Almost perfect, p.23
Almost Perfect, page 23
‘Liam?’ said Molly loudly, obviously bored.
‘Yes, Molly?’
‘Did you know you’ve got a dick like my daddy?’
Everyone froze. Georgie was pretty sure no one was even breathing.
‘He wishes,’ said Nick from the kitchen, breaking the silence.
‘Nick!’ Louise chided. ‘I’m sorry, Liam, males are a bit of a novelty around here.’
‘See, even your wife thinks so, Nick,’ Zan threw at him.
‘Yeah, well with Liam around there’s going to be a shift in the gender balance, so you better watch out, Zan.’
‘I’m shaking in my boots,’ she replied, deadpan. ‘You know what they say. One man, one brain, two men, half a brain . . .’
‘Three men, no brains at all,’ recited Molly.
‘Okay, that’s the last time you’re staying at Aunty Zan’s for the night.’
It was coming on dusk when Liam pulled up outside Georgie’s flat.
‘So at least the ice is broken now,’ said Georgie.
‘I suppose that’s one way of putting it.’
She winced. ‘Molly’s not the most subtle child, is she?’
Liam switched off the engine. ‘I kept thinking, everyone’s getting a mental picture, no matter how hard they’re trying not to.’
She laughed. ‘Well, it’s not such a bad mental picture, let me tell you,’ she said as she leaned across and kissed him firmly on the lips. ‘Are you coming up?’
She could tell the answer already from the strained expression on his face.
‘I’ve got an early start tomorrow,’ he said hesitantly. ‘I forgot all about it, I’m not going to be able to stay.’
Georgie grinned at him. ‘Mm, Sunday, could only be one thing. Golf.’
He smiled faintly. ‘No, it’s not golf, but it is a social thing . . .’ He paused. ‘I’d ask you, but–’
‘I’d be bored out of my brain because I wouldn’t know another soul.’ She gave him a light kiss on the lips. ‘Thanks anyway. Some other time.’
He frowned. ‘So you don’t mind?’
‘Liam, I’ve had you for a whole night and a whole day, you’re not going to hear me complaining.’
He looked a little astounded.
‘What?’ Georgie asked him.
‘I just . . .’ he took a breath, ‘I just love you very much.’
Her whole face broke into a smile. ‘And I just love hearing you say that.’
‘Then get used to it,’ he said, pulling her close and kissing her longingly.
‘So,’ Georgie murmured when they came up for air, ‘I’ll see you . . .’ Suddenly she sat bolt upright. ‘Oh no, it’s Christmas next week!’
‘Yeah,’ he said awkwardly. ‘I wanted to–’
‘Oh my God, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that,’ she blurted.
‘You have?’
‘Oh, now I feel bad, I should have said something sooner.’
‘What is it?’
She winced. ‘It’s not like you’re being excluded or anything, really, they’ve only just met you. And I know they liked you, if it was anything else . . .’
‘Georgie, what are you talking about?’
‘Well, the thing is, we don’t make a big deal about Christmas. We keep it very low-key, only immediate family.’
‘Oh, okay then,’ Liam said vaguely.
She sighed. ‘I have to explain something, and it’s going to sound really melodramatic. But it isn’t, it’s an untimely coincidence, that’s all. I don’t want you to feel sorry for me or anything.’ She paused. Liam was watching her, obviously intrigued. ‘You see, the accident happened on a Christmas Eve.’
His expression immediately softened, and he reached over and squeezed her hand.
‘The police knocked on the door in the middle of the night,’ Georgie continued, trying to sound offhand but not doing a very convincing job of it. ‘We all went down to the morgue. Nick didn’t want us to come, but Zan refused to stay behind. This lovely policeman drove us home in the morning, I remember. He was an older guy, he said his kids were all grown up so he didn’t mind doing the overnight shift on Christmas.’ Georgie took a deep breath in and out. ‘When we went inside, the tree lights were still on. There were a few presents underneath, but most of them were hidden away. Mum liked to keep up the magic.’ She stared out the windscreen. ‘When we cleared my parents’ room out a couple of months later, we found them, all the gifts, wrapped and tagged. But we couldn’t bring ourselves to open them.’
Liam didn’t say anything as he drew her close to him.
‘So I hope you’re not offended,’ Georgie said, her head on his shoulder, ‘but we usually spend Christmas quietly, together. We do the tree the night before and presents in the morning, for the girls, and then we go to the cemetery after lunch. After that, we just wait for the day to be over.’
‘I understand,’ he said, kissing her on the top of the head.
‘So, you’ll spend Christmas with your family?’ she said after a while.
He nodded, though he didn’t look too happy about it.
‘What’s the matter?’ Georgie frowned, straightening up to face him. ‘You’ve been saying you want to spend more time with them.’
‘Yeah, I know I have. I just wish I could be with you.’
‘Oh, no you don’t, we’re a bit of a morbid lot. But Christmas is a wonderful time and it should be a wonderful time. You go and enjoy yourself and don’t think about me.’
‘That’s not going to happen, Georgie, I’ll be thinking about you the whole time.’
She smiled at him. ‘When are you leaving?’
‘Oh, um . . .’ He rubbed his forehead, thinking. ‘I have to be at the airport around six Monday evening.’
She nodded. ‘So I’ll see you in a week or so, I guess?’
He looked at her then, his expression tender but a little tortured at the same time. ‘Georgie, I know I haven’t been much of a . . .’ he hesitated.
‘What?’ she frowned.
He seemed embarrassed. ‘Boyfriend’s a really stupid name for someone my age.’
‘Isn’t it though?’
‘Anyway, I’m going to make it up to you.’
‘You don’t have anything to make up to me, Liam, you’re perfect.’
He shook his head. ‘No, I’m not, I’m not even close,’ he said seriously. ‘And you deserve better, you deserve a lot more than I’ve been giving.’ She went to interrupt but he kept on. ‘I want to make you as happy as you’ve made me.’
Georgie smiled. ‘Well, see, you just did.’ She leaned over and kissed him. ‘I think I’ll be the judge of what makes me happy, Liam, and I’m very happy at the moment.’ She stroked a rogue lock of hair back off his forehead. ‘I waited a long time to fall in love, you know, and now I know why.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I hadn’t met you yet, and it was always going to be you.’
Liam leaned closer and kissed her softly. ‘I love you, Georgie.’
‘I love you too.’
Sunday
Anna glanced across at Mac in the driver’s seat. His whole demeanour was aggressive as he weaved his way through the traffic moving towards the Harbour Bridge.
‘Are you intending to stay angry the entire time?’
He sighed. ‘I’m not angry,’ he said levelly. ‘I wish you’d reminded me, that’s all.’
‘I did remind you, Mac,’ Anna returned. ‘What exactly is the problem anyway?’
He pulled up behind cars queuing at the toll booth. ‘It’s just hassle I don’t need at the moment.’
Anna sighed loudly. ‘Hassle? These people are our friends, Mac. We haven’t even seen Rob and Stacey since they had the baby, and he’s four months old now. We’re Bethany’s godparents, for heaven’s sake. Of course we’d be invited to her little brother’s christening, and of course we’d be expected to go!’
Mac tossed a few coins into the basket. The light went green and he took off, flattening his foot to the pedal.
‘Not only that, Mac,’ Anna continued. She’d started now, she may as well say what was on her mind. ‘In the past we would have wanted to go. You would have wanted to go. But I don’t understand what’s happening to you lately. You wanted a break from IVF, but all you’ve done is throw yourself into your work. You’re never home, we barely even function as a couple any more.’
He turned to look at her. Anna thought he was about to say something but he appeared to change his mind. He focussed again on the road ahead and Anna could feel the car picking up speed. They flew across the Bridge, following the Cahill Expressway towards the Eastern Distributor. He was forced to slow down as they approached a bank of traffic where the lanes merged and parted again to their various destinations.
Anna was waiting for some kind of acknowledgment that he had heard her, that he understood. ‘I’m just saying, Mac, you might only need work in your life,’ she said, ‘but I need more than that, okay?’
He flicked on the indicator. ‘We’re going today, aren’t we?’ he said flatly, turning to look behind him before changing lanes. They drove the rest of the way in silence.
The service had begun by the time they arrived at the church and found somewhere to park. Anna glanced at Mac intermittently throughout the proceedings, but his face was stony, he was not showing any emotion at all.
Rob and Stacey were old friends from Melbourne who had moved up to Sydney a year or two before Mac and Anna. Rob had been to uni with Mac, he’d been at the party the night Anna and Mac met. They had double-dated a few times when Rob started seeing Stacey, but they were not particularly close. The move to Sydney changed all that. Rob and Stacey welcomed some familiar faces from home, and as Stacey was already pregnant with Laura, Anna found herself drawn to her. They’d just started treatment and Anna had become fascinated by babies, not surprisingly. She was sure it would be her turn next. But time passed and instead it was Rob and Stacey who were expecting again. When Bethany was born they asked Mac and Anna to be godparents. Anna was thrilled, but it was bittersweet, and consequently, at dinner with them that night, she drank too much and blurted out their whole IVF story. They hadn’t told anyone else before that. At first it was a relief to have it out in the open, but then Anna began to find it harder to spend time with them. Stacey’s life revolved around babies, real, live, breathing, beautiful babies, while Anna’s revolved around drugs and cycles and constant disappointments and the increasingly fragile dream of a baby. Stacey never knew what to say to her, and Anna felt it. Staying away was easier for everyone.
It was a short drive to Rob and Stacey’s house in Randwick after the service. Their terrace was cosy at the best of times, but today it was packed with both sides of the family up from Melbourne to wet the head of the first male born this generation. Fortunately it was a fine day and the overflow spilled out into the backyard. Mac grabbed a beer from a bin full of bottles and ice and made his way over to Rob. He hadn’t had a chance to say hello yet.
‘Hey Mac!’ Rob greeted him, shaking hands. ‘You made it. I didn’t see you at the church.’
‘We were up the back.’
‘You remember my brother Wayne?’
‘Sure,’ said Mac, offering his hand.
Wayne was juggling a beer and a pink-wrapped bundle which just at that moment spurted a stream of curdled white liquid right across his shoulder. He grimaced. ‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ he said apologetically, retreating from the group.
‘Let’s try again,’ Rob grinned. ‘This is Jeff, our next-door neighbour. Jeff, Mac and I went to uni together.’
The men shook hands. ‘How’re you going?’ Jeff nodded as a missile charged into his legs from apparently nowhere, knocking him so that he spilled his beer. ‘Toby! Watch out, mate!’
The missile was actually a small boy with a curly blond mop of hair who clung to his father’s legs, his face buried, crying, ‘Don’t want to . . . something’; they couldn’t quite catch the rest.
‘Bethany!’ Rob called sternly, spotting his daughter through the crowd. ‘Excuse me a minute.’ He made a beeline for her just as she started to dodge between the legs of the surrounding guests.
‘Bethany and Toby have . . . issues,’ Jeff said to Mac by way of explanation. He’d picked up Toby and now the little boy had his arms wrapped tightly around his father’s neck, his face still hidden. ‘Toby’s a little on the sensitive side, and Bethany . . . well, let’s just say Bethany knows how to push his buttons.’
‘He’s being polite – Bethany terrorises Toby,’ said Rob, rejoining them, the recalcitrant Bethany tucked securely under one arm. ‘Hey, Bethany, have you said hello to your godfather?’
She looked up at Mac balefully.
‘God, she’s grown,’ Mac remarked. ‘She’s a little girl now.’
‘Little monster,’ Rob muttered. ‘Now, you say sorry to Toby right now, miss, or I’ll be putting you in your room until you do.’ He popped her down onto her feet, though he kept a firm hold of her by the shoulders.
Jeff crouched down with Toby still clinging to him as though his life depended on it. ‘Come on, Tobes, Bethany’s going to say sorry, and she won’t do whatever it was again.’
‘Wishful thinking,’ Rob added under his breath. He prodded his daughter from behind. ‘What have you got to say, miss?’
‘Sorry Toby.’
‘And?’
‘I won’t make you eat the giant’s boogies no more.’
‘Bethany! They are not giant’s boogies. What are they?’
She pouted. ‘Oysters.’
‘And what have you got for Toby?’
She held out a red jelly frog.
‘Toby, look,’ Jeff urged. ‘You can’t have it if you don’t see what it is.’
The little boy peered out from the crook of his father’s neck, then his head jerked upright and he reached out and snatched the frog.
‘Ah! What do you say?’ said Jeff.
‘Funkyou Befnee.’
For some reason passing the understanding of the adults watching on, they both started giggling before they turned and ran off together.
‘Don’t let your mother see you with that red frog,’ Jeff called after them, standing up. ‘Then there’ll really be trouble,’ he said to the others, before taking a long swig of his beer. He glanced at Mac. ‘Any kids?’
Mac shook his head.
‘Wise man.’
‘Don’t listen to him,’ said Rob. ‘He’s still in shock since he had the twins.’
‘Toby’s a twin?’ Mac asked.
Jeff nodded. ‘Callum’s his other half. Should be running around here somewhere,’ he said, surveying the crowd.
‘He’s got three more as well,’ Rob told Mac.
‘You’ve got five kids?’
Jeff looked sheepish. ‘Yeah, but the others are from my first marriage. My eldest son’s at uni and my youngest are about to start pre-school,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘I didn’t plan that too well.’
Mac nodded thoughtfully. All of a sudden he felt intensely curious. What had happened in the other marriage? Where was his first wife? Was she okay? Jeff seemed sane and normal, if a little harried. He’d obviously survived a divorce. Was he happy now? Was he glad he’d done it?
But Mac wouldn’t be asking him any of those questions. Blokes didn’t do that. If they were women they’d be swapping intimate gynaecological details by now. That’s why women outlived men, Mac was sure of it.
‘So, Mac,’ said Rob. ‘I hear Morgan Trask’s pulling out the big guns to get Borambil on board?’
Ah, shop talk. Safer ground.
‘Did you meet their next-door neighbours?’ Anna asked Mac on the way home. She was driving, Mac had had a bit too much to drink, which was not like him at all. She glanced across at him when he hadn’t answered. He was slumped back in his seat, dozing.
‘Mac? Don’t go to sleep, we’ll be home soon.’
‘Hmm?’ He cleared his throat and sat up straight, blinking.
‘I was asking if you met Rob and Stacey’s next-door neighbours?’ Anna repeated. ‘Jeff and Jodi, with the twins.’
Mac nodded. ‘Met him, not her.’
‘They seem nice.’
‘Yeah, he was a nice bloke.’
‘She was one of those people who make you feel comfortable straight away, you know what I mean?’ Anna asked rhetorically. ‘I don’t know what it is, perhaps some people are so at ease within themselves they just make you feel good when you’re around them.’
He didn’t respond.
‘Are you listening, Mac?’
‘Yeah, sure, I was just thinking. I know exactly what you mean.’
‘Oh, right, well, she was fantastic with the twins. She made it look easy,’ Anna went on. She had been fascinated with twins ever since they had started IVF, with the higher likelihood of having a multiple pregnancy herself.
Mac grunted. ‘Jeff didn’t make out it was so easy. He seemed overwhelmed.’
‘Yeah, but he’s got three others from his first marriage,’ said Anna. ‘And the twins weren’t planned. They hadn’t been together long when she fell pregnant.’
Mac knew it, he bet Anna had the entire story.
‘Why did the first marriage break up?’ he asked.
‘Well, he and Jodi were having an affair, but the way Jodi put it, his marriage was already on the rocks.’ Anna frowned. ‘Then again, they may just tell themselves that to absolve their guilt.’
Mac folded his arms across his chest. ‘I don’t know, why would someone have an affair if their marriage was fine and they were happy?’
Anna sighed loudly. ‘Lots of reasons. Men get bored, go through their midlife crises and decide they want someone younger to make them feel younger.’
‘I didn’t meet her – was Jodi a lot younger than Jeff?’
‘No, actually she looked about the same age.’
Mac shook his head. ‘A little quick to condemn then, aren’t you? Did she have anything to say about the first wife?’
