‘Did you use all the wood under the awning already?’
Alice blinked. ‘What wood under what awning?’
‘There’s like, two months’ worth of logs in a storage box just outside the house.’
‘Oh. Well, there’s still two months’ worth because I hacked up one of the sections of tree trunk in your shed. I hope that was okay?’
Vanessa looked puzzled. ‘Sure, I didn’t even know it was in there. How did you break it up?’
‘With your axe.’
‘I have an axe?’
They were going around in circles, and Alice asked, ‘How doyounormally chop up your logs?’
‘I go to the Coop.’
‘You go to the Coop,’ Alice repeated. ‘Where I’m now guessing they sell bags of logs.’
‘Big bags. They deliver too.’
‘Of course they do.’ Alice couldn’t help but laugh. ‘You know, Jill always used to say I was one for finding solutions to problems that didn’t exist.’
‘But you know, knowing how to swing an axe is a good skill. Maybe you could teach me sometime.’
‘I wouldn’t add it to my CV just yet. Hey, I was just speaking to Marco about his mountain rescue team. Do you have an avalanche kit?’
‘I have some stuff somewhere.’ Vanessa waved her arm in the general direction of some storage. ‘If it’s anywhere it’ll be in one of the cupboards by the door. That’s where I keep any emergency stuff, if you need it. Torches, first aid, bring the axe in if you want.’
‘Ha ha. It must be pretty amazing to work on a mountain rescue helicopter, though. Don’t you think?’
‘Like Marco does?’
‘Imagine spending your days flying above the world and helping save people’s lives.’
Vanessa shrugged. ‘I don’t know, I think there’s a lot more to it than that. It’s probably quite dangerous, and I know Marco can be called out on emergency even if he’s not on shift. But you’re right, it’s pretty nice what he does, huh?’ she continued, breaking Alice from her thoughts.
‘He’s really nice.’
‘Another coffee?’ Vanessa got up and Alice watched her walk back to the kitchen, running her hand fondly along the cedar-wood wall as she went. Bear followed, but kept looking back at Alice to check she hadn’t gone anywhere.
‘Have you and Marco got . . . history?’ Alice asked.
‘History?’ Vanessa teased.
‘Like, you know, spare-room-in-South-America “history”?’ Alice was just making casual chit-chat.
‘No,’ Vanessa said. ‘I just think he’s a really nice guy. He has a good heart and a kind soul. I think he could make someone really happy one day. Or maybe help a someone sad get back to being a happy person again.’
‘He makes Bear happy,’ said Alice, brushing off Vanessa’s loaded answer. ‘As do you, clearly.’
‘Well, he is making me very happy too.’ Vanessa stroked his head, which he tilted back in bliss. Then she looked back at Alice. ‘You know you can have any of them over here while I’m gone, don’t you? I mean it when I say I want you to feel at home. Invite them over as a group, they’ve all hung out here so many times in the past, or individually . . . ’
‘I’ll bear that in mind,’ said Alice, getting up and taking her coffee from Vanessa. ‘Now, before we do anything else, take me on a belated house tour so I know if there are any other whole cupboards full of logs that don’t need chopping.’
As Vanessa led her and Bear from room to room, mostly pointing out things Alice had already discovered, she found her thoughts drifting to Jill again, as they so often did. And if she relaxed, and gave into the thoughts, she could almost picture her here, with the two of them, as if it were those heady backpacking days once again. It was nice.
