She’d spent most of her life feeling unseen. Even in her friendship with Rayne since childhood, she’d been the quiet one, the ‘fade into the background’ friend. Teachers rarely noticed her. Bert only asked her out as a rebound from Rayne, maybe even to make Rayne jealous, and they’d fallen into a comfortable relationship devoid of grand passion. Marriage had seemed the logical next step and she’d been a bland bride, then a wife taken for granted because she didn’t demand anything else.
Those feelings of unworthiness ran deep and when Jem had reiterated he only wanted her along for his trip … she’d never felt so worthless. Good enough for a short time not a long time.
Screw him.
She pulled a pile of sweaters from the top shelf of her wardrobe with particular venom and heard a loud thud as something hit the floor, followed by the sound of glass breaking. Rifling through the sweaters, she found a snow globe with a jagged crack and fluid leaking from it. She’d forgotten all about it, must’ve tucked it into the back of her wardrobe after Bert gave it to her. She remembered why.
Bert had gone to Melbourne for a bucks weekend and while she hadn’t expected an extravagant gift on his return considering his miserly ways, she’d hoped for something personal. The snow globe depicting Melbourne’s city skyline had been a cheap last-minute gift grabbed from a vendor outside Flinders Street Station before he boarded the train for home. It also encapsulated everything she’d never have: an exciting life in a big city where she could be more than Bert’s stay-at-home wife.
She’d hated the thing on sight.
That’s why she’d shoved it to the back of her wardrobe, and seeing it lying broken on the floor now seemed indicative of her dreams in general.
But it also made her second-guess her decision not to travel. She didn’t need Jem to do that. She could use the money she would’ve spent on the trip with him for her own adventure. She’d rarely been out of Acacia Haven her entire life. With Meredith lined up to manage the store—she still hadn’t told her friend what had happened with Jem—what better time to travel than now?
Once the idea took root, she allowed it to flourish. Where would she go? She’d always been fascinated by the outback so Darwin seemed like a good starting point. From there she could travel to Kakadu and Katherine Gorge. Do one of those cattle station stays she’d seen on TV once. Glamping near the Red Centre too.
Excitement made her abandon her packing and head into the kitchen to open her laptop and do some online research. But she’d barely typedNorthern Territoryinto the search engine before a loud knock at the door interrupted her. When she opened it, she wished she hadn’t.
‘Hi. Can I come in?’
She wanted to slam the door in Jem’s face. But he was still the agent for her house sale and she couldn’t afford to piss him off.
‘Only if you want to discuss business.’
He hesitated before nodding, so she let him in. As he followed her into the kitchen, she saw his gaze land on the screen of her laptop, where a photo of the outback in all its burnt-orange dust and vivid blue sky was front and centre, with several links to the Northern Territory beneath it.
‘You’re planning a trip?’
‘Yes.’
Short, sharp, sending him a clear message she didn’t want to talk to him about anything other than her house sale.
‘That’s great.’ He sounded like he’d swallowed glass.
‘I’m looking forward to getting out of town for a while.’
His face fell, like she’d wounded him. Idiot.
‘Then I guess you won’t be needing this.’ He took something out of his pocket and laid it on the table. A key.
‘Is that to a new property you want to show me?’
‘No.’ He eyeballed her and she couldn’t fathom the hope in his eyes. ‘It’s the key to my place.’
Confused, Heidi stared at the key, then back at Jem. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘When you mentioned our living arrangements after we got back from our trip, I didn’t handle it very well, and I’m sorry for that. Returning to Melbourne has been my dream for so long and I wanted to be upfront about it.’
Annoyed by his reiterating the obvious and hurting her all over again, she slow-clapped. ‘Good for you. So what’s the key about? You want me to be your housekeeper while you’re away?’
‘I want you to move in with me. Now. So we can see how compatible we are, give us time to develop a relationship, before we hit the road. And with a little luck, by the time we get back you’ll be so enamoured of me you’ll want to live with me in Melbourne too.’
If Heidi had been one of those cartoon characters she’d watched as a kid, her jaw would’ve hit the floor and her tongue would’ve rolled out. At fifty, she’d deemed herself pretty unshockable. She was wrong.
‘I know it’s sudden because we hardly know each other. But I know enough, Heidi. I haven’t felt this way in a long time. Decades, if I’m completely honest, and I don’t want to lose you.’ He took hold of her hands and she let him. ‘I know I’m not a good prospect. Heck, in another ten years you’ll still be vibrant and I’ll be almost eighty. But if you want to live in the moment and make the most of whatever time we have together, I’m all yours.’
In that moment, stoic, calm Heidi, who rarely showed emotion, burst into tears.
‘Hey.’ He bundled her into his arms and hugged her close. ‘I’m hoping that’s not a no.’
Sobs clogged her throat and she couldn’t answer, so she burrowed into his embrace and tried to assimilate what this amazing man had just said. Her tears flowed because finally,finally, Heidi felt seen.
When her tears petered out, she straightened her shoulders and looked him in the eye. ‘My answer is yes.’