The caravan door opened and Simon poked his head out, surprised to see Nathan and Harry and the girls staring at him. Over his shoulder, Nathan saw Ilse and Bub wander out onto the verandah to see what the fuss was about.
Simon blinked in the sunlight. He looked like he’d just woken up.
‘Is Katy already in the house?’ he said. It took him another moment to realise what they were all looking at. His eyes widened, any last traces of sleep gone. ‘Where’s the bloody car?’
He ran out, hitching up his shorts. He stood on the bare patch of land and circled around one way, and then the other. The car did not reappear.
‘Where were the keys, mate?’ Harry said.
Simon stopped turning and dashed back into the caravan. He re-emerged looking, if possible, even more perplexed.
‘They were right there in the cupboard, but now they’re gone!’
He ran down to the empty space again.
‘And no sign of Katy in there with you?’ Harry said quickly, before Simon could start circling once more.
‘No! She’s gone too! And her bag!’ Simon stopped dead still and stared at them. ‘Wait. Katy took my car?’
‘I would say, mate, that’s the way it’s looking.’
‘But – why?’ Simon’s eyes widened, then with a speed that surprised Nathan, his expression darkened. ‘It wasmycar. How could she do this to me?’
Nathan cleared his throat. ‘She did mention she was quite keen to head off,’ he said, neutrally.
‘So, what? She just gets to make the decisions, does she?’ Simon’s eyes flashed and he paced up and down the empty space. ‘Shit.Shit.I can’t believe this.’
‘Did you not hear her leave?’ Harry said. He looked mildly entertained.
‘I take sleeping tablets at night,’ Simon snapped back. ‘I’ve been very stressed lately. Shit.’ More pacing. ‘No-one else heard her go?’
Nathan resisted the urge to glance around at Ilse. Now Simon mentioned it, he had vaguely registered the faint thrum of an engine at one point. He’d been dozing and dreamed it was the generator. By the time he’d opened his eyes, he’d looked at Ilse sleeping next to him and instantly forgotten all about it.
He watched Simon pacing and mumble something that sounded suspiciously like ‘stupid bitch’ and felt a certain warm glow at the idea of Katy buggering off under the cover of darkness. She deserved better, all things considered, but it was a start.
‘How am I supposed to get out of this shithole without the car?’ Simon was shouting now. His tone was bordering on screechy. Nathan heard Bub on the verandah, failing to suppress a laugh.
Harry caught Nathan’s eye. A flicker of a smile caused his craggy features to move a fraction.
‘I can tow you into town tomorrow, mate,’ Harry said, not unkindly.
‘And then bloody what?’ Simon snapped.
‘I dunno, mate. I reckon you’ll be able to work something out from there, though.’
Simon took one more look at them, one more look at the empty space, then turned and stomped back into the empty caravan where his girlfriend used to be and slammed the door, hard.
Nathan could still hear Bub laughing as he disappeared with Ilse and the girls back into the house. He and Harry exchanged an amused glance.
‘On that note.’ Harry started towards the house. ‘You coming back in?’
Nathan felt Cameron’s car keys weighing down his pocket.
‘Harry.’ He felt his smile dim. ‘There was nothing wrong with Ilse’s car.’
Harry turned at that. ‘No?’
‘She reckons Cam was messing around with it, so it was too unreliable to use.’ Nathan watched his face. ‘Is that what you’d thought?’
