“Fuck,” Davis moaned. “Who suggested we play you two bastards?”
Kyle rubbed his thumb over his fingers with a grin. “Pay up, losers.”
They both slid notes across the table. “Let’s play again. Double or nothing.”
Davis growled at Nathan. “Are you stupid?”
“That’s likely,” he replied with a laugh.
Ryan nodded. The pool and the alcohol were busy making everything numb, and he needed that right now. “We’ll give you a head start by letting you break,” Ryan told them. “You’ll need it.”
Kyle and Ryan returned to their tall bar table by the wall as Nathan and Davis set up the next round of play.
“Four years is a long time, but like I said before, nothing worthwhile is ever easy.”
“Nothing’s ever been easy for Fin and I,” he replied, his chest burning at the admission. “I guess some things aren’t meant to be. I mean, how the fuck long is this war going to drag on for? It could be years before the Government decides to pull our troops out. That would mean what—I’d see Fin a total of eight weeks over the next four years with her living in Sydney?” He ground his jaw as he tried not to think about it. “I won’t have her putting her life on hold because I can’t be there with her and …”
Kyle downed the last of his beer and set the empty bottle on the table. “And what?”
“And I can’t ask her to stay.”
“No you can’t,” Kyle agreed, “but—”
“You’re up, Brooks,” Davis called out after breaking and dropping two balls.
Glaring at the interruption, Kyle picked up the pool cue and twisted it in his hands. “Does she want to stay?”
Ryan nodded once, the movement abrupt.
“Well then.”
“She has to go.”
Disbelief made Kyle’s eyes wide. “You can’t make the decision for her.”
“I can.” Ryan folded his arms. “This is everything she’s ever worked for. If you think I’m going to let her throw that away on me, then you’ve got more than one screw loose.”
“No talk of screwing while I’m stuck in this bar with you and those two meatheads,” he said, waving a hand over at Nathan and Davis. He took a step towards the pool table and looked at Ryan over his shoulder. “So what now?”
“Now I’m back on base for the next two weeks and after that…” Ryan swallowed down the ache in his throat “…she’ll be gone.”
Fin woke to sunlight streaming through her room and an empty bed. She jolted upright as the events of last night flooded through her. Turning on her side, she grabbed for her phone off the bedside table. She dialled Ryan’s number but when it went straight to message, anxiety clouded every other emotion. He was avoiding her?
She sank into bed, rubbing gently at the tender bump on the back of her head. The fall had scared her. Fin had no clue how long she’d been out for, but when she came to, Ryan hadn’t returned. Feeling like her head was splitting open, she barely managed to tidy up the broken glass and drag herself to bed.
Picking up her phone again, she flicked through her contacts and dialled.
“Dr. Jensen’s office, Trudy speaking.”
“Trudy, it’s Fin.”
“Fin, honey!” Fin could hear the wide smile in Trudy’s voice. She’d worked reception for Fin’s family doctor for as long as she could remember. “How you doin’, girl?”
“Oh, you know.” Fin waved her hand airily before she slumped into the soft covers.
“No, I don’t know, honey, so tell me.”
“Just busy working.”
“How’s that hot man of yours?”
“You know about Ryan?”
“Of course I do. I ran into Julie down at the supermarket last week and she may have mentioned something in passing.”
Fin shook her head, knowing that Trudy would have drilled her mother for every last detail and her mother would have happily complied. “Well, anyway, I need to make an appointment.”
“Sure thing.” Fin heard tapping at the computer before Trudy spoke again. “She’s not free for another three days. How does Thursday morning suit?”
Fin sighed, rubbing at her brow. She’d have to shuffle things around at work and she had a report due. “That’s fine.”
Trudy rattled off the exact date and time, and after committing it to memory, Fin hung up the phone and tossed it carelessly across the bed.
She lifted up onto her elbow and peeked out the blinds of the front window. His car was still gone. Did Ryan go back to base?
Sitting up, a wave of nausea rocked her and she leaned over, moaning. Shit. She grabbed at her phone again with a sigh and rang in at work to let them know she wouldn’t be in. Now what? Was she supposed to sit idly around in bed and wait for Ryan to call? Thumbing through her contacts, she dialled again.
“Fin,” came the breathless reply.
“What are you doing?” she asked Rachael.
“Fuck, shit, dammit,” Rachael replied, exasperation making her voice sharp.
“What?”
“I’ve just ripped a hole in my spare pair of stockings, and when I ironed my skirt this morning, it left a long brown stain down the back. I think I need a new iron. And a new skirt,” she added.