Page 107 of Thursdays at Orange Blossom House
‘I’ll think about it,’ she fibs. Because she’s already been thinking about it.
She now truly understands what the expression ‘on your mind’ means, because it feels like the idea of going away with Dennis has been draped over her brain for weeks.
Not that she’ll tell her father that. He doesn’t know Dennis, and the most he knows about India is that they field a national cricket team. Instead, she puts the plug into the sink for the third time that day and turns on the tap.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
‘I’m still not sure this is a good idea,’ Patricia says as she turns the car into Macrossan Street, the closest thing Port Douglas has to a main drag.
‘I told you, I’m fine,’ Dorothy says. She’s looking out the window, watching for street numbers. ‘The baby’s not due for three weeks. There’s plenty of time.’
‘Not necessarily,’ Grace Maud mutters from the passenger seat.
She wanted Dorothy to sit in the front, but Dorothy would never let Grace Maud sit in the back. It would be disrespectful. Besides, in the back seat Dorothy can sit with her legs apart and no one can see her and think she’s being unladylike.
‘Just because I’m not going to class any more doesn’t mean I’m about to give birth,’ she says. ‘The baby’s just …’ She moves around to make herself more comfortable. ‘Sitting so low that I can’t even do downward dog. So what’s the point?’
‘I can’t believe you love that posture so much,’ Patricia says, putting on the blinker and pulling into a parking spot. ‘I still don’t feel I can hold myself up in it.’
‘That’s because you don’t believe you can,’ Grace Maud says authoritatively. ‘Which surprises me, given how capable you are.’
Patricia looks at her as if she doesn’t understand, then turns to look at Dorothy. ‘This is the spot, isn’t it?’
‘Oh!’ Dorothy sees a café next to the car. ‘I didn’t notice. Sorry – I was looking for the numbers and then …’ She shrugs. ‘I don’t know what happened.’
‘What happened is that you’re tired because you’re not sleeping properly, so your attention span is shorter. That’s all.’
Grace Maud has been full of helpful hints and occasional instructions as the pregnancy has progressed. The visit to Port Douglas today was her idea: Dorothy’s been fretting about the new business, and Grace Maud thought that if she actually saw the place she may feel more informed. Patricia said she’d drive them, and they decided to forgo their Saturday morning class to come today.
It took an hour from Dorothy’s place because there’s no road through the state forest, so they had to backtrack from Kuranda, down the hill as if they were going to town, then past Yorkeys Knob and onto the coast road. Dorothy felt almost ashamed as they drove along that road. She’s been working so much and become so caught up with everything else in her life that it has been years since she’s come along here. What a waste, to live in this beautiful part of the world and not take the time to properly see it. She hasn’t been to the Daintree Rainforest since she was a teenager, although she thinks about it often. It’s so easy to become locked into the patterns of your life and not see the adventures and beauty outside them. Not that she was alone there: Patricia also said she hadn’t been to Port Douglas in ages.
‘I can see why Frederick would want this drive to work,’ she’d said as they headed north. ‘Look at it.’ Her head had flicked towards the window and the ocean view.
The sun was still climbing, glistening off the bluey-green of the sea. The road hugs the coast, sometimes next to sand, with the khakis and grey-greens of the trees climbing up the ridge on the western side, and sometimes close to the edge of rock that drops to the ocean.
The road reminded Dorothy of that scene inTo Catch a Thiefwhen Grace Kelly drives down the winding streets of Monaco that hug the escarpment. The same streets where, as Princess Grace, she would one day meet her death. Dorothy had swallowed and tried to forget about that.
‘He says it will only be for a while,’ she’d told the others. ‘Once he finds a good manager he’ll go back to the Cairns café. And this Port Douglas place will close earlier each day than we do.’
They’d all fallen silent then, Grace Maud and Dorothy transfixed by the ocean, and Patricia, thankfully, keeping her eyes on the road.
When they step out of the car to inspect the café, Dorothy feels a twinge low down in her abdomen. It’s been happening since she got up this morning, and she rues the fact she can no longer manage her stretches on the yoga mat. Her muscles have been letting her know that they need attention, but it’s just too hard for her to move. She can’t do sitting postures or standing postures in any way that’s beneficial, so her body will have to wait until after the baby has vacated the premises. That’s when she’ll stop feeling like a frigate listing at sea every time she walks.
She holds onto her lower back for support as she slowly approaches the café, which is closed. Frederick hadn’t mentioned that the previous owner had already stopped trading. Although given the place was sold for a divorce, perhaps Dorothy should have assumed it.
‘That’s a shame,’ she mutters as she peers in the window.
‘What is?’ Grace Maud asks.
‘It’s harder to pick up a business than to take it over. If there were still customers coming here it would give us a base to work from.’ Another twinge causes her to suck in a breath. ‘Ow!’
‘What’s happening?’ Patricia is at her side, frowning.
‘What’s happening is that this baby is running out of room,’ Dorothy says, trying to laugh it off. ‘And protesting about it.’
She sees Patricia and Grace Maud exchange glances.
‘Are you sure that’s what it is?’ Patricia says.
