Read Online Anybody But Him by Claire Baxter - Free Book Online

them—’
    â€˜Ouch. Do I detect a hint of bitters in my tea?’ He raised one eyebrow as he took the mug from her.
    â€˜It’s called realism.’ She plonked a heaped teaspoon of instant coffee into the other mug and added water. A good cup of coffee was also on the agenda for this morning along with breakfast. She hated this powdery stuff that Una had left for her. ‘Anyway, what about you? Sounds like you know a thing or two about bitterness.’
    He lifted the mug of tea to his mouth, watching her while he took a sip. As he lowered it he said, ‘Maybe I do. We’re a good pair, aren’t we?’
    A good pair. Her and Blair Morrissey. Not likely.
    â€˜How long will that take?’ She tilted her head towards the window.
    â€˜Ten minutes or so. Why? Am I holding you up?’
    â€˜I need to go out for breakfast.’
    â€˜Why can’t you eat breakfast here?’
    â€˜No food.’
    He pointed at the box of vegetables he’d placed on the table in the middle of the room. ‘There you go. What about a nice vegetable frittata?’
    Her mouth watered. ‘No eggs.’
    â€˜Really? I can fix that. Mrs Thompson keeps chooks, and she only lives two houses down the street.’
    Now her stomach was starting to rumble. She was tempted, but she didn’t want another reason for him to hang around. ‘I have other things to do in town, so could you just do the boarding up?’
    He shrugged, took a gulp of his tea, left the mug by the sink and carried the board outside. Minutes later he’d finished, and when she went outside to thank him, she was surprised to discover that he’d gone. The dog too. She winced at the guilty knowledge that she’d been ungrateful again, and probably rude as well.
    Huh? She gave herself a mental slap. What was she thinking? This was the man – boy –who’d ripped her heart to shreds when he mocked her love poem in front of his friends. Her poor, vulnerable teenage heart.
    If it had been anybody decent she would deserve to feel bad, but on the contrary, it was someone who’d gone out of his way to make her miserable for the last half of her high school years. Sighing, she went back inside for her keys and handbag, then locked the door behind her.
    She drove straight to the bakery in the centre of Redgum. The best thing about small Australian towns was that there was always a bakery in the main street. From memory, the one in Redgum Valley had always served good food. She hoped the coffee was reasonable too.

    After a satisfying breakfast of a toasted cheese sandwich with two cups of coffee to wash it down and not a vegetable in sight, Nicola drove to her parents’ house. As she pulled into the driveway, her father rushed out of the garage, but his face fell when she got out of the car.
    â€˜Oh, it’s only you. I thought you were the mechanic.’
    â€˜Nice to see you too, Dad. Car problems?’
    â€˜No, I want him to check my prostate. What do you think?’
    â€˜What’s wrong with it?’
    â€˜My prostate? Nothing.’
    â€˜The car , Dad.’ She definitely didn’t want to hear about the other.
    â€˜The electrics. They’ve gone crazy. Must be a short-circuit or something. Lights flashing everywhere. I hadn’t got as far as the corner before it started. Come in here.’ He beckoned her into the freestanding garage he’d built himself from galvanised iron. ‘I’ll reconnect the battery so you can see for yourself.’
    She hadn’t been in the garage for years, and it hadn’t changed. Same shelves loadedwith the same tools and rusty old paint cans, and objects that only her dad could identify. Wire. Reels and reels of wire. He used to claim that he could fix anything if only he had a bit of wire. And he’d proved it too, time and again, although the results had sometimes had Una and her in fits of giggles. But that was before