Outback Reunion (Bunyip Bay #6)

Chapter Five

As it was just after nine o’clock on a Friday night in the middle of summer, The Palace Hotel was, unsurprisingly, full when Mark arrived. There were several people who’d also been to the circus, a bunch of young guys and girls—some he recognised, some he didn’t—laughing and jostling around the pool table and even a band playing on a makeshift stage in the corner. Not a bad band either. He wasn’t big on country music but the duo was undeniably good, and much better than the music the last publican used to play on repeat when Mark had occasionally come here as a kid for dinner with his family.

The décor had improved too. These days The Palace had walls painted a pale yellow with black and white prints of other rural pubs on display. Mark recognised a few from some road trips he and Tahlia had done, and he knew that hardly any of those pubs looked as good on the inside as this one. Liam, the new publican, had proved to be a man of many talents. In addition to renovation and redecoration, he’d handcrafted most of the furniture in the pub, giving it a modern but rustic feel.

It even rivalled some of the team’s regular haunts in Melbourne.

Mark passed a couple who looked to be having a romantic dinner as he weaved through the tables to the bar. Should he buy Gabriela a drink? He remembered the cocktails she’d been drinking the night they met and knew Liam could make anything he requested, but what if her tastes had changed since then? Maybe he should wait until she arrived before ordering, he thought as he took a seat beside Sexy Rexy. ‘Hey, mate.’

The old bloke, who was as much a part of The Palace as the stool he was sitting on, smelled like he hadn’t had a shower since finishing work at the tip. He tipped his pint towards Mark in greeting.

‘What’s got you looking all cat-got-the-cream?’ Henri Forward said from behind the bar.

Ignoring her question, Mark said, ‘Never thought I’d see the day you were pulling beers in here.’

Henri was an agricultural pilot by profession and the last person he’d ever expected to see behind the bar. Although she’d grown up in Bunyip Bay like him, she mostly worked far away, but just before Christmas she’d fallen for the publican.

She shrugged and grinned. ‘Lust makes a girl do crazy things.’

‘You meeting your lady friend from the circus?’ came a voice behind him. Faith.

He turned to see Frankie right behind her.

‘She’s not my lady friend , but yes, I am meeting her.’ Mark tried to tame his grin.

He hadn’t planned on asking Gabriela on a date, but now she’d said yes, he felt like a kid at Christmas waiting for the arrival of Santa Claus. Perhaps she was exactly the distraction he needed to help put Tahlia behind him.

‘What lady friend?’ Henri demanded, leaning her elbows on the bar. Liam and their two backpacker bartenders were busily serving drinks nearby.

‘Mark’s got a friend in the circus,’ Frankie all but sang. ‘Can we get a bottle of your best sav blanc and five glasses, please?’

‘Only four,’ Faith corrected. ‘Stella’s breastfeeding so she’s not drinking.’

Stella was married to another farmer friend, Adam Burton. You’d think there was something in the water here, considering how many of his old mates had recently got engaged or hitched and started having kids.

Then again, maybe it was just that time of life. Hadn’t he also tied the knot?

Fat load of good that had done him. So much for standing by someone in sickness and in health.

Pushing his soon to be ex-wife out of his head as Henri turned to fetch the drinks, Mark looked to Faith. ‘What have you done with your kids?’

She grinned. ‘Ryan and Grant came in and collected them. They’re having a sleepover with their favourite uncles so I can have one last hurrah with the girls before heading back down south.’

‘It’s gonna get messy,’ added Frankie.

Mark chuckled.

‘What was the circus like?’ asked Henri as she placed the four glasses and an ice bucket with the bottle in it on the counter. ‘When I was a little kid, we saw one when we were on holiday in Albany, but I’ve not been since.’

‘It was actually amazing,’ Frankie said. ‘Much better than I imagined. You and Liam should try and go. I think there’s a matinee on Sunday.’

Overhearing, Liam snorted from a few feet away where he was shaking up some kind of cocktail. ‘No thanks. I’d rather shove my head in the oven and serve myself to the CWA on a platter.’

‘Aw, but you’d go if I wanted to go, wouldn’t you, babe?’ Henri said, batting her eyelids at Liam in a very un-Henri way. She and Mark had been sparring partners at school and on the footy oval. She’d been the resident tomboy—not that you were supposed to say that anymore—and seeing her act all smoochy and lovesick was bizarre.

Liam scowled at his new girlfriend. ‘ Do you want to go?’

She shook her head and laughed.

‘Thank fuck,’ he said, unscrewing the lid of the cocktail shaker.

‘What can I get for you, Mark?’ Henri asked.

He glanced towards the door, wondering when Gabriela would get here. ‘Just a half pint, thanks.’

‘Do you want to join us until your friend arrives?’ Frankie asked, nodding over to a table where Simone and Ruby were sitting with Stella, a baby strapped to her chest in some kind of sling contraption.

‘I wouldn’t want to gatecrash your girls’ night.’

But Faith was already grabbing his hand. ‘Don’t be silly.’

‘Mark’s joining us for a little while,’ Frankie announced when they arrived at the table.

‘Hey, Simmo. Hi, Stella.’ He kissed both their cheeks before taking a seat. ‘Congrats on the new baby.’ The tiny thing sleeping on Stella’s chest was only a couple of weeks old—she’d gone into labour right here in the pub just before Christmas.

‘Thanks.’ She beamed down at the newborn.

‘So, which one was your friend?’ Faith asked as Mark took a sip of his beer. ‘We’ve been taking bets.’

He mentally groaned.

Frankie began pouring the wine. ‘I reckon it’s the hula-hoop woman. How good was she? She has moves I didn’t even have as a kid.’

‘She’s old enough to be my mum!’ Mark scoffed.

‘Or was she one of those contortionists with the camels?’ asked Faith. ‘I can barely dance at all—never mind balance on the back of a camel while doing it.’

‘What about the little girl and those dogs?!’ Frankie exclaimed, her hand pressed against her chest. ‘She was so cute. I thought my heart was going to explode.’

Mark was appalled. ‘Yeah, she was talented but slightly too young for me. Did anyone think she looks familiar though? She reminds me of someone... maybe on a TV show or something?’

They all shook their heads, then Ruby said smugly, ‘Your girl was the talent on the tightrope, wasn’t she? She has more flexibility than the Barbies I had as a kid.’

‘How’d you guess?’ he asked.

Ruby smiled knowingly over the top of her glass. ‘I was watching you from across the tent and you couldn’t keep your eyes off her. So go on, tell us, what’s the story?’

He shrugged. ‘There isn’t really one. She’s just someone I met once in Melbourne. We barely know each other.’

‘Uh huh,’ said all five women at once, their smirks letting him know they didn’t buy his story.

He felt heat rising on the back of his neck. ‘Where’s your baby tonight?’ he asked Simone, not subtle in his attempt to change the topic.

‘Angus took her back to Mingenew to the farm and I’m staying at Frankie’s tonight.’ She downed almost half her wine, then added, ‘You can bet your bottom dollar I’m making the most of a kid-free night.’

The women laughed and clinked their glasses together, then Faith turned her gaze on him.

‘How are you going, Mark? After... you know... everything?’

Of course he bloody well knew. As if stuffing his knee so that he could never play again wasn’t bad enough, Tahlia deciding she didn’t want to move back to the farm with him had thrown salt on the wounds. Not to mention what had happened next.

Why did women always want to talk about emotional baggage?

‘I’m fine,’ he lied, glancing towards the door. Where the hell was Gabriela?

‘Are you still in touch with your old teammates?’ asked Simone.

‘A couple.’ It was hard when his friends were also on the same team as the man who’d slept with his wife. They still had to play with Alex, so picking sides wasn’t as simple as it normally might be.

Frankie smiled. ‘And how’s your injury? Your mum told mine you were getting physio in Gero?’

He nodded and automatically stretched his leg out. ‘Yeah, it’s not too bad, when I bother to do my exercises.’

Everyone laughed.

‘That’s great to hear,’ Frankie said, leaning forward a bit, ‘because... we may have had an ulterior motive inviting you to join us.’

‘Oh?’ He took a nervous gulp of his beer. If they wanted to set him up with someone, he was going to tell them to take a ticket and get in line behind Grant. And his mother. Since he was her only chance of ever having grandchildren, she’d been almost as devastated as him when he and Tahlia separated.

She nodded. ‘We’re trying to get a new girls’ AFL team off the ground this year and we were wondering if you’d be the coach.’

Girls’ footy? Mark’s chest squeezed and his grip tightened on the glass. This might be even worse than a set-up.

‘Just a kids team,’ Stella said, adjusting the baby. ‘My daughter, Heidi, and some of her little friends want to play. I know they’re probably way beneath your pay grade but they’re really enthusiastic and—’

‘And the boys are teasing them and telling them that they’re not good enough,’ interrupted Simmo, ‘but if you coached them, that would shut the little shits up.’

‘We can’t pay you though,’ Stella added apologetically.

‘I’m not really great with little kids,’ he said when they finally let him get a word in.

It was just an excuse. He loved kids, but he’d already declined an offer to coach the local men’s team because he couldn’t bear to be around the game when he could no longer play himself. Merely thinking about it made his knee twinge painfully. And if he agreed to coach junior AFLW, the club would pester him for more involvement and commitment.

Frankie waved away his excuse. ‘They’re all as sweet as excited little puppies. They’ll love you and you’ll love them.’

If Rookie was any indication, his track record with puppies wasn’t that great. How the hell was he going to get out of this?

‘Can’t Adam do it?’ He was Heidi’s stepfather after all.

‘He could,’ Stella said, ‘but with this new bundle, the farm, and volunteering for the firies, he might not always be reliable.’

Whereas Mark had no kids, no wife, and his dad was still—currently—working with him on the farm.

He looked to Ruby. ‘What about Drew?’

She scoffed. ‘Drew only knows how to play football with a round ball. My dad’s tried so hard to teach him the rules of AFL but...’ Her voice drifted off as she shook her head.

If Ruby’s dad wasn’t currently caring for his very ill wife, Mark would suggest he coach the girls. Just when he was thinking he might have to feign a terminal illness, Faith tipped her head towards the door.

‘Speaking of... look who’s here!’

Mark swung his neck so hard in the direction of the entrance that he almost twisted a muscle. His mind had gone immediately to Gabriela, but it was Sergeant Drew Noble striding towards them in his police blues like some cop in an American Western.

Or rather striding towards Ruby. He yanked her out of her seat, pulled her against him and planted what looked to be one scorching kiss on her mouth.

Mark’s eyes boggled and, as the women giggled, he stared uncomfortably into his beer. Someone really ought to tell them to get a room!

Finally, they tore their mouths apart.

‘Sorry, ladies, and uh... Mark,’ Drew said, grinning around the circle. ‘I promise I’m not staying, but I couldn’t go home without kissing my bride goodnight.’

‘And they say romance is dead,’ Simone hooted, grabbing the bottle and frowning as only dregs tipped into her already empty glass.

Drew laughed. ‘Well, have a good night, and call me if you need a lift home.’

‘I’m fine to drive them,’ Stella said.

‘Great.’ Drew gave Ruby another X-rated kiss, and as he left, Mark also made his excuses.

‘Junior girls’ footy?’ Stella asked, hope in her eyes as he stood.

Mark sighed. ‘I’ll think about it,’ he promised, vowing to come up with a better excuse before they asked him again, and headed back to the bar to order another half pint.

‘Your girl not here yet?’ asked Henri as she poured his drink.

‘She’ll be here soon,’ he replied, hoping he was right.

‘Who d’you think will win the Grand Final this year then?’ asked Sexy Rexy from the stool next to Mark.

He blinked; the season hadn’t even started yet. ‘Still a little early to predict that, Rex.’

In the end, they talked about Sexy Rexy’s new claim to fame as the town’s wealthy hero—Mark still couldn’t understand why he worked at the tip if he was rolling in money—and the chicken coop he was planning to build on the farm, for which he still needed to buy supplies. The whole project had totally slipped his mind after running into Gabriela the other day.

Every time the door opened, his heart swelled and then deflated again when she didn’t appear.

‘Did I hear you say you were building a chicken coop?’ Stella asked as she came up to the bar and ordered a glass of Diet Coke. ‘Don’t judge me. Lily’s just fed, and she’ll hopefully sleep for hours now, but I need some caffeine to help me keep up with that lot.’

Mark shrugged. ‘No judgement here. And yes, to the chicken coop.’

‘Our chooks had babies a couple of months ago. Heidi wants to keep them all, but that’s not practical, so you’d be doing us a favour if you took some off our hands.’

‘Thanks, that’d be great. I’ll pay you of course.’

She smiled as Liam handed her the drink. ‘No worries. Just come over when you’re ready.’

Stella returned to her friends and Adam to his small talk with Sexy Rexy.

His half pint turned to one and a half, the girls’ night grew louder, the band packed up, and people began to leave. When the blokes around the pool table called it a night, Mark thought he should probably leave too, but however much of a fool it made him, he couldn’t bring himself to do so.

What if he went and then Gabriela arrived?

He ordered another pint instead, and couldn’t stop glancing down at his phone, watching the time tick closer to midnight.

When Liam called, ‘Last drinks,’ Mark had to accept she wasn’t coming.

He should be angry she’d made him look like an idiot in front of his old friends, but all he felt was disappointment.