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‘Had to quickly phone my boss.’
‘So do you want it or should I take the plate?’
Nicola looked at the toast. She hated cold toast, but didn’t want to add to her already poor standing with Tiffany by wasting it.
She picked up her knife, tore open the packet of butter she’d collected earlier, and started buttering.
‘Don’t suppose you’d like another crap coffee?’
‘Another coffee would be lovely, thanks,’ Nicola said, smiling broadly up at her. ‘Tiffany, look, I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot – too many late nights …’
‘Whatever.’ Tiffany shrugged, collected the mug and left.
‘Well that went well,’ Nicola mumbled to her toast.
After a few moments alone, she looked around to find Tiffany had returned. She put the mug down but remained standing beside Nicola.
‘Um … er,’ Tiffany stammered awkwardly, her face reddening. ‘Yes?’ What now? Is she going to tell me where to stick my coffee?
‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped,’ Tiffany blurted. The glower was a dead giveaway that the apology was being issued under duress.
‘No, I deserved it,’ Nicola sighed. ‘Bloody hangover,’ she muttered, taking a swig of coffee and cringing.
‘I’m not surprised,’ Tiffany grinned, sitting. ‘You enjoyed yourself last night.’
Nicola raised her eyebrows.
‘I never expected you to be so … so relaxed. I mean here, of all places. I think Alex was quite … Sorry, I’m rambling.’
Nicola wished she’d keep going. She hadn’t been that drunk; certainly not drunk enough not to notice the mattress springs poking her in the back and the bathroom tap dripping all night – almost, but not quite.
‘Bugger, I must have made a bloody fool of myself,’ she groaned and laid her head on the table.
‘Nah, everyone loved you,’ Tiffany enthused. ‘The blokes never thought you’d be so normal. You were great. Pretty pissed, but you were great,’ she added, grinning shyly.
‘Do I want to know details?’
‘Probably not,’ Tiffany laughed.
Nicola shot her a quizzical frown. She was actually beginning to like this girl; the cheeky forthrightness. ‘Just kidding, nothing to worry about.’ ‘You’d tell me, right?’
‘Promise – cross my heart. So,’ Tiffany said, banging the table, ‘last night you mentioned you’re here to cover the drought. Maybe I can help. There’s practically no one in town I don’t know. You just have to ask.’
‘Well, I think I’d like to start with the editor of the local paper. Can you point me in the right direction?’
‘Easy – I’ll mark his office on a map,’ Tiffany said proudly, leaping up.
‘Thanks,’ Nicola said, smiling warmly at her new friend.
Chapter Ten (#ulink_e31ef51b-9678-53a8-a465-0bcc732b1989)
‘Be hard to get lost around here,’ Nicola muttered to herself while scanning the map. Doesn’t even look big enough to have its own paper.
‘Quaint,’ she said, stopping in front of a row of five pale limestone shops with red brick quoins. Large terracotta planters overflowing with masses of deep red camellia blooms completed a scene worthy of a tourist brochure. Nicola pulled the compact digital camera from her coat pocket and stood back and took a few shots. ‘Post Office, Police Station, Newspaper, and District Council – must be the CBD.’
She approached the shopfront marked Nowhere Else Echo. In the window was a large old printing press, a number of ancient manual typewriters, and wooden boxes filled with pieces of large and small lettering. Black and white action shots of newspapermen hard at work and a yellowed example of a broadsheet headline page encased in Perspex hung from the ceiling, completing the display.
Nicola took a few moments to marvel at how far the world of newspaper printing, and technology generally, had come.
The door had a small bell that jingled when it opened. She smiled. It was like something out of a museum village.
Actually, as she looked around the small reception, which doubled as a stationery shop, it was more like a 1950s movie.
A sea of black and white chequered lino stopped at an imposing timber counter. Pale yellow light barely lit the narrow hallway beyond.
The place smelled strongly of printing: the warm plastic scent of a photocopier, and the unmistakeable earthy and tangy odours of ink, worn metal and industrial oil that belonged to a printing press – probably the one in the window.
To the left were three small white melamine study hutches with a printed sign above them: Public Internet $3 for 30 Minutes.
To the right, a Stationery sign hung over a set of shelving. She wandered over for a closer look, half expecting to see 1950s advertising on the boxes, and was surprised to find a small but wide array of pens, pencils, refills, copier paper, lined pads, printer cartridges, calculator rolls and batteries.
There was a nice looking pen in a hard clear plastic display box she wouldn’t have minded taking a closer look at, but she didn’t want to embarrass herself or the newspaper manager by having a sneezing fit – there was a fine layer of dust over everything. Obviously not a huge turnover.
At home she kept her allergies under control with a daily antihistamine and weekly visits from the cleaner, but out here anything could happen.
‘Hello?’ she called, leaning over the counter towards the hall. Waiting for a response, she traced the dark scars in its worn surface and wondered at the stories the furniture held.
A gruff voice echoed down the passage. ‘Sorry, we’re not open until ten.’
Heavy leather soles clack-clacked on the lino, as a figure emerged slowly from the gloom.
Nicola’s jaw dropped and she felt the colour drain slightly from her face. ‘Richard? Richard Watkins?’
‘Nicola Harvey, what the hell are you doing here?’ The lanky man had a pair of reading glasses on his forehead, beneath a dark tousled mop streaked with white pepper. He threw back the hinged timber barrier and pulled her into a tight hug.
‘Visiting an old friend, apparently,’ Nicola muttered. It was nice to be hugged, but she was distracted. Why was Richard Watkins out here, of all places? And why was he hugging her like a long lost friend when he’d been the one who’d left all those years ago? She shook the questions aside; it was nice to see him, even if it had come as a shock.
‘Seriously, what’s a journo of your calibre doing way out here?’ Richard asked when they broke apart.
‘I could ask you the same question – you topped our year and you end up out here?’
‘Hey, it’s not a bad little rag. I’m in charge, remember.’
‘Sorry, I wasn’t suggesting it was – it’s just … well … why out here? Last time I saw you you were off to London. Didn’t you have a job with The Times?’
‘Things changed,’ Richard shrugged, obviously keen to change the subject. ‘So, Gold Walkley. Well done. But I’m sorry about your parents – they were a lovely couple.’
Nicola found herself blushing. ‘Yeah, thanks. How did you know, anyway? About the Walkley I mean.’
‘Oh, you know, we get the odd carrier pigeon through, keeps us in touch,’ Richard said.
Carrier pigeon – do people still use those? Nicola’s brow knitted with confusion.
‘We do have TV, you know, and even mobile phones – though the coverage is still a bit patchy.’
‘I didn’t mean to …’ Nicola started, blushing beetroot.
‘Forgiven. I know we’re a long way from the big smoke but it’s a great place – you might even get to like it.’
Nicola raised her eyebrows. ‘Not likely.’
‘There’s a lot more to do out here than you’d think. But I want to know why Life and Times has sent their star reporter to Nowhere Else – anything I should know?’
‘Well, nothing major, just a piece on the drought.’ Nicola hoped it would turn out to be more, but wasn’t really feeling at all optimistic. At least with the plane crash there had been specific leads to follow up.
What she needed now was an angle, no matter how tenuous; just a starting point of some sort. ‘Actually, I could probably use your help.’
‘Angle?’
‘Not yet.’ Nicola bit her lip. She hadn’t actually given any thought to the story. She was still coming to terms with the fact she was actually here to work; she’d been too busy dreaming of facials, mud wraps, and quaint shopping strips.
‘Hmm, come out to my office – better for thinking.’
‘Sure you’ve got time; I’m not imposing?’
‘No worries, I’m really just pottering around enjoying the peace I don’t get at home. Would never have believed two small children could make so much noise. Though I suppose they are boys,’ he added, directing her into a chair.
‘Oh,’ Nicola blurted, unable to hide her surprise.
‘So,’ Richard said, leaning back in his chair, ‘what really brings you here?’
‘Well I was actually looking for an internet connection – my motel room doesn’t have one.’
‘No, Nicola. I mean, what’s a city girl like you doing in the sticks?’
‘I told you – the drought.’
Richard’s raised eyebrows told Nicola he didn’t believe her. ‘What?’ she snapped.
‘Nothing. So, I know you got your career on track, what else has been going on – husband, boyfriend, kids?’
‘Fiancé actually. Scott; we’ve been living together almost eight years now.’
‘So when’s the big day?’
‘What? Oh … that … No plans as yet – too busy to even think about it,’ she lied.
The truth was she’d spent plenty of time browsing bridal magazines and dreaming of her perfect day. She’d hoped Scott would make the first move – if he really loved her he would. But he hadn’t said anything about it since brushing off her last enquiry twelve months ago.
At the time she’d accepted his, ‘Honey, I’m really too busy with the research on this new listing – maybe when it’s finished we can discuss it, but right now I don’t have the headspace’. But since then at least three new listings and five major clients had diverted his attention. She’d given up dropping hints.
‘Ah, so you’re escaping.’
‘What?’ Nicola asked, genuinely confused.
‘The trip out bush,’ Richard said, flapping an arm.
Nicola had forgotten just how nosy Richard was – the trouble with time and a selective memory. Now she was finding him damn annoying.
‘And you can talk – avoiding the wife and kids,’ she snarled. ‘Ouch, walked into that one,’ he said, grinning. ‘Anyway, this is different. Do you have any idea how rowdy kids are on polished boards with their …?’
‘Tell me about your wife,’ Nicola cut in. ‘Though I’ve gotta say, I never really pictured you as a family man.’
He’d said as much to her all those years ago. For a few months there Nicola had thought she might have one day become the mother to his children. Their university days seemed to have been yesterday and another lifetime ago. They’d once been highly competitive students, each desperate to beat the other with grades and then into the cauldron of a cadetship.
Both had been equally passionate about becoming great journalists and spending their lives enlightening the public. And of course there’d also been the other sort of passion … She remembered how it ended.
Richard had decided he was leaving for London at the end of the year and didn’t want the complication of a relationship. Why did men and women always seem to view relationships differently? According to him, theirs was only casual; the occasional bonk as reward for an assignment well done or other drunken celebration. Why hadn’t she had the guts to tell him she had fallen in love?
Something tugged inside – regret, longing, guilt – Nicola couldn’t identify it.
‘What? Oh sorry, kids? No, wouldn’t know,’ she stumbled.
‘Actually, we’d moved on – I was telling you about my wife, Karen,’ Richard said, sounding annoyed. ‘Where were you?’ he added.
‘Nowhere Else?’ she said, an attempt at wit to change the subject.
Richard rolled his eyes at her.
What had he said about his wife? Was he happy? ‘Sorry, I was miles away.’
‘Your turn, what’s this Scott fellow like?’
‘Oh, you know,’ she said, waving a dismissive arm. ‘Tall, dark, and handsome.’
‘So, what does he do for a crust that makes him too busy to make an honest woman of you?’
‘I’ll have you know I’m a very honest woman, thank you very much, and it has nothing to do with Scott.’
‘It was just a figure of speech, Nicola. You know I’d never question your integrity.’
‘Well, since you asked; he’s a stockbroker. Very busy and quite wealthy as it happens,’ she added defiantly.
‘So he’s too busy off making money to make you happy by putting another ring on your finger, huh?’
Nicola coloured slightly. ‘I didn’t say that.’
‘You didn’t have to. And being wealthy isn’t just about money, Nicola.’
