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Their house had been near the school where her father had taught. The school that Ish would soon attend. Driving home the other day, she’d wandered through their old area and was gutted to discover the house had been demolished to make way for a new estate. The blocks of land were spacious but the homes were low-set, brick and modern. Even Bellethorpe couldn’t avoid development it seemed. It made her think of her parents. Tugging out her mobile phone she rang, listened to the dial tone until her mother picked up.
‘Hey, Mum, it’s me.’
Her parents had been delighted at her return to Australia and then disappointed she hadn’t settled in Tasmania. It had been a difficult conversation as she’d revealed little and they’d struggled to understand the reason for her return, alone. They knew she was safe in Queensland; knew she had something to hide. Eventually they stopped asking. Above all else her parents couldn’t know where she lived. Anyone trying to find her would go to them first.
Placed on speaker phone, Ava chatted with both her parents. They caught her up on local news, and about Charlie and his wife Lizzie and children who lived nearby. She clutched her belly, giving herself a hug. Ish had cousins he’d never met. She made a promise: he’d meet them one day soon. When things were different, when life was settled.
Looking around the room, she noted the work required and rang off providing assurances to be back in touch soon.
The bare room was a blank canvas. It had the original wardrobe built into the wall, so that was one less thing to worry about. Unless … she opened the doors and it seemed in order. The room only needed a lick of paint and furniture.
The grate of the sandpaper along the timber boards was strangely gratifying. It was like her work: methodical and satisfying as you worked toward a goal. Ava was on her third wall and many pieces of sandpaper later when she tried to prise the window open. It was stuck fast. On top of the timber, double hung window was a narrow ledge. The sleeve of her long work shirt jagged on something, and objects cascaded to the ground landing with multiple clacks against the Tasmanian oak flooring.
Jumping down from the stepladder, Ava wiped her dusty hands down the back of her jeans. Kneeling low, she scooped the items in close to her. There were ten or so, all tiny in size and width and appeared to be small rocks.
She rubbed her fingers over the various pieces, removing layers of dust. Some sides were smooth and others, rough and open and ragged. Sitting with an inelegant plop onto her bottom, she gathered some spit between her thumb and pointer finger and wiped one edge to reveal a kaleidoscope of dazzling colour. Quickly she wiped the others to reveal similar hidden patterns.
A tingle of excitement grew in the pit of her tummy.
She was not an expert on rocks, even though they touched on geology in her studies, but she was pretty sure these were opals. That alone was special. Holding one close, she went cross-eyed. She was pretty sure there was more to this than a pretty gem.
Was it possible…?
Noah knocked and entered. ‘You okay?’
‘Um, yeah, sure.’ She took another look at the pile of rocks and gathered them together in the palm of one hand. Pulling a tissue out of her jean pocket, she wrapped them carefully and placed them into her back pocket for safe keeping.
‘I’ve nearly finished giving the walls a light sand and then I’ll wash them down. I got distracted by a few trinkets I found.’
Hopping up, she wiped her hands again.
‘I’m impressed. Doing your painting prep properly. You’ll use sugar soap, to wash it down? I have plenty in the truck.’
‘Yep, definitely, but I have some, thank you.’
His gaze searched the room. ‘What about primer?’
‘No, I don’t have undercoat or paint yet. What would you recommend?’
Ava took notes on her phone. She was still typing away when she noticed he’d finished speaking. Looking up, his light eyes had turned dark and broody.
Her body flooded with warmth. ‘Um, how are the stumps?’
Noah seemed to return to the present. ‘Yeah, good, two down. I had a look at the front stairs and they’ll need replacing. I’ll rip them out today, just letting you know.’
‘Okay, thanks.’
He started to move away. ‘Oh, Noah.’ He paused, turned back. ‘Could you help me get this window open?’ She gestured towards it.
‘Sure.’ He pushed and pulled to no avail, then took out a tool to jemmy it. Eventually it loosened and opened.
‘Sorry, a bit of damage there.’ He picked up the card of sandpaper and smoothed over the diverts he’d made. ‘Good as new. You might want putty in there to make it even.’
They discussed gap filling in between the veejay boards. Ava wrote this down too.
‘I can help if you’d like. It’s a lot of work,’ he said.
‘That’s really kind but you have your hands full outside. I’ll take care of painting. I don’t mind hard work.’
