‘Waltzing with Matilda?’ Anna said.
‘Nothing that romantic. No one was going to write songs about us. We were simply lost. Then, at one of the towns, there was a bushfire. Everybody left whatever they were doing to fight it. It was a pretty big one and soon there were RFS teams from all over the region fighting with us.’ Justin paused. Anna could almost see the memories passing before his eyes as he stared out into the darkening trees. ‘Three houses were lost, but no one was hurt. When that fire was under control, I felt a sense of purpose. Pride, even. Something I hadn’t felt before. So I joined up. Most of the RFS are volunteers and for a while, I was, too, then a full-time job came up and I took it.’
‘Your brother?’
Justin gave a half-smile. ‘My baby brother went where I went. We’ve been doing that since we were kids. He was always getting into trouble and I got him out of it as best I could. When we left home, he was pretty messed up, so I looked after him.’
‘Messed up?’
Justin got to his feet. He deposited their plates in the sink and returned with more beer. ‘Sorry. It’s not my story to tell. He’s pretty sensitive about it. But that’s what broke our family apart. Still is, in a way.’
‘I’ve known your mother for a couple of years. She seems nice. Really cares about the animals she rescues.’
A shadow appeared in the open doorway. ‘A lot more than she ever cared about us.’ Ben came into the room, his steps uncertain and weaving. ‘So this is why you didn’t come to the pub.’
‘Sorry, brother. I bumped into Anna and she offered to cook dinner.’
‘Did she? Well, isn’t that nice. How many times did our mother do that—after she’d put herself in danger just to save some animal? I always thought it was her way of making up. Is that what this is?’
‘Ben …’ There was warning in Justin’s tone.
‘No, no. Don’t mind me.’ Ben staggered to the fridge and helped himself to another beer, although clearly he’d already had far too much. ‘Don’t let me spoil your evening. I can go sit on my bunk.’
‘I was just leaving.’ Anna leaped to her feet. ‘As well as that bull, I have some other live-in patients. I have to be up early to look after them before the surgery opens.’
‘Don’t leave on my account.’ Ben held up his hand in a conciliatory fashion.
Anna didn’t believe him for a minute. The way he looked at her, drunk or not, told her everything she needed to know. She wasn’t about to become the reason for the brothers to fight.
‘I should be getting back,’ she said.
Justin didn’t say a word, only nodded and got to his feet. He walked beside Anna as she returned to her car.
‘I apologise for my brother,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry the evening ended like this. I’d better go and sort him out.’
‘He’s a grown man,’ Anna heard herself say. ‘Maybe it’s time you let him sort himself out.’ The words were much harsher than she had intended, but once they were out, she couldn’t call them back.
She got into her car and drove away. When she looked in the rear-view mirror, Justin was gone. No doubt back inside to put his drunk brother to bed. It wasn’t how she had hoped the evening would end. She’d thought that maybe this one time she’d found someone who could see past her scars. Maybe Justin could, but that wasn’t enough. Although Anna was an only child, she knew what was said about identical twins, how close they were. Nothing could come between them. Not even a woman. And certainly not one who looked like her.
She turned onto the main road and drove out of town.
CHAPTER
25
Next morning, Justin didn’t bother waking Ben. He went for a run and when he returned, he glanced in at his brother. Ben was lying on top of his bunk, one leg dangling over the side. He hadn’t undressed the night before, and the room smelled like a pub. Which was fine for a pub, but not what Justin wanted first thing in the morning. Ben was going to feel pretty awful when he woke up.
While Justin ate breakfast and checked his emails, Anna’s words of the night before ran through his mind. Was he enabling Ben in his drinking? Instead of helping, was his tendency to protect his little brother actually hurting him? Stopping him from becoming his own man?
Maybe. But the habit was too ingrained to shake. The night they had walked out of their mother’s home, they had both been seventeen and angry. Left alone, the kid would probably have been homeless or in jail within a month. So he’d gone too and looked after his little brother as he always had.
But what if he hadn’t? What if he had stayed with their mother that night? Would Ben have gone alone? And what if Justin had brought him back the next day? Would Ben and their mother have found a way to make their peace then? How different all their lives would have been.
It was far too late now to change what had happened in the past. But he might be able to change the future. Maybe Anna was right and it was time he stopped being Ben’s ‘big brother’ and instead became his friend.
He collected his car keys and was about to scribble a note for Ben, but he changed his mind. Ben was a grown man. He could nurse his hangover by himself. And if he wondered where Justin was, well, they both had phones. If he was going to stop mollycoddling his brother, this was as good a time as any to start.
The bag of silk show ribbons was still in his car from the night before. It had slipped his mind the moment he’d seen Anna at the store. He got behind the wheel and headed out of town.
