“Take all the time you need, Mark. I’m not going anywhere.”
Returning home a couple of hours later, Mum was busy preparing a roast dinner for that evening. Mum always cooked a good roast. We sat in the kitchen to keep her company, though I noticed more than one glance from her, considering Amy was almost snuggling into me most of the time. But the glance was accompanied by a smile, so I guess she thought we were just being affectionate. I never had a problem giving my sister a cuddle.
The lamb was perfect, and Mum always prepared the best roast potatoes and veggies. Heading out to the veranda, a ritual of ours already, we stuck to non-alcoholic beverages, particularly as I had an early start the next morning.
“How are you feeling, Mark?” Mum asked, “About everything?”
“I feel at peace up here. I’m still annoyed I have to wait another ten months to get divorced, but I figure I can move on with my life as proof I’m not willing to reconcile. Putting over six hundred kilometres between us is another sign the marriage is well and truly done.”
“That’s why I moved up here after your father and I agreed to end the marriage. However, what you should know is that you can start to organise everything else in the meantime.”
“That’s what Tony is doing for me. We’ll have to make property and financial settlements. All I want is for her to no longer be my wife in the eyes of the law. When I fill out any sort of form, I’d like to sign that I’m single.”
“Has she tried contacting you since arriving here?”
“She’s stopped trying to call but I still receive messages. Surprised she hasn’t turned and started hurling abuse at me. Still insisting she loves me and wants to work things out.”
“What a fucking idiot,” my sister muttered.
“Once the divorce is finalised, I’ll block her. Until then, I’ll just keep ignoring her.”
Mum always headed to bed early. It was bloody cold outside so we headed to my bedroom, where I had set up a TV on the wall. Lying back on the covers, we watched a movie in the darkness, Amy cuddling into me. By the time the movie finished, we’d started to basically make out. Feeling her body press into mine certainly had me hard again rather quickly, and running my hand down to her pert little butt earned a grin from her in return.
“Staying here the night then?” I asked. She nodded, so I undressed as she disappeared, returning within a couple of minutes in her pyjamas. I guess wearing less would raise the temptation to do something else. Kissing seemed harmless, but I wasn’t sure about going any further. At least not yet. My mind was still a little all over the place, though it had been a couple of months since that day at the university….
My phone lit up that week with people wanting jobs done, no matter how large or small. I even received calls from people a hundred kilometres away from Grafton, which was a good sign. Taking a look at the website set up for me, I noticed there had been plenty of hits already, so I guess that explained why. But with the volume of work possibly on the horizon, I looked into apprenticeship schemes and how I’d take one or two on as a business. Luckily, everything is online nowadays, and within the day, I had job adverts online about taking on a couple. I’d train them up over a couple of years, hopefully take them on full-time at the end, then look at expanding. But there was no rush. I had all the time in the world.