Secrets in Pelican Crossing (Pelican Crossing #2)

One

Liz Phillips was enjoying a mid-morning cup of coffee on her balcony. From here she had a perfect view of the Pelican Crossing marina and across the bay to where her friend Poppy’s house stood on the clifftop. She’d bought the apartment six years ago, after her divorce, and always felt at peace here among the pots of vegetables and herbs she’d established after reading the book by Indira Naidoo which described how to grow your own vegetables in a small space.

But this morning, peace was hard to find. Her mind was in a turmoil. It was her birthday, her fiftieth birthday. Where had the years gone? It seemed only yesterday she’d been a young girl eager for what life had to offer. These days, when she looked in the mirror, she could see the wrinkles and laugh lines around her eyes and mouth, and the black hair she’d been so proud of was now showing a few streaks of grey. The only things that hadn’t changed were her eyes, that unique shade of green Tommy had told her had captivated him.

Tommy! It was six years since the divorce, since he’d left her. Her mind went back to those halcyon days when they’d first met.

Liz had had the reputation of being a bit of a wild child and a flirt until Tommy Phillips came to town and bowled her over. A Scotsman who was backpacking his way around Australia, he had found bar work at The Grand Hotel in Pelican Crossing. He’d only been there for a week when Liz walked in with a group of friends. They were there to celebrate her eighteenth birthday when it was legal for her to drink alcohol. Their eyes met and the rest, as they say, was history. She had sponsored him to obtain his resident’s visa when Tara was on the way, and after they married, he’d taken out citizenship.

Tara’s birth had taken them by surprise, but they’d both fallen in love with their little girl and had planned a large family. It was only after a few years of disappointment and several miscarriages that Mandy had arrived.

Tommy had continued to work at The Grand , progressing from barman, to manager, to owning the hotel. It was when Mandy was seventeen and just after Tara’s marriage, a new barmaid had caught his eye. The news the girl was pregnant was the last straw for Liz who had turned a blind eye to his various affairs over the years. Tommy and his new love left town, the hotel was sold, and Liz started work at the medical centre vowing never to let another man into her life… until Mandy started to bug her about online dating, and Liz realised how lonely her life had become with Tara married and Mandy sharing a house with an old schoolfriend.

But the passing years weren’t the only things disturbing her this morning. In the collection of cards she’d picked up from the mailbox when she returned from her early morning walk, there had been an envelope with unfamiliar writing, one which made her gut churn and sent her heart rate spiralling. It was one she’d been both hoping for and dreading for the past sixteen years. She’d read it and slid it into the drawer in her bedside table. She’d decide what to about it later.

She drained her coffee and rose. Tara and Mandy would be arriving soon. They were taking her out to lunch at Crossings , the restaurant owned and managed by her friend, Poppy, and she had to shower and change before then.

When she heard their voices at the door, Liz was ready, dressed in a pair of tailored navy pants and a blue and white striped shirt, her short hair a mass of curls which, to her surprise, showed the grey streaks to advantage and suited her heart-shaped face. A small, slim woman, she’d always worn her hair long until a few weeks ago when she’d decided to have it cut. She was still getting used to it.

‘Happy birthday, Mum!’

First, Mandy, then Tara, hugged and kissed her.

‘You’re looking great,’ Mandy said. ‘Love the hair. I have to admit I wasn’t sure when you said you planned to get it cut, but it suits you. Don’t you agree?’ She turned to her sister .

‘I do. Despite the grey, I think it makes you look younger,’ Tara said.

‘Hmm.’ Liz wasn’t sure about that, but she was glad her daughters approved of her new look. ‘Shall we go?’

The restaurant was a two-storey building situated across from the beach. Originally a fish shop, Poppy’s parents had transformed it into a restaurant, then Poppy and her late husband had renovated the hundred-year-old building to create the prize-winning restaurant it was today. When they entered the restaurant, Poppy hurried to greet them. ‘Happy birthday, Liz,’ she said, hugging her. ‘Let me show you to your table.’

Once they’d ordered the special of the day which was spanner crab lasagne with mango cheesecake to follow, they were surprised when Poppy sent over a complimentary bottle of Frogmore Creek chardonnay.

‘Happy birthday again, Mum,’ Tara and Mandy chorused as the three clinked their glasses.

‘Thanks, girls. I’m feeling so spoiled. I can’t believe I’m fifty.’

‘A very young-looking fifty,’ Mandy said with a grin. ‘This is for you.’ She handed Liz an envelope.

‘Thanks.’ Liz took a sip of wine before opening it. She didn’t trust the gleam in her daughter’s eyes. Inside the envelope was a card, and inside the card was a voucher for…

‘A hot air balloon ride? You’ve got to be kidding!’ Liz gazed at her daughter. Mandy had come up with a few weird ideas as birthday gifts over the years, but this was by far the strangest. Had she forgotten Liz’s fear of heights?

‘Come on, Mum. You’ll love it. Just think, you’ll be up above Pelican Crossing just as the sun is rising. What better way to celebrate turning fifty?’

Liz could think of plenty, one of which was to spend the day in bed. The previous few months had exhausted her, the work in the busy medical centre where she was practice manager taking its toll, not to mention the array of would-be partners from the online dating service – another of Mandy’s good ideas.

She looked at her older daughter, hoping for support.

To her surprise, Tara said, ‘Mandy may be right, Mum. Don’t they say that fifty is the new thirty? You’re not too old to try something new. It’ll be an adventure, take you out of your comfort zone. ’

‘I think Mandy already helped me do that when she persuaded me to try online dating.’ Liz couldn’t forget the selection of no-hopers who had turned up, culminating in an email she’d rather forget.

‘You didn’t give that a chance either,’ Mandy complained. ‘As you’ve always told me, you have to kiss a few frogs before you find your prince.’

‘They were certainly frogs.’ But Liz laughed. ‘Anyway, I won’t be going down that route anytime soon. I’m quite happy being single.’

And she was, though she remembered telling her friends, the three women she met regularly for lunch, that she was still in her prime and sometimes it got lonely. But after her experiences with Happy Hearts, the online dating service Mandy had persuaded her to join, she knew she wouldn’t find a new partner there.

It would be different, she thought, if she had grandchildren to fill her time, like her friend, Rachel. Even Poppy had become a grandmother recently, with two grandchildren and another two babies on the way. She gazed across the table at Tara. Her older daughter showed no sign of wanting to start a family.

‘Don’t look at me like that,’ Tara said, as if she could read Liz’s mind – which she often could; they had been very close since Tara was a child. ‘You know Mark and I are in no rush to start a family. We want to do more travelling first. Just because Jess and Amber chose to have babies doesn’t mean we have to,’ she said referring to her two best friends who were thirty, the same age as she was.

‘I’m only trying to help,’ Mandy said, still talking about the hot-air balloon ride. ‘Like I was with the online dating. I’m sorry you weren’t prepared to give it a chance. But maybe a new experience will help. You have to admit you’ve been in a rut since Dad left.’

Liz was about to deny it, then she considered Mandy’s words. Maybe she was right. After Tommy left and the hotel was sold, she knew her life had to change. The family home had been sold as part of the divorce settlement and she’d bought her apartment. She taken the job at the medical centre and her life had developed a new routine. Was she in a rut?

Their meals arrived, and the conversation moved to what they planned for Easter, which was only six weeks away, Tara surprising both Liz and Mandy by announcing she and Mark planned to travel to Paris for a couple of weeks and spend Easter there .

‘What about you, Mandy?’ Liz asked. Although she delighted in trying to arrange her mother’s life, Mandy hadn’t managed to find her own Mr Right. At twenty-four, she still had plenty of time, but Liz worried about how her younger daughter’s relationships never seemed to last.

To her surprise, Mandy blushed. ‘I’m going on a diving trip,’ she said. ‘Remember Gary Whittaker who I went to school with? His dad runs that fishing charter close to the marina.’

‘Of course. I know who he is. Didn’t he open a dive school alongside his dad’s business last year?’ Liz always managed to keep up with the local news, some gleaned through her work at the medical centre and some from Mandy herself. Among her friends it had earned her the reputation of being a gossip, but she just liked to keep informed and to share her news with others.

‘Yes.’ Mandy blushed again. ‘We caught up again when a couple of my clients decided to learn to dive… and I joined them. He’s organising this diving trip on Magnetic Island over Easter.’

‘Sounds like fun.’ Tara grinned at her sister.

Liz stared at her youngest daughter. Mandy had always been good at sport as a child, so it was no surprise when she decided to study to become a personal trainer rather than go to university. She wasn’t normally secretive, usually sharing even the smallest details of her life with her mother, but this was the first Liz had heard of her learning to dive.

‘I wasn’t sure you’d approve,’ she shrugged, clearly seeing Liz’s stunned expression, ‘and Gary and I… it may not last, but…’

‘I don’t have a problem with diving… or Gary. I agree with Tara. It sounds like fun.’ But it meant Liz would be alone over the holiday weekend, a time they usually spent together as a family. Of course, she knew the time would come when her girls had other plans. She just hadn’t expected it to arrive so soon… and so suddenly.

After lunch they all went for a walk along the beach before parting with more hugs and kisses, Mandy to get ready for her part-time job waitressing at the local yacht club, and Tara to return home to her husband.

Since she didn’t feel very hungry, Liz decided to make do with cheese and biscuits for dinner, taking a plate through to eat in front of the television along with a glass of wine .

As she sat there sipping wine, she reflected on her day. It had been a good birthday with a few surprises. She loved the scented candle Tara had given her, but the voucher for the balloon ride… Would she take up the challenge Mandy had set her?

Then her mind went to the card she’d received that morning. There had only been a few words written there, but those words had the potential to change her life completely.