We both laugh and climb out of the car, peace restored.
Chapter 10
‘You know, Icanhandle it myself,’ is the first thing I say to Ben when I see him the following morning.
‘You looked like you were about to give in,’ he replies crossly, referring to the no-drinking argument I had with Josh at dinner last night.
‘I wasn’t,’ I state with force, and tell my inner self to shut up. He doesn’t need to know what went on after he left.
‘Good,’ is all he says before stalking out of the hospital room.
I don’t see him again that morning because he’s covering for one of Michael’s colleagues on the dingoes and Tasmanian Devils. At lunchtime I wander down the slope past the café, trying not to think about how many lunchbreaks Ben must have spent getting to know Charlotte when she worked there. I sit alone on the grass and stare up at the big old gum with its grated tree bark. I’m strangely unsurprised when Ben sits on the grass beside me. He doesn’t look at me, preferring instead to gaze ahead at the tree trunk while I study his profile. His jaw is clenched.
‘I don’t know why I feel . . . so protective of you,’ he muses after a while.
I pick up a dead leaf and crackle it between my fingers, waiting for him to speak.
‘I hate the idea of Josh taking advantage of you.’
‘Are you referring to his drink-driving or something else?’ I ask. He doesn’t answer. ‘I’m not interested in him,’ I say. ‘For the record. Although why it should bother you if I were is beyond me,’ I add, glancing at him.
He steadfastly avoids my eyes. I sigh and lean back on my elbows, crossing my legs in front of me. He lays his head back on the grass and closes his eyes.
‘I’ll have to give you another driving lesson before I go.’
‘That’d be good.’ I take this opportunity to stare uninterrupted at his profile. It’s so hot that a few strands of his hair are sticking to his forehead. I want to push them off his face.
‘Tonight?’ he murmurs.
‘Great. I’d like to go home and change first though.’
He smiles, his eyes still closed. ‘Still hate our shorts?’
‘They look alright on you,’ I find myself saying. He opens his eyes and turns his head, a sleepy grin on his face as he squints up at me. My heart flips.
‘Have you been to the beach yet?’ he asks out of the blue.
‘No. That’s terrible, isn’t it? I’ve been in Australia for a month and haven’t even managed to get to the seaside.’
‘It’s because you can’t drive.’
‘And because I don’t have any friends to go with.’
‘I’m your friend.’
‘Yep, and you’re buggering off to England. Thanks for that.’ I try to sound glib and think I succeed.
‘I’ll take you tonight,’ he says, closing his eyes again and turning his face up to the blue sky amid the gum leaves.
He arrives at Michael’s house at six o’clock and soon we’re heading down the winding road towards the city. My driving is definitely improving. I think these bends would have scared me a week ago. A jagged quarry juts out of the landscape, revealing naked stone instead of leafy tree cover. Chicken wire holds back the hills to stop stones from falling onto the road, but there’s mesh over parts of the central concrete barrier, too.
‘What’s that for?’ I ask.
‘Koalas. So they can get across,’ Ben replies.
‘Oh, of course.’ Pause. ‘Do they have koalas at London Zoo?’
‘No,’ he replies bluntly.
