Page 86 of Lost In Kakadu

“What?”

“This crash is probably the best thing to happen to me.” She paused, letting her bold admission set in. “I’ve found myself.”

“I like what you found. Better than the woman I first met.”

She splashedhim. “Really?”

“Really.” He splashed her back. “So, aren’t you going to ask me about the cake?”

“No.”

He did a double take. “Really?”

Did Rodney know the story?Of course he did.Mackenzie shared everything with him. She liked that Mackenzie wanted to tell her too.

“You’ll tell me if you want to.”

Mackenzie huffed. “Who are you? And what did you do with the real Abi?”

She chuckled. “Very funny. Besides, I think I already know what happened.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Go on then. Tell me.”

Abi wanted to be delicate, but there wasn’t a delicate way to say it. “I think your dad threw the cake at you. That’s how you got the scar on your chin.”

His mouth dropped as his thumb traced the scar. “How the hell do you know that?”

“I’ve become more observant, I guess. When you mentioned the cake, you touched the scar, just like you’re doing now. And the look on your face, well it almost told the whole, sad story on its own.”

He frowned at her. “What else have you noticed?”

“You twirl that lovely ring on your necklace when you think of your mum.”

He did exactly that and his eyes drifted off somewhere into the past.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?”

He dropped the necklace, and his warm hands cupped her knees again. When he blinked, his eyes were on her again. “As I said earlier, Mum had just baked a cake. But Dad came home right when she put it on the kitchen bench, and I raced off to my bedroom. I always did that.” He shrugged. “I’d wait to see what kind of mood he was in before I came out.”

Abi turned her palms over and he moved his hands from her knees to her hands.

“He wasn’t home for very long when he called me, and I knew straight away he was in a bad mood. I remember walking up our hallway, completely terrified, and thinking it was like walking along the devil’s throat. When I saw Dad’s hands, spread out on the kitchenbench I knew things were about to get nasty. I don’t know what it was, maybe the way he was standing, the look on his face. Not sure. He had huge hands, all tobacco stained and dirty nails.” He shook his head. “Disgusting. And his B.O. was just foul.”

“He sounds awful.”

“He was. And he was always looking for a fight. Anything would spark him off. But this time I wasn’t going to give it. But you know what he did?”

“What?”

“He picked up the cake tin, didn’t even notice it was boiling hot. I heard the sizzle on his hands and smelled it burning his skin.” Mackenzie screwed up his face.

“Oh my God.”

“He dumped the cake into the sink and stabbed it until it disappeared down the hole. So even though I didn’t fight with him that time I still lost anyway.”

Abi looked into his eyes, seeking confirmation he was okay. But he was distant again, back with his mum in the kitchen. She waited for the rest of the story, knowing the worst was yet to come. His eyes returned to her, and she smiled at him. He squeezed her palm and then touched his scar.

“He threw the cake tin at Mum, and I jumped at it, thinking I could catch it. But it whacked me in the chin instead. It’s weird. It would’ve only touched my skin for a second at the most, but the scar’s lasted forever.”

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