I sigh and settle into his chest, guiltily.
‘How are your family?’ he asks.
‘Good. I saw them this morning. Dad mentioned about coming here for dinner tonight, but I thought you might be too knackered.’
He yawns. ‘I am a bit, but we can have dinner with them. I guess I’d better get showered.’
‘Me too.’
‘So where have you been today?’ he asks as he gets up.
Dammit! ‘Er, I went fishing, would you believe?’ I turn away quickly and lead the way to the bedroom.
‘Fishing!’ he echoes. ‘Is this friend male or female?’
‘Um, male.’ I try to sound casual.
‘Right.’ There’s uncertainty to his tone.
‘He’s an old friend of Michael’s. He’s, like, forty or something. He used to look out for me when I worked at the park.’
‘Sounds a bit dodgy if you ask me.’
‘Richard!’ I turn around and slap him, relieved to see he’s joking. ‘He was a good mate.’
‘As long as he wasn’t a cradle-snatcher.’
I laugh, long and hard. A bit too long and hard because he’s looking at me in a funny way. ‘Don’t be a dick. Get in the shower.’
He grins and walks out of the bedroom to the bathroom.
Shit! I sit on the edge of the bed. That was horrible. Horrible! I cover my eyes in consternation, then immediately sit up straight again in case Richard returns. The shower turns on in the bathroom so I relax. But it’s only a momentary respite. I know I’m going to feel on edge for some time to come.
‘What did you get up to today?’ Dad asks me when the seven of us are seated at a huge wooden oblong table in Manly’s fancy new fish restaurant.
‘I went fishing actually, with an old friend.’
‘Did you catch anything?’
‘I did indeed.’
‘Did you?’ Richard interrupts with surprise.
‘Yep. I caught a whiting.’
‘Where is it?’
‘Oh, I left it with Ben.’ His name is out of my mouth before I can think of how else to say that sentence.
‘Bummer.’ Richard laughs.
‘He was going to fillet it.’
‘I know how to fillet fish,’ Richard says casually.
‘Do you?’
‘Yeah. I used to go fishing with my uncle all the time.’
