Amie opens the door of the house as I’m shoving my arms through my hoodie sleeves. Her face is ruddy but mournful. ‘I miss you already and you haven’t even left yet.’
‘We can meet up –’ She grabs me and kisses me, and my mouth is too preoccupied for talking. I give it a second try. ‘We can meet up tomorrow –’ Nope, still no good. I give it one last go. ‘I’ll call you as soon as I can, yeah?’
‘Whatever the time,’ she says firmly.
‘Whatever the time. Midnight. Four in the morning.’ It’s after four now, I notice. My efforts with my clothes and boots get more urgent.
She grins. ‘Call me when you want to kiss me.’
‘I can’t call you every time I wanna kiss you.’ I stroke her hair, grin back. ‘I’ll be calling you a hundred times a day.’
‘I’d like that,’ she says softly.
‘Me, too.’ I hug her close. ‘God. Only two more days until delivery.’
‘Maybe you should chuck it in.’ Her voice is muffled against my neck. ‘Tell my dad you can’t do it anymore because you’d like to start going out to the movies with me instead.’
I roll my eyes. ‘Oh, he’d love that. “Sorry, sarge, I just found your daughter way more interesting than a bunch of drug dealers”.’ I pull back to watch her laugh. ‘It’d be true. It’d also be suicide. But that’s okay.’
She goggles at me. ‘You think my dad would go you if he found out we were a couple? Come on, give him some credit.’
‘I think your dad is a sensible bloke who understands the insanity of you getting mixed up with a guy like me.’
‘A guy like you?’ She smiles. ‘And what kind of guy is that, Harris?’
I pull a lock of her hair away from her shoulder, lift it to my lips. My voice is husky. ‘Your kinda guy.’ I bury my face, so my mouth is right beside her ear. ‘Your guy, Amie.’
Her earlobe is soft on my lips. When her body shakes, I feel it.
But I have to pull away. ‘Lemme go now, babe. I don’t wanna get you in strife with your family. Tomorrow – I’ll see you again tomorrow.’
‘Tomorrow.’ She nods, clasping my arm. Releasing.
I step out into the afternoon sun, dive back for a quick kiss in the doorway, wrench myself away. If I think about it I won’t do it. I dig for my keys, look back over my shoulder. Amie’s standing barefoot in the doorway, her brown legs stretching down from her cut-offs, black hair splayed over the orange of her shirt.
‘Be careful!’ she calls.
I nod firmly. Press the fingers of one hand to my mouth and cast my arm out, sending my kiss to her. Her scent is still on my skin. I carry it with me to the car. The inside of the Pitbull is hot, but the flush on my face has nothing to do with that.
Driving back to Amblin Court, it’s like I’m so happy that everything pleases me. The bottlebrush in bloom – yep, that’s nice. Pedestrians on the street – hi, how are ya. I drive slow, so I can enjoy it because I can’t remember the last time I felt this mellow. In fact, I don’t know if there ever was a last time. Like everything else that’s happened today, this might be a first.
Nothing disturbs my level of happy, not even the sight of Ando’s Land Cruiser parked on the verge outside the house. I can handle talking to Ando right now. I might even give him a smile. I can do anything today.
I park and walk to the door of the house, hoping Reggie’s around so I can smile at someone who deserves it. When I get in the door, though, I see Snowie sitting on the couch. Reggie’s sitting next to him. And he’s not smiling.
He darts forward against Snowie’s restraining hand. ‘Harris, get out, he’s gonna –’
Ando steps out from behind the door and punches me in the face. After that I don’t see nothing.
