Page 11 of Chasing Blue
Like the whole scene has been staged, lightning flashes, thunder cracks, rain pounds the windows and Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’ plays quietly in the background. Those green eyes, those unforgettable green eyes from so very long ago, dart all over my face, and I have nothing.
Ihavenothing. No words, no pretence, bullshit or bravado, just a heart full of hurt that I’ve carried around for over eighteen years. So, with nothing inside me to offer, I leave. Without a word, I walk past Jack, out into the rain and towards my car.
CHAPTER3
Jack.
I watchher leave with my mouth hanging open. Standing there, like an absolute numpty, I stare, still as shocked as shit to see herhere.Her, Scarlett O’Brien, my Blue, standing here in my fucking bar. I’d had no time to process, and already she was gone.
“Dad?”
Mouth still hanging open, I turn back to face my kid.
“What the fuck? Who was that?” he asks.
I manage to close my mouth and shake my head before getting my shit together enough to move one foot in front of the other.
Scarlett’s just climbing into a black Evoque as I get outside. The wind is howling, and the rain’s coming down sideways as I move around her car, open the passenger side door, and climb in.
“What the fuck are you doing? Get out of my car,” she orders.
I sit there. Rain dripping from my nose, chin, and hair, my heart racing as I stare at the white-knuckled grip she has on her steering wheel.
She presses the ignition button and starts the car. Saweetie’s ‘My Type’ blasts over the speaker system and she slowly turns her head, blue eyes hit mine, and I swear she fights not to smile as I point at her and sing along to the song. She loses the battle and gives a quick smile before attempting to pull it back as she shakes her head.
“Scarlett O’Brien, what the fuck are the chances?”
I watch her draw in a deep breath as she stares at the rain-pelted window. Turning, again very slowly, towards me, she lowers the volume of the music using the control on her steering wheel before saying, “Sorry about my overreaction, that was really unprofessional of me. I was just seriously shocked to see you standing there. What are you doing down here?”
I rake my fingers through my hair and push it back from my face as I watch her.
“Not as shocked as me.” I shrug and shake my head. “I live down here. Live, work, this is home now. Has been for about eight years. Work got tight up around Palmers during the GFC. Shannon, my older brother lives down here and said construction was still busy, so Dad bid on a contract in Melbourne and won it. I’d made a few contacts by the end of the job, and needed to keep working, so I decided to stay.”
She turns back to look out the windscreen and nods slowly.
“I knew your brother lived down here, heard about his show. He’s done well.”
“He has,” I agree. “Do you ever watch the show?”
“No.” She smiles and shakes her head while still staring out at the rain. “Custom bikes and cars or whatever are not really my thing. How did he end up with a TV show?”
“It’s what he did before he made it as a fighter, worked in a spray shop. After he retired, he went back to it, a few celebrities he knew, went to him for custom work, a production company heard about his work, and made him an offer he couldn’t turn down to feature the business in a reality show.”
She nods, but doesn’t say any more.
“What about you?” I ask after the silence starts to get uncomfortable. “How’d you end up so far from home?”
I watch her chest and shoulders move as she takes in and then slowly exhales a deep breath while still staring out of the window.
“I just wanted a change. I stayed in Sydney after graduating, but it never really felt like home, so I started applying for jobs in different cities, different states . . .” Her jaw tilts up as she trails off for a few seconds, shrugging, she continues.
“I moved around a bit, couldn’t settle, then I was offered a job in Melbourne about six years ago and made the move. About a year ago, I decided to branch out on my own, well, it’s a partnership, so I’m not running things entirely by myself, but yeah, we’ve been in business down here about six months now.” She turns and gives me a full-on smile this time, one that reaches those gorgeous blue eyes of hers and has my heart kicking against the wall of my chest. “My business partner is from down here, thought this was somewhere we could do well, so here we are. So far, so good,” her voice softening as she trails off.
“It’s a great area,” I agree. “We were over on the other side of the city when we first moved. Figured that would be the place to be because of the surf beaches but caught the ferry across to this side one I, just to take a look at where my brother was about to set up shop, and, I don’t know, it just felt like home.”
She nods. “It’s a beautiful spot.”
“I had a bit more to think about than just that, obviously. House prices were higher than where we were living, and I had to look into the school situation, but yeah, it all worked out, and we ended up buying a place. What about you?”
