‘Stop.’
‘What? He’s obviously into you.’
I laugh. ‘And you know that how?’
‘The way he put his hand on your back when he passed you earlier.’
Hunter’s comments from Sunday come back to taunt me. ‘It’s a tight space.’
‘And a classic move.’
Five minutes later, we’re seated at one of the outside tables with a jug of sangria between us. Tamsin tells me all about her exams and the guy she’s very casually seeing, then catches me up on Chirnside gossip, which is a short conversation, because not much happens in Chirnside.
‘Have you seen Mum?’ I ask, turning the straw in my drink.
She exhales. ‘No, sorry. Have you tried calling her?’
I shake my head.
‘You don’t think she’d want to speak to you?’
This is the difficult part to explain to people. ‘I’m sure she wants to speak with me, but she knows she shouldn’t, and she’ll be strongly encouraged by others not to.’ I’m not sure which would be worse, no contact at all or having her coldly end the call if I tried.
Tamsin makes a frustrated noise and refills my glass. ‘At least you found your sister. And she’s such a sweetheart.’
‘You sure you knocked on the right door?’
Tamsin laughs. ‘I’m dying for all the reunion details.’
So I tell her that story, then proceed to tell her the Hunter story.
‘I’d heard vague reports from Sammy that he was up this way,’ Tamsin says, eyes wide, ‘but I never connected the dots.’ She presses a hand to her chest. ‘It’s so romantic. The Romeo and Juliet saga continues.’
I take a long drink. ‘No, that saga officially ended when he told me the other day that guys like James can sniff out a virgin with daddy issues a mile away.’
She scrunches up her nose. ‘Poor word choice, I admit, but it sounds like he picked up on the same vibe I did.’
‘There’s no vibe. I think you just want there to be one.’
‘What I want is for you to be happy. If that means crossing a few ethical lines’—she clears her throat—‘and age barriers, then so be it. I’m honestly surprised you haven’t just gotten all that out of the way.’ She tops up our glasses, then leans in closer. ‘Your first time will likely be a bust. I mean, I had no idea what I was doing. I thought Cullum would because he was a year above us at school and had a girlfriend for two years before we were together. I was wrong.’
I drink. ‘I didn’t even know you were together.’
‘It didn’t last long—and I’m not just talking about the relationship.’ She clinks her glass to mine in recognition of her joke. ‘He was a nice boy. Paid for a cabin at a caravan park, lit a few candles, and asked me what I liked. Not enough guys do that.’ She pauses to drink. ‘But I didn’t have an answer. I didn’t know what I liked because I hadn’t done it before.’
The waitress arrives with our food, and we stop talking while she arranges plates on the table. The second she leaves, Tamsin continues.
‘If you want my advice, find someone who’s nice, who you trust—that part’s important—and with experience, like silver-fox boss, and get it out of the way.’ She gestures to the waitress for another jug of sangria. ‘Then the next time someone asks you what you like, you’ll have an answer.’
We’re both a little drunk at this point, so I can’t tell whether that’s good or terrible advice.
I think back to that afternoon in the creek with Hunter. It might have been reckless, but I absolutely trusted him.
We eat a lot of tacos and talk until our throats ache. When we’re finished, we stand up to go pay and realise at the same time how incredibly drunk we are. This is a first for me. I’ve never felt like this before. It’s funny and unsettling at the same time.
‘Okay,’ Tamsin says, looking both ways down the street. ‘Where can we get a taxi?’
I link my arm through hers because I’m fearful of her falling in those shoes. ‘There’s a taxi rank just past the tavern.’