Room 46 & Short Story Collection Read online

  Clare slipped into professional mode, giving the cleaner a thoughtful, considered stare. ‘Are you sure?’ she asked in a soft, measured tone.

  ‘Yes!’ the cleaner replied, pushing the mop harder as she cleaned the perimeter of the cubicle.

  Clare continued to look at the woman, which had the desired effect.

  Abandoning her mop and bucket she motioned with her head and directed Clare down the hall a little way.

  A little alarmed at this point but not willing to show it, Clare stood and waited expectantly.

  ‘Look, this really isn’t my place to say,’ the woman began.

  ‘But you’re going to anyway,’ Clare replied.

  ‘Well, yes, I suppose I am. You young women today, you’re just too hard on blokes. They’re simple creatures really you know, they’re not designed to think about things the way women do.’

  Sleep deprived, stressed Clare wanted to yell at the woman to mind her own business but professional Clare realised there was something lurking under the surface. ‘Okay, I’ll bite, just what are you getting at?’

  ‘Your young man in there – I don’t know what you’re looking for Clare, but he seems like a decent sort. I can’t believe you knocked him back.’

  ‘Knocked him back?’ Clare asked, ‘knocked him back from what?’

  ‘Oh come on, The Windsor, your helicopter ride, Centrepoint? What happened at those places?’

  ‘I don’t know what you mean. We’ve never been to The Windsor, the helicopter was fun but uneventful and we had a big fight at Centrepoint.’

  The woman paled. ‘Really?’

  ‘Yes, really.’

  ‘Oh, oh dear, I think I’ve got my wires crossed. Yes, yes I have, I’m thinking of somebody different.’

  ‘No you’re not, you’re talking about events that involve me.’

  The woman sighed. ‘You’re obviously a smart lady, I think you can join the dots.’ And with that she headed back to the cubicle and resumed mopping.

  * * * * *

  ‘Now I know why you like Home and Away,’ Phil interjected. ‘You’ve got the same kind of drama happening in your own life.’

  ‘I don’t watch Home and Away,’ Clare protested.

  ‘She totally does,’ Matt stage whispered.

  ‘Thanks Matt, for that wonderful and inaccurate insight, but I think you can take it from here.’

  ‘Okay I will,’ he replied with a grin.

  * * * * *

  Matt knew his face must have registered his confusion as his eyes fluttered open the next morning. It took him a moment to focus, but when he saw Clare sitting by his bedside all other thoughts of where he was and what he was doing fell by the wayside. Although his mouth was dry and pasty and his stomach and head still ached, he couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face.

  ‘Clare,’ he murmured.

  ‘Yes,’ she replied.

  ‘You’re here.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I love you.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Why do you keep saying yes?’

  ‘Because that’s my answer.’

  ‘Answer to what?’

  ‘Yes, I’ll marry you.’

  Matt rubbed sleep from his eyes and tried to focus better. ‘What?’

  ‘I said yes, I’ll marry you.’

  ‘But I didn’t ask, did I?’

  ‘No, no exactly.’

  ‘Then how did you know?’

  ‘It was something the cleaner said.’

  ‘The cleaner?’

  ‘Long story, but I worked it out. I realised what you’ve been trying to do.’

  ‘And stuffing up every time.’

  ‘There’s no such thing as a stuff up, just another life experience.’

  ‘And I seem to have more of them than average.’

  ‘Oh Matty, I adore you just as you are and I can’t wait to marry you.’

  ‘But that wasn’t a proper proposal, I needed it to be perfect.’

  ‘When did I ever say that’s what I wanted?’

  * * * * *

  ‘So, you got engaged in a hospital emergency department?’ asked a bald guy in the fifth row.

  ‘Yep we did.’

  ‘Wow.’

  ‘Yeah, wow,’ Matt agreed. ‘After all the effort I’d gone to, all the expense and planning, my fiancée agreed to marry me when I was wearing a hospital gown and had a drip in my arm. I wasn’t even wearing my lucky undies, in fact I wasn’t wearing undies at all.’

  Clare shook her head. ‘I think that’s just a little bit too much information.’

  A smattering of laughter broke out.

  Matt felt much more relaxed now that the guys were laughing with him and not at him. Still, he couldn’t help but add a final chapter to the story.

  ‘Just for the record I did ask her again in a proper setting.’

  ‘Where?’ Phil asked.

  ‘On the verandah of the house where we met.’

  ‘And this time it was perfect,’ Clare said with the smile that still floored Matt.

  ‘Yep, it was,’ he agreed with a grin.

  ‘Okay so you guys are love’s young dream,’ Phil said, ‘but can you guarantee the same result for us?’

  Clare shook her head. ‘Of course not, there are no guarantees in life. The main thing I want you to remember is that it doesn’t really matter how and where you propose – you should put your focus on a long and committed marriage rather than a fancy engagement – and that means you need to sort out any problems on either side before you take that step. If there are weaknesses or problems in your relationship, proposing won’t fix them, it will just mask them for a while. I can guarantee once the honeymoon is over they will surface again with a vengeance.’

  ‘Yeah, but how do we get our girlfriends to understand that?’ murmured a thin man with a goatee, sitting in the back section. ‘It’s no good us getting our shit together if they don’t.’

  ‘Tell them to come along to my “Relationships Expectations” course for women,’ Clare replied with a grin.

  Having been waylaid by several of the men in the audience, Matt avoided the pack up and was waiting when Clare came out into the foyer.

  ‘You are so dead!’ Clare said, with her best attempt at a frown. ‘I told you not to come, it makes me really nervous.’

  ‘But I missed you.’

  ‘I missed you too, but you could have just gone over to Mum and Dad’s and surprised me there.’

  ‘I wanted to see you in action and I wanted to get some material for the book. If I remember correctly you did engage my professional services.’

  ‘That would be why you’ve got a notebook or a recording device with you.’

  Matt tapped his temple. ‘It’s all up here.’

  Clare just shook her head and held her arms open. They hugged tightly and kissed passionately, delighted to see one another after so long apart. Clare’s touring schedule had been arranged in such a way to get all the presentations done in as short a time as possible, so as to give them more time together in the long run. But the separations were always hard.

  Ending the embrace Matt took both Clare’s hands in his. ‘So,’ he said, ‘You really do love me just as I am?’

  ‘You know I do.’

  ‘That’s a relief because I accidentally left my iPad on the plane and I really want to go and pick it up tonight before it gets mysteriously misplaced.’

  ‘Seriously? Driving to the airport at 10:45 pm? You realise how far that is, right?’

  ‘Yeah, sorry.’

  Clare shook her head. ‘You are lucky I love you just as you are,’ she said. ‘You can drive though,’ she added, throwing him the keys.

  Matt caught them deftly and depressed the unlock button on the remote. ‘No worries as long as you direct me. I don’t know my way from out here.’

  Clare just shook her head again but couldn’t hold back a smile. Opening the back door she dumped her satchel on the back seat before climbi
ng in the front. After fastening her seatbelt she extended her left arm and admired the exquisite diamond on the third finger.

  Matt fastened his seatbelt and flicked the lights on. ‘Nice ring.’

  ‘Yeah, not bad.’ Clare replied with a big grin. ‘I really like being a fiancée.’

  ‘So do I,’ Matt said, leaning in for a kiss.

  Clare returned the kiss, then pushed him away playfully. ‘Steady on there mister, we need to make tracks out to Tullamarine.’

  ‘Yeah, all right,’ Matt sighed, turning the key in the ignition.

  ‘Okay, head on up to Springvale Road,’ Clare said with a yawn.

  ‘Sorry Hon, but we can sleep in tomorrow and our flight’s not until four.’

  ‘Oh you’re on my flight?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Cool, it’s always more fun when you’re there.’

  ‘Ditto,’ Matt said.

  ‘Wow, I can’t believe that was the last talk for ages. It will be nice to stay in one place a while.’

  ‘So we’ll actually get to see each other every day?’

  ‘You bet and I hope you’re prepared Mr Ryan – we’ve got a wedding to plan.’

  Stalked!

  Patience really was a virtue.

  He’d been coming down to his special hidey-hole every Thursday for weeks now, but the timing was never right. Either somebody else came along…or she was holding a cup of coffee that could be flung in his face…or she was wearing sneakers which would allow her to run away.

  But today…today the planets had aligned in his favour. Not only was she beverage free but she was also wearing stilettos. Ridiculously high, thin heeled stilettos. Her gait was already compromised as she walked along the gravel verge so he knew that once she hit the grass she would be as vulnerable as a fly on sticky paper.

  And to top it all off there was not another person in sight.

  Shifting slightly forward, he tried to block out the discomfort in his legs from squatting in such an awkward position. Just breathe, he reminded himself. He was as tense as a coiled spring but knew he needed to control himself for just a bit longer. If he pounced now, there was a chance she might keep walking along the road. No, it was better to wait until she was right in his line of sight – in the secluded spot he had especially chosen.

  Her hair was up today, which was a shame. He really preferred it long and flowing freely. And the outfit…well, it wasn’t one of her best. But hey, you couldn’t have it all, right?

  His heart started to pound as she approached the northern end of the park. Just a few more steps and she would finally be his…

  The throaty growl of her neighbour’s souped up Falcon ute roused Ella from a deep sleep. Annoyed at her slumber being interrupted before the alarm went off, she buried her head under the pillow. It didn’t help much. Although muffled, the Falcon’s engine kept revving.

  Rrrrrr… RRRrrrrr… Rrrrrrr…

  Jeez do you have to do that every day Greg? she fumed. Why can’t you just turn on the engine and go?

  Finally, after some spectacular gravel spinning and several more revs, the noise eased as Greg drove away.

  ‘Halleluiah!’ Ella exclaimed groggily. What’s he doing leaving so early anyway? she wondered crossly. He usually hooned off at 7.05 on the dot, by which time she was eating her breakfast and could drown out the revving by turning up the volume on the TV.

  It was the unmistakable rumble of the rubbish truck that roused Ella next, just as she was drifting back to sleep.

  ‘What’s with everyone running ahead of schedule today?’ she grumbled, plumping her pillow with a savage thump. Was it too much to ask for a little peace at such an uncivilised hour?

  Dragging her doona up around her head, Ella wrapped herself in it cosily, determined to at least remain in bed, even if not asleep, until her alarm actually sounded. It was a point of principle for Ella, unlike her housemate Natalie who saw no point in lolling in bed if she was awake and could be up doing something.

  Thinking of Natalie, she was being surprisingly quiet this morning. A theatre nurse who worked day shift, Natalie usually thought nothing of clattering around the kitchen and bathroom as she prepared for her 6:45 am start.

  Maybe I’d better go and wake her, Ella thought. But then again it’s not my job she reassured herself. Natalie can get herself up and organised. It would actually be kind of funny to see Miss Cool, Calm and Collected in a total spin. Ella smiled to herself at the thought of it.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t like Natalie, they were just very different people. And the truth was if they hadn’t been thrown together as housemates there was little likelihood they would otherwise be friends.

  The realisation finally hit Ella when she heard Greg’s wife hurrying their kids to get to the bus stop. Launching herself to a sitting position, she reached over to the bedside table for her mobile phone. Of course it wasn’t there; she had put it on the charger in the kitchen last night. That’s why her alarm hadn’t gone off.

  Bugger!

  Wild eyed she leapt out of bed and grabbed her watch from the dressing table. ‘7:22!’ she exclaimed, calculating that she had exactly fourteen minutes to get out of the house if she was to make the train.

  Usually a woman who liked to take her time getting ready, Ella was amazed at the speed she could move when she had to. Following a two-minute shower and a blast of dry shampoo she coiled her slightly greasy hair into a clamp clip, threw on a polyester dress that didn’t require ironing and gulped half a glass of orange juice.

  Normally she wouldn’t be that concerned about getting to work on time. It wasn’t as if she loved her job at Brown and Blain Constructions. But it was payroll day and if the system wasn’t updated before 10:30 am, the pays would be a day late. And a mob of angry construction workers was not something she wanted to contend with.

  Sticking her feet into her sneakers for the run to the train station, she shoved her work shoes into her oversized handbag and unplugged her phone from the charger. Ignoring the fact it was starting to rain she slammed the door shut behind her and legged it to the train station.

  Luckily the train was a few minutes late.

  Dragging her GO card over the reader Ella joined the mob boarding the 7:45 City Service and finally slunk aboard just before the doors closed. Hanging onto the handrail, she leant forward for a few moments to catch her breath.

  Once recovered, Ella began the long trek to the end carriages. Due to the length of her local platform out in the boondocks, everybody had to embark via the front cars, causing a bottleneck that only subsided when people dispersed through the train.

  Finally she found an empty seat in the second last carriage and slumped onto it despondently. What had happened to her life? Becoming a commuter had never figured in her plans. Before the GFC she’d had her own apartment in the inner city, while earning a substantial income as a PA to an international real estate mogul. Work was a five-minute stroll away, punctuated by a coffee and bagel en route. She’d had a whole extra hour to get ready and would never have been seen dead in her sneakers. Or this dress for that matter, Ella thought glumly. It had been fashionable in its day, but now it looked like something you’d find at Vinnie’s, which was exactly where it was going after today, she decided.

  Unfortunately when the US and European real estate market crashed, so did her career, and much more quickly than she would ever have anticipated. There was no gentle breaking of the bad news and time to gradually wind the business down. Rather she was greeted by a security guard one morning, ordered to hand over her phone and laptop and had been given a box of her belongings in return.

  At first Ella had remained optimistic, refusing to downsize or branch out into the suburbs. She was a skilled PA who had worked in a multi-million dollar company so surely that would hold her in good stead?

  But as each month passed and no new amazing job offers landed in her lap, Ella had to be practical. With her credit card debt nudging ten grand and on the
slippery slope of having to default on her car loan, she finally emerged from the fog of denial. Relying on her rusty secretarial skills Ella had talked her way into a payroll job in Geebung and curbed her lifestyle to suit.

  Selling her car had hurt but not as much as giving up the lease on her apartment. Luckily a friend of a friend had just bought a house way out on the fringe of Brisbane and was looking for a tenant at less than half the rent Ella had previously paid. It had sounded too good to be true and of course it was – in Ella’s mind it was simply not possible to be as perpetually positive as Natalie, the commute sucked and she had to deal with Natalie’s moronic boyfriend Marty – but it was workable, at least in the short term.

  Fifteen minutes and a quick make-up job later, Ella felt a bit more human. Slicking some lip gloss on, she checked her reflection in her hand mirror. It’ll do for today, she thought, although I really do need to get my roots done.

  Kicking off her sneakers Ella pulled her new Italian sandals out of her bag. Stroking the soft leather, she couldn’t help but smile. Yes they had been ridiculously expensive and they were impractical for work but she didn’t care. Just because she’d had to downgrade just about everything in her life, it didn’t mean she had to completely tame her shoe fetish.

  Slipping them on she allowed herself to daydream for a moment. I’m still Ella White PA extraordinaire she mused happily. I spend as much on shoes as some people spend on rent. I eat out just about every night, I get to go on all expenses paid business trips…

  The smell of fresh coffee brought her out of her reverie. Ella looked up wistfully as a petite young woman in a Cue suit sashayed past, coffee held aloft as she chatted into her phone. ‘Yeah, that’s fine…but just make sure we have enough time for both meetings…’

  Bitch, thought Ella morosely. How did she manage to keep her corporate career and I didn’t? What is she, all of nineteen? Don’t get too comfy sweetie, she mused. You never know what’s around the corner.