The Survivors(5)

‘No.’ Olivia shook her head. ‘Summer.’

Ears possibly burning, Bronte’s gaze fell on Olivia, before clocking Kieran and Mia. She smiled in recognition, then held up a finger in a wait-a-moment gesture. She disappeared through the swinging door labelled ‘Staff Only’ and re-emerged a few seconds later holding a battered cardboard box with ‘Lost Property’ scrawled on the side.

‘Not the same, I know,’ Bronte said as she made her way over. ‘But it might save you having to buy another one.’

She passed the box to Mia. Inside Kieran could see dozens of sunhats of different sizes and colours, some virtually new.

‘We were getting about five a day left behind at one point, so if there’s anything in there for your baby, you may as well take it.’ Bronte picked up a small yellow floral hat still with the sales tag attached. ‘No-one’s coming back for them now.’

‘Thanks very much,’ Mia said, sifting through the box as she introduced them both. ‘That’s so thoughtful.’

‘Guilty conscience.’ Ash grinned as he took a slug of beer. ‘Eh, Bronte? Least you could bloody do after letting us all down before.’

‘Get lost. That water was freezing.’ Bronte’s laugh trailed off a little under Olivia’s cool gaze, and she launched into the story – how she was minding her own business on the beach, and Kieran and Mia were there, and then Ash arrived – flapping the floral-patterned hat about as she spoke. The incident sounded faintly odd in the re-telling.

‘Ah,’ was all Olivia said when Bronte ran out of steam.

Bronte barely drew breath before turning to Kieran. ‘So Verity’s your mum, is she? She’s so nice. She was clearing out her shed a few weeks ago and she gave me some wire for these little sculptures I’ve been messing around with. I ended up giving her a hand and she let me take a few useful bits and pieces.’

‘Are you an artist?’ Kieran said.

‘Yes. Well –’ Bronte paused as Olivia, who was leaning against Ash’s chair, shifted. ‘Art student. I’m at uni in Canberra.’

‘Cool. What kind of art?’

‘All kinds, I haven’t decided what to focus on yet. But I want to do a big coastal series this term, so I thought this seemed a good place to, you know –’ She made a sweeping gesture. ‘– get inspired.’

Even Kieran caught a flicker in Olivia’s neutral expression that time. Bronte blinked, suddenly self-conscious. She was saved by a call from the kitchen hatch and, not bothering to hide her relief, hurried away.

Olivia glanced sharply at Ash, responding to something Kieran hadn’t caught. ‘What?’ she said.

Ash looked up. ‘Nothing.’

‘I didn’t say a thing to her.’

‘I didn’t say you did, Liv.’

When Olivia didn’t respond, Ash reached out and pulled her closer.

‘Come on. Does she really matter?’ Ash grinned at her until finally she smiled back. ‘Don’t let yourself get wound up.’

‘No. I know.’ Olivia shrugged, a little embarrassed now as she turned to Kieran and Mia. ‘But she is only a student. Same as me. Or if she doesn’t like that, she can say she’s a waitress, same as me. But she’s no more an artist than I am an urban planner. Which I’m not anymore, obviously. I just think it’s disingenuous to go around saying something that’s not the case.’

Mia nodded sympathetically. She put a couple of baby hats on the table and pushed the box aside. ‘There’s nothing at all around here that’s more in your field, Liv?’

‘Not really. I mean, at the firm in Melbourne my specialism was zoning issues for buildings over twelve storeys – for which the demand around here is clearly zero –’

She was right about that, Kieran thought. The tallest building in Evelyn Bay was the former Captain’s Quarters in the old colonial part of town. The heritage-listed sandstone building, now a bed and breakfast, had an upstairs.

‘– but I knew it would be like this,’ Olivia was saying. ‘When I realised I was going to have to move back, I applied to do a Master’s online, so at least that’s something. Try to keep my hand in the industry. For whatever it’s worth.’

She didn’t sound optimistic.

‘How is your mum these days?’ Mia asked.

Olivia shrugged. ‘She’s fine. She’s okay. Happy I’m back. She’d prefer me to be living at home with her, but there’s no way. I’d go crazy in five minutes. Although –’ They could see Bronte now wiping down the outside tables, her hair blowing across her face in the wind. Olivia smiled, attempting to lighten the mood. ‘Frying pan, fire.’

Mia laughed. ‘Is she really that bad?’

‘No, to be fair, she’s not. She’s just –’ Olivia watched as the two young guys shivering in their t-shirts attempted small talk. Bronte smiled and shrugged and continued wiping. ‘– young. I mean, she literally didn’t even know that you have to book hard waste collections. She was dumping all this art stuff next to the wheelie bins and honestly expecting it to disappear. It’s as if –’

She stopped as Ash rested his hand on her waist.

‘She’ll be gone soon,’ he said. ‘How long to go? Three weeks?’