Girl Next Door - Alyssa Brugman [48]
After that Declan and I did something that I'm not ready to talk about yet.
19
TEXTS
'It's got to be Bryce Cole,' Will says in a low voice.
We're sitting on the edge of the pool splashing our feet in the water. I've just told Willem about Dad's little procedure. The light reflecting off the water makes crazy patterns on Will's squinting face. There are a few women with mini-bogan children down at the other end. Our swimmers are in Declan's garage, otherwise we'd be in the pool.
Mum has taken her points back to Centrelink on her own.
All the way on the bus back to the caravan park I'd been thinking and I decided that Bryce Cole was not the father of Mum's baby. Where would Bryce Cole have met my mother? They don't have a single thing in common. Well, they do now. They're both povvos.
'But why bother pretending? Surely not for our sake?' I say. 'And besides, they're just not lovey with each other. They're more like siblings.'
I know lovey. Declan gave me his mobile when I left and he's written lovey text messages for the last three hours from Messenger on his computer. He started out all about how he was a slave to his silent love for me, but now he is free. Then he realised he could use medical metaphors. I think he thinks it's poetry. He's still fixated on Hansen's disease, and some of the imagery is pretty ripe.
I cud liv w/out my legs
Bt I need my hands
2 rip out my & give it 2 U
It was freaking me right out, so I turned the phone off and stashed it at the bottom of my bag, under Dad's t-shirt and the pinch pot.
'If it's not Bryce Cole, then who?' Will asks.
'I don't know. Maybe it was someone from work.'
Will keeps a wary eye out for those other boys, but we haven't seen them yet. They're probably off playing hacky-sack with kittens.
Bryce Cole left a message for us at reception. He's coming over later. He said he'd take us somewhere for dinner. I'm hoping he had another good day at the track and will take us somewhere nice.
'If it is him we could confront them and maybe he'll stay over.'
'Better still, we can go and stay wherever he's staying,' Will says. 'Where do you think he stays?'
I had wondered about that myself. I bet he sleeps in the car.
'But if we do confront Mum then I'll have to admit that I rang Dad, and then explain that I actually rang Heather.' I think about it. 'It might be worth it. I don't want to stay here another night.'
Will grunts.
I'm so used to thinking of Dad as the bad guy, but now I don't know who cheated on who first. I think it was Mum. She's the bad guy and we're with her. If Dad's the good guy, then he's supposed to save us. We should be with him, shouldn't we? Bryce Cole seems to be doing all the saving, such as it is, but I know he's not the good guy. Maybe there aren't any good guys? It's a depressing thought.
I tip forward, land in the water with a splash and let myself sink to the bottom. When I pop out of the water Will is shaking his head. 'You're an idiot.'
I reach out my hand for him to haul me out, but when he takes it I jerk with all my strength and Will falls into the pool next to me. It's the oldest trick in the book. I can't believe he didn't see it coming.
Neither of us gets out though. It's nice and cool. I hope our clothes will dry before it's time to go out for dinner.
Bryce Cole has a friend who owns a Chinese restaurant in Parramatta, so we go there for dinner. The restaurant is closed, but there are some Asian men sitting at a table at the back. Bryce Cole knocks and they let us in. A waiter sets the three of us a table. She gives us forks and spoons instead of chopsticks as if we're ignorant chumps, and brings us a plate of piping hot spring rolls. She also brings us hot chips and pours soy sauce over them. The whole time she's watching a television. I say thank you, and she flicks me a look. There is no religious flourish or bowing.
After a quick greeting, Bryce Cole joins the others at the back table. There's a clatter as one of the men tips out a box of small tiles. They shift them around on