Someone Like You(28)

He wondered what it would be like to sit at a table with Elizabeth and  eat toast together, listen to her bitching about his instant coffee.  She'd probably want that healthy multigrain bread and he'd only have  white. He shook those thoughts away and padded down the carpeted stairs,  careful to hold on to the handrail. Thinking about that stuff, hell,  even wanting it, wouldn't turn him into the guy who was ready for that.

'Good morning,' he croaked as he crossed the kitchen to the breakfast  bar, pulled out a stool and plonked himself on it. He managed a smile at  his hosts.

'Breakfast?' Julia was too goddamn perky for his liking, a huge smile on  her face. What could she possibly be so happy about this early in the  morning?         

     



 

'Thanks.' Dan stared down at the plate she'd placed in front of him. It  was loaded with two eggs, sunny side up, bacon crisped to perfection,  half a grilled tomato and finely chopped mushrooms. On the side, toasted  sourdough bread. It smelled unbelievable and he grabbed the cutlery.

'We thought you might need a fry-up,' Ry added, staring at him intently. 'You know, to soak up all the booze.'

Julia and Ry stood across the bench, both with crossed arms, studying him. Dan let them watch as he wolfed down the meal.

'Hungry?' Ry asked with a smirk in his voice.

In between mouthfuls, Dan replied, 'Didn't eat last night. Too busy drinking.'

'Want a coffee to wash that down?' Julia asked, and when he began  chewing and nodding a yes, she grabbed a cup and fired up Ry's  fancy-schmancy coffee machine. It began hissing and steaming. Damn, that  smelled good too.

'Ah, too busy drinking,' Ry said. 'That explains why you were making  absolutely no sense last night when you knocked on the door. Tell me  again why you needed to crash here?'

Dan put down the cutlery, stretched up to the ceiling and yawned. 'When I  pushed Anna into my bed just after midnight I realised I had nowhere to  sleep.'

Julia looked at him, puzzled. 'You mean you didn't-'

Ry cut her off with a glare that said I love you honey but shut the hell up right now. 'How's that coffee coming, JJ?'

'Here you go.'

'Thanks, Julia. Smells really good. Like real coffee. Better than my  instant.' Then he dropped his cutlery with a clutter. 'Damn it. I'd  better go tell Anna where I am.' He plodded to the door. The fry-up had  helped some but there was an unmistakeable post-booze throbbing in his  skull. He'd better walk more slowly.

'Bring her back for breakfast, Dan,' Julia called after him. 'We've got plenty.'

'And I've seen what you've got in your fridge,' Ry added. 'You don't want to poison the woman.'

Dan turned around, flashed them the best half a smile he could manage  and raised his middle finger to Ry. 'Put another coffee on.'

The door closed quietly. Julia opened the stainless steel fridge, pulled  out another egg carton and a new packet of bacon, and set them beside  the stove. Then she leaned back against the counter, suspicion in her  eyes. Ry knew that look. It was dangerous. It meant she was thinking.

'Why do you think Anna slept in Dan's bed and he slept here in our spare room?'

'You're not really asking me, are you,' Ry said with a grin. 'You  already know and I'm just here to look handsome and cook the bacon.'

'You know what I'm thinking, Ry. It means they didn't sleep together.'

He thought on it. 'Or it means they did sleep together, had a fight and then she kicked him out.'

'How can she kick him out of his own bed?'

'When she's too pissed to drive back to Adelaide in the middle of the night.'

Julia bit her lip. 'Damn it, you're right. Do you really think it's back on between those two?'

'Chill, JJ. Anna's married. Man, that was a huge wedding. She looked  like a giant meringue. Six bridesmaids. Her crazy Italian family. Eight  courses for dinner. Bomboniere. Dried ice on the dance floor, the whole  lot.'

Julia rolled her eyes. 'Call me cynical, but since when does marriage get in the way of having sex with someone else?'

'Hey. You've got that wrong. Anna's not like that and I sure as hell  know Dan. They broke up, like, ten years ago, maybe twelve. They're  friends now. It's ancient history, the two of them.'

At the sound of a knock at the door, they exchanged quick glances.  Whoever it was, their conversation had just come to an abrupt end.

'Come in,' Ry called out.

They looked over to find Lizzie standing in their living room. 'Good morning, you two. Can I get a café latte?'





CHAPTER


15


Lizzie stopped in her tracks, suspicious. A nervous ping flittered in  the air between Ry and Julia, like a silver ball trapped in a pinball  machine. Her first thought was that she'd stepped into the middle of  something private. A fight? Not these two. Not yet anyway. They were  still very much in the loved-up stage. Ry stood with his arm around  Julia's shoulder, twisting a curl of her hair around his fingers. Julia  was leaning back on him, one hand reaching back to rest on his thigh.

Lizzie lifted her chin in a questioning move. 'Everything all right, you two?'

'Café latte coming right up.' Ry reached for another cup so he could work his magic on the coffee machine.         

     



 

Julia walked over to Lizzie, threw her arms around her for a hug and  held on, squeezing tight. Softly she whispered in Lizzie's ear, so it  was just between them, 'You okay?'

Lizzie gave her a little nod, managed a sad smile and sat down at the  bench. After their conversation the day before, she'd gone home, feeling  very low, needing her own solace, and ended up watching Dirty Dancing  for the thirtieth time. The familiarity of it helped her escape the  memories of what she'd told Julia the day before. Dredging up the past  was hard. That's why she didn't like to do it.

'Have you eaten? We're doing a fry-up,' Julia said.

Lizzie face was a question. 'A fry-up can only mean one thing. Someone's  recovering from a big night. What did you two get up to?'

There it was, a nervous look in Julia's eyes. 'We … um … we had a quiet  night. Sat on the balcony drinking red wine and talking until late,  didn't we, Ry?'

'I can't get her to shut up about the wedding, if you must know,  Lizzie.' He winked at her. '"When are you going to make an honest woman  out of me?", blah blah blah.'

Ry presented Lizzie with her café latte. The milky concoction looked  enticing, and he'd tied a white serviette around the glass with a knot  so she wouldn't burn her fingers.

'Oh, look at that,' Lizzie sighed. 'You've even made the pretty swirls  in the frothed milk. Maybe we'll have to get you on barista duty when we  start doing breakfasts out in the car park.' Lizzie lifted the cup to  her mouth, purposefully tilted it so the foam hit her top lip. 'Mmm … just  what I needed.'

Ry and Julia were still chuckling along with Lizzie and her milk  moustache when the front door opened. Then they both stopped mid-laugh  and Lizzie watched two sets of eyes dart to the front door.

'We're back,' someone called. And she didn't need to turn her head to  know exactly who that someone was. Lizzie froze at the unmistakeable  sound of Dan's voice from across the room.

We?

She hurriedly licked the milk froth from her lips, swiped her face with  the back of her hand, then turned, scared to look but unable to stop  herself.

The we was, of course, Dan and Anna. And with a quick glance, Lizzie  recognised the skinny jeans and the top. Anna was wearing the same  clothes she'd been wearing the day before. Even down to the stilettos.  Dan was beside her, holding her elbow, guiding her with gentle steps to  the kitchen. Big, black designer sunglasses hid most of Anna's face and,  unless Lizzie was mistaken, she was softly groaning.

'She needs a coffee. Straight into the vein.' Dan positioned Anna on a  stool next to Lizzie and then stood behind her, looking for all the  world like he was positioning himself to catch her in case she fell.

He looked slightly the worse for wear too, Lizzie noticed, his face pale  and more than a hint of growth on his jaw, but damn him to hell, did he  have to look so gorgeous in his suffering? His eyes still shone in his  pale face, his T-shirt, black and rumpled, stretched across the chest  she'd had her hands and lips all over a just a few days ago. His black  hair was unkempt and pushed back messily off his forehead. It seemed  like he'd had a big night too.

Dan managed a quick glance in Lizzie's direction. 'Hi.'

One word. That was all she got. There was no smile on his face before he  averted his eyes and looked at anything else in the room but her.

Lizzie's stomach dropped through the floor. She swallowed a lump in her  throat, tried to take a big deep breath without it showing. She wanted  desperately to get out of there, to get away from them all, with all  their happiness and couple stuff and love and, clearly, sex. If it  wasn't enough that Ry and Julia were a sickeningly happy couple, she now  had to face Dan and Anna. Maybe the four of them had had a party last  night without her. Perhaps they'd had a delightful couples-only thing  and then proceeded to do couples stuff. It had been so damn long since  she'd been part of a couple that Lizzie realised she didn't have a clue  what that was like anymore. Were there intense discussions about  politics? Climate change? Long-winded dissertations about rising  property prices on the south coast followed by red wine and cheeses and a  glass of polite port? Lizzie felt the beginnings of a headache thump in  her temple and a hollow feeling open up in her chest.