I sit with my phone in my hand, feeling anxious and useless. And thankful Sadie has taken control.
Chapter Twelve
Sadie
Ididn’t give myself time to second-guess this decision. Now that we’re on the road, waiting for a call from any one of the many people we left voicemails for, I realise this is dangerous.
Not because I’ll be spending two hours in a car with Ethan, although why he has to wear that peppery aftershave every damn day is a mystery to me.
What I hadn’t thought through is that it’s now early afternoon. There’s a distinct possibility I’ll be stuck in Bangalay for the night. With Ethan. Oh my, as Judy Garland once said. Because I can’t just leave him there if none of his family turn up. And what do I say if and when his family do turn up? This situation can only be described as fucktangular. But there’s no point whining about it now.
“Is your brother a farmer?” I ask. While I drive I might as well find out what I could be walking into. Also, conversation is a good way to distract myself from the many and varied ways this situation could go belly-up.
“He’s a lawyer. His partner is the local vet in Bangalay. So he works remotely and commutes a couple of days a week. They’re having twins.”
“Wow. That’s exciting. What about your brother and sister that we called?” I so don’t need to know more about Ethan. Because every new piece of information I discover makes him more attractive.
“No, they live in Sydney. Greer is an architect, and Ben is a … well I guess you’d call him an angel investor.”
I’m struggling to think of another safe topic of conversation when the phone rings, and a woman’s voice floats out of the speaker.
“Hey E, what the hell was that message? Call immediately? Wait. Did they find another Egyptian tomb that’s been buried for five thousand years? Thatisurgent.”
I smirk, but Ethan doesn’t dignify her snide humour with a response.
“Gee. Thank God. Will called. Freyja’s in labour. In Dad’s barn. There’s no time for them to get to the hospital, he said. He’s asked me to round up the fam. Where the hell is everyone?”
“Oh, my God. Mum and Dad had that play they’ve been looking forward to this afternoon, so their phones are probably off. Josh is at a client off-site all day. No idea where Ben and Ro are.” Even over the car speakers, you can hear the anxiety in her voice.
“Right. I’m on my way to Bangalay now. Can I leave it to you to round everyone up and meet me there?”
“Of course. This is so exciting!” As well as anxiety, I can also hear the joy in his sister’s voice.
“We could probably do with slightly less excitement. The giving birth in the barn bit seems like overkill,” Ethan counters in his trademark dry tone. He’s not wrong.
“Nah. This is Freyja we’re talking about. She’ll be taking it all in stride. And Will has delivered enough calves in that barn to know what he’s about.”
I can’t hold back a shout of laughter. I don’t know her, but I’m sure Freyja won’t take kindly to being compared to a cow. Ethan’s family sound like good value. Sigh.
“Who was that? Is someone in the car with you?”
Ethan rolls his eyes, and I notice his pupils are still enormous.
“Yes, Sadie’s driving me. I’ve had those drops in my eyes, and I’m not allowed to drive for at least three or four hours.”
There’s a beat of silence. “Sadie, huh?” When Ethan says nothing, his sister continues. “Okay then, I’ll get everyone together and let you know when we’re on the road. Keep me posted on progress.”
“What’s with the E and Gee?” I ask when the call ends.
“Childhood nicknames. None of us like them, but none of us are willing to give up using them on each other. So they’ve stuck.”
My heart melts a little. It’s clear Ethan and his siblings are close. I always wanted to be part of a bigger family. Dad’s daughters from his first marriage won’t even acknowledge the existence of my brother and me. Since he divorced Mum, Dad hasn’t been married to anyone long enough to have more children. Which is probably just as well. As father’s go, he’s a great … yeah. I’ve got nothing. At all.
So it’s just my brother, Liam, and me. You’d think growing up in such a fractured household we might’ve stuck together, been there for each other. But the opposite happened. I’ve tried to reach out to him over the years, but he’s happy bro-ing it up with his mates. He doesn’t have any interest in his nerdy older sister.
He also doesn’t understand why I followed Dad into a career in ancient history. Being four years younger than me, he doesn’t remember the early years with Dad. When he would tell mestories of the Ancient Egyptian legends. Show me pictures of the spectacular tomb and temple paintings. Explain the stories and the hieroglyphs in the papyri he had on his study walls. And tell me all about the adventures of his digs. It was the only genuine connection we had.
To me, Dad was a real-life Indiana Jones. Minus the fear of snakes. Liam doesn’t remember the days before Mum and Dad’s relationship became so toxic we were all walking on eggshells. Until Dad walked away.
