He releases me. ‘I came to this hot box for you. I could’ve gone anywhere, but I came to the one place I knew you’d come if you ever worked up the courage to leave. I’ve been sweating my arse off in this city for over a year, waiting for you.’
My chest rises and falls rapidly. These words are better than the ones I’ve imagined. I sit with them for a moment, unsure if I can trust them.
A knock on the window has me jumping a foot in the air. I turn to see a visibly agitated Bridget.
‘I drove to your work looking for you,’ she says. ‘You couldn’t call?’ She shakes her head and walks off.
I give Hunter an apologetic look, then reach for the door. ‘I have to go.’
He rubs his forehead. ‘I’ll call you from the road in ten minutes so we can finish this.’
‘Okay.’ I climb out of the ute and go after Bridget.
I find her in the bathroom brushing her teeth. Our eyes meet in the mirror.
‘You need to get a phone,’ she says with a mouth full of toothpaste. ‘For all I knew you were lying dead on the side of the road.’
It’s her way of saying she was worried. It feels sisterly. ‘I’m sorry.’
She rinses, then turns to me. ‘What happened between you and Hunter back home?’
I barely know where to begin. ‘We had a… thing. Mum found out. Things got messy.’ I lean my shoulder on the door frame. ‘Between everything going on with his dad and the drama with me… I guess he reached his limit. He wrote a note to his dad and left town.’
Her expression borders on sympathetic. ‘But you didn’t get a note?’
I shake my head.
‘But he did come to Brisbane,’ she says. ‘Then he tracked me down, and now I understand why. He was hoping you’d come looking for me.’
I swallow. ‘He says he was waiting for me.’
Bridget laughs once. ‘I suppose that depends on your definition.’
‘What does that mean?’
She walks over to me. ‘Hunter’s a very straightforward individual. I’m sure he’ll clarify that for you.’
As if on cue, the house phone rings. I head to the kitchen to answer it.
‘Can you talk?’ Hunter asks.
I lean against the wall. ‘Yeah.’
My sister flashes into view before disappearing into her bedroom and closing the door. ‘Can I ask you something?’
‘Sure.’
I play with the phone cord. ‘What did you mean before when you said you were waiting for me?’
‘Exactly that. I moved north in hope that one day you’d follow. Why do you ask?’
I shake my head. ‘Just something my sister said. She told me to ask you about your definition of waiting.’
A long silence follows. ‘She’s likely referring to waiting in the sense of not seeing other people.’
The handset slips an inch in my hand. ‘Oh.’
‘A few weeks back—’