Chapter Six
I’m staring straight ahead, although acutely aware that Jackson is right next to me as we walk back to the pub. My mind is in free fall and I’m guessing Jackson’s is doing the same. It’s a release to push open the beer garden gate and see Olly rolling around in the ball pit. Not a care in the world.
‘Hey champ,’ I say, breaking away from Jackson to squat down next to the toddler to ruffle his hair.
‘Aunty Elly Welly,’ he says brightly and then quickly turns his back on me to throw an armful of multicoloured plastic balls up in the air.
Reeni, Aaron, Dillon, Milo, his mum and a couple of other people I don’t recognise, and now Jackson, are sitting in a group to the left of the ball pit at one of the picnic tables with a few extra chairs pulled around to accommodate everyone.
‘I knew he’d be found. Where was he?’ I ask, sitting on the end of the bench next to Reeni, across from Jackson.
‘Only about ten metres from the camper,’ says Dillon, shaking his head with a grin. ‘Tucked into the dunes keeping quiet with his library book. Milo spotted him. Probably recognised a fellow deep thinker.’
Milo snorts. ‘More like he was hiding from you while you thundered up and down the dunes like an elephant.’
‘Fair.’ Dillon bumps Milo’s shoulder. ‘At least I was trying to find him.’
‘I actually did find him.’
‘And I’m very grateful you were both searching.’ Reeni gives a little chuckle. ‘He heard me shouting his name, so thought he was in trouble and kept quiet, the little terror.’ She pushes a glass of lime and lemonade towards me. ‘Sorry I panicked.’
‘We all would have done. At least he’s safe. That’s all that matters,’ I say.
‘My wife does like to panic.’ Aaron prods Reeni in the side playfully. ‘And stress about things she doesn’t need to stress about.’
The second statement is a little more pointed and I catch Reeni giving him a sideways look, her eyes narrowing. ‘You would have too. I couldn’t find him anywhere,’ she fires back. ‘And stress isn’t good for my cycle or my hormones.’ She glares at him.
‘Little ones love to disappear,’ Sophie says, throwing out an olive branch. ‘Jackson gave me the fright of my life one year. When I found him, he had pinched a bag of buttons from the local shop and was hiding at the bottom of the garden with the evidence all over his face.’
Jackson’s face goes pink. ‘Thanks for that, Mum.’
Their easy exchange breaks any tension at the table and Sophie starts chatting to the couple next to her while Aaron talks to Jackson.
‘Reeni tells me you’re living out in Australia. How do you find it?’ asks Aaron.
‘Warm.’ Jackson grins and reaches for the bottle of Peroni in front of him. ‘With great surf.’
‘I’ve often fancied going for a year or so. They’re always advertising for oncology consultants. Where are you living?’
Olly runs over to Reeni, his arms full of plastic balls.
‘Roll. Mummy, roll.’ He dumps the balls at his mum’s feet and runs and dives back into the pit.
‘Milo, tell me again how you found him.’ Reeni twists in her seat and bends to roll a bright yellow ball across the grass back to the waiting Olly.
I zone out and watch Jackson as he continues to chat with Aaron. I find myself staring at the dark curve of his tattoo, peeking out from beneath his sleeve just above his elbow. There’s a vague outline of it visible through the white fabric and I follow it up his arm to where it comes to a stop at his collarbone, the tip of it poking out from his T-shirt onto his smooth tanned skin. I fantasise about running my fingertips over the ink, tracing its path from start to finish.
‘Have you ever visited Oz?’ asks Jackson, looking over at me.
‘W-what?’ I say, flustered at where my mind had wandered to.
‘Ever visited Australia? Travelled?’
Olly has arrived with another armful of balls, this time for his dad. Aaron leaves the table as he’s dragged across to play in the ball pit.
‘No, not really.’ I study the rough weathered ridges etched in the tabletop. I know what he’s hinting at. We’d often planned out backpacking routes through Europe for our year off before university. Once my life had been thrown upside down, all those plans of beaches and surfing seemed out of reach and stupid. ‘I got a receptionist job at the local spa straight out of sixth form and then ended up working at an insurance company.’
‘An insurance company? You’ve always been creative.’
