Standing Strong (39 page)

‘Damien, this is James Telford.'

‘Hi, James.' Damien put out his hand to the man dressed impeccably in a tailored striped shirt and navy chinos. He seemed a decent enough fellow. And he had a firm handshake, which was always a good sign. ‘Nice car.'

‘Thanks. I think it's part of a late midlife crisis. I've wanted a Merc forever, but have only recently managed to make it happen.'

Damien liked his humility and honesty.

‘James is a partner in a large city law firm,' his mother said, stroking James's arm as if he was her pet. She was practically purring and was clearly very pleased with herself for bagging this one.

‘But not Tina's lawyer, I might add. That would be unethical,' James added. Damien watched, impressed, as he carefully unhooked Tina's hand from his arm. Clearly he was onto Tina – or just not as into her as she'd like to think. ‘Come on, we can't be standing here in the hall all night, leaving Lucy and Ethel to do all the work in the kitchen. Damien, I want to hear all about your venture. Tina has been a little sparse with the details.' James stepped aside to let them pass.

I bet she has
, Damien thought,
most likely because she's feeling guilty that she's about to pull the rug out from under me by selling the farm.

‘Our firm's proud of its community involvement – perhaps we might be able to give some legal assistance, or contribute in some other way – at least let's talk about it,' James said as they made their way down the hall.

‘That'd be great.'

In the kitchen, Lucy was busy at the bench chopping vegetables and Ethel was at the stove, peering into a large steaming pot, holding a wooden spoon in one hand and a shiny metal lid in the other.

‘Good evening, something smells good,' Damien said, raising an arm in greeting to his sister and his aunt.

‘Lamb shanks. Lucy's request. Thank goodness for the cooler weather,' Ethel said.

‘Sounds good to me. These are for you,' he said, holding up a box of chocolate-coated almonds before putting them on the bench.

‘Oh, scorched almonds, yum,' Lucy said.

‘Thank you, that's lovely. They'll be great with coffee later,' Ethel said.

‘… and a bottle of red and one of white,' he said, taking the brown paper bags from under his arm and holding them out.

‘Crikey, we've got grog coming out of our ears,' Ethel said. ‘James and Tina brought some too.'

‘Well, I can't guarantee how good these are. I know squat about wine, as you know. But Ralph at the pub reckons they're okay.'

‘Shall I do the honours?' James asked, pulling the bottles from their bags and scrutinising them.

‘If you like, though feel free to have yours if you prefer.'

‘Yes, yours are probably much better quality, James,' Tina cooed. ‘And these are screw caps,' she added with a slight sneer.

‘Nothing wrong with either of these,' James said. ‘And at least with screw caps you know it's not going to be corked. Perhaps you didn't notice, but the bottles I brought also have screw caps.'

Damien thought he really shouldn't enjoy seeing Tina put in her place quite as much as he was. He managed to catch Lucy's eye and exchange raised eyebrows and smirks.

‘Okay, who's for red and who's for white?'

‘Red for me, thanks,' Damien said.

‘White for me, thanks,' Lucy said.

‘And me,' Ethel said.

‘I don't mind having white if that's what everyone else wants,' Damien said.

‘I'll have a red with you,' James said. ‘Tina?'

‘Red for me, too, thanks.'

‘We're all set here for about half an hour, so let's go through to the table,' Ethel said when the drinks had been poured and distributed. ‘You too, Squish. Come on.'

‘So, how did you two meet?' Damien said. ‘I'm sure you've already told the story, but I'm keen to hear it.'

‘Well, I was waiting to see my lawyer – who actually can't really help, by the way. If Geoff wants half the farm, he's entitled to it. Anyway, James walked past and we recognised each other immediately.'

‘Do you know each other?'

‘Oh, didn't I say? We were at school together,' Tina said.

‘A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then,' James added. ‘My dad was in the bank here many moons ago. We were here for around eight years.'

‘Oh. Right. That's nice.' Damien gulped his wine. He was itching to stop this polite small talk and get down to business.

‘Now, sorry, James, to bring up family business in front of you, but there's something you should know.' Damien immediately felt the heat rise under his shirt and his palms began to sweat. He wiped them on his jeans under the table. The red wine he'd been enjoying now tasted bitter and metallic in his mouth. He swallowed against a suddenly dry throat. ‘I'm out of the farm,' he blurted.

‘Sorry?' Tina blinked and frowned at him from across the table. He hadn't given a thought to where he'd sat, but now he realised it was probably quite telling to have Lucy beside him, his mother directly across and James across from Lucy, with Ethel at the head of the table between them. The referee.

‘I'm moving everything down to my block. Once the house has been rebuilt, you can live there, or lease the farm or sell it. What you do is up to you.'

‘Damien, now come on, surely this isn't because you're still angry at me about Jacqueline? There's no need to be silly and childish about things. You need to get over it now, Damien, put it behind you.'

Damien felt the rage build inside him. He focussed on breathing slowly and deeply. He started counting. He wouldn't lose it in front of James, he was too well brought up and conditioned. No doubt that was why James was here. Fuck, he wanted to slap his mother's face. His eyes burnt with the pressure of holding the fury at bay and his head started to pound. He looked down, feeling Lucy's hand on his thigh. Squish, who'd been sitting by his chair, chose that moment to jump into his lap. The dog sat up, looked at Tina, and growled. Damien noticed amusement twitching at the corners of James's mouth and the disgust clear on the face of his mother.

‘All I'm doing, Mum, is taking control of my life. You are free to sell the farm, with no objection from me. We'll need to wind up the partnership – maybe you could give us some advice there, James, or point us in the right direction.'

Tina was looking very pale. ‘But …'

‘Mum, you're free to sort things out with Geoff and make a fresh start, you should be happy.'

‘But there's no house there, no power – it's just a block.'

‘And a fresh start. I'm sick of feeling obligated.'

‘Since when have I …? I've been very supportive of your new venture, haven't I?' And there it was, the tone of affront, the tone that said Tina thought this, as usual, was all about her. Damien had to stop himself from rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

‘Yes, you have, Mum, and I'm grateful. But it's my venture and I need to make it completely mine by moving it to my own block. Being at the farm is too tenuous a position – you splitting up with Geoff has brought that home to me. That's all.' He shrugged in an effort to lighten things. He didn't say what he really wanted to – he didn't want to antagonise his mother, and was hoping to keep her onside long enough so he might do okay financially out of splitting the partnership. But he wasn't in control of her and what she chose to do. And, if it came down to it, he'd live in a tent for the rest of his life rather than change his mind now. Though Tina would most likely do the right thing by him financially, if only to prevent word getting around about her.

‘Wow. Well, I didn't see that coming,' Ethel said, downing her half-full glass of wine in one gulp, and holding out her glass to James for a refill.

‘Well, I'm shocked. After all I've done.'

‘Tina, darling, it's really not about you. If Damien wants to cut the ties, then that's up to him, isn't it? I say, congratulations. Onwards and upwards. To independence,' James declared, raising his glass. ‘All the best, mate.'

‘Thanks, James,' Damien said, returning his smile. He felt a little bewildered.

‘Yes, well done,' Lucy said, putting her arm around his shoulder and squeezing.

‘But it's so far out of the way,' Tina persisted suddenly after a few moments of silence.

‘I'm going to put a track through, join up with the road that goes to the Pigeon Bay road.'

‘Well, I might not agree to you going through my land,' Tina said haughtily. True to form, Damien thought. He hoped James was taking note.

‘Nice to know how supportive you
really
are,' he bit back, and then wanted to kick himself. He'd allowed himself to sink to her level. ‘It's the Havelocks' place I'd need to go through, not yours.'

‘Well, have you asked them? I bet they won't want a road going near their cottage.'

‘No, I haven't asked them yet. And if they don't, then that's fine. I'll take that as a sign I'm meant to carry on driving the long way around.'

‘The novelty of that'll soon wear off,' Tina said with a harrumph. ‘You'll see.'

‘I thought you'd be pleased to be able to do what you want with your farm without worrying about me. But whatever you think doesn't really matter. This is what I'm doing. I'm telling you, not asking your permission. It's not up for discussion.'

‘Right, well, I think it's dinner time,' Ethel said, getting up and breaking the silence when it became uncomfortably long.

As Damien sipped his wine, he thought about his mother's reaction. It was sad that she couldn't be happy for him, see what a big, important step this was. She was terrified of losing her grip on him. It was sadder still that she couldn't see that the tighter she tried to hold onto people, the more she pushed them away, as she'd done with Lucy. He wondered what excuses she gave herself and others for the sparse contact she had with her daughter.

He could see now just how tactful Jacqueline had been in her comments about his mother. He hadn't realised how bad being in a co-dependent relationship was, how toxic. The word sounded so benign. It had only been when he'd looked it up on Wikipedia that he'd seen what she'd really been trying to tell him. Well, he was certainly starting to get it now, and doing something about it.
Oh Jacqueline.
It hurt to think of her sitting alone in her little house right across the street. He'd give anything to have her beside him or be there curled up beside her on her floral couch. He couldn't wait to tell her his latest revelations and decisions. He knew she'd approve.

‘I'm so pleased for you, and proud of you,' Lucy whispered, while making a big fuss of Squish in Damien's lap.

‘Excuse me, I need to powder my nose,' Tina said, getting up abruptly. James half rose like the true gentleman he was.

‘Who powders their nose these days? Certainly not our mother,' Lucy scoffed quietly. ‘I'll go help Auntie Ethel,' she said, and also left the table.

‘Sorry about that – airing the dirty washing,' Damien said to James, feeling the need to say something since it was only the two of them left in the room.

‘Not at all. I think it sounds very exciting. And your mum's been telling me about how things stand. I'm a bit of a non-conformer myself, so I like someone who stands up for themselves and what they believe in.'

‘But you're a lawyer, and a partner in a big firm at that.'

‘Yes. I show my independence in other ways.'

‘So you and Mum are an item, then?' It had to be asked. The more Damien was seeing of James, the more their relationship didn't make sense.

‘Oh no,' James said with a laugh.

Damien looked at him with wide eyes, the bewilderment clear on his face.

‘I'm gay. Camp as a row of tents,' he said with another laugh, and raised his glass theatrically.

‘Oh. Right.' Damien had never met an openly gay man before. It wasn't something you'd admit to, living in a place like Wattle Creek, even if you were. He had no idea what he should say. He racked his brains for something appropriate. ‘Well, each to their own,' he said, raising his own glass, again grateful for the distraction. And then he paused. ‘So, um, Mum knows, right?'

‘I've told her. We're just friends. But she clearly still sees me as worth parading around town. She always was both insecure and a drama queen. Haven't seen her in over thirty years, but she hasn't changed a bit. And I'm really sorry to hear about your dad. We weren't friends, but I knew him.'

‘Thanks. So do you think Mum's trying to fix you, then?' Damien mused aloud.

‘I think so. Good luck with that, eh?' James said with a laugh.

‘Yeah, cheers to that,' Damien said, grinning and raising his glass and holding it across the table. They clinked while smirking.

Damien marvelled at how much he liked this bloke and was almost disappointed he wouldn't be around as Tina's partner.

‘So, your mother tells me you saved a kangaroo joey and nursed it back to health. I'd love to come out and see it.'

‘Yes, Jemima. She's great. Sadly she couldn't be re-released because of all the handling. I've got an emu now, too. You're welcome to come out and visit, but I'm not having you taking that nice car of yours on my crappy dirt road. I'll come in and get you.'

‘Thanks, but it is only a car.'

‘I insist.'

‘Okay. But I warn you, I'm not too keen on emus. They give me the heebie-jeebies.'

‘Me too, but Sam's all right. How long are you around for?'

‘Just a few days. Your mother needed to get back and I was feeling nostalgic and keen to check out the old stomping ground.'

‘Dinner is served,' Ethel called as she and Lucy entered, carrying plates piled high with food. Tina reappeared and silently took her seat at the table, placing her napkin back on her lap.