Outback Reunion (Bunyip Bay #6)

Chapter Twenty-six

Gabi had found Luna playing Twister on the dry back lawn with Heidi and a couple of slightly older kids. ‘Grab your shoes, we’re leaving.’

‘What?’ Luna lost her balance as she looked up, falling in a heap on the plastic mat. She scowled up at her mum. ‘I don’t want to go. I’m having fun.’

‘Now!’ Gabi ordered in a tone that told her not to mess with her.

‘Is Mark leaving too?’ Luna asked, once she had her thongs on.

That’s when she realised he’d driven them here and that they were too far away from town to walk back themselves. Crap. Cursing silently, she searched around for someone who could help.

As luck would have it, the nearest person happened to be Drew, the cop. ‘Can you please give us a lift back to town?’

He frowned as if he might be about to say ‘no’, but then nodded. ‘Of course.’

Luna was placated by getting to ride in a police car and when Drew asked her how old she was and told her she was big enough to ride in the front next to him, Gabi could have kissed him. She needed the solitude of the back seat to try and wrap her head around what had just happened.

On the drive back to town, Luna pestered poor Drew with a hundred questions about everything on the dashboard, but he didn’t seem to mind too much, and Gabi couldn’t bring herself to intervene. When they were on a quiet stretch of road, he even let her push the buttons to turn the siren on. By the time they arrived at the lot, Luna had decided that when she grew up, she was going to be a policeman too—what would her grandparents think of that ?—and Gabi was beginning to wonder if she’d overreacted back at the party.

Had she really told Mark he was just like Dante?

Shame washed over her. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not once in the past week had he ever made her feel insignificant or unsafe. Instead, every word, every action—whether they were in bed together, just hanging out or dealing with an emergency—had been about lifting her up.

Oh God. He’d told her he had feelings for her, that he wanted to be with her, and she’d basically thrown it all back in his face.

Tears leaked down her cheeks as she realised she had big feelings for him too. Huge feelings. How could she not?

She wanted the picture he’d painted of her and Luna living a normal life in Bunyip Bay, one of the most beautiful places she’d ever been. Maybe he could have gone about convincing her in a different way, but his heart had been in the right place. As had all his friends. The fact that all those people had agreed to help him didn’t make them manipulative at all. They were good, caring friends, the kind of people she’d like in her and Luna’s corner.

But Luna had made it more than clear she wouldn’t give them her blessing as a couple. She didn’t want to move to Bunyip Bay and leaving the circus would mean taking her away from the only family she had.

Then again, Luna was only seven years old. Did she really know what was best for her? For them? Growing up in this town, going to a regular school, being able to make friends would offer her the kind of stability Gabi never had. Perhaps the positives would outweigh the negatives of leaving her family. And just because they left the circus wouldn’t mean they’d never see Eve and Lorenzo again. Dante’s parents were good people; they might be hurt but they wouldn’t turn their backs on them. Would they?

Maybe she and Luna could just take a break to start with. Test the waters here in Bunyip Bay. Test the waters with Mark—they’d have to take things slow for Luna’s sake anyway.

Did she have the guts to do that?

She wasn’t sure but she knew one thing. She needed to apologise to him. She had to tell him she didn’t believe he was like her husband at all, that the time they’d had together this past week was the best time of her life, and that whatever happened she would cherish it—and him—always. She couldn’t leave things the way they were between them.

‘Thanks for the lift,’ she told Drew as she climbed out of the car and Luna dashed off to go to the bathroom.

He shrugged. ‘All good. I’m supposed to be on duty, so it was time to head back to the station anyway. You enjoy the rest of your day.’

‘You too.’

She’d barely closed the car door before Eve rushed out to greet her. ‘Oh, Gabi, thank God you’re back.’

Her heart shot to her throat at the panic in her mother-in-law’s voice and the fact that she didn’t even comment on their arrival in a police car. ‘What’s wrong? Has something happened? Is it Lorenzo?’

Please, God, don’t let him have had another heart attack .

None of them could deal with any more loss.

Eve shook her head. ‘Not exactly. It’s the Saad sisters. They did a midnight runner. Last night. I went to see if they needed anything from the shop just before lunch and found this note.’

Gabi took the piece of paper Eve thrust at her and read: The three of us can no longer work together. To save our family we have decided to go home and find different work. Please accept our camels as payment for leaving you in the lurch.

‘Payment!’ Eve made a sound not unlike the camels spitting. ‘Those beasts are a pain in the behind. They’re no good to us at all without their trainers. Never mind their upkeep and food. Lorenzo is working himself up into such a state.’ It sounded like she wasn’t far behind him. ‘The stress isn’t good for his heart. Can you go talk to him?’ she begged. ‘You always seem to know what to do in an emergency.’

‘Of course.’ Gabi screwed up the paper and shoved it into her pocket. There wasn’t time to be angry at the Saad sisters, although she couldn’t help resenting their ability to forgo responsibility and run. ‘Where is he?’

Eve pointed towards the trailer they used as the office, ticket booth and occasional temporary storage area. ‘He’s in there, trying to work out how to fill tonight’s show without the Saads.’

‘It’s going to be okay,’ Gabi promised and then hurried towards the trailer, her heart sinking as she realised there was no way she could even contemplate leaving right now.

Lorenzo looked up as she entered, his face grey and the lines around his eyes deeper than usual. He’d aged years in the six months since Dante had died; these days things he’d once have treated like water off a duck’s back really hit him hard. ‘You’ve heard?’

She nodded, her heart squeezing with guilt.

‘Why do people always leave under the cover of darkness?’ He dropped his head into his hands. ‘How are we supposed to fill three acts at such short notice? And who will man the food trucks?’

That’s exactly why the Saad sisters had left in the middle of the night; they’d known that if they’d tried to resign properly, Lorenzo and Eve would have tried to change their minds. At least until they could find someone to replace them. Not that that would be easy. Ever since Covid, when many performers had fled back to their own countries, not wanting to be trapped in Australia, they’d struggled to find quality acts.

‘Take a deep breath,’ Gabi said, grabbing a bottle of water from a box on the floor and handing it to her father-in-law. ‘And have a drink. It’s going to be fine. I promise.’

She sat down beside him and pulled their latest program towards her.

‘You and I can do the contortion act. Me in the boxes and you distracting the audience. The Dangerous Duo can add some time to the Globe of Death—the audience can never get enough of that anyway. I’ll do another floor act and Desmond can add some more audience involvement.’

Fifteen minutes later, they’d worked out a new schedule with the performers they had left, and Gabi had sent out emails to their contacts and agents, letting them know they needed new acts if anyone was interested in a change of scenery.

Lorenzo looked like he was going to cry with relief. ‘I think I’m getting too old for this, but now that Dante’s gone... the circus is all I have left.’

‘That’s not true.’ She squeezed his hand. ‘You have Eve, and you have Luna, and you have me.’

He put his free arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him. ‘You’re absolutely right. What would I do without you as my right-hand gal? Promise me you’ll never let anything happen to you.’

‘I promise,’ Gabi whispered, fighting hard to keep from crying. If it wasn’t for her, he’d still have his son to help in times of crisis.

‘But what the hell are we going to do with those bloody camels?’ he asked, attempting a chuckle, clearly trying to lighten the mood.

‘I’ll take care of the camels,’ she said. ‘If we don’t use them in the performance, we can use Lenore at least to give rides to the kids before the show, but let’s not worry about that right now. We need to tell everyone about the new program.’

Gabi stood, patted Lorenzo on the shoulder and then walked outside and almost straight into Mark. It was like their collision in the supermarket.

Had that really only been a week ago?

‘I’m so sorry for not being honest about the party,’ he gushed, his hands landing on her arms to steady her. ‘You’re right. What I did was stupid. I’m an idiot, but I do love you, and I reckon you feel the same about me.’

God. Her heart squeezed. What would be worse? Telling him she loved him but couldn’t be with him, or lying?

‘I’m not like Dante, I promise,’ he added.

‘I know. I’m sorry I said that. I was just...’ She shook her head and pulled him away from the trailer so Lorenzo couldn’t hear them. ‘I was in shock, but now’s not a good time to talk about this, Mark.’

‘Please, don’t do this. Don’t push me away.’

‘I’m not,’ she promised, her heart aching at the anguish in his eyes. ‘I overreacted, but now’s really not a good time. We’re dealing with a bit of an emergency.’

He frowned. ‘Why? Has something happened? Is it Lorenzo’s heart again?’

‘No. It’s the Saad sisters. They ran away in the middle of the night.’

Mark’s eyes widened. ‘People really do that?’

‘Yes, and the Saads are a huge part of our act at the moment, so they’ve left a big hole.’

‘How’s it possible to do a midnight runner with three camels in tow?’

‘It’s not. They left the camels.’ Gabi sighed. ‘Do you have any idea how much work it takes to cart those things about and look after them?’

‘I can imagine.’

‘Anyway, I can’t worry about that right now. We’ve still got a show to put on in a few hours.’

‘Let me help.’

‘How?’ she spluttered.

He smiled. ‘You tell me. I’ll do whatever is needed. I’ll help backstage, be an usher or sell hot dogs or something. Anything so that the rest of you can focus on performing.’

Gabi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at his offer. ‘Why would you do that?’

He gazed down seriously at her. ‘You know why, Gabriela.’

Shivers ran through her body at the warmth in his eyes and his voice, but could she really allow him to do this when she couldn’t give him what he wanted?

As if reading her mind, he said, ‘No strings. Honestly. Let me help you get through this evening and we’ll talk after that.’