House of Sticks by Peggy Frew

this morning. Went out to see me mate Phil at Flemington.’ He rubbed his hands together and stuck them in his armpits. ‘Phew. Cold as a witch’s tit out there.’
    Bonnie cringed at the saying. Was he trying to get a rise out of her? She couldn’t tell. She watched him bouncing up and down on his toes and grinning at the children. Just ignore it . Whatever he’s doing, look, he’s brought us a gift. He’s trying to be nice. ‘Thanks, Doug.’ She picked up the bag. ‘They’re still hot.’
    â€˜From the Vietnamese bakery on Union Road.’ Doug winked. ‘Best croissants in the inner north-west.’
    â€˜I’ll make some coffee,’ said Pete.
    She got out plates and knives and jam and put them on the table.
    â€˜I got to see lots of great big beautiful horses this morning,’ Doug was saying to Louie and Edie.
    â€˜Did you ride on them?’ said Edie, tearing the end off a croissant and stuffing it in her mouth.
    â€˜No, no. Normal people like me aren’t allowed. But I got to pat one.’
    Bonnie sat down next to Edie. She watched Doug’s rough hands breaking apart the pastry, the way he wolfed down the bites with jerks of his head. She willed herself to look him in the eye. ‘So is your friend a trainer then, Doug?’
    â€˜No, no — stablehand.’
    â€˜Did he give you any tips?’ said Pete from over by the stove.
    â€˜Not today, no.’
    â€˜Been years since I had a bet,’ said Pete. ‘Hey, remember, Douggie?’ He brought the coffee pot over. ‘At McKean Street? We had all the money for the phone bill and we put it on that trifecta?’
    Doug flung his head back and let out a wheezing laugh. ‘And we cleaned up — made enough to pay all the bills plus that month’s rent.’ He wiped his fingers on his pants. ‘We bought a bottle of champagne on the way back from the TAB.’
    â€˜And then we got stupid and put it all on another trifecta and lost it all.’ Pete shook his head. ‘God, we were idiots.’
    â€˜We were young,’ said Doug. ‘We thought we were gods.’ He tossed the last bit of his croissant into his mouth and chewed. ‘We were gods.’
    Bonnie half filled her cup with coffee. ‘I can’t believe you put it all on another bet,’ she said to Pete. ‘Shouldn’t you have at least hung on to half of it?’
    â€˜Like Douggie said — we were young,’ said Pete with a shrug. He swung a look at her, and his eyes were bright and for a moment she saw him, the younger him, from before her time, unencumbered, full of swagger.
    â€˜We were gods!’ Doug raised his mug and grinned round at them all.
    â€˜But still,’ she said. ‘You’d think …’ But then she stopped. ‘Oh, never mind. I can’t believe I’m even bothering to reason with two people who’d think it was a good idea to put all their bill money on a horse.’
    â€˜Three horses,’ said Pete.
    â€˜Well, even worse.’ She shot him a smile, drained her coffee and stood up. ‘Thanks for the croissants, Doug. They were delicious.’
    â€˜Pleasure, Missus Bonnie.’
    â€˜Come on, you kids.’ She smoothed back Louie’s hair. ‘Kinder today.’ Outside the yard was lit with thin winter sun. She could feel the caffeine, her heart picking up. Maybe after she’d dropped the twins she’d give herself a treat — go and look in some shops.
    As she hustled Louie and Edie down the hallway she could hear Pete and Doug still talking in the kitchen. ‘What came second?’ Pete was saying. ‘It was Special that won, wasn’t it?’
    â€˜Special first, Snippets second, then Redelva third,’ came Doug’s voice. ‘And remember Deano didn’t want to put Snippets in, ’cause he thought it was a weak name — he wanted to have