Paul sighed. ‘Okay, man, I get it.’
‘I’m looking forward to seeing you next week, mate, and meeting your girl.’ Nate smiled down the phone at him.
‘Yeah, I’m excited for her to meet you all. Don’t tell her any stupid uni stories, okay?’
Nate laughed. ‘Do you remember Laurel Fletcher from uni? She was an undergrad while we were postgrads?
Paul was quiet for a moment. One thing about Paul was that he always gave everything his undivided attention. ‘No, why?’
‘She owns the farm that my site is on. I’m bringing her next weekend.’ Nate picked at the grass beside him.
There was a beat of silence from Paul. ‘As your date? You haven’t brought anyone to meet us, ever.’
‘No, just as friends. We’re just friends.’
‘Oh right, yeah.’ The sarcasm poured down the phone line.
‘We are, Paul,’ Nate said. ‘Anyway, I think something happened at uni. She hates Alex.’
‘Everyone hates Alex. Alex is a dick.’ Paul snorted. ‘But I wouldn’t be surprised if something happened. What did Alex say?’
‘I’ve not asked him. I don’t want to, I don’t know…’ Nate looked at the cows for the right phrase, ‘wake the sleeping dog?’
Paul sighed heavily down the phone. ‘I don’t know why you put up with Alex anymore. He’s always been a prick.’
Nate was quiet. He used to defend Alex to Paul, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so anymore.
‘You know Lucia is coming, right?’ Paul asked. ‘You should probably tell your girl.’
‘She’s not my girl, Paul.’
He hadn’t told her anything about next weekend, had he? They would have talked more about it last night, but the shit hit the fan at the farm. He’d catch up with her this week and give her some more details. Not today, she had too much going on today.
‘Have you called Jess?’
‘I’ll email her,’ Nate said. Probably for the best. The conversation he was having with Paul about Laurel not being his girlfriend would be ten thousand times more pressurised with Jess.
‘Can you do me a favour?’ Paul asked.
‘Yeah, man. Anything, you know that.’
‘Can you watch out for Angeline, yeah? With Alex? He can be a bit creepy with women, and he doesn’t know when to shut his mouth.’
Nate’s shoulders slumped. Everyone had seen Alex for what he was a lot sooner than he had.
‘Yeah, sure. Don’t worry.’
He said his goodbyes to Paul and stared at his phone for a couple of seconds. He’d really dropped the ball on Alex. He’d been so blind to what Alex was really like. He’d ignored it. Perhaps he was the frog in the boiling water, and Alex just kept getting worse and worse, and he couldn’t see it. Well, he saw it now. The way Alex had behaved over granting BAS endorsement to the Little Willow site was unprofessional and borderline negligent. His behaviour when he was on site had been beyond the pale. Perhaps it was time to admit to himself that Alex was never going to change.
Nate’s phone buzzed in his hand. Laurel.
‘Hey.’
‘Hey, just calling to let you know that you won’t be needing to give a statement to David about last night.’ She was straight to business.
‘Oh, okay,’ he said. ‘Everything alright?’
‘Yes, fine thanks,’ she said abruptly. There were other people there, he could tell.
