The Boys of Summer (23 page)

I giggled and plonked down beside them for a
spell.

“Heard any good gossip lately?”

Sean straightened. “Apparently some hot footy
player is dating some pretty little waitress from the Onslow Hotel.
It’s quite the scandal.” He winked.

My eyes widened, my blood running cold.
“Really?”

Sean laughed. “Actually, I have no idea. I’ve
been working all morning.” He shrugged. “I didn’t get sledged for
anything.”

“Give it time,” Ringer said. “Good gossip
needs time to grow and mature, like a fine wine.”

“Or a jumper that warms with age,” added Toby
dryly.

I heard the cool room door fly open, and I
quickly hopped off my stool and got back to something that
resembled work.

I headed back to the restaurant and brushed
past Chris who was carrying a slab in from out back. I paused, then
slipped through the partition and turned to the boys, offering some
last-minute, friendly advice.

“Remember, boys, hands off your nuts.”

Chris almost lost his grip on his cargo. As I
slid through and stood behind the partition I could hear the
uproarious laughter; Stan had nearly choked on his beer, and I
could hear someone pummeling him on the back as he coughed and
fought for air. I peeked through the partition, seeing Toby’s
shoulders vibrating from laughter.

Shaking his head, he turned to Stan. “She is
something else.”

***

Chris pushed through the swinging kitchen
door, spiking a lunch order docket for the Onslow Boys, something I
silently resented; it was, after all, my job. Maybe he didn’t like
the nut comment?

Geez, what a square.

Even though it killed me, I decided to let
Ellie take the meals out to them, so she could reacquaint herself
with Stan. After how she behaved last night, I didn’t know how the
others would respond to her. They seemed pretty loyal guys. I could
only hope that if Stan was alright with her, then they’d respect
his wishes and take their cue from him.

And that’s exactly what they did. Ellie
picked up and was back to her normal self by the end of the shift.
I bet guys our age wouldn’t have been as mature about it.

We were on the homeward stretch when we heard
the creaking of the staircase that led down to the main reception
area of the restaurant. A rather seedy, sorry-looking Adam shuffled
down the stairs, hair all messy, sleep still in his eyes.

“Where am I?” he croaked.

“You’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto, that’s
for sure.” Ellie looked him over with a bemused frown.

He clasped his head in his hands. “Why are
you shouting?”

“What on earth did you do last night after I
left?” I asked.

“Lock-in,” Adam groaned.

Ellie and I looked at each other in surprise.
“You mean Chris let you stay?”

“Don’t sound so surprised,” he snapped at
me.

But I
was
surprised. Chris wouldn’t
let me and Ellie in a lock-in and Adam was Chris’s younger,
grounded, naughtier brother. He was always extra hard on him. The
whole thing made no sense.

“He got me to take over the bar for a bit.”
Adam gingerly pulled out a chair and pressed his forehead to the
tabletop.

Now this made even less sense.

“He left you in charge?” I asked, my
disbelief pouring off me.

“Yes! God, is there an echo in here, or
something?”

“Why would he do that?” Ellie asked.

He looked up at us as if we were deluded, and
then it was like a light bulb went off in his mind – a low,
painful, groggy light bulb.

“Oh, that’s right, you weren’t there.” He
buried his face in his hands and attempted to wipe the sleep from
his eyes.

“Weren’t there for what?” I pressed.

He lifted his head out of his hands and a
huge, cheeky smile broadened across his face.

“When Angela Vickers puked all over the
bar.”

Whaaaaaaat?

Gold! The stuff to tell your grandchildren.
Adam relayed how Angela Vickers had been dancing drunk on top of
the bar. Chris had been yelling at her to get down but she just
ignored him, so when he yanked her down to kick her out, she spewed
all over the bar, the floor and herself.

Awesome!

Chris ended up taking her home because
everyone else had been drinking. And that’s when Adam stepped up to
the plate. A win-win situation for all, apart from Angela. So
sad!

The boys finished their counter meals and
waited around until Ellie and I knocked off. Even though I was
surviving on little-to-no sleep, I had never felt so alive. I
washed dishes with great enthusiasm, polished silverware like a
thing possessed. I noticed the same eagerness in Ellie. We both had
a core focus: get the work done and start living again (between the
hours of two and six).

The only person who didn’t seem to be so in
love with the world was Adam. He glared at us from across the room
every time we made so much as a clinking noise with the
cutlery.

Every time the kitchen door was pushed open,
and we brought food out, he turned a deeper shade of green until he
couldn’t take it anymore and quickly disappeared, clawing his way
pitifully back up the stairs. We didn’t see him for the rest of the
shift. Some catch up.

At shift’s end, Ellie and I darted behind the
door where we kept our bags in the restaurant section of the bar.
We didn’t need to talk; there was a humming undercurrent of
excitement running through each of us at hearing the jukebox in the
poolroom and that familiar laughter. We took turns in fixing our
hair in front of the small mirror, crudely nailed to the wall. We
sprayed some Illusion Impulse body spray to mask the eau de Windex
and sweaty kitchen hands that we currently smelled like. We topped
up our lips with strawberry Lip Smacker. I could tell Ellie was a
bit apprehensive. Stan and the boys were being pleasant enough to
her, which helped, but she was still embarrassed. This made me
strangely happy. It was like this new Ellie, with a conscience. I
liked it. Maybe Stan was rubbing off on her.

“Okay, I’m going in.” Ellie breathed deeply.
“Wish me luck.”

“You don’t need any luck.” My words came out
funny through my stretched lips as I applied the sweet lip
balm.

I spun around but she was gone.

I had a sudden thought and delved my hands
frantically into the pocket of my soiled apron, which I had hung
behind the door. I sighed with relief as some small objects made
chinking sounds as my fingers brushed them. My rings. I had almost
forgotten to put them back on after dish duty. As I placed the gold
circles back onto my fingers I heard the unmistakable blast and
hiss of the steam from the coffee machine, followed by a crude
coughing fit. I peeked around the door to see Uncle Eric brewing
probably his ninth cup of coffee for the day.

“Ah, young Tess, just the person I was
looking for!” He poured the frothy milk into his mug. “Would you
like one?”

Had he just coughed all over the mugs and
coffee machine? I decided to pass, and made a mental note to Spray
and Wipe the coffee machine tonight.

“No thanks,” I said.

“Well, come join me in the beer garden for a
bit, I want to have a quick chat.”

Uh oh
.

My mind was reeling as I tried to think of
all the possible reasons I needed to be pulled aside.

Was he unhappy with my work? Was it about
hanging out in the bar after hours? Was I fired?
I felt
sick.

The beer garden was a grapevine-infested
Amazonian jungle, dotted with tiki torches and picnic tables. A
rather exotic refuge if I didn’t readily associate it with Uncle
Eric’s passive chain smoking. It was his own kind of sanctuary;
where he sat with his coffee, paper and cigarettes when the day
allowed him to get away from the bar. A place where he and his
poker buddies sat in the evening, gambling and smoking cigars.

A brick BBQ and vine-covered gazebo sat in
the corner and was a nice space, even though the area needed a
desperate blower-vac. Today was slow and calm with Chris covering
in the bar, while Uncle Eric led me out to his refuge at an
umbrella-decked table with his coffee in hand.

The day was warming up, but I wasn’t sure if
it was truly hot or if it was my nerves that made me flush as I
took a chair opposite Uncle Eric.

“You enjoy working here, Tess?” He tapped a
cigarette from his pack.

I gave it a brief thought; I guess I did, now
that I thought of it. I was both pleased and surprised by this
revelation. I seemed to have found my feet now, even knew what I
was doing … kind of.

But why was he asking? I squirmed in my seat.
Maybe I wasn’t doing as well as I thought; maybe Chris had reported
back one of my earlier calamities.

“Relax, Tess,” Uncle Eric chuckled. “Don’t
look so worried. I hope you enjoy working here, you’ve been a real
asset to our staff.”

My shoulders slumped with relief.

“Thanks, I really do like working here. It
was a bit hard in the beginning when I was trying to get my head
around things, but I like to think I’m not making too many
mistakes.”

“You can’t learn if you don’t make mistakes.”
He flicked his ash in the ashtray. “You seem to fit in very
well.”

I smiled. It was nice to hear these
things.

“You seem to get along well with Chris’s
friends.”

My smile slipped a little. “Yeah, they’ve
been really nice to me.”

He took a deep drag of his cigarette.
“They’re good boys.”

His gaze then flicked to mine. “Sean Murphy
is a particular fan of yours, I hear.”

My smile was all but gone, and I could feel
the colour drain from my face.

Flicking another ash, he sighed. “There’s not
much that gets past me, Tess, there isn’t much a publican isn’t
privy to. Though I don’t tend to listen to much idle gossip, when
something concerns me, I listen. I’m not going to give you a
fatherly lecture, or pull the boss card on you, Tess. I just want
you to be careful. I know that this is your first job and it’s all
new and exciting. But these boys, these young men,” he corrected,
“however nice they may be, well, they’ll have different
expectations compared to the high school boys you’re accustomed to.
They won’t settle for hand holding for long, and I don’t want you
to feel pressured into anything you may regret. Not on my
watch.”

“You don’t have to worry, Uncle Eric, we’re
just friends. It’s not like that.”

“I see the way you and Ellie look at the
boys. I don’t expect you all to be saints, I just don’t want to see
anyone hurt, or do something they’ll regret. You’re a good girl,
Tess. I wouldn’t want anyone to take advantage of that.”

I’m sure in years to come I would look back
at this and be grateful for his concern, but right at that very
instant I was looking for the closest way to escape. He must have
sensed my unease because he allowed me a reprieve.

“So I’ll see you back here at six, then?”

I nodded with my best ‘nothing weird just
happened’ smile.

“Thanks, Uncle Eric, see you later.”

I shot to my feet and as I was nearly home
free, he said, “Tess?”

I paused, cautiously turning at my name.

“If you need to speak about anything, me or
Claire are always happy to listen.”

I wanted to die.

There was a certain amount of discomfort from
having your boss assume you were having sex when you weren’t
actually
having sex. Now every time Uncle Eric looked at me,
I knew that was somewhere in his head, and that idea freaked me
out. The only thing that would get me through the evening shift was
the fact that Uncle Eric retired early, otherwise it would have
been Mission Avoid Uncle Eric’s Knowing Eyes.

I entered the poolroom like a zombie,
perching on a bar stool next to Ellie.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Oh, nothing. I’m just tired. I might head
home, catch up on some sleep before tonight.”

After all the buildup and enthusiasm for
knocking off to hang with the Onslow Boys, all of a sudden I didn’t
want to be anywhere near them. If that was what Uncle Eric was
thinking, what would others be? When Sean had defended me against
Scott, I thought it was heroic, awe inspiring; to be honest, a bit
of a joke. But now the news had travelled and to, of all people, my
boss, it somehow didn’t seem so funny anymore. I felt ill.

As a group of tourists flooded the poolroom,
I took the opportunity to sneak away. I didn’t even speak to Toby
or the boys. Ellie said she wanted to stay a bit longer, her
nervous gaze constantly flitting to Stan. I nodded, distracted, as
Uncle Eric’s mortifying words repeated through my mind.

***

Walking through the front bar as I started
the evening shift, my gaze instinctively turned towards the
poolroom. Surprisingly, I spotted Sean, alone at the bar. He wasn’t
often on his own so I jumped at the opportunity to give him the
heads up on what was going around.

I hadn’t anticipated how hilarious he’d find
it. Sean’s entire body convulsed in spasmodic fits of
thigh-slapping laughter.

I glared at him.

He wiped away tears and fought to catch his
breath. Chris walked through from the main bar, casting a curious
gaze from Sean to me.

“What’s so funny?”

“I think I’m to expect a heart to heart with
your uncle soon, Chris.” Sean saluted him with his beer. “I can’t
wait.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re seriously demented,
you know that, right?”

“Maybe we should get Unc to chaperone us like
in the olden days, he could walk ten paces behind us while we take
a turn in the garden.”

He was loving every minute of this.

“Or better yet …” I leaned closer. “My dad
can escort you to a shallow grave in the Perry Ranges, because if
he finds out, that is going to be a far more probable outcome.”