The Ripple Effect Part 4

"No idea."

"Make sure you tell me if he does."

"What, so you can come out and drool all over him? I'll tell Mark what you get up to."

"He knows exactly what I get up to, that's why he married me. So I can get up to it with him."

The cowbell clanged.

"That b.l.o.o.d.y awful thing," hissed Viv. "I'm going to rip it down while Tracey's out." She pushed the bead curtain aside and went to deal with the customer. Her head reappeared almost immediately. "It's for you," she said, her face wrinkled into a fiendish grin.

Joelle rinsed her mug under the tap in the sink. It'd be Paul, he often popped in unannounced. His real estate office was just along the street so on his way to visit properties he could, and frequently did, take a detour. When had those constant appearances begun to irritate? It was almost as if he was checking up on her.

She dried her hands. Maybe she should finish it with him now rather than later. If she let things wander on this way, Viv's joke may become a hideously embarra.s.sing reality. Paul was nice and reasonably good-looking but no way in the world would she ever consider marrying him or entering into any kind of permanent relationship. Unrealistic and impossible as it may seem she really did want to find a man who made her feel the way that customer had this morning. The doctor. Doctor X.

She wanted a man who electrified her senses and was as confident and likable as Paul and understood her hopes and dreams as well. Not too much to ask. Paul filled some of the criteria. Not the electrifying bit, though, and he only pretended to take her dreams seriously. He preferred factual goals involving dollars and tangible a.s.sets. Doctor X filled the electrifying bit to the point of blowing fuses but as to the rest? Unfortunately she'd never know.

Anyway, she had other plans for the immediate future and they didn't involve hooking herself to a man of any description.

"Hi babe," said Paul. He was leaning with one hip against the counter and straightened when she appeared. "Do you have time for a quick coffee?"

"Hi." Joelle smiled brightly. "No, sorry. We're up to our necks in the Lanzini wedding and Tracey's out. I can't leave Viv here alone."

"Fair enough. No harm in trying."

"No."

"How about Sunday?"

"What about Sunday?" Joelle repeated, wary all of a sudden. If she was serious about easing off in this relationship now was the time to start. It wasn't right to allow things to drift aimlessly, she'd land on rocks for sure. Paul tended to make a.s.sumptions all too quickly, anyway. He wasn't a successful real estate salesman for nothing.

"How does a day on the water sound? Adam's invited us to go out on Spindrift. They're sailing along the coast and then anchoring somewhere to swim and picnic and drink champagne-he refers to it as their champagne float."

As a day out it sounded wonderful, especially after the Sat.u.r.day she'd be having with the Lanzinis.

"Who else is going?" she asked. Adam was Bright's Real Estate, owner and director. Paul was his number one agent. Adam and wife Veronica did things with style.

"Veronica, of course. I think only us and another couple." Paul grinned cheerfully across the counter at her. The deal closer. Sale made.

Another couple? Paul thought of them as a couple, Adam thought of them as a couple, Viv thought of them as a couple. Did she really want to be thought of as part of a couple?

"Sunday," she said. "It's Mum's birthday. I mentioned it remember?"

"Can't we see her that evening?"

It was an open house party with people dropping in from lunchtime on. Mum wouldn't mind Joelle turning up later but here was the opportunity she'd wanted, landing neatly in her lap. Time to rea.s.sert her independence.

"I don't think so, Paul." We?

Paul grimaced. "No, I suppose not. Pity, it would have been a great day out. I'll tell Adam we can't make it and to give us a raincheck."

"But you can go," cried Joelle. There was that *us' again. When had they slid into the exclusive dating category? When had she last gone out with someone other than Paul?

"Shouldn't I go to your Mum's party?" Huh? Why would he take that as a given? He'd only met her parents once. Good grief, this had to be stopped.

"No of course not! You barely know her. You go with Adam."

"Not so much fun by myself," he said a.s.suming a woebegone expression.

"Invite someone else."

"What? I don't want to invite someone else! What are you saying?" The phoney self pity fled and what began as amus.e.m.e.nt became tinged with angry suspicion as he saw she wasn't teasing.

"I," began Joelle but the cowbell clanged and she clamped her mouth shut. Paul cursed under his breath and turned away to study a display of miniature cactus.

Joelle stared at his back. Had she really meant what she'd said? The words had popped spontaneously from her mouth and surprised her as much as they'd shocked Paul. If this customer hadn't interrupted what would she have told him? It wasn't the preferred way of easing off in a relationship but maybe she'd achieved what she basically required, however clumsily.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

The elderly woman handed her a bunch of pink and white liliums and a card from the rack by the door. "For my sister in hospital," she said. "She loves flowers."

"They brighten up a sick room, don't they?"

"Yes, she says she can close her eyes, smell the perfume and pretend she's at home in her garden."

Joelle took the proffered money. "I do hope she's on the mend soon and can enjoy her garden again."

"She won't be going home, dear," said the woman.

The doorbell clanged and over the white-grey puff of hair Joelle's casual gaze met the brown eyes of s.e.xy Doctor X. Heat skyrocketed up her neck and into her cheeks.

The woman slipped her change into her purse and sniffed. Joelle's attention jerked back to her distressed customer. "I'm so sorry," she murmured. "These have a lovely perfume."

"Yes, I always choose strong smelling flowers for her. Thank you, dear."

Doctor X opened the door carefully, minimising the crash of the bell. He closed it equally as gently and smiled at Joelle who stood, transfixed, by the counter.

Paul said harshly, "I can see you're busy. I'll call you some other time. Next week."

He brushed by the new customer and strode from the shop, not caring that the door swung so violently the bell became detached from its moorings and crashed to the wooden floor with enough noise to awaken the dead. It rolled noisily across the floorboards and came to rest against a group of expensive glazed plant pots from China.

Joelle darted around the counter with a cry and Viv yelled from the workroom, "What on earth was that?"

"The bell fell down," called Joelle.

Viv stuck her head through the bead curtain. "Thank goodness for that."

Her eyes alighted on Doctor X who'd been standing observing the action with a broad smile on his face. She came through to stand behind the counter.

"Can I help you?" she purred in her most seductive voice.

Joelle flashed her a furious, warning frown from behind his turned back. Viv smiled innocently.

"I can handle the shop. You need to do that stock list," Joelle said as she retrieved the bell. Luckily it hadn't chipped the green glaze or damaged the swirling dragon motif of the pot it hit.

Doctor X hadn't said a word. His gaze swivelled from one to the other. He said to Viv, "It's actually the manager I need to speak to."

"I'm the manager," said Joelle. He knew that already, didn't he? She handed the giant bell to Viv. "Hide this somewhere."

"In the bin?" suggested Viv and cackled as she retreated to the back room with swaying rear end.

Joelle a.s.sumed her most professional manner and looked him right in the eye. On closer inspection, he seemed on edge, nervy and the tiniest bit fl.u.s.tered. The grin had faded. He looked lost. What had happened in the interim? She had an irrational, completely unprofessional and almost overwhelming urge to hug him.

"Sorry about all that," she said. "How can I help? Was there a problem with your flowers?"

He didn't reply for a few moments and she wondered if he'd heard her. Maybe that crash had rendered him temporarily deaf. Then, he said, "The flowers? No, no not at all. I think she liked them."

He stared at her until she had to turn away and pretend to rearrange the closest bucket of bunched roses. He appeared to have forgotten why he'd come. Perhaps he was ill or suffering a breakdown of some sort. The intense scrutiny was becoming unnerving despite his overall attractiveness.

"Why did you want to see me?" she asked stiffly, her eyes on the rich red of the half-open buds.

"I wondered if you would like to have a cup of coffee with me," he said.

"Now?" Joelle straightened in surprise. That was the last thing she'd expected him to say but it came as a relief. He must be shy rather than on the verge of a nervous collapse. The thought made her smile. A man unconscious of his attractiveness and unsure of a woman's response evoked a feeling of protective tenderness-the same one that had created the urge to hug him.

"If you have time." The tone was anxious. He seemed unwilling to push himself although earlier he'd flirted quite freely and confidently. Something had altered since she'd seen him. What? Joelle wanted to know.

"I don't really," she said, wrinkling her nose in disappointment. "I can't leave the shop."

"Of course not. I just thought maybe...Never mind. I can't blame you I'm a total stranger off the street. It was a stupid idea," he finished in a vicious undertone.

"No, it wasn't," Joelle said vehemently and surprised herself for the second time in the s.p.a.ce of half an hour. "I would like to have coffee with you but today is really busy. We've a big wedding to get ready for tomorrow."

"Sure, okay. Some other time then." He turned and headed for the door. How could she stop him? She couldn't let him just walk out of her life thinking she wasn't interested.

"I'd like that," she called. He stopped. Joelle came from behind the counter and walked towards him forcing herself to stay cool, as her mind churned half formed sentences and words about like a tumble drier. "Tell me your name," she blurted. "I don't know your name."

"Shay Brookes," he said. He groped in his pocket, extracted his wallet and handed her a business card. "Perhaps you could call me when you have time."

Joelle read the card. "But you live in Sydney," she said, dismayed and disappointed all over again. He was just a visitor, pa.s.sing through. She was only a whim. Perhaps he had a half hour to fill and she'd imagined all the rest.

"I do house calls on occasion," he said. The tension left his shoulders and his whole body relaxed.

"Long distance ones?" she asked sceptically and looked up into his face with a little smile, teasing.

"If necessary." A smile crept across his lips as he gazed at her. He seemed to be scanning her features, memorising the details of colour and shape and the angle of her nose and cheeks.

"Do you come to Sunshine Point often?"

"I hope to be visiting more often now," he said.

Joelle did a rapid calculation. If Tracey finished the run and came straight back she and Viv could hold the fort for the time it took to have a coffee. Staying later tonight wouldn't matter if it meant spending time with Doctor Shay Brookes of Rozelle, Sydney.

"Could you wait until my a.s.sistant finishes her deliveries? I could sneak a few minutes then."

He nodded slowly. "When should I come back?"

"About four-fifteen? Is that too late?"

"No. It's a date," he said. "Thank you, Joelle."

"Thank you, Shay Brookes."

Viv bounded through the bead curtain as soon as the door closed behind him.

"Fabio eat your heart out," she cried. "That guy is hunkalicious. What did he want to see you about?"

Joelle forced herself free from the immobilising after-effects of his parting smile.

"Weren't you eavesdropping?"

"Certainly not. I was doing the ordering exactly as you told me to."

"He came to ask me out for coffee." Joelle smirked at Viv.

"Really?"

"Really. And he's coming back at four-fifteen."

"What about Paul?"

"What about him?"

Two girls came giggling through the door, followed closely by a middle-aged couple, giving Joelle enough time as she served them to consider her response to that question.

What about Paul? The truth was he hadn't entered her head from the moment Shay Brookes entered the shop. And Shay Brookes hadn't left her head from the moment he left the shop.

"I think I've fallen in love at first sight," she said when Viv repeated her query later.

"Oh dear." Viv raised her blue eyes towards the ceiling and grimaced. "Heaven help us all."

"Not oh dear, you saw him, he's gorgeous...those eyes." Joelle sighed. "And he's so sensitive. He was really shy about asking me. He knew how weird it would seem, coming in off the street like that."

"Weird is right. Make sure you go to Alexandra's down the street and whatever you do don't get into his car."

"Do you think he's a serial killer?"

Viv shrugged. "Who knows? He could be a rapist or some sort of pervert. Just don't take any chances. Don't tell him where you live."