Always With You Read online

  EVELYN – May 1994

  My week at work was far less painful than I’d expected. The uniform was hideous, but aside from that it wasn’t so bad. I learned to listen out for the Kingstons and try to avoid crossing paths with any of them. They were courteous and professional to customers, but any time I heard them speaking to each other, they were awful. And I overheard Mrs Kingston screaming at one member of staff over a stained napkin. I got on with my work and got out as quietly as possible. The trick was to become invisible.

  On Friday evening, I ended up outside Joe’s apartment again with him, Cam, and Leslie. Apparently Beth was at some function at the beauty salon and Joe was supposed to meet her there. He was complaining that he didn’t want to spend the evening with a bunch of older women getting their nails done and drinking fizzy wine. We had a laugh when he insisted they all flirted with him. I could just imagine it. Leslie said she’d gone along to the regular event once and decided it wasn’t her thing either. Every time Joe muttered about leaving, Cam would pass him another beer and he’d swear he was leaving after that one.

  “I’m going home,” I said eventually, swaying as I stood. “I have to work tomorrow.”

  “I’ll walk you home,” Joe offered. “Then I’ll go and find Beth.”

  “You’re in so much trouble,” Leslie said, giggling. “You’re so drunk and you’re so late.”

  “You’re so dead!” Cam added cheerfully.

  “It’s fine,” Joe said, his words overly jolly. His eyes were drooping and he had a dopey look about him as he grinned at nothing in particular. “Come on,” he said to me.

  “You’re going to be in trouble, aren’t you?” I asked lightly as he struggled to walk straight.

  “I’m in so much trouble!” His broad smile took over his face. “But she’ll forgive me.”

  “How long have you been together?” I asked.

  “A long long time,” he said slowly, bumping into me as he swayed. “Sometimes I think . . .”

  “What?” I asked when he trailed off.

  “I don’t know,” he slurred. “Never mind. Did they move the Croc? It seems further away.”

  “That’s ’cause you’re zig-zagging!”

  “All right, Little Miss Sober.”

  “Some of us have to work tomorrow.”

  “Oh, crap! Me too!” he said. “I’m not going to this bloody beauty party. I need to get to bed.”

  “Right, well, we made it,” I said as we reached the Croc. “Off you go!”

  “I’ll see you to your door,” he said. “I’m a gentleman.”

  “A very drunk gentleman,” I said with a laugh.

  “You ought to get Stan to do something about all these bugs,” Joe said when we reached my door.

  “What’s he gonna do?” I said. “I’ve asked them nicely to leave and they don’t listen to me. Why would they listen to Stan?”

  “You’ve been talking to the bugs?” he asked, swaying under the bright light.

  “Mainly the geckos.” I turned to the wall. “Good evening, Mr Gecko.”

  “You’re as drunk as I am!”

  “I’m really not! And you ought to move, you’re attracting moths standing under that light . . .” I reached to swat at the winged insect which fluttered around him, and my hand landed squarely on Joe’s chest. He smiled lazily and covered my hand with his. My heart rate quickened. After the briefest moment, he took a step back.

  “Bed!” I said, attempting a smile.

  “I’m going,” he said, raising his hand in salute before turning and stumbling away.

  When I fell into bed, I was thinking of the moment my hand had touched Joe’s, and I wondered if he felt the electricity too or if it was just me. Do not fall for Joe. I wouldn’t though; I was only drunk. He was with Beth. And Beth was perfect.

  ***

  Work the next morning seemed to drag on forever.

  “Are you hungover?” Todd asked sternly when I walked past him on reception. I think I had probably drunk too much. I hadn’t even noticed as we’d chatted and laughed all evening.

  “I’m quite capable of cleaning with a hangover,” I snapped. “It’s not like I’m performing surgery.”

  Mrs Kingston appeared, and I guessed she’d been lurking around the corner. “I’ll be checking all the rooms this morning, Evelyn. Why are you standing around chatting?”

  With a forced smile, I hurried past her to the staff room. The uniform made me want to cry, and cleaning hotel rooms to Mrs Kingston’s standards suddenly felt about as likely as me performing surgery. It crossed my mind to quit. I tried to remember who would win the bet. Not Joe. The thought made me smile as I forced myself to get on with work.

  Relief flooded through me when I finally finished my shift and walked out of the hotel. I felt better immediately. Surprisingly, I’d managed to clean the rooms without any major complaints from Mrs Kingston.

  “Evelyn!” Stan shouted as I reached my room, intent on having a nap.

  Please don’t ask me to help with anything. “Yeah?” I asked, doubling back to the office door.

  “Phone for you,” he said, holding the receiver out to me.

  “Oh!” I’d never got a call here before. Whenever I called home, it was me who called them using a pre-paid phone card, which involved dialling approximately seven hundred numbers before the number I wanted to call. Or so it seemed.

  “Do you want to come to Ivanhoe with us?” Leslie asked quickly down the line.

  “Yeah, sure,” I said, without knowing what I was agreeing to.

  “Great. We’ll pick you up in five! Bring your bathers.”

  “Okay,” I said, pleasantly surprised by the phone call. I handed the phone back to Stan. “Thanks!”

  He nodded, and I went to grab my things.

  “How you feeling?” I asked Joe when I sat beside him in the back seat of Cam’s ute.

  He frowned. “Not great. Don’t shout.”

  “I didn’t shout.”

  “He wants us to whisper,” Leslie said.

  “You look awful,” I told him.

  “Thank you very much, girl who talks to lizards!”

  “Hey!” I said, swiping to hit his leg and narrowly missing when he moved at the last moment. “Did you get into trouble with Beth?”

  “No, not really,” he said. “She’s back at work again all day. She’s got no time to worry about me.”

  “It’s a shame she has to work so much,” I remarked.

  “She loves it,” Leslie said. “She’d rather be at work than doing anything else.”

  “Imagine enjoying your job!” Cam said, clearly puzzled by the very idea.

  “My job’s all right,” Joe muttered before pulling his cap down over his eyes and resting his head on the window.

  I leaned forward to Cam and Leslie. “Where are we going?”

  “Ivanhoe Crossing,” Cam said. “It’s a causeway over the river. The water should be low enough to drive across.”

  “Okay,” I said, still unsure what we were doing.

  “It’s fun,” Leslie said. “We thought we’d show you around a bit. We’ve got a picnic and beers.”

  Joe groaned at the mention of beers.

  “You’re really pathetic, mate,” Cam said, glancing back.

  It didn’t take long to get to the river. Cam slowed to a stop.

  “You can’t really drive over that, can you?” I asked. The river was wide and fast-flowing. I’d expected it to be a few centimetres of water, but I watched a ute drive over ahead of us and its tyres were almost completely submerged.

  “This is nothing,” Joe said, peeking out from under his hat. He and Leslie opened their doors. “Come on,” he instructed with a flick of the head. I followed them and took Joe’s hand when he offered it to pull me up onto the truck-bed. My heart fluttered at his touch.

  “Better view from out here,” Leslie said.

  “Hold on!” Cam shouted and we moved to steady ourselves on the roof of the cab.
The road disappeared into the water, and we drove slowly across the broad stretch of river. To the right there was a drop of a couple of feet, creating a small waterfall as the water rushed over.

  “Is it safe?” I asked, talking loudly over the noise of the water.

  Joe shrugged beside me. “Safe enough. I wouldn’t fish here though.” He looked at a guy nearby standing thigh-deep in water with a rod in his hand. “He looks like croc food to me.”

  “Idiot,” Leslie said.

  As always, the sky was a brilliant blue. The river was strewn with huge rocks, and trees were dotted along the riverbank. It was a stunning part of the world.

  “Picnic time,” Leslie announced when Cam parked at the other side of the river. We clambered over the rocky riverside until we reached a flat patch by the edge of the river. Leslie spread a blanket on the ground while Joe pulled his T-shirt off and headed for the water. The many large rocks along the river formed natural pools where the water was almost still.

  “What about the crocs?” I asked, as he sat in one of the pools.

  Joe grinned. “I’ll ask them politely to leave me alone and go chomp on the crazy fisherman!”

  “Should be all right here,” Cam told me seriously as he joined Joe in the water. “You gotta be careful though.”

  “How?” I asked, confused.

  “Well . . .” Cam glanced at Joe and laughed. “Just don’t get eaten! That’s the usual plan.”

  “You’re all crazy,” I said, joining them in the water.

  Cam grabbed at my leg and thrashed it around under water. “Just don’t lose a limb!”

  “The sensible thing is to stay out of the water,” Leslie said, perching on a rock.

  “It’s so hot though,” I complained, enjoying the feel of the cool water on my skin. I watched as another pickup drove slowly across the causeway. “It’s amazing that you can drive over there.”

  “You can’t always,” Cam said. “In the wet season, the water’s too high.”

  “You’d love the wet season,” Leslie said. “You’ll have to stay until then at least.”

  “I can’t imagine it here in winter,” I said and then watched the looks pass between them, their mouths twitching at the corners. “What?”

  “It’s not winter,” Leslie said.

  “It’s the wet season,” Cam added.

  “Yeah, but . . .” I trailed off as Joe gave me a kick under the water.

  “Don’t say anything else,” he said. “You’ll only embarrass yourself! Just stay for the wet season and you’ll see.”

  I will. I wanted to see everything there was to see. It was all so different, and every day felt exhilarating. I never knew what new and exciting things I’d encounter next. The wildlife fascinated me, and the scenery was stunning. I’d stay for the wet season because I wanted to know everything there was to know about the area. I didn’t want to miss a thing.

  The next incredible sight came soon after. Standing on the back of Cam’s ute as he drove back across the causeway, Joe leaned over, and with his face close to mine, pointed downriver to a croc lazing on a rock, motionless and eerie.

  The sun was setting as we drove back to town, and everything glowed orange and red. We passed several of the distinctive boab trees, which I’d heard were unique to the Kimberley region. I loved the shape of them with their swollen trunks and spindly branches.

  “The trunks are hollow,” Joe said when he caught me staring at them. “They used to use them as prisons.”

  “Really?” I said, looking at the trees in awe.

  “So they say.”

  I’d never seen anything like them, and I couldn’t drag my gaze away. “I love them.”

  ***

  It was early evening when Cam pulled up outside the Croc. Beth was standing outside Bushcamp talking to Mick, and she smiled widely when we arrived.

  “Hope you didn’t have too much fun without me?” she said, moving to Joe as we congregated on the pavement.

  “You shouldn’t work so much,” Joe said, kissing her. “We missed you.”

  She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest. They were so cute together.

  “How’s everything going?” she asked me. “This lot being good tour guides?”

  “The best,” I said. “I’m having a great time. I love it here.”

  “Really?” she asked, seeming surprised. “What about the wildlife?”

  “Takes a bit of getting used to . . .”

  “She chats to lizards,” Joe said. “I think she’s okay with it all!”

  “I lived in Perth until I was thirteen,” Beth told me. “I’m still not used to life in the outback.”

  “I love it,” I told her as we moved into the gardens of the Croc. We still had beers left and decided to continue our picnic on the grass in front of my room.

  “I guess it’s different if you’re just passing through,” Beth said as we walked side by side. “Can you imagine living like this permanently? The heat and the snakes, lizards and spiders. And the dust.”

  “You really don’t like it?” I said, amused.

  “It has its good points, I guess.” She glanced at Joe. “I want to move to Sydney one day. Set up my own business.”

  “You really love your job, don’t you?”

  “I want to have my own chain of beauty salons. Maybe I’m ambitious, but I have to try.”

  It was endearing to hear how passionate she was about her job. I wished there was something I wanted to do that much. In that moment, I couldn’t even imagine being back in the UK, never mind what I might do for a job.

  Joe sidled up and draped an arm around Beth. “You telling Evelyn all about your plans to leave me and start your own beauty empire?”

  “Of course not,” she said, giving him a big kiss on the cheek. “I’m taking you with me!”

  Chapter 15

  LIBBY – August 2017

  In Airlie Beach, I met the most unlikely backpacker so far. Yvonne had approximately the same figure as me. Okay, not quite. But if you pulled me to twice my height and skimmed off any fat which might still be present after such a stretch, we’d be similar. Talking to her involved craning my neck to an uncomfortable angle, and standing beside her made me feel podgy and unkempt. One thing I’d really been enjoying on the backpacker trail was that my frizzy hair and unmade-up face were perfectly acceptable. My outfits were entirely thrown together. I was currently in khaki shorts and a vest top over a bikini. My standard attire. I’m not sure how Yvonne managed to look so glamorous. The only luggage she had was a small suitcase on wheels, which seemed to weigh nothing at all. Not that it mattered because over the next few days I found that every time she bent to pick it up, some attractive guy would swoop in to save her the trouble.

  My first instinct was to get as far away from Yvonne as possible. Hanging around with such a stunning creature would do nothing for my self-confidence. We met one morning in the Bush Village Hostel and I clumsily introduced myself. She really was beautiful – and so unlike anyone I’d met on my travels that she was quite a curiosity.

  She looked as though she was about to go out for the day, but she lingered while I made my bed – the bunk above hers. I said goodbye when I walked into the bathroom, presuming she’d be gone by the time I’d showered, but she was still there. Returning her shy smile, I felt awkward and wished she’d leave.

  “Have you got plans for the day?” she asked when she finally spoke. She wore a flowing maxi dress with a bright floral print, and I wished I had something similarly stunning to wear. I’d been rotating through three pairs of shorts and five T-shirts, and I suddenly felt like a change. There were a couple of sundresses and a skirt or two tucked in the bottom of my backpack which I saved for evenings out.

  “I was just going to have a wander around and check the place out. Then I’ll make a plan for the next few days.” It was my usual routine when I arrived in a new place. Usually I ended up being swept along in other people’s plan
s.

  “Do you want to hang out together today?” There was a sudden vulnerability to her, and I felt panic rise as I tried to think of an excuse. My assumption was that she’d want to spend the day shopping, and I couldn’t cope with that. She didn’t look like someone who’d be interested in sightseeing. I definitely needed to negotiate a day to myself.

  “I need to do some washing and then go and find a bank. Boring stuff. Shall we meet later? We could make dinner together in the kitchen downstairs?” Because I really don’t want to be seen out in public with you.

  Her big puppy-dog eyes pleaded with me. “Will you come to the beach? I heard about this beautiful, secluded beach. It’s supposed to be a local secret that the tourists don’t know about . . .”

  I smiled cheekily. “Except you know about it.”

  “It’s supposed to be amazing.”

  I pulled a face. “Is it far?”

  “I think it’s about forty minutes in the car. I don’t want to go alone . . .”

  “I really need t—”

  She snatched at my hand. “Please! You can do your washing later. Please come.”

  There was an awkward silence, and she kept my hand clutched in hers. “Okay.” I sighed. “You’ve talked me into it.”

  “Yes!” She reached for an oversized tote bag and a wide-brimmed straw hat. I found a towel and my sunscreen, shoving them into my day bag: a scruffy old backpack which had belonged to Josh once upon a time. I enjoyed having the little reminder of home.

  “It really better be a deserted beach,” I said, looking down at myself and then at Yvonne. “I’m not sure I like the idea of lying next to you in a bikini!” My tone was light-hearted and Yvonne, to her credit, looked confused. “I meant that in the nicest possible way,” I told her with a grin. “It’s just that you’ve got such a gorgeous figure and I feel a bit frumpy next to you.”

  “You’re not frumpy,” she said, scrutinising me. “You’re so pretty.”

  She was genuine, and for a moment it crossed my mind that she might be flirting with me. It took a huge effort for me not to laugh out loud at my own train of thought.

  “What?” Yvonne asked, catching my smirk.

  I shook my head. “Sorry. I just had a weird thought. Ignore me.”