Different family. Caroline Carmichael had got it right the
second time round. A gentle, supportive husband and a loving, well-balanced
child.
Max thought their mother was wonderful.
And then the bitter blackness spewed forth, and, for the second
time that day, Logan let it engulf him.
‘She likes to remind me of him whenever she thinks I’ve gone
too far.’ He sought Evangeline’s gaze. Evangeline in the midnight-blue gown that
accentuated her flawless skin and slender curves. The same skin he’d put mouth
to not so long ago. The same curves he wanted to caress again with an intensity
that bordered on obsession. ‘Have I gone too far, Evangeline?’
‘No,’ she said slowly as her fist clenched around the ring.
‘It’s not you who’s gone too far.’
And before Logan had any notion of what she was about to do,
Evie twirled and flung his mother’s ring into the shadowy garden, into the
shrubbery far, far away.
The pregnant silence that followed threatened to engulf them
all.
‘Good arm,’ said Max finally.
‘It was given to me,’ she said raggedly. ‘And I’ve done what I
wanted with it. No one needs that kind of reminder in their life. No one .’
He couldn’t cope. Logan stared at her, his every defence
shattered, and something passed between them, something dark and sticky and
breathtakingly savage. He didn’t cope well with emotion; his mother was right.
Sometimes his feelings just got too big for him to hold.
‘Excuse me,’ he muttered, before he did something unforgivable
like drag her from the room, lock her in his arms and never let her go. ‘Excuse
me, I have to go.’
* * *
Evie watched him leave, her heart so full of
lead she was surprised she was still standing up. ‘I did the wrong thing,’ she
whispered to Max. ‘Said the wrong thing.’
‘No,’ said Max and his arms came around her comfortingly,
urging her to turn and focus her stricken gaze on something other than the door
Logan had just exited through. ‘You did exactly the right thing. He’s feeling
too vulnerable, that’s all. He never stays when he gets that way.’
Evie didn’t want to stay either. Not that she wanted to run
after Logan, because she didn’t. Assuming she even caught up with him, what
would she say? How was she supposed to heal hurts inflicted so long ago? If they
hadn’t healed by now, chances were they never would.
‘Max, may we leave early too?’ she asked shakily. ‘I’ve had
enough. I really have.’ Of the assault on her senses and on her mind. Of the
impossible situations that just kept coming, and of the helplessness she felt in
the face of this family’s hidden pain. ‘I want to go upstairs and pack, then
call a taxi.’
‘Where do you want to go?’ Max’s usually laughing brown eyes
were dark with concern.
‘Back to Sydney,’ she said. ‘Away from here. I want to go
home.’
FIVE
Walking away from Logan that Saturday night at the
cocktail party wasn’t the hardest thing Evie had ever done. Staying sane the
following week was the hardest thing she’d ever done. Sane when Max looked at
her sideways and kept his mouth firmly shut. Sane as she worked on project
proposals and tried not to wonder what Logan was doing and what he was thinking,
and whether she’d ever see him again.
How she could have handled things better.
What she might have done to make Logan stay.
‘What?’ she demanded in
exasperation as Max walked into her office unannounced for about the tenth time
that morning.
‘Touchy,’ he said.
‘Bite me.’
‘Not my buzz,’ said Max, and placed a sheet of paper on top of
the drawings in front of her. ‘You’d be wanting my brother for that.’
He wasn’t wrong. ‘I’m working,’ she said and picked up the
sheet and held it out for Max to take back. ‘Whatever it is, you deal with
it.’
‘Read it,’ he insisted, so Evie turned it back around with a
sigh.
A bank deposit notice, but not a bank she regularly dealt with.
Max’s personal
second time round. A gentle, supportive husband and a loving, well-balanced
child.
Max thought their mother was wonderful.
And then the bitter blackness spewed forth, and, for the second
time that day, Logan let it engulf him.
‘She likes to remind me of him whenever she thinks I’ve gone
too far.’ He sought Evangeline’s gaze. Evangeline in the midnight-blue gown that
accentuated her flawless skin and slender curves. The same skin he’d put mouth
to not so long ago. The same curves he wanted to caress again with an intensity
that bordered on obsession. ‘Have I gone too far, Evangeline?’
‘No,’ she said slowly as her fist clenched around the ring.
‘It’s not you who’s gone too far.’
And before Logan had any notion of what she was about to do,
Evie twirled and flung his mother’s ring into the shadowy garden, into the
shrubbery far, far away.
The pregnant silence that followed threatened to engulf them
all.
‘Good arm,’ said Max finally.
‘It was given to me,’ she said raggedly. ‘And I’ve done what I
wanted with it. No one needs that kind of reminder in their life. No one .’
He couldn’t cope. Logan stared at her, his every defence
shattered, and something passed between them, something dark and sticky and
breathtakingly savage. He didn’t cope well with emotion; his mother was right.
Sometimes his feelings just got too big for him to hold.
‘Excuse me,’ he muttered, before he did something unforgivable
like drag her from the room, lock her in his arms and never let her go. ‘Excuse
me, I have to go.’
* * *
Evie watched him leave, her heart so full of
lead she was surprised she was still standing up. ‘I did the wrong thing,’ she
whispered to Max. ‘Said the wrong thing.’
‘No,’ said Max and his arms came around her comfortingly,
urging her to turn and focus her stricken gaze on something other than the door
Logan had just exited through. ‘You did exactly the right thing. He’s feeling
too vulnerable, that’s all. He never stays when he gets that way.’
Evie didn’t want to stay either. Not that she wanted to run
after Logan, because she didn’t. Assuming she even caught up with him, what
would she say? How was she supposed to heal hurts inflicted so long ago? If they
hadn’t healed by now, chances were they never would.
‘Max, may we leave early too?’ she asked shakily. ‘I’ve had
enough. I really have.’ Of the assault on her senses and on her mind. Of the
impossible situations that just kept coming, and of the helplessness she felt in
the face of this family’s hidden pain. ‘I want to go upstairs and pack, then
call a taxi.’
‘Where do you want to go?’ Max’s usually laughing brown eyes
were dark with concern.
‘Back to Sydney,’ she said. ‘Away from here. I want to go
home.’
FIVE
Walking away from Logan that Saturday night at the
cocktail party wasn’t the hardest thing Evie had ever done. Staying sane the
following week was the hardest thing she’d ever done. Sane when Max looked at
her sideways and kept his mouth firmly shut. Sane as she worked on project
proposals and tried not to wonder what Logan was doing and what he was thinking,
and whether she’d ever see him again.
How she could have handled things better.
What she might have done to make Logan stay.
‘What?’ she demanded in
exasperation as Max walked into her office unannounced for about the tenth time
that morning.
‘Touchy,’ he said.
‘Bite me.’
‘Not my buzz,’ said Max, and placed a sheet of paper on top of
the drawings in front of her. ‘You’d be wanting my brother for that.’
He wasn’t wrong. ‘I’m working,’ she said and picked up the
sheet and held it out for Max to take back. ‘Whatever it is, you deal with
it.’
‘Read it,’ he insisted, so Evie turned it back around with a
sigh.
A bank deposit notice, but not a bank she regularly dealt with.
Max’s personal
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