Someone Like You(25)

'So.' She hopped up on the vacant bar stool, taking Lizzie's place next  to him, her fingers thrumming a rhythm on the bar. 'Danny. There's a  story there and you're going to tell me every little detail, my friend.'

He glanced around at the patrons. A laugh curved his lips. 'Not here.'  He stood, grabbing her hand. 'Let's go. I'll show you my fancy beach  house.'

'Ooh. Got any room for visitors?' Anna flicked her hair from her face  and it cascaded down her back in silky waves. Every pair of eyes in the  place watched it move.

'It might not be your style.' Dan looked down at her shoes. Sky-high,  black patent leather sandals. 'You gonna walk in those things or shall  we drive?'

Anna fished for her keys. They were attached to a giant red plastic heart. 'Wait 'til you see my new car.'         

     



 

Dan held out an arm, indicating Anna should go first but before taking a  step, he hesitated, couldn't help himself from glancing back down the  hallway to Lizzie's office. He wondered if there was anything he needed  to say.

Anna slapped his arm, rolled her eyes. 'Go say goodbye to your girl, you big dope. I'll wait.'

His girl. What? He didn't know what Lizzie was to him yet but he didn't  want her to think … shit. This time, he didn't wait to knock before  pushing open the door to Lizzie's office.

She was sitting behind her computer, slumped over, her head on the desk and nestled in the crook of one arm.

'What the hell?' Dan demanded.

At the sound of his voice, Lizzie pulled herself upright, eyes wide and a little scared.

Dan rushed forward, manoeuvring around the desk to kneel down by her  side. 'What's wrong?' He put a hand on her back and rubbed soothing  circles between her shoulder blades.

When Dan's green eyes latched on to Lizzie's, looking right through her  the way he did, she knew she was in trouble. The tremble deep in the pit  of her stomach rose up into her chest and lodged there, heavy and hard.  In that instant, she knew she was in deep. Maybe no-going-back deep.

Which was truly, monumentally, the worst idea she'd ever had.

Lizzie pressed her fingers to her temples. 'Just a headache, that's all. I'll be fine in a minute.'

'Why don't you go home? I'll take you. Damn it, I walked here. But Anna  has a car. We'll drive you back to your place. Can you get up?'

She gently shook her head. The last thing she wanted was to see the two  of them together again. It would take at least a few days to summon the  superhuman strength she would need to hold it together and cope with  that again. She exhaled, steadied herself and planted her hands flat on  the desk in front of her. 'I'll be okay.'

'Lizzie. Let me explain about Anna. She's an old friend. A really good friend. She was-'

'Dan,' Lizzie held up a hand, cut him off quickly, 'You don't have to  explain. You don't owe me anything, remember? Welcome to summer on the  south coast. It seems like half of Adelaide is either here, at Port  Elliot or Victor Harbor. Get back out there and convince her to come and  stay in Middle Point for her holidays.'

'I can't leave you like this. Let me take you home.'

Lizzie managed a smile. 'Get out before I kick you out.'

Dan studied her face and when he saw that she meant it, he came closer,  leaned in, kissed her forehead gently. 'I'll call you later. I mean it.'

He was so close that Lizzie could see the gold flecks in his emerald  eyes and the little creases at the corner of his mouth when he smiled.  God, she loved his smile. She reached up, slowly rested her hand on his  jaw, caressed the growth there, liked the feel of it under her  fingertips. Then she took her hand away.

'I'll see you, Dan.'

He rose slowly, walked around her desk and closed the door quietly behind him, but not before flashing her another smile.

As soon as she was alone, Lizzie sat up dead straight in her chair. She  might not have had a headache when Dan had barged in but she sure had  one now. Her pulse was thumping and she held a palm to her forehead,  hoping the cool would stop the throbbing.

All she could see was the look on Dan's face when he'd discovered it was  Anna across the room. There was a joy there, a pure unadulterated  happiness that she'd never seen when he'd looked at her. It wasn't that  she was jealous of Anna, it wasn't that at all.

Truth be told, she wanted someone's face to light up like that when she  walked into a room. No, that wasn't exactly right, either. She wanted  Dan's face to light up like that when she walked into a room. And with a  lurch in her heart, she knew it was too late to wish she didn't feel  that way.

She was already drowning in him.

Anna's car screeched to a halt on the esplanade out front of Dan's  place. The seagulls that had been camped on the front lawn flew into the  air in fluttering shock. She killed the engine of her lipstick-red  Italian sports car, looked past him and out the window.

'You're joking, right?' She nodded towards the mint green house. 'This is your place?'

Dan chuckled, looked at the shack he now, surprisingly, called home. 'Told you it wouldn't be your style.'

'I don't think there's a word for what that is,' she laughed, pulling  her keys from the ignition with a jangle. 'Gelato vintage?'

'The view is all I need. Come have a look.' Dan swung open the car door  and unfolded himself out of the passenger seat, his right leg stiff from  the cramped space in the front. As Anna followed him up the driveway,  he tried not to be obvious, hiding the stiffness and soreness he felt.  Once he'd ushered her inside, she fell into such a stunned silence he  wondered if she'd been gagged. Stunned silence was a first for Anna  Morelli. She propped her sunglasses on top of her head, spun around on  her stilettos and narrowed her eyes at him playfully.         

     



 

'This is a change of pace from your bachelor pad in the city.'

'Precisely. I needed a change.'

'It's chilled out. Relaxed. Is that what you needed?'

Dan nodded.

'You'd better have decent coffee, that's all I can say.'

'No, I don't and you're not the first person to say that, by the way. How about a glass of wine instead?'

He opened the fridge and leaned in to grab a beer for himself and a  bottle of sauvignon blanc he'd bought just in case Elizabeth … just in  case he had company. More silence from Anna. This was freaking him out.  He turned to her for her answer on the wine and then felt a strange  sensation in his gut when he realised her bewildered expression had  disappeared. In its place was one that was deadly serious. She'd  softened, her bravado gone, the brassy attitude he knew so well looked  now like sadness.

'What's up, Anna?' His hackles rose.

'Dan.' She gestured for him to come and sit down, the jangle of her  multiple gold bracelets the only sound in the room. 'I've got a  confession to make.'

Dan tried to judge what was going on and failed totally. 'You'll need a church for that.'

Anna took a deep breath. 'Don't tell my mother but I haven't been in one  of those for a while. The truth is, Danny, I'm not really here to check  out a summer rental.'

He slammed the fridge door shut. 'What's going on?'

She sighed. 'I'm Italian. You know I don't do the beach. Running into you at the pub today was no accident.'

Dan stilled. He felt like a bug caught in a spider's web and realised  that no amount of struggling would get him out of it. He walked to her,  his chest tight, his pulse racing. He felt slightly light-headed. 'You  here to check up on me? Who's been talking to you? Was it Ry? It's none  of his fucking business.'

Anna didn't say a word. She moved closer to him, slipped her arms around  his waist, laid her cheek on his chest and held on tight. Out of habit  more than anything, Dan wrapped his arms around her, rested his chin on  her head.

'I should've known I couldn't hide anything from you,' he said, defeated by her simple gesture.

Anna looked up, her eyes swollen with tears. 'What's been going on, Danny?'

Julia stood at the front windows of the glass palace, staring out onto  the roadway at the sports car. It was low-slung, bright red, sexy as  hell.

'Ry!' she called up the stairs. She knew he was working but that could  wait. There was something brewing in the neighbourhood and it was far  more important than work on Windswept. A minute later, Ry came padding  down the stairs, phone in hand. As she watched him descend, her heart  beat faster. She couldn't help it. She would never take that view for  granted.

'Yes, light of my life?' Ry flashed her a huge grin.

She beckoned him to the window, pointed through the glass. 'Come and see this.'

When Ry appeared at her side, he whistled. 'Nice wheels.'

Julia turned to him. 'Who does Dan know with a car like that?'

Ry looked closely, squinted to get a proper view, then laughed. 'Take a look at the number plate.'

Julia could see they were personalised, not showing the usual  combination of letters and numbers, but a black plate, with four white  letters centred on it.

'A-N-N-A,' she spelled out. 'Anna? Who's that?'

Ry simply grinned at his fiancée.

Julia spun around. 'You know who it is and you're not telling me.' She  poked him in the sides, tickling him under his arms. 'Give it up, Ry.  You know I'll keep this up until I get an answer out of you.'