“What’s with you?”
Men were given younger sisters for a reason, but Ant had no idea what it was. Arabella stood in his sunlight, hands on hips, questions on lips.
He looked up at her and said, “Puce.”
“Are you sick? That’d be right, leave all this cleaning up to me and Miriam. Mum’s exhausted. Nonna’s already gone to have a lay down.”
He sighed. “I’m not sick.”
Bella sat beside him. “Something’s wrong with you. What did you do to Toni?”
“Nothing.”
They both watched the lizard and listened to cousin Mario complain about school fee increases. When that got too painful he said, “Do you know about Toni?”
“Know what? I know you did something to her.”
“All I did was ask her out.” All he’d done was lose his head and his heart to her in the space of fifteen minutes, like some freak out of the chick flicks Mum liked. If what he felt after being smacked down was even one whisker of what Dan felt when he’d cut Alex loose he had no idea how the guy didn’t drown himself.
“Oh.” Bella looked him full in the face. “Ouch.”
“So you do know.”
“Of course.”
“Does everyone know? Mum, Nonna?”
“God no. And it’s not like she wants to make a thing of it. And before you ask, yes her parents know, and they’re fine about it.”
“So I’m the last moron who didn’t know.”
“Yep.” She patted him on the shoulder. “That’s what happens when you don’t pay attention.”
“I pay attention.” Toni had said something similar.
“No you don’t. You only pay attention to five things, Ant: being a good son to Mum, a good grandson to Nonna, a good brother to Mim and me, surfing with the boys and work. I bet you can’t even remember the names of Francesca’s twins.”
He had no idea. He could see them across the yard in their car carry-ons. One wore white, one wore yellow; there weren’t even any clues to what sex they were. Yet he’d been at their christening a month ago. Well, his good son, grandson and brother body had been. His head had been at work.
“Look as family you’re the best. Dad would be so proud of you, but you have tunnel vision, you only see what’s right in front of you, and you only pay attention to what you can use.”
“You make me sound like an awful person, a real user, some kind of monster.”
Bella sighed. She stood and brushed her skirt down. “No, just an average bloke.”
4: Pivot
Bree in her Kitty Caruso uniform, sat with her four team mates: Detonator, Pregnant Pause, Ann Arkey, and Cath Arsis watching the Bad Secretaries take on the Tuck Shop Ladies Arms. The Tuckers used a goat herding strategy to put the Bad Secretaries out of play and free their own jammer. They were going to win.
Beside her Toni the Detonator Pagano shouted, “Good whip,” as the Tucker’s pivot grabbed their jammer’s hand and swung her forward so she was better positioned to break through the pack and score.
But Bree felt both jammed and whipped, and she didn’t dare pivot because Detonator had brought a Stickyfoot—a non skating, family friend along to the bout and that family friend was Anthony Gambese.
“Tell me again how you know him?” she hissed. “You’ve been away so long I didn’t think you knew anyone.”
“The Gambeses and the Paganos have known each other since day dot. Oh good jam!” yelled Detonator. “Our mothers were best friends. Our fathers too, until Ant’s dad died when Ant was fifteen. Ant and I took baths together, played street cricket, had our first smokes, you know that kind of thing. But once his dad died he was busy being the man of the family and had no time for me. I haven’t seen him for years. How was I supposed to know you worked with him? Don’t worry, there’s no way he’s going to recognise you. I hardly recognise you.”
This was true. And it wasn’t simply because this was the last place Anthony would think of looking for her. For a start, Anthony hardly ever looked at her anyway. It was as though he thought he shouldn’t in case she read something unprofessional, something sexual into it. On top of that, The Big Swinging Tricks uniform was a good disguise. Under all her padding and helmet, with her hair tucked up, and black war paint on her face, Bree was virtually undisguisable from any of the Tricks with the exception her lack of tattoos and the big red stars on her helmet which signified she was a jammer, responsible for scoring the team’s points.