Page 55 of Blackout

There was a moment’s silence before Connor spoke again. ‘Lex let me borrow her car to come here. I’d better make a move so she can head back to Melbourne. Thanks for the chance to apologise. Sorry I interrupted your personal time.’

‘You’re not going back with Lex?’

‘No.’ Connor shook his head. ‘If I want my clean slate to work, I need to stay away from temptation, and Melbourne is full of it.’

‘Connor, if you are serious about your clean slate, don’t be a stranger.’ Zach shook hands with his brother. ‘If you’re done being a dick, it’d be nice to have my big brother back.’ Then the front door closed and there was the faint sound of an engine, a rumble as it started and moved away from the house. Connor was gone.

‘Coffee?’

I nodded then followed Zach into the kitchen and made myself comfortable at the breakfast bar. ‘Your brother apologised.’

Zach sat next to me as he passed over my coffee. The man knew how to make café quality coffee.

‘It’s a start. Let’s see how serious he is about not being an arsehole and getting into trouble.’

We both knew there was a long way to go.

‘I didn’t think Connor had it in him to apologise to you or to me, but yesterday before I got into Lex’s car, he did.’

‘Harley,’ Zach uncurled his fingers from his coffee cup and stood up. ‘It’s great my brother apologised to the both of us, but he’s not who we need to talk about.’ The words left Zach’s lips to land in my ear on a whisper.

‘Who do we need to talk about?’ I knew full well who Zach wanted to talk about. Me. Harley James.

‘Harley,’ Zach warned.

I knew he wanted to know all about the last four weeks. My absence. But we were interrupted by my phone ringing. I’d been gone a little more twelve hours, and someone in my family was already reaching out to me. It was my mother.

‘Is everything okay?’ I asked after saying hello.

‘Everything’s fine. I wanted to let you know I’ve made some changes to the family trust your dad set up.’

I went into Zach’s bedroom for some privacy. ‘Our family meeting was less than twenty-four hours ago and you’re already making changes to the James Family Trust? Why?’

‘Your dad is why. Brad is on his way to see you at Zach’s, and he’ll be able to explain everything better than I can.’

Oh, I thought to myself, but didn’t say it out loud. ‘Grandma gave me the keys to the bungalow. She thinks we should rent it out, but I think we should sell it.’

‘Have you got a buyer in mind?’

‘No, but I can get Zach to ask around.’

‘Talk to Brad,’ my mother said before she told me she had to go.

As I hung up, I saw a message on my screen. Grandma James had sent me a text.

GJ: I’ve organised a removalist. He’ll be there soon. I’ll leave finding storage up to you.

I tossed my phone onto Zach’s bed and walked back into the kitchen.

‘Everything okay?’ Zach asked me.

‘Mum said dad’s former lawyer, Brad Waters, is on his way here, and he will explain everything when he gets here.’ Brad wasn’t the only person on his way as the removalist for next door was as well. But I couldn’t tell Zach that because there was more to explain than a lawyer and a removalist. There was the last four weeks to tell Zach about. I just needed the right time to share everything.

Our family meeting had been less than twenty-four hours ago, and my mother had already made some changes. Wasn’t it too soon to be making big changes to my father’s trust? Was the bakery and the trust too much to handle for her? Is that why she was sending Brad?

Zach’s jaw twitched, all he wanted was for us to talk. But we kept being interrupted. With the way this day was unfolding, everything I wanted and needed to say to Zach would be told before I had the chance to do so in private.

I swivelled on my stool when I heard a knock at the front door. As I made a move to answer it, Zach gave a slight shake of his head. For some reason, Zach wanted to be the one to answer the door. I wondered if it was Brad.