they planned to swim, snorkel and picnic the next few hours away.
‘My dad.’
Her answer didn’t surprise him.
‘He heard about it from an old friend about fifteen years ago. Tilley was already married, and the boys weren’t interested either, but I thought it sounded fun. We’d always go on a hunt when I was home or if he came to visit me. Dad used to collect the stupid crap from Christmas crackers to leave in the caches. Oh God, look!’
A sea lion resting on the sand not far away derailed their conversation. Liam lost track of time as they watched the beautiful creature sunning itself. Eventually it shuffled over to a rock and then flopped into the water, and he and Henri decided to do the same. For over an hour, they stayed in the cool calm water, coming up occasionally for air and to marvel over the kaleidoscope of fish and other wonders they’d seen in the colourful coral below, before finally drying off on the sand, reapplying sun cream and then getting stuck into the lunch he’d packed early that morning.
Conversation ebbed and flowed as they ate. Under the sun, soaking up its gentle warmth, they talked about everything. Annoying habits, pet hates, food quirks, the school plays he’d performed in, the many detentions she’d been given at boarding school, the instruments they’d both been forced to learn as kids. He learned that when she was growing up her friends had devoured magazines called Dolly and Girlfriend whereas she’d much preferred her parents’ Farm Weekly and had asked for a subscription to Australian Flying and Aviation for her fifteenth birthday. He told her about breaking both his legs at summer camp and was surprised to hear Henri had never broken so much as her little toe. They even spoke about religion. They’d both gone to church while they were growing up, but Liam was now a lapsed Catholic and Henri an atheist.
‘At least I’m ninety-nine per cent sure that’s what I am.’
Although they covered a lot of ground, there were also stretches of time where neither of them said anything. He knew you couldn’t be like this with everyone—with some people silence was so awkward you felt compelled to say absolutely anything to fill it.
When the food had been devoured, they lay on their towels, Caspian gulls soaring overhead and diving down into the sea every few minutes to fish.
Liam decided it was time to broach the subject of her flying. ‘How do you feel about the fact we flew here? I know you were scared and I’m sorry if I pushed you.’
Henri turned her head to smile at him. ‘No—thank you. I think it was a great first step. Sure, I was terrified at first—I wanted to kill you—but I’ve forgiven you. I’m glad you encouraged me and damn proud of myself for following through.’
‘Me too.’ He grinned. ‘Do you feel less anxious about going back to work?’
She sighed. ‘I don’t know. I hope so. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.’
They were quiet for a while and Liam lay back, his hands resting behind his head, simply enjoying the serenity. ‘Is that an eagle?’ he asked when a grey and white bird that looked far too powerful to be a seagull flew high above.