'Check this out, Lizzie,' Ry called as she approached. 'Look who's here? Dan turned up this morning and volunteered to cook the eggs. Not bad, huh? His timing is terrible. He finally makes it down here on a Sunday morning and its our last gig of the year.'
Dan lifted his chin to her. 'Morning, Elizabeth.'
Lizzie couldn't see his eyes, hidden behind his aviator sunglasses. 'Morning Dan.'
'Sleep well?' he asked.
'Yes, thanks.'
Well, that was a lie. She'd been half asleep and then half in shock when she'd seen him at her doorstep the night before. And he'd seemed a little drunk, so between them they hadn't made a lot of sense. She remembered an awkward exchange and a lingering stare, his emerald eyes turning on her the way they always did. And then she'd barely slept the rest of the night, her mind racing and confused with thoughts of him.
She'd need at least two more coffees to get revved up enough to cope with today.
'I thought I'd better come and check this all out. See what it looks like filled with people.' He glanced around at the activity and a beaming grin almost split his face. 'It's kind of incredible, isn't it, Elizabeth?'
'Yeah, it kind of is, Dan.'
He lifted his glasses off his face and his eyes found hers. They were like a laser pointer straight to her heart.
'Is it everything you imagined it would be?'
Despite her sleep haze, and despite his presence sending her knees shaking, she found herself grinning like an idiot, too. 'It's more.' She turned and took it all in. The people, the laughter, the life, the fun. The spirit of community was all around her and her heart filled with love for these people and her beloved Middle Point.
She hadn't realised but Dan was at her side. He took her hand in his and she let him.
'Look what we did. We made this. I reckon this proves that there's nothing we can't do when we work as a team. What do you think?'
Elizabeth couldn't find the words to answer him. She simply gripped his hand tighter.
CHAPTER
28
On the first day of school for the year, the heady and sundrenched month of January disappointingly over, Middle Point was mysteriously quiet. As if to taunt the holidaymakers who'd had to return to their real lives and nine-to-fives, the children and teenagers who had to return to classrooms and uniforms, nature threw on a brilliant day, cloudless, a gentle breeze off the ocean, the temperature in the high twenties. Lizzie and Julia sauntered along the white beach, their feet splashing in the shallow water, enjoying the space, the solitude and, officially, Julia's last week as a single woman.
'I think coming back to Middle Point was the best decision I ever made.'
Lizzie laughed. 'Don't know why you ever left, Jools.'
Julia linked an arm through her best friends. 'Things have a way of settling in the exact way they should, don't you think?'
'Even if you fight it.' Lizzie had to smile at her friend's contagious happiness. 'All I know is that more than six months ago you landed back in Middle Point with every intention of escaping back to Melbourne as fast as you possibly could. And look what happened.'
Julia nudged her. 'Ry happened, that's what. It only took four weeks … '
'Fifteen years and four weeks,' Lizzie corrected.
Julia laughed and bumped Lizzie with her hip. 'I know. We did things the long way around. But we're doing them the right way now. I know it. Here, with Ry, this is where I'm meant to be. Ry, Middle Point and Middle of Nowhere Consulting. I'm happy.'
Lizzie found a lump in her throat, tried to swallow it away. Her friend was so certain of her life, where it was heading and who she was. Did Lizzie feel jealous? Was that it?
'We've finalised the guest list. Everyone's coming, Lizzie.'
'Of course they are. Who could possibly say no to an invitation to the wedding of Middle Point's super couple? What shall we call you? Rylia? JuRy?' Lizzie laughed.
'Which means,' Julia added, 'that Anna is coming. With her husband, of course. You okay with that?'
Lizzie looked out to sea to anchor herself. It shimmered, the white peaks crowning the waves like ribbons of icing. 'Why shouldn't I be? She's an old friend of Ry's, too. I'm sure she's as happy as we all are about you two finally getting together.'
'I just wanted to let you know before you saw her at the wedding.'
'Julia, don't worry. I know the truth. I know she and Dan were involved and I know they're not anymore. I believed him when he told me. Funny thing is, I have a sneaking suspicion I would actually like her if we'd met the old-fashioned way. You know, like on Facebook.'
They walked in silence for a while, the sound of the waves and the gulls above them creating a symphony of the seaside.
'Lizzie,' Julia tugged her to a stop. 'Do you want to talk about Dan?'
'No.' She backed that up with an adamant shake of her head.
'You sure?'
'There's nothing to talk about, Jools. Really.' And you are a big liar.
'He's been turning up at our place every night for a beer and a chat, which is hilarious really. We spent months and months trying to lure him out of his man cave and now he won't leave us alone. He's really excited about the move.'
The move? Lizzie stopped. Was he moving back to Adelaide?
'What move? What are you talking about?' she asked in a rush.
Julia lifted her sunglasses and peered into her friend's eyes. 'You mean he didn't tell you?'
'No, obviously not.'
'He's moving down here for good, Lizzie. He's not going back to Adelaide.'
Lizzie almost tripped over her feet. 'He's moving here? Permanently?' She heard the stammer in her own voice.
'Yes. Turns out he loves Middle Point.' Julia laughed. 'Who doesn't?'
'Five hours to the wedding.' Ry checked his watch and scratched his chin. He and Dan were at Dan's place, sitting, by necessity, a little too close together on the small orange vinyl sofa. They each held a cold beer in one hand and a hot pie from the Port Elliot bakery in the other. Through the windows of Dan's beach shack, the sky was a brilliant blue and the few wisps of clouds in it made for decoration, rather than rain. A mild breeze blew over Middle Point and all signs were pointing to the wedding going off without a hitch at precisely five p.m.
'This wedding preparation stuff is a real killer,' Dan added through a mouthful of gravy, meat and tomato sauce. He propped his feet on the small teak coffee table.
'Why do Julia and Lizzie need the whole day? I mean, what's so hard about it?' Ry asked with a cocked eyebrow. 'Chuck on the clothes, shave, that's it. Turn up to the ceremony. Boom. Done.'
'You're forgetting your hair and make-up, pretty boy.'
Ry chuckled. 'You may have noticed,' and he pointed to his mussed hair, 'I'm going for the natural look. I hear it's big this year. How hard can this be? All Julia and I have to do is turn up, say a few words and then, wham, we're married.'
And then he stopped. Took a swig of beer. Thought about what he'd just said. His self-satisfied smile faded into a frown as he fell against the back of the sofa. 'Fuck. I'm getting married.'
Dan knew cold feet when he saw them. They were there in the whites of Ry's wide eyes and in the twitch in his stubbled jaw.
'Yeah, mate, you'll be married. To Julia. The one you waited fifteen years for. If you're panicking now, after all the bullshit I've had to put up with all this time, I'm going to kick your arse.'
'This isn't panic. Not really. Kind of. Fuck it. Yeah, it's panic.'
Dan got up, walked to the fridge for more beer. 'Go on, get it out of your system,' he called across the room. 'Run that little slideshow in your head of all the other women you'll never sleep with. And don't forget to include Halle Berry, Scarlett Johansson and every Bond girl in living memory. Get it all out now, 'cause I sure as hell know you'll regret waking up tomorrow not being married to Julia.'
Ry had leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his fingers ploughing through his au naturale, don't-give-a-shit hair. 'I know, right? This is fucking crazy.'
'You're just being a dude.'
'Yeah, I know it.'
'She's the one for you, Ry. Always has been. Always will be.' Dan closed the fridge, brought two beers back to the sofa, and they clinked bottles as he sat back down. 'You're a lucky bastard, you know that?'
Ry took a deep breath, swigged the beer Dan offered, and set it on the low teak table. 'I know, I know. I'm lucky.'
'You've got this whole life ahead of you, starting today.'
'Yeah.'
'You should be bloody glad she's marrying you.'
That made Ry smile and Dan relaxed. His job was done. The crisis was averted.
'Thanks,' Ry said.
'It was nothing, just my best man duty.'
Ry grinned. 'What, talking me down from the edge of the cliff or getting me another beer?'
'Both.' They listened to the sounds of the beach through the front windows.
'So. Lizzie,' Ry said.
Dan took a long swig. 'What about her?'
'What's going on?'
'Nothing. Not yet.'
'Nothing? Who are you and what have you done with my best man Dan McSwaine?'
'Relax. I have a plan. It's a slow-burn plan.'
'Danny Boy, you don't have time for a slow burn. What the hell are you waiting for? Don't be as stubborn as I was. Last year, you pushed me when I needed pushing. And now I'm returning the favour. If you want her, go get her.'