Page 82 of Doc Rock
At some point, she had washed all of the makeup off that made her look like the old Sie, and was wearing pink scrubs, rather than the black clothes that she clutched in her hands.
He liked this new version of Sie, the one that embraced colour and let youseeher face, not a mask of makeup.
Sie pulled the car door open.“Thanks for waiting for me. You didn’t need to. Icouldhave taken a taxi home.”
“It’s no problem.”Ford put the car into drive and drove away.“Have you had food?”
“Sort of. I ate a hospital sandwich.”Sie shuddered.
Ford grinned.“Me too! I visited the café, the food was…“ he hesitated, searching for the right word, “…interesting.”
“It is.”Sie spluttered with laughter.
“Do you want to go andgrabsome dinner?”Ford blurted out the words before hecouldchange his mind.
Sie was silent for a long time.“Is that a good idea?”she asked hesitantly.
“Yes,” Ford said firmly. ”We should get sushi.”
Sie loved sushi, and once they’d had a little bit of money, they’d indulged in it whenever theycould.
“Unless you want tuna out of a can, I would suggest avoiding the sushi in Burra Creek.”
“What would you suggest then?”Ford drove toward the centre of town.
Sie thought about it.“We might as well go to the pub. The quiz is on tonight, and some of my friends will bethere.”
Ford hesitated. He wanted time with only her, getting toknowher again. But equally, maybeit wouldbe a low-pressure environment to spend more time with her.“Sure, that sounds fun.”
“Great. It’s the Railway Tavern. It’s second left, then up on the right,”Sie directed.
Ford followed the instructions.“How was everything with Clara and Taylor’s baby?”He glanced over at her as he asked andsawher face light up at the mention of the baby.
“He’s adorable. I’ll let them announce all the names and weight, etcetera, but he’s a little champion.”
“That’s great.”
“It’s just overthere.”Sie pointed to the pub up ahead, then looked down at herself.“Oh shit. I forgot I was in scrubs.”She poked the black clothes she'd thrown into the footwell with her shoe.“I’ll have to put this outfit on again.”
“You looked good,”Ford said without hesitation, and his eyes shot to her in time toseea blush spread up her cheeks.
“Thanks. It’ll confuse my friends. I don’t think they’ve ever seen me wear black.”She gestured to the pink scrubs she wore.
“Why don’t you ever wear black?”Ford asked as he pulled into a parking space.
Sie didn’t say anything for a long time, until she finally said quietly,“It helped me hide. To pretend that Sie wasn’t real, that I hadn’t been her. For years,it wasthe only way Icouldsleep at night, pretend it didn’t happen.”
“I didn’t sleep for a long time either,”Ford replied honestly.
He had used booze and drugs to try andgetthe rest he needed. But that always made it worse the next day, and he would need more togetthrough. Until he spiralled into a place of no return. He was thankful Donnie had stayed by his side and taken him to rehab again and again until it stuck.
“I’m sorry,”Sie whispered, a hitch in her voice.
“Iknow,”Ford said simply. Switching off the car, he turned to her.“I’m not saying I understand what you did, and I’m not ready to say that I forgive you because you ripped out my heart.”
Sie winced at his blunt words.
“But I do want to get to know you again and find out what’s happened in sixteen years.” Ford watched her face carefully and saw the surprise cross it. “Unless you don’t want that.”
