"I can't." Christine pushed the hair blowing in the breeze behind her ear. Even short it had a habit of being in her face. "The whole office talked about what had happened to Randy, especially after the idiot lawyer served me court papers at the office and humiliated me."
"You told Charlie about the charges and court cases before the papers were served." Maddy lowered her arm. "Plus what happened after he left, right?"
"Yes." Christine studied the brick walkway under the bench where they sat. The water birds were calling, people were laughing and talking. The breeze contained the scent of sea water, smoke from the ferries, coffee and cooking food. She could almost feel the excitement of tourists gawking at the majestic Opera House and towering Harbor Bridge. It seemed a million miles away even though she sat in the midst of it all. "Can I take a chance on gossip flaring again once word gets out Charlie and I have some sort of thing going on?"
"No one has to be aware you two are intimate." Maddy blew out a breath. "It's not like you have a web cam strapped to your back."
"Word always gets out. I can't make Charlie the center of a storm of ugliness, especially when he's up for promotion soon."
"He had his own storm." Maddy twirled her cup around and around. "He must have weathered it just fine if he's up for promotion."
Christine shifted on the bench. "I can't lose him as my friend."
"You can't deny whatever this is between you two forever either." Maddy tapped her with a finger. "I saw it when he came for the funeral. Those looks he gave you, the way he touched you. There's something there. You owe it to both of you to find out what it is."
"He flirts with me sure, but he flirts with everyone." Christine raised her head. "We are friends. The romance part of my life is over." It'd been over for a long time, if it ever really had begun.
Maddy's platinum hair whipped around her head in frenzy as the wind blew. "Honey, your marriage died long before Randy did. The best thing for you and the kids was his death."
"Don't!" Christine yelled, drawing startled glances. She shook her head in apology as Maddy drew back. "I'm sorry. Please don't say it."
"You can't keep punishing yourself for his choice." Maddy appeared angry enough to slap her. "He was a selfish bastard to the end. He's gone, thank God. You aren't. You're a young and beautiful woman. You just don't recognize it. Charlie does. He's showing you. Take the bloody next step. Show the world you're alive."
"I am. Coming to Australia, fulfilling this dream, is the closest I've felt in a long time to being alive." Christine swallowed. "Thanks for having me."
"You've been through hell." Maddy tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "It's time you started to live again. Flirt back with Charlie. See where it can go."
Christine threw up a hand, palm up. "How? It's been years, and I do mean years, since I flirted or dated."
"So? He's incredibly sexy." Maddy gave a low wolf whistle. "You aren't so bad."
"Men don't look at me." Christine laughed. "Even sitting here, they all see you and not me."
Maddy pointed at a young man walking down the quay, soon to pass the bench where they sat. "See him? Give him five more years and he'll be an eight. Wink at him as he walks by and see what he does."
Christine rolled her eyes. Maddy's grading system whenever they people watched hadn't changed a bit from high school. She'd never found anyone she gave a ten. Maybe because she had Mark, her perfect ten. "Nah, he's still a five. I don't wink at anything less than a nine."
"You're too bloody hard to please." Maddy chose another. For the next few minutes they went back and forth comparing people and numbers or listening to the various accents and languages. "Stop in Hawaii on the way back."
"Are you insane?" Christine choked on a sip of coffee.
"Charlie's a nine." Maddy winked at her. "You're bloody stupid if you're this close and don't stop to see him."
"My flight is nonstop to LA." Christine drank the rest of her coffee.
"Change it." Maddy crushed her empty cup.
"Too late, I leave in a few hours."
"Oh for bloody lord's sake." Maddy tossed her cup in the nearest recycling bin. "Quit being such a stick in the mud."
"I'm not a stick in the mud." But she could be. Even her kids said so.
"You're in a bloody rut." Maddy waved her hands. "You're lonely and don't recognize bloody flirting when it smacks you in the face. What's the worst that could happen?"
Christine tossed away her own empty cup. "He could turn me down."
"Well, shoot, if you don't bloody try, how the bloody hell will you ever find out?" Maddy demanded.
"I'm not changing plans—and non refundable tickets—just on a whim that maybe something could happen when something probably won't." Christine gritted her teeth. "When did you become so Brit, by the way? Bloody this, mate that. Geez, you'd think you were raised here or something."
"When Down Under one becomes an Aussie." Maddy stood. "Come on then, mate. Let's have a bloody last drink before you bloody well leave Sydney for your bloody boring little life you like so much. Now, him? He's a definite six."