The Dry (Aaron Falk #1)(94)
“Don’t be like that.” His voice floated over his shoulder. She stared after him. She loved those shoulders.
“What, then?”
He didn’t answer.
They emerged from the track into the back paddock of her parents’ farm and walked in silence to the house. Gretchen knew her mum and sister were still out. She could hear her dad knocking around in the back barn.
Luke grabbed his bike from where he’d left it against a tree and climbed on. He stretched out a hand, and after a moment, she took it.
“I want to keep some things between us,” he said, looking into her eyes. “But there’s no point if you’re going to act like a princess every time.”
He leaned in, but she turned her head away from his kiss. He watched her for a moment, then shrugged. She burst into tears as he rode away.
Gretchen let the tears slide down her beautiful face for exactly as long as it took her to realize he wasn’t coming back. She felt a surge of anger and, wiping her cheeks, ran into the empty house. She snatched up the keys to the farm truck. She hadn’t passed her test, but she’d driven around the fields for years.
Gretchen jumped behind the wheel and took off in the direction Luke had headed. How dare he treat her like that? She spotted his bike ahead of the crossroads. She pulled the truck back a little, keeping her distance, not yet sure what she would say when she caught him. Up ahead, a car trundled over the crossroads across her path, and she touched the brake. A moment later, she flashed through the intersection in her white truck.
Luke Hadler would not speak to her like that, she told herself. She deserved better. Luke took a sudden left turn, and for a heart-stopping moment she thought he was heading back toward the river and Ellie. If he did that, Christ, she would seriously kill him. She followed at a distance, holding her breath. At the last moment he slowed, guiding his bike into his own driveway.
Gretchen stopped some distance away and watched from the road as he opened the front door and went inside. She could see the outline of his mother hanging up washing out the back.
She turned the truck and cried all the way back.
“When I heard Ellie hadn’t gone home, I went back to the river myself to check. I half expected to find her holed up with a sleeping bag, keeping out of her dad’s way. There was no sign of her.” Gretchen chewed her thumbnail. “Luke and I argued about whether we should say something. But we weren’t really worried at that point, you know? She’d been keeping to herself so much by then, I honestly thought she’d turn up when she was ready.” She said nothing for a long moment. “I never once imagined she’d be in that water.”
She turned to look at Falk.
“When they said she’d drowned, I couldn’t forgive myself. What if we’d stayed and spoken to her? I’d thought something wasn’t right, and I’d turned my back. I was so ashamed. I just shut down. I made Luke promise not to tell anyone we’d seen her. I didn’t want anyone to know how badly we’d let her down.”
Gretchen wiped her eyes.
“Then when I thought things couldn’t get worse, everyone started pointing the finger at you. Even Luke got scared. If they thought you were involved, what would they say if they knew we were down there? Luke came up with this plan. He’d say he was with you. It would help you; it would help us. And I could pretend for the rest of my life that I hadn’t been there. That I hadn’t gone to Luke when I should have gone to her.”
Falk handed Gretchen a clean tissue from his pocket. She took it with a small smile.
“You’re not responsible for what happened to Ellie Deacon,” he said.
“Maybe. But I could have done more.” She shrugged and blew her nose. “I don’t know what it was about Luke. He wasn’t a bad guy, but he was pretty bad for me.”
They stood side by side for a while and looked out over the fields, both seeing things that were long gone. Falk took a breath.
“Listen, Gretchen, it’s none of my business, but Gerry and Barb, and Charlotte, they—”
“Luke’s not Lachie’s father.”
“But if—”
“Aaron. Please. Just stop it.” Her blue-eyed gaze met his, but only for a moment.
“Fine.” He nodded. He’d tried. Enough. “It’s OK, Gretch. But they’re good people. And they’ve lost a lot recently. So have you. If there’s a chance to rescue something positive from all this misery, you should take it.”
She said nothing, just stared back at him, her face giving nothing away. Finally, he held out the hand that wasn’t burned. She looked at it, then, to his surprise, reached out and pulled him into a swift hug. Not flirty, not even friendly, but perhaps peaceful.
“See you in another twenty years,” she said.
This time, he thought that was probably about right.
42
Falk’s family home now looked even smaller than he’d remembered. Both from childhood and a few weeks ago. He set off past it toward the river, skirting around the edges of the property. He wasn’t too worried about seeing the owner this time.
In the hospital, McMurdo had rolled his eyes as he told Falk how a lot of people had swiftly changed their tune. Started to feel downright disapproving of those fliers all of a sudden. Twenty years ago was twenty years ago, for God’s sake. Water under the bridge and all that.