Bounce Down: 1st Quarter: Start of Play Page 8

  Now I knew why I interrupted so much. We all loved mum, but once she got started on a subject, well interrupting was the only course open to us if we wanted to join the conversation.

  As I glanced over at him, I knew we had a special father-daughter relationship and I used to think he was the one man I needed in my life. Then boys came on the scene and I wanted them to be like my dad, my role model. Having said that, Brendon was nothing like him and dad would be horrified if he knew what he was really like.

  My parents and my brother were all big fans of the Swan River Football Club, or Crocs as they were affectionately known; crocs being short for crocodiles, even though Perth’s Swan River was not home to any real crocs.

  When I dropped the Brendon MacIver bombshell they were initially dumbfounded, but then delighted. The dreaded impossible-to-answer questions soon followed. I fielded them quite well until, “When are we going to meet him?”

  Although I had anticipated this one, I still had to be careful how I worded my response. “It’s a bit too soon to meet the parents and I don’t want to push him. We’re not at the boyfriend/girlfriend stage yet and we’re just taking things slowly.”

  Slowly couldn’t be any further from the truth. We were approaching our relationship like an out of control freight train; full speed ahead with no sign of stopping.

  “You need to keep knowledge of our relationship to yourselves, with the exception of Aiden of course, until we were ready for everyone to know. It’s important for secrecy at this stage because of Brendon’s public profile.”

  Later in bed, I realised I had forgotten to delete Brendon’s email and my reply from the computer. Working for the Police Department had made me paranoid, with good reason. I made a mental note to delete them first thing the next day.

  It was mid-morning when Peter came up behind me. “Come upstairs for a cuppa.” He was spinning my office chair around to face him as he spoke.

  “Um, I have to finish something first.” He had a determined look on his face, which bothered me.

  “No, you don’t! I’ve cleared it with Steve. Let’s go!” He grabbed my hand, pulling me to my feet.

  I bent to pick up my handbag. “Pete, what’s wrong?” Now he really had me worried. I had never seen him like this before.

  Without answering, he led me through the door to the elevators. Even in the lift on the way up to the top floor he remained silent, facing forward.

  Soon we were seated at the last table, being the most secluded. “What’s all this about?”

  He leaned across and held my hands in his. “You know I want you to be happy and don’t want to see you get hurt?”

  Great, he couldn’t leave it alone.

  “Look, I know you mean well but....”

  He continued as though I hadn’t spoken. “I’ve been trying to figure out why, this time, you haven’t confided in me and now I know.”

  “Excuse me?” What did he know?

  He avoided looking me directly in the eye. “I feel guilty checking up on you behind your back....”

  Outraged, I pulled my hands free. “What have you done?”

  As he did not immediately answer, I prompted, “Well?”

  He had the grace to look embarrassed. “Rick saw you had an email from Brendon.”

  Okay, so he wouldn’t have seen much as I hid the email immediately. Plus I had deleted both emails this morning so.... Holy crap!

  He confirmed my worst fears. “After you left yesterday, I asked the techies in BCI (Bureau of Criminal Intelligence) if they could get into your emails.”

  I shook my head, not quite believing he had done this.

  He pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket. “I know these are private emails between you and Brendon....”

  “You’re damn right they’re private.”

  He held up one hand in surrender. “I’m sorry for what I did, but now I have seen these messages, I’m worried about where this is leading.”

  He showed me the printout of Brendon’s email and my reply. There was no need to read them. I had committed every word to memory.

  I rested my elbows on the table and closing my eyes, put my head in my hands. But his next words had me sitting bolt upright, with my mouth gaping open in surprise.

  “A threesome? You know this won’t end well.” I saw he was shaking his head.

  I burst out laughing, even though what he had done was no laughing matter. It served him right for incorrectly interpreting my private messages.

  “Suzie, this is serious. If word of this gets out your name will be mud and I care about you too much to let that happen.”

  I grinned at his unlikely assumption and gave him back the printout. “Try substituting the letters c o c k for best friend.”

  As the penny dropped he glanced up, an apologetic look on his face. “Suze, I’m really sorry.”

  Serious now, I looked him in the eye, as I contemplated what I should tell him. “You need to back off, okay?”

  He nodded in agreement. “Of course, but I still don’t understand why you’re shutting me out.”

  Frustrated, I again put my head in my hands for a moment, before looking up to face him. “There’s a reason I haven’t told you. The information I’m withholding needs to be kept private. This means you can’t tell anyone else, especially other cops and, at the moment, I don’t know if I can trust you.”

  “What? How can you even doubt me?”

  I glanced down at the misconstrued printout. “Oh, right; well all I can say is, if you don’t fill me in, I’m going to have to find out my own way.”

  God help me if I was wrong to do this. I reached into my bag for my mobile phone. After opening the photo album, I selected Brendon’s picture. I had taken the close-up photo showing the upper half of his body while he was sitting at the breakfast bar, wearing his grey hoody and giving me one of his sexy smiles.

  He was initially against me taking his picture, stating there were heaps available on the internet, but I said I wanted something personal.

  I passed him the phone. “This is Brendon.”

  “What’s his surname, this guy looks familiar?”

  “MacIver.” Let him process that one. I knew he liked his sports, but he wasn’t really into AFL.

  “Brendon MacIver, where do I know that name from?”

  I was not about to make it easy for him. “His name and his association with me is the information you have to keep to yourself.”

  I grabbed my phone back and stood up. “I have work to do.”

  He got to his feet and followed me to the elevators. I could see his mind still trying to work it out.

  “So you’re not going to tell me who he is?”

  I smiled at this. “I already have.”

  I warned Peter about the need for secrecy once we were alone in the lift. “I don’t want you asking me about this in the office where we may be overheard and definitely no emails, okay?”

  “Okay, but who...?” The doors opened before he could finish his sentence.

  “You’re a detective, I’m sure you’ll be able to figure it out.”

  Instead of going back to the office I headed in the opposite direction, towards the female toilets where he couldn’t follow me.

  The next time I saw him, he was heading out the door with his team and gave me a knowing look as he passed. So far so good; my family and now Peter.

  I checked the time, as I was having lunch with Mandy, off site, to also tell her. I dismissed going to the lunch bar next to the rear entrance of our building; too many cops for my liking. Instead we went to a coffee shop near the Art Gallery.

  “So, what’s this news I know you’ve been dying to tell me, and why didn’t you answer my email?”

  Earlier she had wanted me to email her an update on Brendon, but I called her instead and arranged to meet for lunch.

  “Before I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone, even police officers. Do I have your word?”

  “Of course. I
’m so sorry about telling Peter, it’s because I don’t know anything about this guy. I was worried about you. You can trust me, I promise.”

  I studied her face and saw that innocent look. I knew her look of innocence stemmed from her looking younger than her age. She had the appearance of an 18 year old, instead of her actual age of 23. Combined with her height at five foot and her honey blonde hair, always worn in a ponytail, she used her youthful looks to her advantage.

  I accepted her sincerity. “You don’t have to worry about Pete anymore, because I told him about Brendon and have also secured his silence.”

  She nodded eagerly. “Great, so let’s have it.”

  I smiled at her excited expression as I showed her the phone picture of my mystery man. Mandy, like my family, was a fan of the Crocs. I watched the astonished look she gave the picture.

  “This... this is the Brendon you’ve been seeing? Oh my god, why didn’t you tell me? This is unbelievable!”

  Her voice had risen, making me especially glad I had not chosen the lunch bar.

  “The reason is because he wants to keep us a secret, for the time being.” My response was in a quieter tone than she had used.

  As I did with my folks, I gave the impression things would progress to our relationship becoming public. I knew this was unlikely, but at least I was part of his life; which was enough, wasn’t it?

  Chapter 9

  “I’m back!”

  With everything that had been happening, I had completely forgotten my best friend Jeanette was returning on Tuesday.

  “Hey, it’s good to hear your voice. When did you get in?”

  “A couple of hours ago.”

  “So, how was it?”

  “We’ve gotta catch up so I can you all about it. What about one of our cheese and wine sessions?”

  “Sounds good, how about tomorrow night?”

  I noticed there was a slight pause. She was probably consulting her diary. Even though we were the same age, she had a much more active social life. I tried to keep up with her, but with her working part time and me having a full time job with overtime, it was difficult.

  “How about Saturday, say around one?”

  Now it was my turn to pause. Brendon going to call on Thursday and, no doubt, we would be seeing each other Friday night and into Saturday.

  In the two weeks I had known him, we had not spent an entire weekend together. I had gone home by Saturday night on both occasions. Still, who knew what this weekend may bring? I could hardly arrange to meet her either Saturday or Sunday, in case we did a full weekend. It dawned on me how much our arrangement would impact on my relationship with my friends.

  “Um, I may be busy on the weekend.”

  “What, the whole weekend?” I could hear the surprise in her voice.

  “Maybe.”

  I pictured her shaking her head in disbelief.

  “Okay, what gives?”

  “It looks like we both have news to tell. Are you sure we can’t meet tomorrow night?”

  “I’ll make time. You bring the cheese and biscuits and I’ll take care of the wine. How’s six sound?”

  “Like a plan.” It was going to be interesting telling her about him. Not only was she a fan of the SRFC, she was also a member and went to every home game. I occasionally went with her when they played against my favourite team, who were based in Victoria.

  On Wednesday evening, after greeting Jeanette, we talked for a short while over a wine. Unable to wait any longer I handed her my phone, opened to the photo gallery. After seeing Brendon’s picture she stared at me dumbfounded, before looking back at the screen.

  Letting her in on my secret relationship with one of her idols was obviously a big shock to her. He wasn’t her favourite player, the captain was, but I was certain she was still impressed. I smiled at her silence. Jeanette always liked to voice her opinion whether you wanted it or not.

  “This, this is Brendon MacIver from the Crocs.”

  I nodded twice, confirming his identity.

  “This is what you’ve been doing, correction he is what you’ve been doing while I’ve been stuck in Europe?”

  “An overseas holiday isn’t what I’d call stuck in Europe.” I laughed at her point of view.

  She shook head in disbelief. “And how did you meet this Adonis?”

  “You know very well he’s not Greek.”

  “But he is tall, dark and extremely well built, not to mention he plays with Trent. And you haven’t answered my question, how did you manage to hook up with a Crocs player?”

  Mandy and now, due to her loose lips, Peter, were the only two who knew about the blind date. It would be too hard to explain why an AFL football star would need to go on a blind date. Without revealing too much, I resolved to stick to the truth as far as possible. If I was going to lie, I would be more successful if I had some elements of truth to my story.

  “We met at a park in Fremantle, the Esplanade.”

  “At the Esplanade Hotel?”

  “Not the hotel, the actual park.”

  She didn’t buy my story for a second. “Why would you go to a park and furthermore, why would he?”

  “It was during the Fremantle Festival and I was at a loose end, because my best friend had abandoned me. Sorry, I can’t speak for Brendon, but I’m glad he was there.”

  Thursday flew by and so far, Peter had kept his distance and his silence. After work, as I arrived at the pit, I knew I had been premature in my assumption. I could hardly believe my eyes as I spotted him, leaning casually against my bonnet, waiting for me. The pit was basically a sandy vacant block situated some five minutes walking distance from work, where several other public servants and I left our cars, as it was about the only place we could park without having to pay.

  I opened my mouth to ask what the hell was going on, but he got in first. “Hey, before you go off your face at me, I’m here because of your restrictions.” He raised his hand to silence me. “What am I supposed to do? I can’t talk to you at work, I can’t email you and Jill would kill me if I saw you out of work.”

  The last part puzzled me. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this out of work? So why won’t your wife kill you now?”

  As I unlocked my car, he opened the passenger door. “Because you’re just giving me a lift home,” and slid into the passenger seat, shutting the door and leaving me standing there, amazed at his audacity.

  I buckled my seat belt and glanced across at him. “What’s on your mind to make you resort to these measures?”

  He put on his own belt, as he avoided my question. “Start driving, I’ll explain on the way.”

  I gave him a suspicious glare, before starting the car and heading out onto the streets of Northbridge.

  He was silent for a few minutes, which irritated me all the more. “Why did you want me to drive? Why couldn’t we have talked in the car park?”

  I caught a glimpse of a smile. “This way, you won’t be able to kick me out if you don’t like my questions.”

  I returned his smile despite myself. “Don’t bet on it. Well... hit me with the first one. You might as well get everything out now, while you have this small window of opportunity.”

  “I was wondering why this high profile footballer would go on a blind date with you? Who introduced you two?”

  I shouldn’t have been surprised he’d finally queried the whole blind date story. In hindsight, it was probably the first thing he’d questioned, but not had the opportunity to quiz me about it, until now.

  “Technically that’s two questions.”

  He turned to face my profile as I drove. “Damn it Suzie, just tell me the truth!”

  I stopped at a red light and took a deep breath, as I looked at him. “It’s complicated and as much as I’d like to tell you what you want to know, I can’t.”

  “Can’t or won’t?” The traffic lights changed to green and drove through the intersection.

  “Can’t.” I kept my eyes on the
road as I spoke, not daring to look at him.

  “Why wouldn’t you be able to tell me?” After a slight pause, he answered his own question. “Unless he’s preventing you from telling anyone?”

  I sighed with frustration. “Can’t you just leave it alone?”

  “No!”

  I echoed his words. “Can’t or won’t?”

  “Won’t. You know that if you confide in me, I will keep your secret. I have already; you don’t hear the guys talking about him, do you?”

  “Please don’t do this, Peter.”

  “You said I could ask questions, yet you never had any intention of answering them, did you?”

  “I won’t to lie to you. I value our friendship too much.”

  “So you can’t tell me the truth and you won’t lie to me?”

  I turned into his driveway. “Basically. I will see you tomorrow.”

  He shook his head in defeat, as he opened the door. “Thanks for the lift.”

  I rushed inside and checked the answering machine.

  “No, he hasn’t called,” advised my flatmate, as she descended the stairs.

  “Oh okay, thanks,” I mumbled, a little embarrassed at my eagerness.

  “You haven’t told me much about him. Keeping this one all to yourself, are you?”

  I laughed at her comment, before telling her about Brendon. She would probably not recognise his name or photograph, as she was interested in was rugby, both league and union, not Aussie Rules. Still, she seemed happy for me and asked when I would be bringing him home.

  Once again, I reeled off my spiel about keeping our relationship quiet for the time being and not to tell anyone about us.

  I showered early so I would not miss his call. He had said he would contact me Thursday. He hadn’t specify a time, but I presumed it would be 6.00 p m like last week. As six came and went, I shared a plate of chicken nachos with Diane, before she got ready for work.

  Around eight, I went up to my room to mope. I was not too concerned yet; after all, he didn’t say what time.

  At 9.30 she stuck her head in my room, before she left for her night shift duty. “I’m off now, don’t sweat it, he’ll call.”