Josh knew he was staying here last night, and he got ready for the dinner in the room, so he has an overnight bag with a change of clothes. I’m not so lucky.
“No, I’ll sort something out. Wait here.” Josh throws on a t-shirt and jeans and heads out the door.
Wrapped in a robe, I lie back on the chaos of the bed and think about the incredible night we had. About the sex, which was out of this world. And about the awards night. The way Josh is with his staff. The respect he has from them and his boss. He’s come a long way from the boy who got Will into trouble on the regular. If only I could get him to see himself as I see him. To see the possibilities of us.
Josh is back in no time with a bag from the expensive designer shop across the road from the hotel. He’s picked me up a cute, strappy little sundress and a pair of canvas espadrilles. The cut of the dress means I don’t need to worry about a bra, and while I don’t make a habit of wearing last night’s knickers, I can’t bring myself to regret the necessity.
I’m glad about the dress because we do see Josh’s boss as we’re checking out. He’s looking pretty ragged, and his wife is nowhere to be seen.
“Have a good night, you two?” he asks, noting the award stowed under Josh’s arm. I have no idea where the other two got to, but I’m sure someone has them safe.
“Great night. Might need a nanna nap this afternoon, I think,” I suggest, even though I’m feeling fine if I’m honest.
“You won’t be the only one.”
We all laugh and go our separate ways. Josh is about to call an Uber when I suggest we take advantage of the beautiful day and go for a walk along the Circular Quay waterfront.
He leaves the award and his overnight bag, now also stuffed with my dress and shoes, with the concierge, and we wander towards the harbour.
The sky is cloudless, so we buy some sunhats and sunblock, which Josh rubs into the skin of my shoulders and arms exposed by my new favourite sundress. There’s enough breeze to take the bite out of the late spring sun as we walk along, dodging tourists and enjoying the sparkling water of the harbour.
I don’t know what last night meant to Josh. We explored our profound physical connection but haven’t talked at all about what might come next. For me, it’s more proof our being together is inevitable.
I don’t want to ruin the beautiful day and the morning-after glow I’ve got going on by bringing it up, so we chat about the awards, his plans for restructuring the agency, and how I’m settling in at my new job, bullies and all.
Eventually, we move on to the house and how things are going there. I couldn’t be happier with the progress Dave and Matt have made, and it seems Josh is also impressed with them. And with me, my ideas and the way I’m managing the build so far.
As we wander, Ty blows up Josh’s phone with pictures of him with Matt and his team digging holes and horsing around, which makes us laugh. It’s good to see Ty dropping the angry young man persona and acting more like a happy teen. And good to see Josh beam with pride when he sees the pictures. We snap a selfie with the harbour and Opera House in the background and send it to him. When Ty returns a string of emojis, including eggplants, peaches and fire, Josh scowls, although there’s no real heat in it. It’s clear Josh has fallen in love with his brother. And vice versa.
Before we know it, it’s early afternoon, and my tummy is starting to rumble. Rather than sit in a café, we grab a couple of wraps and some fresh-squeezed juice and sit on the grass in the park under the Harbour Bridge. The shade is a nice respite from the sun, and the echo of the traffic on the bridge above provides a relaxing white-noise effect that’s soothing after the clamour of the tourists.
It's time to bring up what’s going on.
“We seem to have crossed the line. Again,” I say, lying back and closing my eyes. Josh lies down beside me.
“Yeah. Seems like it.” He lets out a sad-sounding sigh.
“I know you think my family would be upset if they knew, but you might be wrong about that.”
It takes him so long to answer I turn to face him, propping myself up on my elbow, thinking he might’ve drifted off to sleep. He turns too so we’re mirror images of each other.
“It’s more than that, Greer. I’ve done some pretty shady shit in my day. Honestly, if you knew half of what I’ve done, you wouldn’t want anything to do with me.”
“If you mean about getting Will into trouble, I know about the stuff you got up to.”
He laughs without a hint of humour. “Not all of it, you don’t.”
What Josh doesn’t realise is that when he and Will were teenagers, I was often around to hear things I probably shouldn’t have. And once I started hearing things, I made it my business to listen when I thought things might be going sideways.
“Let’s see. I know about the time you took him to the sex shop.”
He grins despite himself. “Everyone knows about that.”
“I know about the girl you thought you got pregnant.”
His expression drops faster than a hot pie at the football. “What?”
“I know she told you she was pregnant. I know you told her you’d stand by her decision, whatever it was, and I know in the end it was a false alarm.”
