But it seemed Joe was no mind-reader. ‘You’re sure I can’t help? Carry the basket or something?’
‘No, really, I’m fine. But thanks.’ He couldn’t come with her. She was going to have to pay Rex’s travel fee by credit card and she couldn’t risk him seeing her real name. She decided to throw all subtlety out the window. ‘Will I meet you later?’
Joseph smiled. ‘In my cabin?’
She nodded.
Behind her, the conductor was sighing, without any subtlety at all. ‘If you could put the cat back in the basket, madam, and follow me?’
Joseph noticed Eva’s expression and stepped forward. ‘Let me help.’ He picked up Rex and put him in the basket, quickly withdrawing his hand out of way of the grasping claws.
As the conductor headed down the corridor, another long look passed between Eva and Joseph.
‘See you soon.’
‘Yes.’
Eva felt like she was doing a Walk of Shame as she followed the conductor through every carriage, past curious eyes in the lounge car, past people sitting looking out from their cabins. It took nearly five minutes to reach the goods van at the end of the train. The conductor unlocked the door with a flourish, rattling the keys like a jailer. A dim light in the middle of the van roof showed shelves filled with neatly stacked suitcases, mail bags and parcels. Several bicycles were leaning against the side of the van, their pedals rattling with the movement of the train. Rex started mewing.
‘If you’ll put him there, madam.’ The conductor pointed to a space beside the bicycles.
‘But he’ll be terrified of the noise,’ she protested. ‘He’s just a tiny kitten. And he’s had a terrible shock today.’
‘Madam, he shouldn’t even be on the train. You’re lucky I’m not reporting you to the RSPCA. Now, please, put him there. It’s by the vent. He’ll be able to breathe at least.’
‘Please, can’t he go over there?’ She pointed to the other side, among the mail bags. ‘He’ll be nice and cosy there. And there’s another air vent.’
The conductor relented. ‘Okay. That’s fine.’
Eva placed the basket on the floor, put a small parcel on top to hold the clasp down, then joined the conductor at the doorway. She dared to look back. Rex was pawing at the side of the basket, doing his silent mewing trick. She couldn’t leave him like that. She imagined Lainey’s voice. ‘You left him? On his own? With just bikes and parcels for company? Oh, Evie, and I trusted you with him.’
Then Eva thought about Joe. Waiting in his cabin for her. But she couldn’t just leave Rex. ‘Can I have one more minute with him?’ she begged.
The conductor practically counted to sixty under his breath as Eva crouched beside the basket, muttering to Rex and feeling self-conscious. ‘You’ll be fine, Rexie. It’s just for one night, and I’m very sorry. But Lainey doesn’t need to know about any of this, okay? This can be our secret. A sort of bonding exercise, what do you think?’
Weirdly, it seemed to work. Rex settled down in the far corner of his basket, curled up in the scrap of blanket and fell asleep.
‘Thank you,’ she said to the conductor, most politely. ‘I can just collect him from here when we get to Adelaide?’ ‘You can. There is of course the small matter of payment. I would prefer to settle that now, if you don’t mind.’ Oh hell. Eva cursed herself. She’d left her handbag in her cabin. They’d have to go all the way there again. The minutes were ticking away fast. Joe would wonder where she had got to. ‘Would the morning be okay?’ she asked hopefully. ‘No, madam, I’m afraid not. I find people tend to be a bit forgetful in the mornings.’
Back at her cabin, the conductor seemed to take enormous pleasure in ever so slowly processing her credit card. Ever so slowly writing out a receipt, even though Eva said she didn’t need one. Then giving her a long lecture about the diseases cats could spread to humans. Half an hour must have passed since she and Joe had parted. It was nearly midnight. Would he still be awake? Of course he would be. Of course he wanted to see her again. And she dearly wanted to see him again. To kiss him again. After she’d finally said goodnight to the conductor, she was overtaken by a surprising fit of nerves.
She wished she had a full suitcase of clothes with her. Some make-up. A stylist, hairdresser and couturier.
He doesn’t mind what you look like, the voice said. It’s you he likes.
It’s Niamh Kennedy he likes.
That’s sort of you.
Good try, she answered.
She looked at herself in the mirror. Quickly washed her face. Took her hair out of the plait. Put it back in. Took it out again. It would have to do.
Shutting her cabin door quietly, she made her way to the carriage two down from hers and knocked lightly at the fifth door.
No answer. She knocked again. Still no answer. ‘Joe?’ she whispered.
Nothing. ‘Joe, it’s me. Niamh.’ Nothing again.
A noise to her left nearly made her jump out of her skin. It was a middle-aged couple, a bit the worse for wear. She smiled politely, pressing herself against the wall to give them room to pass. They stared at her curiously.
‘Lover’s tiff?’ the man asked sympathetically.
‘Something like that.’ She tried to smile.
One more knock. Still no answer. It was all Rex’s fault. It had taken so long Joe had fallen asleep.
In his cabin four carriages down in the other direction, Joseph lay on his bed.
Surely she would have come back by now? She’d been more than half an hour already. How long did it take to find the goods van and put a cat basket in there? He wanted her here with him. Now. In his arms again.
He smiled. He couldn’t help himself. She had felt wonderful. Beautiful. ‘Come on, Niamh,’ he said under his breath.
By half-past midnight he’d given up waiting. His heart was heavy. She’d obviously changed her mind.
For a moment he thought about going down to her cabin. But no. If she’d wanted to see him, she would have come back to his. And she hadn’t. With that unhappy thought he fell asleep.
Eva tossed and turned. Had she come on too strong? Should she have played harder to get? But she hadn’t wanted to be hard to get. She wanted to kiss him. Be in bed with him. Now. But she wasn’t.
With that unhappy thought she fell asleep.
Joseph woke before six. It took a minute to work out where he was.
Then he remembered everything. Niamh was on the train too, and she was supposed to be with him now, here. But for some reason she’d decided not to come back last night.
He lay there for a moment. It was no good. He had to talk it over with her. He got up and quickly dressed.
Eva woke. She remembered everything, straight away. She was on a train. With Joe. And she wanted to really be with Joe. In his cabin. In his bed. In his arms.
She lay there for a minute. It was no good. She wanted to see Joe again. Now. She was going to talk to him. Morning face or not, bed-head hair or not.
She pulled on yesterday’s shift dress, all she had with her.
She had just stepped into the corridor when she met him. They spoke at the same time. ‘Joe, about last night -‘ ‘Niamh, I’m sorry that ‘
The door beside them opened and an elderly man peered out. ‘Oh, sorry. I thought you were the conductor. I’d kill for a cup of tea.’
They smiled apologetically and moved down a little way. Eva tried again. ‘Joe, I just wanted to …’
Two children emerged from another cabin and tried to squeeze past them.
Joseph touched her arm. ‘Niamh, will you come back to my cabin and talk? It’s a bit busy out here.’
She nodded, then watched, puzzled, as he walked away from her. ‘Joe, where are you going?’
‘To my cabin.’
‘Isn’t it down that way?’ She pointed in the opposite direction.
It was his turn to look confused. ‘No, I’m in the front of the train.’
He watched as she went a bright pink then a very pale cream. ‘Not back there?’
‘No.’ It dawned on him the same time it dawned on her. He spoke first. ‘You did actually come to what you thought was my cabin last night?’
‘Yes, of course. As quickly as I could.’
They were instantly back to where they’d been the
night before. Eva moved closer to him. She felt his hand caress the side of her face. ‘Excuse me, please. This is a public thoroughfare. And a public place.’ It was their friend the conductor, carrying a tray of cups.
There wasn’t the time or the opportunity to recapture the mood. The conductor delivered their coffee and tea and practically shooed them down to the lounge car for breakfast. The carriages filled with noise as people woke up, got ready and walked up and down the corridors. The view changed outside their windows from hillsides and trees to the outskirts of Adelaide, houses and roads and shopping centres. They sat together in Joseph’s cabin, close beside one another. He broke the silence between them, stroking her hand and looking at her with a smile. ‘Next time I’m tying a big yellow ribbon to my door.’ She laughed. ‘And I’m leaving a trail of breadcrumbs.’ At the railway station they reclaimed a wide-awake Rex and found the hire car Joseph had pre-booked. They drove into the Adelaide city centre along a wide tree-lined road, past a museum, art gallery and elegant sandstone university buildings. Eva did the fastest shopping trip of her life, buying clothes and toothpaste, a toothbrush. Even if Joe
didn’t mind seeing her in the shift dress again, she felt much happier. She usually took more than a cat with her on an overnight trip.
By mid-morning they were on the main road heading north out of Adelaide toward the Clare Valley. Eva glanced at the back seat, checking on Rex. He seemed happy, in an expressionless kitten faced sort of way. Lainey would be pleased at how quickly he’d recovered. Lainey. Oh God, she’d forgotten to ring Lainey. How on earth was she going to explain all of this?
‘Joe, I’m sorry, can you stop at a phone box? I need to ring my friend Lainey. Let her know about Rex.’
‘Of course.’
Five minutes later she was in a phone box on the side of the road, in the shelter of some gum trees.
The phone was answered on the third ring. ‘Lainey Byrne speaking.’
‘Lainey, it’s me.’
‘Evie, hi! I’m so pleased to hear from you! How is the poor little fellow? I tried to ring you last night but the answering machine wasn’t working. Were you out on the town again?’
Not so much on the town as out of town, Eva thought. ‘Uhm, yes, I was out. But Rex is fine. Absolutely fine.’ The phone beeped and she quickly fed in some more coins. It was gobbling up her money.
‘Are you in a public phone box?’
‘I am,’ Eva admitted.
‘With Rex?’
‘He’s close by, yes.’
‘Is there something wrong with the phone at home?’
‘Uhm, no, I don’t think so.’
There was a pause on Lainey’s end. ‘Then why are you ringing from a phone box?’
‘It was the closest phone.’
‘The closest? To what?’
‘To me. The closest one I could find.’
‘Eva, where on earth are you?’
She swallowed hard. ‘In Adelaide.’
‘What!’
‘I’m in Adelaide. South Australia. With Joe.’
‘Joe?’
Eva kept her voice low. She didn’t think Joe could hear her, but the car was close by. ‘The English backpacker,’ she whispered.
‘Why are you whispering? Is he holding you captive or something?’
Eva laughed. ‘Oh no. No, I really want to be here.’
‘But what about Rex?’
‘He’s here too.’ Eva held the phone away from her ear as Lainey made a high-pitched sound.
‘Have you gone completely mad? Poor Rex has just had the most traumatic event of his life and you’ve flown him to Adelaide?’
‘Uhm, no, actually we didn’t fly.’
‘You drove? You kept him in a car for eight hours?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then how on earth did you get there?’ ‘On the train.’ Lainey’s screech nearly smashed the phone-box window. ‘Is he all right?’ Rex had been dozing in the basket most of the morning. ‘He seems very happy.’ There was a long pause from Lainey’s end. ‘Eva, enough joking around. What is going on? Is Rex safe? Are you safe, more to the point? When in God’s name did you decide to do this? You don’t even know this man. It’s complete madness.’ ‘Lainey, I’m fine, I promise. Better than fine. Rex is fine. And we’ll both be back in Melbourne tonight.’ ‘You’ve gone all the way to South Australia just for one day?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘And how are you getting back? Cycling? Skateboarding, perhaps?’ ‘No. This time we’re flying.’ ‘Evie, I really am very worried about you. Come on, be sensible.’ The phone beeped again. Eva had run out of coins. She spoke quickly. ‘Lainey, I promise I’m fine. I know what I’m doing. And I promise I’m looking after Rex.’ The call cut out then. As Eva hung up and came out
of the phone box, she thought about it. Be sensible? She was sick of being sensible. Being un-sensible was much more fun.
They drove north through the dry countryside of South Australia. At first there was plenty of conversation, before the car radio and the changing landscape around them slowly took their attention. To a soundtrack of classical music, they gazed out at bare hills covered in yellow stubble, dwarfed by the enormous blue sky. Occasional clumps of trees, some with bark peeling and twisting from their trunks, sent long black shadows across the road.
The Clare Valley was like a sudden oasis. The first curving rows of vineyards stood stark against sunburnt hills. They passed through several small towns, the road twisting and turning through the low hills. Soon there were vineyards as far as they could see, the leaves coloured with a hint of autumn reds and yellows.
They were just on the outskirts of the town of Clare when Eva noticed a sign: LORIKEET HILL WINES: NOW ENJOYED IN IRELAND. OPEN FOR LUNCH.
Joseph slowed the car. ‘Enjoyed in Ireland? Would you like to try it? Have some lunch perhaps?’
Rex gave a sudden plaintive mew from the back seat. ‘I think the mews have it,’ Eva said. Joseph parked the car next to a number of others in the
gravel carpark. As they got out and stretched, Eva breathed in the fresh air, taking in the scenery. The trees all around the winery had strangely black trunks and particularly bright green leaves. Another odd Australian species? she wondered.