Gemma's Bluff by Karly Lane

Author:Karly Lane [Lane, Karly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2014-10-08T22:00:00+00:00

Dinner was a strained affair. Nash had declined to eat with them, choosing instead to stay in the office and finish his book work. So it was just Jazz and Gemma seated at the dinner table. Jazz chattered and ate with gusto, apparently unaffected by the day’s events, but finally she noticed Gemma’s unresponsiveness.

‘For God’s sake, would you snap out of it?’

‘Out of what?’

‘This whole “I got in trouble” thing. Big deal! We didn’t hurt anything, all the animals are still alive, so stop moping around the place like you got sent to the naughty corner or something.’

‘I wish you’d take things seriously for once.’ Gemma said. ‘We didn’t have control over those dogs, and if Nash hadn’t come along, something could have gone very badly wrong.’

‘Well, it didn’t. End of story.’

‘Grow up, Jasmine!’

‘Ruh roh,’ Jazz said, imitating Scooby Doo. Usually Gemma found it amusing, but not tonight. ‘You used my whole name so I know you’re pissed off.’

‘Yes, I am pissed off, as a matter of fact. You need to stop it.’

‘Stop what?’

‘This!’ Gemma waved her arms around at the room. ‘Your insane attempt to play out some weird fixation you have with country life. News flash, Jazz, shows like McLeod’s Daughters aren’t real. Real farm work is hard. It’s not romantic; it’s not fun. It’s dangerous and there are no stunt men to take the fall. We’re not country girls. We’re from the city.’

‘You had to go and spoil it, didn’t you,’ Jazz said, sliding her chair out from beneath the table and standing up.

‘By pointing out the truth?’

‘By raining on my parade! You know, if you just forgot to be perfect for five minutes, you might actually have some fun. You can’t stand that I can enjoy life, can you? You can’t stand that I get to be happy.’

‘Oh, don’t be ridiculous,’ Gemma said, pushing away her plate.

‘It’s true. You’re so miserable, stuck in your self-imposed prison, that you want everyone else to be just as miserable as you. News flash,’ she spat Gemma’s words back at her. ‘You are the only one keeping yourself trapped in your life. You’ve got a backbone—use it. Until you do you’re going to be this uptight, pain-in-the-arse Dudley Do-Right who drives me up the wall!’ Jazz exploded, before leaving the room in a huff.

The bedroom door down the hall slammed and Gemma stared at the empty spot in the kitchen where her best friend had just been. Later, as she was cleaning the kitchen, she heard the door open again and Jazz came storming down the hallway, carrying her bags.

‘What are you doing?’ Gemma asked.

‘I’m going out.’

‘With all your stuff?’

‘No, not all of it. I need to get away from all this negativity. Maybe if you and the arsehole in the office—’ Jazz turned towards the hallway and raised her voice— ‘just jumped each other’s bones, you’d get all this crap out of your system and people would want to be around you both.’

Gemma was too angry to be mortified. ‘Fine.

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