The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots (22 page)

Thank you, God.

Lena felt Dan’s presence behind her. ‘It’s okay,’ she threw at him breathlessly. ‘It’s Sharon; she’ll look after me. It’s better that way.’

‘If you’re sure.’

‘Yes.’

When Sharon noticed Lena moving towards her, her mouth fell open and her eyes practically popped from their sockets. ‘Lena?’ She stopped walking and simply stared.

Lena didn’t look back at Dan as she reached Sharon’s side, but heard him go into his donga and shut the door behind him.

‘Sharon.’ She clutched her friend’s arm. ‘I need your help.’

‘No shit.’

Sharon was a lifesaver but her help didn’t come without a price that was called best-friend privilege.

‘You better tell me everything!’

They met for smoko at ten am and took a walk on the coastline, away from the bustle of site. Everything looked so normal. The stark white office boxes sat in solitude on the red dirt while trucks drove by; men hailed their mates; and a smattering of utes ran errands back and forth across the yard. As Lena looked out over the water at the wharf, she could see two big ships moored near the end. The ship loader crane was filling their bellies with iron ore straight from the conveyor and Gavin’s crew was driving another pile. It was just an ordinary day. The sea was so calm. So undisturbed.

So
unlike
her.

She had butterflies for blood. She was frantic and cool all at the same time. She didn’t know what to do. What to say. What to think. Where to start.

But Sharon did. ‘So what are you going to do about this?’

She swallowed. ‘What do you mean?’

Sharon folded her arms. ‘I mean are you and Bulldog an item now?’

Lena started. ‘No! I mean . . . I don’t know.’ She shook her head in confusion. ‘We never spoke about that.’

Sharon was silent for a moment. ‘I take it he’s not as indifferent to you as you thought.’

Images of their encounter burned their way across Lena’s mind, leaving her weak at the knees. ‘No.’

‘Is that really such a bad thing?’ Sharon enquired cautiously.

Lena was silent for a moment, trying to get a handle on her emotions. ‘Apart from my questionable history and the promise I made to myself never to let this sort of thing happen to me again, if the men were to find out about it, all hell would break loose.’

Sharon shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans, worry lines creasing her forehead. ‘Well, I can’t deny it would be best to keep it a secret. The guys hate those idiots at TCN. Not that I blame them. There’s too much bad blood. You don’t know half the things they do to each other. Because I’m the bus driver I hear everything, and let me tell you, some of it’s pretty malicious. If the Barnes Inc boys discovered you were doing the client –’

‘I’m not doing the client!’ She hated the way Sharon kept talking about it like it was a done deal.

‘Then what are you doing, Lena? ’Cause you’re certainly not being very responsible. If I hadn’t been there this morning . . .’ She broke off.

Lena cringed. She was right. There had only been a lucky ten seconds between Sharon whipping her into her donga and the next guy coming out of his. She would have been seen for sure, in Dan’s T-shirt no less. Sharon had given her one of her shirts to put on instead before she left to go to reception to get the spare key. Dan’s T-shirt now lay neatly folded under her bed, the only proof her early morning escapade had really happened.

‘I know,’ she croaked. ‘If any of the guys had seen, it would be all over camp in seconds and then the men would take it as a personal betrayal.’

‘So don’t tell anyone,’ Sharon suggested. ‘I won’t either.’

‘Don’t you see?’ Lena gritted her teeth. ‘That’s exactly what things were like with Kevin. I am not sneaking around again. The men won’t find out because there is nothing to find out.’

‘And what does Bulldog think about all this?’ Sharon demanded.

‘I don’t know.’

Sharon said no more, but Lena got the impression that she found this answer highly unsatisfactory. Perhaps she thought Bulldog could persuade her where she couldn’t. Sweat broke out on the back of Lena’s neck. If Bulldog did have feelings for her, they would be difficult to resist, but she had to stick to her guns. She made up her mind long before she even met Dan that this wasn’t going to happen a second time. All the same, an uneasy feeling did prick her conscience. She really had no idea what Dan was thinking at this point.

Did he believe they were destined for a relationship? That maybe this was the beginning of something more? As much as she liked to deny it, she did care about him and hurting him was the last thing she wanted to do. But wasn’t it better in this case just to rip the Band-Aid off rather than let wounds fester for days?

Her resolve to see him and sort it all out as soon as possible strengthened. They needed to talk. Only then could she get past this and move on with her life.

When she found a private moment later that morning, she rang his office and asked to be put through to him. His rude secretary said that he was in a phone conference with head office, to be followed by a series of meetings, and would be unavailable for the rest of the day.

‘Can you just tell him I called and need to speak with him regarding an urgent matter?’ Lena finally said.

There had been no response from Dan by the time she went outside to have lunch with Sharon. She knew she was being lousy company and was glad for the distraction when Carl came storming out of the office minutes later.

‘There you are!’ His eyes roved over both of them with satisfaction before turning to Sharon and saying, ‘Would you mind coming to my office after you’ve eaten? I have a few documents I need you to deliver to Bulldog’s dongas.’

‘Sure.’

He cleared his throat. ‘I was going to give them to him myself but apparently he’s cancelled all his meetings with Barnes Inc personnel today.’

Lena perked up. ‘Really? Why?’

‘How the fu–’ Carl swallowed, threw an uncomfortable glance at Sharon and then continued. ‘How should I know? Got this shi– this phone call from his receptionist saying something had come up.’

Lena was momentarily diverted from her concerns about Dan. Was it her imagination or was Carl trying hard not to swear? She decided to ask another question. ‘Did she say what it was?’

‘No,’ Carl spoke slowly. ‘Just that it was important. No apology, though; apparently I’m not fu–’ His head jerked slightly as he cut off the word and tried again. ‘I’m not worth the consideration.’

Lena bit her lip to hide her delight. She had not been imagining things.

‘I wouldn’t worry about it.’ Sharon threw him a grin. ‘She’s rude to me too.’

Carl went pink.

He actually blushed. And then he did the most alarming thing Lena had ever seen him do . . . or rather
never
seen him do.

He tried to smile.

Carl was good-looking in a rugged kind of way – stocky and broad shouldered with dark, weathered features. But
his natural state was cranky – displeased at best. So this new expression sat so unnaturally on his face that she couldn’t help but stare at it in shock. It was not a perfect effort by any means, little more than a slight turn of the lips, so that he actually looked more constipated than happy. Sharon, however, didn’t appear to notice.

‘I’ll come by in fifteen minutes.’ Sharon raised her sandwiches. ‘When I’m done with my lunch.’

Carl’s colour was subsiding but he coughed slightly. ‘No rush, no need to cut your break short on my account.’

‘Thanks,’ Sharon said.

He nodded and then, ignoring Lena, walked back into the office donga. Lena choked and then turned wide eyes upon Sharon, who stared at her with complete innocence.

‘What?’

As Lena continued to stare at her but said nothing, Sharon’s eyebrows drew together. ‘Do I have something on my face?’ She reached up and touched her cheek.

Lena quickly cleared her throat. If Sharon hadn’t noticed, she wasn’t going to tell her. Why spoil the fun?

‘I just thought that was odd,’ she quickly improvised. ‘About Dan, I mean. Why do you think he’s cancelled all his meetings?’

‘Who knows?’ Sharon shrugged. ‘Try not to overthink things, Lena. It’ll do your head in.’

After a few minutes, the bus driver stood up and dusted off her hands. ‘Well, I’ve finished my sandwich now so I might just go get my errands over and done with. You don’t mind, do you?’

‘No, not at all,’ Lena assured her. ‘Go ahead.’

She watched Sharon enter the office donga and struggled to keep a laugh from escaping.

Carl and Sharon.

She never would have thought it possible if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes. After all, on
her
first day Carl had told
her that if she had a problem with his swearing, she could get stuffed because he changed for no one. Yet here he was tying his tongue in knots in an effort not to offend Sharon.

They were perfect for each other.

Well, sort of.

Later that day, Lena went down to the wharf to check on things, but mostly in the hopes of running into Dan. To her disappointment, she didn’t see him anywhere. That night in the mess, she also scanned the room for him. But he was nowhere to be seen.

She tried not to be too frustrated as she grabbed a plate of salad and lasagne and sat down beside Sharon, Harry and Leg. Where was he? You’d think he would have tried to contact her today after what had happened that morning. Although she was sure about her decision to end whatever had started between them, she couldn’t help but feel just a little hurt that he didn’t care enough to see her as soon as possible.

She tuned in with half an ear as Leg raised amusing gossip about another rigger who’d pissed off one of Bulldog’s men by refusing to redo a job. Harry was also in high spirits. He’d just come back from R and R which had included a lovely visit with his kids. Apparently, he hadn’t even needed to use Sarah Michaels. The mere threat of getting a lawyer involved had frightened his ex into being cooperative. Lena would have been more happy for him if she hadn’t been so distracted.

Suddenly, Radar tumbled in the door looking flushed with success.

‘Ho ho ho.’ Leg whistled low. ‘Looks like someone’s got a new story.’ Sharon and Lena exchanged amused glances as he eagerly waved Radar over. Radar gave him a naughty wink, shook his head and gestured to the buffet. By the time he finally joined them, Leg was practically jumping in his seat.

‘What’s your radar picked up this time?’

‘How do you know I got anythin’?’ Radar teased him.

Leg punched his arm. ‘I haven’t seen that look on your face since Tony cut his hair. Now spill it.’

‘Well, this is way bigger than a haircut, let me tell you.’ Radar tapped his twitchy nose. ‘Got the lowdown on Bulldog!’

Lena held her breath. What did he know? Had somebody seen something after all? Sharon stilled as well, and then shot her a warning look.

‘Hell’s frozen over, ladies and gents,’ Radar announced proudly. ‘Bulldog’s gone on R and R.’

‘What?!’ Luckily the hurt in her voice went undetected as Harry, Sharon and Leg all said the same word at the same time.

‘Yeah, well, you know how he’s been lookin’ all tired and well . . . just crap lately? I think it finally all caught up with him.’

‘No.’ Leg shook his head. ‘That wouldn’t be it. He ain’t so soft. Somethin’s happened. Something to do with you-know-what.’

‘You know what?’ Sharon repeated quickly. ‘And what’s that?’

Lena held her breath.

‘You know,’ Leg nudged Sharon as if she were playing dumb and then when she continued to look at him blankly, he twinkled his fingers, ‘his
big
secret.’

Lena’s breath whooshed out.

‘Actually,’ Radar nodded thoughtfully, ‘I reckon you might be right about that ’cause from what I heard, he’d left the office by lunchtime. Had a meeting with his boss first and then told his secretary to spread the word that he’d taken off.’

Lena pushed the remaining food on her plate around with her fork. All of a sudden she wasn’t hungry any more. In fact, the thought of eating another bite made her feel sick. How utterly naive and indeed arrogant of her to have supposed that Bulldog might be looking for a relationship.
What a joke!

Sharon picked up her drink and made a big show of polishing it off. ‘Well, I’m done for the evening and I’ve got heaps of laundry to do.’ She put a hand on Lena’s arm. ‘You coming?’

Lena looked up at her gratefully and pushed her own plate away. ‘Sure. That’s just what I was thinking.’

Dan had skipped town without so much as a ‘see ya, thanks for last night’. It was scumbag behaviour, plain and simple. Lena didn’t care that she had fully intended to tell him that nothing else could happen between them. After all, he didn’t know that. In fact, he hadn’t had any regard for what she might be feeling at all.

If and when he did come back to site, she certainly wouldn’t be banging on his door, begging for some sort of recognition or explanation. Hell no. If this was the way he was going to play it, fine. She didn’t need a deep and meaningful intimacy debrief. She had a life to get on with – work to do.

Pushing Dan to a secluded corner of her mind, she focused all her energies on the new skid frame, which was now operational. She had two skids going at once and the next day they were going to install their very first truss. That was more than enough to worry about without throwing Dan into the mix. Lena had looked over every part of the procedure at least a dozen times. But with Murphy’s law and the ‘Mike sabotage factor’ possibly at play she didn’t want to miss a thing.

By the end of the week she could breathe again. The first truss had gone in without mishap and as a result was followed up by two more uneventful installations. Lena almost wished they had been more of a distraction. Dan was still not back in town and there was no word of when he would return.

Despite her better judgement she was still keeping track of the number of days it had been since he’d disappeared. She didn’t realise she was being so obvious about it either until Sharon pulled her aside to tell her off.

‘I’m sick of that long face of yours,’ her friend complained. ‘You need to think about something else. You know, we’ve got this Sunday off. Why don’t you piss off Carl and organise another one of your famous jaunts?’

‘Well,’ Lena hadn’t actually intended to tell her, but the words slipped out, ‘it
is
my birthday on Saturday.’

‘Why didn’t you say something earlier!’ Sharon grabbed both her hands. ‘Now we
have
to do something.’

Reluctantly, Lena warmed to her enthusiasm. She’d never been one to turn down a fuss before. She loved celebrating and hadn’t missed the opportunity for a party since birth.

‘Let’s go to Karratha, Saturday night,’ Sharon suggested excitedly. ‘Dine at the best restaurant in town and get totally sloshed.’

Even as she said it, a germ of an idea began growing inside Lena’s brain. And like a druggy desperate for a fix, she pounced on it. ‘Actually,’ Lena said, making it up as she went, ‘why don’t we invite a few others?’

Sharon blinked. ‘Like who?’

‘Just our closer friends, like Leg and Radar and Harry and Carl.’

Lena glanced at her face to see her reaction to the last name but there was none. She’d half expected that though and, after what happened with Gavin, didn’t want to be pushy this time. She was just about to retract the idea, when Sharon brightened.

‘You know what? The more the merrier. I’ll help you organise it. After all, you can’t be responsible for planning your own birthday party.’

‘Birthday party?’ Lena repeated, startled. ‘Oh, I didn’t mean it like that.’

But Sharon wasn’t joking. Before Lena knew it, she was having a full-on birthday extravaganza. Carl even offered to rent a mini-van on Barnes Inc to get them all there and back. To excuse the expense, he said that after the event they could keep the van on site to run errands to Karratha. But Lena would have bet money that it was because it was Sharon who asked him for the vehicle, not her.

In any case, Sharon picked up the mini-van, which Leg and Radar nicknamed the ‘Bongo Bus’, early Saturday morning and brought it into camp. The arrangement was for everyone to meet out the front of the camp at ten past six that evening for their big night out. Sharon had volunteered to drive.

Harry turned up first and handed Lena a big box of chocolates all beautifully wrapped up, with a card.

‘This is from me, Leg and Radar.’

‘Aw, you didn’t have to do that,’ Lena said, knowing that he must have been the brains behind the operation. There was no way Leg or Radar would have come up with the idea and then on top of that gone shopping for it and wrapped it so beautifully. That’s when Gavin, Fish and Carl arrived, the latter dressed in their matching Hawaiian party shirts. It hadn’t been Sharon’s original intention to invite Fish or Gavin, but they’d overheard her telling Carl and basically invited themselves. Leg and Radar turned up last; and it was easy to see why they had taken so long to get there. They were carrying an Esky between them.

‘What do you think you’re doing?’ Sharon demanded.

‘Come on, mate,’ Leg protested. ‘We need some for the road.’

Lena moaned inwardly. It was going to be one of
those
nights.

Despite her reservations, however, they took off in the Bongo Bus as planned. The trip to Karratha, which took less than an hour, was pretty uneventful. Too much guzzling in the back seat for talking.

Sharon had booked a restaurant called Orchids. It was situated inside a hotel, Karratha Resort. Lena was pleasantly surprised to find that the bar and restaurant could easily have competed with any of the ritzy hotels in Perth. Beautiful brightly coloured paintings of marine animal and plant life hung on the walls. Smart but comfortable couches and armchairs were grouped around polished wooden coffee tables. Beyond the bar was a row of glass doors through which she could see a gorgeous swimming pool, its still surface glittering under the fairy lights. A spa and sauna area behind this was sheltered by palms. With the weather so perfect, she could just see herself out there, sipping a cocktail under the stars.

Despite the fact that they had already tipped back a few, Leg and Radar still wanted pre-dinner drinks so their first stop was the bar. Carl bought Lena a cocktail as a birthday present and Sharon one because she’d organised such a good party. Everyone else had a beer. Lena was just settling into the beginnings of a great evening when who should walk into the room but Mike Hopkins.

He was accompanied by a woman of similar shape and build to himself, short and plump with greying blonde hair. He stopped just before reaching the bar and Lena could tell he was as unpleasantly shocked to see her as she was to see him. But then his gaping mouth slowly closed and with a scowl of resignation he ushered his date across the room in their direction. To cut him some slack, Lena realised he couldn’t exactly snub his boss and it was Carl he walked towards, not her.

Thank goodness.

Carl hadn’t noticed him yet, however. And so when he turned around was just tipsy enough to say, ‘Fuck, Mike, were you invited?’

Mike went purple.

‘No, I’m on R and R. Decided to holiday in Karratha.’ He gestured to the woman beside him. ‘This is my wife, Patricia; flew up from Perth yesterday.’

Patricia nodded contemptuously at the group and fingered the pearls at her throat.

‘Right.’ Carl couldn’t seem to think of anything else to say.

‘And what, may I ask, brings all of you to town?’ Mike glanced at everyone except Lena.

‘It’s Madame E’s birthday,’ Radar jumped in. ‘We’re celebrating.’

Mike’s accusatory expression zeroed in on Lena immediately and she knew he was laying all the discomfort he was currently feeling firmly at her door.

Geez, this guy seriously needs a new scapegoat.

‘Well,’ he grunted. ‘Patricia and I are booked for dinner, so I think we’ll head to our table now.’

Carl raised his glass a little too gratefully. ‘No worries, you do that.’

As Mike moved away, Fish immediately leaned forwards. ‘Who shoved the great big stick up his arse?’

Leg and Radar rolled delightedly on their feet and Radar’s tipsy voice answered, ‘Madame E.’

‘Hey,’ Sharon looked at them sharply, ‘Lena didn’t do anything to Mike. He’s just a sour-faced troublemaker. Always has been.’

‘Sour you say.’ Fish leaned casually on the bar. ‘In that case how’s about we send him a drink?’

Only Carl laughed. The rest of them looked a little nervous. Fish raised his pointer finger. Lena and her friends watched in curiosity and then growing amusement as Fish asked the barman for one of his lemons. Grabbing a pen out of his pocket he drew a face with its tongue sticking out on it on one side and,
Best wishes from the Barnes boys
on the other. When he had completed the artwork, he balanced the lemon on top
of an empty wineglass and called the barman back over. ‘We’d like to send this to the gentleman at the table under the tree outside.’

The barman didn’t bat an eyelid and called a waiter over. The waiter placed the wineglass on a large black tray and with much flourish made his way outside. Lena couldn’t help it: she watched Mike’s reaction with the others. He blanched when the drink was placed in front of him, looking back at them as the waiter pointed in the direction from which the drink had come.

Fish, Radar and Leg all waved at him jovially. He didn’t even crack a smile, pushing the wineglass away and turning his attention back to his red-faced wife. The boys roared with laughter and even quiet, non-confrontational Harry couldn’t stop the grin from stretching across his face. Lena had to hide her own smile behind the rim of her glass.

‘I don’t like this,’ Sharon whispered at her elbow. ‘If Mike hated you before, he’ll be out for blood more than ever now.’

Unease rippled through Lena, but she refused to be overpowered by it. This was her night: she couldn’t let worry spoil it.

While she was making this decision Gavin, who had been fairly quiet up until now, moved across the circle and stationed himself at Sharon’s side. Lena frowned. She wasn’t keen on this turn of events at all. It was clear he was going to make a pain of himself by giving his courtship a second shot. The fact that he was halfway to drunk didn’t bode well either. She could tell though that Sharon wasn’t ignorant of what was going on. So she continued to allow Fish to tease her and a rather bewildered Harry with a rather long and convoluted story of his latest problem. Ethel would not allow him to put a freezer in his donga and the cook in the mess was refusing to store any more of his catches.

‘The thing is, not overly fond of the taste of fish, myself,’ he said sadly. ‘Not sure what to do with the half of it.’

‘Why not just throw them back?’ Harry asked.

Fish was horrified. ‘Discard the proof of my greatness? Not on your life!’

As Lena turned her head to hide her smile, she saw a disturbing scene a few metres away. Gavin had got hold of Sharon’s arm and wasn’t letting her leave his side, as she clearly wanted to do. Lena took a step towards them, but Carl was there before her.

‘Let go of her, you stupid bastard.’

Gavin’s head jerked up and he dropped Sharon’s arm. ‘Carl –’

‘I’ve been watching you behave like a regular prick for the past twenty minutes. Back off. Can’t you see the bird don’t want you?’

Gavin was extremely flushed but he straightened his spine nonetheless. ‘To be honest, Carl, I don’t think that’s any of your business.’

‘If you want me to make it my fuckin’ business,’ Carl growled, ‘I certainly will.’ He jerked his head over his shoulder. ‘But outside.’

Go, Carl!

Lena watched Sharon follow the exchange, white-faced and shaken. She hurried to her side, slinging an arm across her shoulders. Meanwhile, Gavin had pulled back and was swallowing convulsively. Lena realised it had just dawned on the idiot that he was picking a fight with his boss. Not exactly good for his future employment.

‘You know what?’ he said slowly. ‘I think it might be best if I just go. Cool off a little.’

He looked around at the group. If he was hoping someone would ask him to stay or offer him some company, he was disappointed. He nodded in resignation. ‘All right then.’

They watched him walk, somewhat unsteadily, out of the bar.

‘You guys shouldn’t have had so much to drink on the way here,’ Lena said as soon as Gavin was out of earshot.

‘And you women shouldn’t have had so f–’ Carl licked his lips. ‘So little.’ His gaze roved over Sharon’s face and Lena was surprised and gratified to see gentleness in it. ‘Can I buy you a drink?’ he asked her. ‘To help settle your nerves?’

Lena felt Sharon tremble under her arm as she nodded. ‘Perhaps some water? I’m driving after all.’

‘Forget that,’ Lena interrupted quickly. ‘You need something stronger and lots of it.’

‘But who will drive?’

‘I will.’ Lena squeezed her shoulders but Sharon immediately pushed away from her.

‘Lena, you can’t drive. It’s your birthday.’

‘I don’t mind,’ Lena said, smiling. ‘Honestly. Besides, with Mike here and everything, I’d rather keep my wits about me.’

It was the truth. She really didn’t feel like drinking heaps. And she’d rather see Sharon enjoy the evening – maybe even open up a little to Carl.

Sharon eyed her carefully. ‘You sure?’

‘Positive.’ Lena turned mischievously to Carl. ‘Buy her something fun, like a Screaming Orgasm.’

Under Sharon’s gaping gaze, Lena rejoined the other half of the group.

Half an hour and a few more drinks later, they finally decided to sit down to dinner. It was going to be an interesting meal considering Leg and Radar were smashed. Harry was drinking tentatively but steadily. Fish was seeing stars. Carl and Sharon were the most sober. After her experience of Carl’s behaviour at Point Samson, Lena knew he was holding back. Maybe he needed the brain cells for speaking. He was still struggling not to swear in front of Sharon and she wasn’t the only person to notice this time.