Ask Me to Stay by Elise K Ackers Page B

tossed the cloth in the sink and walked towards her.
    She pushed away from the doorframe and stepped around him. ‘Can I get you some coffee?’
    He watched her. Smiled when she looked back. ‘I’d love some coffee.’
    He imagined her mugs were the same as everyone else’s. With only a few stores to choose from in town, variety was a luxury. Originality came only to those willing to travel far or browse the web. Unique gifts from around the world were showcase pieces in Hinterdown. But no one seemed to mind that they mostly all shopped at R. M. Williams, the bush outfitter. Or that most of the women wore earrings by Holly Bates, who left fliers around town and sold at the annual school fete. These things united them and made them a community in a way that those in a larger town couldn’t understand.
    ‘Tell me about Bree,’ Ethan said. He wanted to sit – he still felt a little foggy – but the kitchen table was on the other side of the room. ‘I mean, I knew her when we were at school – she and Dean were close and they were dating for a while before I left. But what was she like as a woman?’
    Sammy watched the water come to boil. ‘What do you want to know?’
    ‘Tell me why Dean loved her.’
    She looked up, and he thought he might have seen understanding in her eyes. Her fingertips grazed his forearm, then she reached past him for the container of coffee. ‘Bree lived with passion. She put her whole heart into everything she did. If it was dinner, it was a banquet. If it was a daytrip, it was a treasure hunt.’
    She spooned two teaspoons into each mug. Poured the water. She topped hers up with milk and left his black. He thanked her for the drink and followed her to the table.
    As they settled, she said, ‘Bree made everyone feel vital. She was a listener, everyone’s confidante, you know? And she kept people’s secrets. I reckon she died with them all.’
    Ethan watched her closely, looking for a tell, or a change in her expression. There was nothing. He needed a map legend to know when something mattered to this woman.
    ‘God, she loved Dean. And those kids. She’d just light up when she saw them. She and Dean used to have lunch together every day. And she’d look forward to it every day. It was sweet. She’d leave him notes around the house. I saw one once that just said, “You’re the light of my life.” They’d been married six years at the time. And as far as I knew, they weren’t celebrating an occasion. They were just celebrating each other.’
    She looked away, tapping her fingers on the table.
    He leaned forward. ‘Nina’s going to be just like her, isn’t she?’
    Sammy shook her head. ‘Neenz is going to be better. Because she’s got a lot of her dad in her, too. She’s so brave, so steady. She’ll survive anything life throws at her – you’ve got to admire that.’
    A bird call outside moved her eyes to the window. That big blue sky Ethan loved filled the view from where they sat.
    ‘Bree’s going to leave a hole,’ Sam murmured.
    He took her hand and held it. After a moment she looked down at their interlocked fingers. She sat very still.
    ‘Now tell me about you,’ he said.
    Her fingers slipped from his and disappeared beneath the table. ‘You know all there is to know.’
    ‘That’s bullshit.’
    He hadn’t meant to swear. He wasn’t even sure where that flash of temper had come from, but there was something like a skin of urgency around his heart now and each beat bruised it, frayed it. He had to know everything about her.
    ‘Do you still play the guitar?’ He remembered her sitting on the hood of his dad’s ute, absently plucking strings and humming a long-forgotten tune.
    ‘No time for it any more. There’s always something else that needs doing.’
    ‘What about woodworking? Do you still build?’
    ‘I only took that class because you were in it, Ethan. I haven’t built more than a spice rack in my life.’
    ‘It was a good spice rack.’
    She