Birds of a Feather by Tricia Stringer

Author:Tricia Stringer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HQ Fiction
Published: 2021-12-04T00:00:00+00:00

twenty-one

Julia paced the floor of Eve’s lounge room. Outside the wind howled and rain lashed the windows. Eve had gone to bed not long after they’d eaten their evening meal and Julia had been watching TV when the power had flickered. The noise of the weather was suddenly loud without it. The movie she’d been watching hadn’t quite finished and it had taken a while for the screen to come back to life.

She hoped the prawn boats were safe somewhere as Eve had said. Julia pictured the Evie 3. It had seemed so big and steady when Harvey had taken them out on the calm bay but she couldn’t imagine how awful it would be in this weather, even if the boat was moored in the marina.

The power flicked again and this time it stayed off.

“Damn!”

Eve’s house was so dark. No streetlights, no moon, and now not even the glow of an appliance to help her. Julia waited for her eyes to adjust, wondering where she’d left her phone then turned towards the couch. She’d been looking at Twitter earlier.

She moved carefully, remembering Eve’s solid wood coffee table was in front of the couch. Suddenly her phone lit up and began to ring. Julia pressed a hand to her chest. It had given her a start but at least she could find it now. She gave the table a wide berth and sunk to the couch, scooping up her phone as she did.

It was Glen’s name on the screen.

“Hi, Julia.”

“You’re up late.”

“All on my own on a Friday night. Did I wake you?”

“No.” She snuggled back against the couch. “The fellas busy elsewhere?” He had several mates who often got together on a Friday night.

“Kids or wives, and in one case a mother, all demanding their attention.”

“Thoughtless of them.” He was feeling lonely, that’s why he was calling at this hour.

“You sound so far away.”

“I am.”

“No, I mean your voice sounds faint. Are you okay?”

“Yes. There’s a big storm here and the power’s gone off so maybe it’s affecting the mobile signals too.”

“How’s Eve?”

“Not much progress.”

“I was hoping you’d be back soon.”

“I told you I’d be at least two weeks, Glen. It’s barely been one.”

“Next Thursday is two weeks.”

Julia had lost track of the days. “I can’t see me leaving Eve for a while yet.”

“I thought you said she’d hired someone.”

“She has, but that’s not the same as family.”

“She’s not your mother, Jules.”

His voice was gentle but his words annoyed her. “She’s just as important to me.” Even if right now Eve was being so difficult Julia could cheerfully throttle her.

“Of course she is, but I miss you too.”

Julia frowned. If he had a mates’ weekend, two weeks could easily go by without them seeing each other.

“How’s work?” she asked.

Glen launched into a long explanation of his latest commercial. The sound of the storm outside was loud and her thoughts wandered back to the prawn boats.

“What about your work?”

She’d only been half listening and she nearly missed his question.

“Nothing yet.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.