Out of Time (Face the Music Book 3) (4 page)

‘Sure, she’s just drowsy as she gets used to it. There’s always a trade-off.’

Mike stood there, not sure what to do. Ava’s gaze skimmed over him. ‘Do you ride?’

He nodded.

‘Me too. Not as often as I should.’

He wasn’t about to admit to nearly killing himself on the way over.

‘Why don’t you grab a coffee or something from the cafeteria, okay? I’m sure your mum will be up soon.’ She smiled.

Mike made his lips move into something close to a smile. She was being nice. The edge she’d had the first time had melted away.

He went to the cafeteria and paid for coffee and a bacon and egg burger, which he knew he was going to regret before he got home. Wherever home was. If he rode to his mother’s house he should make it, but his car was at the flat.

It was too much of a decision to make.

Chapter 4

Ava went to the cafeteria on her break. Mike was still sitting there. He was the only family member to come and visit Irene, and the only one she spoke about. An electrician who’d given up the chance to go to ADFA to look after his mum. Her first impression had been way off. Now he looked lost. It wasn’t easy for a guy over six foot to be lost. He couldn’t hide in a crowd if he wanted to.

He wasn’t memorable just because of his height. He was scruffy but spoke well. It was as though he’d just returned from being out bush or something … he had a wild look in his eyes. But right now he seemed more like a wild animal that had been caught and captured and was looking the worse for wear.

She grabbed a cup of tea and sat down opposite him. He blinked and registered her presence.

His coffee was only half drunk and an almost empty bottle of water sat on the table.

‘I’m on a break and you looked like you could use the company.’ He could tell her to leave, but he didn’t. ‘Irene has talked a lot about you.’

‘Only child.’

She’d suspected that. ‘Do you have family you can talk to?’

He shook his head. His dark blond hair bouncing. ‘I haven’t seen my father in twenty years. My maternal grandparents are dead.’

‘Aunts?’

‘England. Mum came over because she’d met Dad. They married, had me, he left and she decided to stay.’

‘Has your mother told your aunts?’ How much had she left Mike to deal with? Irene didn’t seem like the kind of woman to forget things. She was closing down her life bit by bit.

‘Yeah. They can’t afford to come over. But they’ve been talking.’

‘And you?’

‘Me?’ He frowned.

‘Who have you been talking to?’

‘I’m fine.’

He was not fine. That was clear, but then she was used to seeing people try and be fine. She was going to have to change tack. ‘Would you like to make an appointment to talk to the doctor with your mother about her treatment?’

‘She will do what she wants, what she needs to.’ His teeth raked his lip and she noticed the metal. He had a lip ring that was almost hidden by his caveman beard.

Ava sipped her tea and thought for a moment. ‘It might be best for you to be involved as there may come a time—’

His glare cut her off. She’d hit a nerve, a very sensitive one.

Time to change subject.

‘Where did you ride from?’ Before she’d had a car, her pushbike had been her freedom. A way to escape the house and meet her friends. Even on her days off, the excuse of going for a ride bought a few hours, or even half a day, to herself.

It would be nice to live riding distance from work, but she wasn’t sure she could afford it. Not on her own anyway.

He took a sip of water. ‘Why are you doing this?’

‘Talking to you?’

He nodded.

‘Maybe I wanted to find out more about you.’

He gave a choked laugh. ‘You don’t want to do that.’

‘Hiding a dark secret?’ She sipped her tea to hide her smile.

‘I’m not in a good place.’

‘No one is when they come here.’

He looked away. ‘How do you do it?’

She knew plenty of nurses would try to avoid her job. ‘Not everyone here is dying. Some recover. For those who are dying, I make sure their remaining time is comfortable and as good as it can be.’

She’d made someone else’s day better by turning up. People were glad to see her. She wasn’t a burden or an ungrateful girl. Here she was just Ava and she made a difference. And while some days broke her heart, she knew that life would go on.

She checked her watch. She needed to get moving. ‘If you need to talk …’

He glanced up at her and for a moment she thought she’d overstepped.

Then he smiled. ‘I rode from East Fremantle … not sure I have the energy to get home.’

‘It’s not that far.’

‘It is when you haven’t ridden for a while.’ He stood and picked up his bag. Her heart might have done a little flip that was totally inappropriate. But he was tall, she might reach his chin on a good day, and he smelled nice. Not clean nice, but like a man. A little sweaty and a little like deodorant.

He was, she decided, just a little bit feral in a good way. In all the right ways. What a pity she had no lights that needed fixing.

She needed to get a place with busted electrics just so he could come around and fix them up.

It was so wrong to even be having those thoughts about him.

He probably wasn’t even looking past her uniform.

‘Did you want to give me your number?’ There was a glint in his brown eyes and the wild animal suddenly didn’t seem so safe to be around.

‘Huh?’ Her thoughts derailed, rolled over and burst into flames. How had he known what she was thinking?

‘So we can talk.’

When he said talk, she wasn’t entirely sure that he meant talk.

She was almost about to say no, that they could talk here, but she changed her mind at the last second and her number tumbled out of her mouth.

***

After spending time with his mum, Mike made himself get on the bike. The short ride to his mother’s empty house was abominable. Everything hurt. And not even the knowledge that he’d got the cute nurse’s number came close to making up for it.

It was also completely wrong to have even asked for her number. That was not something he was used to feeling, but he couldn’t exactly call her and apologise for hitting on her. She’d been being nice and he’d done the wrong thing.

Yeah, but she could’ve said no and she hadn’t.

Right now, he wasn’t entirely sure what that meant.

He showered, put on the laundry and rattled around the house. His mother had packed up or gotten rid of heaps. At first he hadn’t noticed, but he had after she’d told him. Boxes of clothes had gone to charity. Things she didn’t think he’d want had also vanished.

He’d had to stop her.

In one box were wedding presents that she’d put away after his father had walked out and never looked back. Not even to bother with a divorce. She’d done that when she’d been sick last time, so that if she died his father wouldn’t get anything. Last he’d heard his father was in Darwin. He’d made no effort to learn more. The man couldn’t be bothered to even pick up the phone to call his kid and Mike didn’t need a father. He’d got along just fine without one.

He stood in the doorway to his room. The other bedroom had been set up as a study; once his drum kit and piano had been in there. These days the piano was in the living room, collecting dust.

He walked down the hallway and opened up the other bedroom door. This is where she’d put the boxes of other bits and pieces, as if she expected him to walk in and throw everything away. He pressed his lips together and went to the front of the house and the master suite.

The bed was stripped bare. The pillows and blankets neatly folded. Today he could look at it without feeling gutted.

She knew she wasn’t coming back.

He had to suck it up and make a plan before he lost everything because he couldn’t make the payments.

His mother had suggested renting out the house.

That was probably the smartest thing to do. His mother had taken what superannuation she had—and wasn’t using on her care—to reduce the mortgage. It wasn’t enough. And while the mortgage on his place wasn’t much either, combined they were going to be too much for him on his own, especially on what he made from Selling the Sun.

He stepped back and shut the door. His mother had wanted to sell the house, but that was something he wasn’t ready to think about. It felt too much like she was being erased from his life.

That left his flat. His only link to his maternal grandparents. He’d met them a few times and had been surprised that they’d left him something. They’d left money for all the grandchildren, but not their three children. He was loath to sell the flat. He’d bought it at a good price and it was in a good location and if it was rented out at full price, he’d make a bit.

But that would mean turfing Dan out, and Dan had nowhere else to go because Lisa had kept their place.

He needed to talk to Dan … and get a lift back to East Fremantle so he could get his car.

Was there any point in him living here now that his mum no longer needed his help?

He knew the answer. No. However, he didn’t want to share the flat with Dan. Dan was a slob and there was only one bedroom.

He called Dan, hoping for a lift, if not a solution. ‘Hey, can you pick me up?’

‘That depends on where you are.’

‘Mum’s.’ If he got back to the flat and it was a pigsty, he was going to be pissed. No, he was going to throw Dan out. It was one thing to help a friend, but what Dan was doing was abusing the friendship.

‘Sure. Give me a few, okay?’

‘No worries.’ He wasn’t in a rush and had nowhere to be.

‘Did you want to head out, Sunday session?’

It was tempting, very tempting. ‘Yeah okay. Just for a couple. Some of us have to work tomorrow.’ God, he hated saying that. He didn’t want to be crawling around roof spaces and installing lights. His old boss had offered work, but it wasn’t the good jobs.

No one wanted to be in the roof during summer. It was hot, full of spiders and insulation itched. Plus he was just too damn tall. It was the only time he hated being tall.

Dan laughed. ‘I’ll rope the others in.’

Good luck with that.

Ed was too busy enjoying having a girlfriend. While the girls Mike had been with lately usually didn’t bother asking his name, he was no better. Unless he took a different path he wouldn’t do any better. However, at the moment he had other things to worry about and at least getting laid was easy.

An hour later Dan picked him up. Mike got in the car—Dan had the nicest car out of all of them because his parents had bought it for him when he got his licence. They’d hoped that a carrot instead of a stick would work better in getting Dan to fall in line. It hadn’t. Dan had grabbed the carrot, the stick, and the watch off the hand holding it.

But he’d only been suspended from school once after getting the car—he’d been expelled from two private schools previously and was welcome at none. They’d met at the local public school as Dan slummed it to graduate.

The car smelled like the ever-present mint chewing gum and beer … and something else. Rum?

Mike glanced behind the front seats and saw the collection of empty cans. ‘Man, if you get pulled over they will nail you for DUI because of the rubbish.’

Dan shrugged. ‘They can’t do that. I’d pass the breath test.’

‘Have you been drinking? Lift up your sunglasses.’ Mike reached over and Dan slapped his hand away.

‘I had one while I was being your bitch.’

‘You mean cleaning up your mess in my place.’ Mike successfully snatched Dan’s sunglasses away. His eyes were bloodshot. The gum was covering the smell of alcohol.

‘Just one?’

‘Maybe two. You’re not my fucking father so quit riding my ass.’

‘Get out. I’m driving.’ While he’d seen Dan with a beer in his hand more frequently since the break-up, Mike had never stopped to think it might be more than just a few drinks. If he looked too hard at what Dan was drinking, he might have to look at how he was behaving, and that was a very unflattering picture.

Dan didn’t move. ‘I’m fine. I’m not drunk. Stop being a baby.’

‘My life. And right now my mother doesn’t need me involved in a dumb accident. Fuck Dan, pull it together. Lisa was a silly bitch who played you at the best of times.’

Dan slapped the steering wheel and swore, but he got out of the car. Mike did the same. They met in front of the hood. Neither stepping aside.

‘Don’t talk about Lisa like that,’ Dan snarled.

‘Sorry.’ It was bad form to bad mouth an ex, even if it was the truth … not that anyone knew the truth about what had actually happened except Dan, Lisa and Gemma. There was no doubt that Dan hadn’t cheated with Gem, as she played for the other team.

Dan nodded then handed over the car keys.

Mike got behind the wheel and adjusted the seat. Aluminium cans crunched as the seat rolled. ‘Dude …’

‘Yeah. Yeah.’ Dan leaned against the headrest and put his sunglasses back on.

For a second Mike wanted to say something more, but he didn’t know what and he already knew that Dan didn’t want to hear it. Maybe he’d say something to Gem. She had an in with Dan that no one else did.

‘Where are we heading?’

‘You pick.’

There was a nice waterfront pub on the edge of the Swan River. Something different to their usual haunts in the centre of Freo, and walking distance from his flat … a long walk but doable. However he wasn’t really in the mood to go drinking now.

They drove without talking for a few minutes, Dan flicking through the radio stations at a speed that made Mike want to stab him through the hand. ‘Did you really clean up the flat?’

‘Yeah. I saw your note and figured you meant it.’ Dan glanced over. ‘You were gone early.’

‘Went for a ride.’ That should’ve been obvious. Had Dan not noticed the bike was missing and that his car was still there?

‘Ah. Thus the lift requirement.’

Mike blew out a breath. He needed to get this done. ‘I think I’m going to stay at Mum’s, so I’ll clear out the bedroom for you.’

Living between two places was painful, he couldn’t keep track of what was where. His life was in enough chaos without keeping two separate houses.