She smiled and nudged my shoulder. “I’m happy for you, Evie.”
I sighed and got back to the more important business of finally getting the bacon and eggs I’d been almost dying for the moment I woke up.
Chapter Ten
Four days post Pillgate, and three days after Jared left for a trip to Adelaide for work, I was pulling into the driveway of Coby’s hillside split level home in North Bondi for the chat.
I sat in the car, not looking forward to what Coby would have to say. As you can imagine, I had several relationship type chats with Coby over the years. They were never a delightful experience and usually included several stern words on his part and excessive use of internal eye rolling on my part. Obviously, Jared would be the main feature in tonight’s topic of conversation.
I grabbed the two bottles of wine that were sitting on the passenger seat of my car (one would simply not do) and using my key, let myself into Coby’s house.
“I’m here,” I yelled out.
“Kitchen, honey,” he shouted back.
I made my way down the stairs through the split level home and looked out to see Coby give me a wave from the kitchen below. I waved back and walked across the balcony and down the stairs towards the open concept kitchen, lounge, and dining area. Bi-fold doors off to one side sectioned off a huge room that housed a bar, pool table, and television the size of a small country.
I reached the kitchen, sat the wine on the bench, and wrapped my arms around Coby for a giant bear hug, pulling back to inspect his face.
“You look like you could drop. You look like shit.”
He snorted. “Lucky you don’t work in PR, honey. You suck at it. I’m tired, that’s all, but I’ve got a day off tomorrow. I thought we could spend it together. I haven’t seen you properly since you moved here. Can you swing it?”
Tomorrow was Thursday. We had rehearsals and were halfway through writing two new songs. Plus, we needed to hit the store to upgrade some of our equipment.
“Of course I can swing it,” I said with a confident smile, vowing to text Mac and plead for the day off. The bribe of a shoe purchase would grease the wheels.
“Okay.” He gave the bottles of wine a pointed glance. “You driving? You can stay over if you like. Tomorrow we could pack a picnic and spend the day at the beach.”
“Sounds great.” I nodded happily. “We’d just need to stop at my place on the way in the morning so I can grab my beach things.”
He opened up the bag of food on the counter and the scent of Chinese hit my nose, sending me into the giddy heights of takeaway heaven.
“Mr. Chow’s?” I asked excitedly as I opened the cupboard for a couple of wine glasses. I’d had Mr. Chow’s on a previous visit to Sydney once. Even getting a takeaway booking from that place was the equivalent of winning a ticket for a round trip flight to the moon.
He grinned. “Is there any other kind of Chinese?”
“Um, no! How did you manage that?” I asked as I poured out two glasses of wine, keen to know the secret for future use.
“Forget it, honey, you don’t have the right equipment,” he said with a laugh and started carrying plates to the dining table.
I scowled as I followed him and carried in the wine.
“We’re pretty sure the manager is gay. None of us guys seem to have a problem getting takeaway there,” he explained.
Of course they didn’t. They were like part of the Awesome Hot Guy Society. Instead of Jamieson and Valentine: Badass Brigade, maybe it should be Jamieson and Valentine: Bootylicious Boys, or Jamieson and Valentine: Bootylicious Brigade of Badass Boys.
I sat down at the table and started dishing food out on my plate. “How do you know he’s gay? Is there a secret g*y handshake that I don’t know about? That has to be discrimination against people with girl parts,” I complained, unhappy at the thought of having to bribe Coby to get my Mr. Chow fix in the future. “There must be a name for it.” I pointed my fork at Coby. “Vag**acrimination. I’ll Google it.”
Coby snorted and shook his head as he chewed and swallowed. “You know, he’s patted Jared on the ass more than once.”
I choked on an egg roll. “Seriously?”
Coby nodded with a laugh as I coughed and spluttered. “Yep.”
“No, seriously as in Jared bought Chinese takeaway?”
Was there hope for him yet?
“Chinese isn’t all egg rolls and honey chicken, Evie. They make steamed vegetables and rice too.”
I shook my head sadly at the waste of using a Mr. Chow’s order for something that sounded about as yummy as a pile of dirt.
Coby stood up. “Another glass?”
“You plan on getting me shitfaced so I’ll spill my secrets?”
“Maybe.” He grinned. “Do you have secrets?” he asked as he grabbed the wine bottle out of the fridge and came back over to top off our glasses.
“Of course I don’t have secrets,” I lied around a mouthful of food. “I tell you everything, Coby.”
He sat back down and took a sip of wine. “I know you, Evie, and if you think I believe that, you must think me stupid.”
“What you choose to believe or not believe is beyond my control, Coby.”
“That’s probably the smartest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”
“Why, do you think me ordinarily stupid?” I asked, starting to build up a good snit which had nothing to do with me trying to deflect the conversation bearing down on me like a freight train.
“Of course not. I just simply question your judgement sometimes.”
“You think I don’t?”
“Speaking of which,” he continued without acknowledging my question, “it’s time to tell me what’s going on with you and Jared.”
Obviously my deflection wasn’t worth the effort; that was the trouble with having conversations with people who knew you too well.
As I took a gulp of wine my handbag buzzed a message, and thankful for the interruption, I reached in my bag to retrieve my phone.
J: Home from Adelaide, baby. Where are you?
E: Dinner at Coby’s for our chat.
He knew it was coming. He and Coby had words the other day. Jared had told me, though he refused to give a blow by blow commentary of what was said, much to my disgust.
I put the phone down and picked up my wine. “What did you say to Jared?”
He pointed his fork at me. “That’s between him and me.”
I took a sip of my wine to calm myself. It didn’t work, so I sat my glass down, picked up my fork, and polished off the last mouthful of food. “If it involves me, which it did, then I have a right to know.”
“Ask Jared then.”
Argh, bloody men.
It was lucky I was being plied with wine and exceptional Chinese food, otherwise this conversation had the potential to escalate into sibling violence.
J: Do you need me there?
Oh would you look at that? Jared had my back. The mere thought calmed me instantly, and if I’d have realised it did that, it would have thrown me into a complete panic and reversed the whole effect.
Coby put down his fork and gave me a look I couldn’t interpret. “Evie, he’s not who I would have chosen for you.”
I played dumb. “Who’s not?” I might’ve been summoned for the chat, but it didn’t mean I had to make it easy for him.
He rolled his eyes at me in exasperation.
“Okay,” I relented. “Who would you choose for me?”
I sat back in my chair, holding my wine as I waited to hear of the supposed virtues of the chosen one.
He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Honestly? I don’t know. I just know I don’t want Jared to be the one for you.”
“Newsflash, Coby, it’s not about what you want.”
“Dammit, Evie!” He stood up so hard and fast his chair tipped over. “No, it’s not about what I want, but after everything that you’ve been through, that I’ve been through watching you, I should get a goddamn say.”
J: Baby?
Jared was waiting for a reply, and Coby was standing there waiting for a reply. Angry that choices I’d made left me unable to trust myself, made me a person that Coby couldn’t trust, and feeling backed into a corner, I snapped off a reply to Jared.
E: No, dammit. I don’t need you.
I put the phone down. “Fine, Coby. You don’t trust me. I don’t trust me. Where do I go from here? If you want your goddamn say, tell me what the f**k I do now?”
Coby righted his chair and sat back down, seemingly unsure on what to say for once.
“You…he…” He cleared his throat and tried again. “I see you two together. I see you look at him and him look at you, and it’s like...that’s how it’s supposed to be. You both share a joy of simply being in the same room as the other. Two people who can be loved just for being who they are is a special thing, honey, and I see that potential in the two of you.”
My mouth opened and closed like a fish as his words sank in, and I frowned in confusion. “You see all that? Why, if you see all that, would you not choose that for me?”
“His job, the work we do, it’s not safe. I know he wouldn’t ever deliberately hurt you, but if one day he was to never come home...”
My heart pounded at his words. It was not something I hadn’t thought of, but pushing it to the back of your mind and hearing it vocalised from someone else were two different things.
“You’ll have to trust me to make the decisions that are right for me. I know it’s not an easy task, considering my past decisions have been downright woeful,” I conceded, thinking of Wild Renny and Asshole Kellar, “but in this...you don’t get a say.” I held up a hand as he started to interrupt me. “I don’t say that to piss you off or shut you out. I believe that no one chooses who they love, so if you don’t get a say, I don’t get a say. The only thing I can control is what I choose to do with those feelings, and I’m tired of being too afraid to trust them.”
I sat back in my chair feeling completely wrung out. I needed chocolate and I needed this chat over with because I didn’t deal well with emotion. Lying to myself, pushing things down into the dark recesses where I couldn’t think on them, flippant remarks, I wasn’t above any of it.
“It’s not just you I’m worried about.”
He was worried about Jared? Did he think I was going to stomp all over him?
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Coby sighed and waved his hand. “Nothing.” He had a look that told me he was keeping something from me.
“You’re keeping something from me.”
“It’s not my place to tell you, Evie.”
Coby eyeballed my phone as it buzzed and vibrated across the table.
J: Okay then. Did you take your pill?
Shit.
I wasn’t popping it in front of Coby, no way.
“Evie.” Coby cleared his throat as though embarrassed. “I know I don’t need to discuss the birds and the bees, but promise me you’ll be safe.”
I gave him a suspicious look. Did he read my message somehow?