Finally, Lance’s hands slipped from Angie’s hips and she gulped a steadying breath. She did her best to look composed but she just knew her cheeks were flaming.
‘Not me, Mrs Brown,’ he said, looking away from Angie’s face at long last.
‘Didn’t think so. You seem a mighty fine boy—even if you are from a filthy rich family.’
‘Mum!’ Bud groaned.
‘Well, we all know money can spoil children,’ his mother stated quite ingenuously. ‘But I can see Lance here has grown up to be a credit to his mum and dad. Where is it that your parents have gone to, Lance?’
‘Europe, I think, Mrs Brown.’
Nora was taken aback. ‘Don’t you know?’
Lance’s shrug was nonchalant. ‘They don’t like to be tied down to a schedule. They just go with the flow.’
‘It seems a strange time to go away, just before Christmas,’ Nora muttered, frowning.
Angie had to agree with her. Christmas was for families.
‘Not to worry,’ her mother went on, linking arms with Lance and smiling broadly up at him. ‘You’re spending Christmas with us. We’ll look after you, won’t we, Angie?’
Vanessa gave a dry chortle. ‘I’ll bet your mother wouldn’t have made such an offer if she’d known how her guest wanted the daughter of the house to look after him. So what happened? How long before he made a pass? And how did you possibly resist him? He sounds gorgeous.’
Angie sighed, then slowed for a set of lights, stopping a little raggedly. ‘He didn’t make a pass. Not once. And he stayed with us most of the summer, right till the end of January.’
‘I don’t believe it! He was obviously attracted to you.’
‘Yes, I thought so too. And I was besotted with him. Followed him around like a puppy. Made every excuse to be wherever he was.’
‘Didn’t your brother mind that—his kid sister tagging along all the time?’
‘No. Our family has always done things together. Bud and Dad spent a lot of time that summer showing Lance how to do country-style things. They taught him how to ride, how to plough, how to shoot. By the end of his stay he could drill a beer can at one hundred yards. It was only natural for me to help. And who else would be stupid enough to stand around putting empty beer cans on fenceposts for hours?’
The lights turned green and Angie eased ahead in the heavy city-going traffic.
‘Did your family know you were ga-ga over him?’ Vanessa asked.
‘I don’t think so. As I said before, I’ve always been a private person. I didn’t wear my heart on my sleeve then any more than I do now. Certainly Dad and Bud never guessed. I think maybe Mum might have suspected something, though oddly enough she didn’t say anything at the time—which wasn’t like her at all. Maybe she was smart enough to see the passing nature of the situation and knew that any comment would have made my eventual agony worse.’
‘But Lance knew, didn’t he?’
‘Oh, yes…Lance knew…’
‘And how did he feel about you?’
Angle shrugged. ‘Who knows? I thought he cared for me. He certainly liked me, and I think you’re right in that he was attracted to me, but only in a superficial sense. I was only fifteen, after all. Of course I used to lie in bed every night fantasising that he was as secretly crazy about me as I was about him. I used to write the most sentimental poetry about him—reams of it. I also used to read something deep and meaningful into even the smallest attention he gave me. Every glance my way was a searing, passion-filled gaze in my adolescent mind. Every conversation we shared had hidden love messages behind it.’
Angie gave a soft, sad laugh. ‘The family had a habit of sitting out on the front veranda every night, looking up at the stars and talking. On a few occasions the others went off to bed, leaving Lance and me alone. You’ve no idea how that set my teenage heart a-beating. Only a fifteen-year-old fool would wind romantic dreams around idle chit-chat.’
‘What did you talk about?’
‘Nothing important. Just general stuff. Movies. Music. Books. Poetry. Looking back, I think Lance was only humouring me by claiming to find my tastes and opinions incredibly sensible and mature.’
‘Maybe not, Angie,’ her flatmate argued. ‘You’re a deep thinker, and maybe too sensible for your own good, I’m beginning to think. Far too sensitive, too. I can just picture you at fifteen. Very beautiful but very intense. Perhaps he didn’t make a pass at you because that very intensity frightened him off.’
‘Did I say he didn’t make a pass at me? Yes, of course I did. Perfectly true, in fact. He didn’t. He didn’t have to. It was stupid me who made the pass. Eventually.’
Vanessa’s head whipped round to stare over at her. ‘You did? Good Lord! When? Where?’
‘It was the night before he went back to Sydney. Out on the front veranda.’
‘What on earth did you do? Do tell.’
GO TO bed, Angie willed desperately. Please go to bed. He’s going home tomorrow. Don’t you understand? I need to be alone with him!
Angie got the shock of her life when her mother immediately rose and announced her intention to retire for the night. When her father quickly followed, then Bud five minutes later, Angie thanked the Lord for His mercy. She swiftly moved from where she’d been perched up on the veranda railing to sit down next to Lance on the steps, her heart thudding at her boldness.
Lance was dressed in shorts and a singlet top, Angie in similar garb. The day had been hot and the night air was only just beginning to cool. Not that Angie felt cold. Sitting this close to Lance was a highly warming experience.
She stared down at her long brown legs, then over at his, tanned to a golden bronze by the long summer days. Her left thigh was barely an inch from his. If she moved it slightly, their skin would touch. She kept perfectly still, knowing her boldness did not extend that far.
‘You don’t get night skies like this down in Sydney,’ he mused, sighing and leaning back a little, the movement making his thigh brush against hers.
Angle jerked her feet up on to a higher step, her knees pressed together to stop them from trembling. So much for her boldness! ‘I…I wouldn’t know,’ she said shakily.
‘Your mum tells me you’re going to come to Sydney to university when you finish school,’ he said.
‘I hope to. If Dad can afford it. Let’s hope we don’t have a drought or a flood during the next three years.’
Lance frowned, as though it would never have occurred to him that one’s fortunes could depend on the weather. ‘If that happens, I’ll pay for you myself.’
‘Oh, I couldn’t let you do that!’ she exclaimed, despite being thrilled that he had offered. ‘The Browns always pay for themselves.’
Lance sighed. ‘So I’ve gathered from Bud. Damn it all, Angie, you must come to Sydney.’
‘Must I?’ she croaked. Her eyes locked with his and her heart filled to overflowing. He feels the same as me, she thought dazedly. He just thinks I’m too young for him to say anything. This is his way of saying he’ll wait for me.
‘Not that I’m sure I’d like you going to Sydney