The tiniest hint of a smile crossed his face before Sherlock’s gaze went to the door and his whole expression shut down.
Sam turned. Their shouting had attracted a couple of nurses. At his scowl they scurried away, but it was too late, Sherlock was staring out the window again. Sam huffed, then moved around the other side of the bed so Sherlock had to look at him. His friend was stubborn enough not to turn his head again. “The nurses tell me you’re ready to be discharged,” he said. “Why don’t you come to Retribution Bay? There’s plenty of room at my new place.”
No answer.
“It’s nicer weather, the ocean’s gorgeous, and you can get away from all your shit for a while.”
Still no response.
Sam sighed. “Think about it. There’s more to life than the army.” He’d had enough for the day. He stood. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He had to finish packing and maybe he’d pissed off Sherlock enough that he would do more than stare at the wall.
He could always hope.
***
Penelope Fraser wiped over her kitchen table and then thoroughly rinsed the cloth, squeezing it out and hanging it to dry. Her kitchen was spotless, as was the rest of her house. So what was she supposed to do now?
She checked her phone but there were no messages from work calling her in. Damn it.
She wandered through her sparsely furnished rental property. She’d let Gerard keep most of what they’d bought together. She owed him that much. She’d left him and her old inner city apartment far behind. This rental was single storey and built in the seventies, with the tiling to match, but at least that meant it was sturdy after surviving numerous cyclones. She sighed and flopped onto the couch. What was she doing here in Retribution Bay?
After her break-up, it seemed like a good idea to leave everything behind. Gerard had accused her of being a workaholic, obsessing over what needed to be done, and of not caring for him as much as he cared for her. The sad truth was, she now realised he was right on all points. After the accident, work had been her one outlet, her way of proving herself, her penance. She didn’t notice she was withdrawing from her relationship.
And before that, her sea snake research had taken her away for weeks or months at a time. Her partner, Emelia had been so passionate about the creatures, Penelope had barely missed Gerard while she’d been away.
That should have told her something if she’d bothered to consider it, but it had been easier not to.
Coward.
She squeezed her eyes closed and pushed away the memory.
Six weeks in Retribution Bay wasn’t long enough to give up and run home.
She picked up her e-reader and flicked through the books. “Read it, read it, read it.” The only two left unread were ones she’d started and disliked. After reading only five books last year, she’d expected it would take her a whole lot longer to get through her to-be-read pile.
Perhaps she should sign up at the library. Maybe that would connect her with the community. There’d definitely been no welcome basket and friendly neighbours like she’d seen in so many movies.
To be fair, she had arrived in the middle of tourist season where the town’s population exploded to over twenty thousand. And she’d had coffee with her colleague, Georgie Stokes, a few times, even going on one of the girls’ nights Georgie had organised and meeting the local police officers and some other women around town. It had been nice even if she’d worried about saying the wrong thing. The accident had shattered her confidence in more ways than one.
Penelope sighed. Maybe she should call Georgie and ask if she wanted to go for coffee, but Georgie was in a new relationship and spent a lot of time with Matt. Penelope didn’t want to seem needy. She had tried joining the adult horse-riding classes run by Faith on a Saturday, however she didn’t like horses or the lack of control she felt being on one. She’d only been to one lesson before giving it up. Perhaps she should have given it more of a chance.
It wasn’t as if there weren’t things to do. She lived on the shores of the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef, which meant she had plenty of opportunities to snorkel or scuba dive just offshore. Penelope rubbed the goose bumps on her arms. Maybe not scuba dive.
She had an amazing job at Parks and Wildlife Services, but even that wasn’t enough to keep her busy, not like the twelve-hour days she’d put in with her research. Besides, she was supposed to be slowing down, getting back on track, rediscovering herself and her confidence.
Penelope stood and walked over to the window to look out at the quiet street. Across the road, kids laughed as they played chasey. They had no problems finding something to do.
With a sigh she picked up her knitting project from the coffee table, and stuck a finger through one of the many holes. What a failure. So much for making her best friend, Ceiveon, a blanket for her newborn baby. At the rate she was going, the child would be at high school before she was finished. She would have to unravel it and try again at some stage, but she had no desire today.
Her phone belted out Girls just wanna have fun and she grinned, lunging for it. “I was just thinking about you.”
“How’s the baby blanket going?” Ceiveon asked.
“Great!”
“Liar. Send me a photo.”
Crap. “Ah, the camera on my phone’s not working.”
