The Affair by Bunty Avieson Page B

When she reached the edge of the lawn, she took off her sandals and enjoyed the feel of the spiky cool grass beneath her feet. She walked slowly across the park, skirting around a cricket match and picking her way through groups of people, some alone, some clumped together. In the centre of Rushcutters Park was a kiosk with a few plastic tables and chairs.
    Most people bought their toasted foccacia and coffee at the kiosk and took them to their chosen pocket of grass. A gentle slope provided many vantage points to watch the boats coming and going on the harbour. Nina gave her order to the young woman behind the counter and looked around the park, wondering where she would sit. The woman handed across her foccacia and coffee and a paper serviette. She smiled at Nina, a simple, friendly smile. ‘Enjoy,’ she said before she took the next order, but the spontaneous friendliness was enough. It made Nina feel good. She picked up a discarded newspaper from a plastic table, tucked it under her arm and headed for one of the magnificent fig trees that made the park such a popular spot. Half-a-dozen people were already taking shade under the tree’s sprawling canopy.
    Nina nestled herself between two massive roots that protruded through the dirt and settled back against the trunk. She appreciated its rough solidity through the thin fabric of her shirt. A cool breeze came off the water. The leaves above her shimmied and twirled, making a gentle, dappled light. There was so much to watch and enjoy as lifebuzzed around her. The loneliness, her anger at James, all of it was forgotten as the last of the tension in her body dissolved.
    *
    Leo had spotted Nina just as she was crossing the grass. She was a graceful figure, lithe and dainty, moving with sensual elegance. She wasn’t tall or imposing but she had a presence. It was in the way she carried herself. With her long legs and her short skirt she attracted the attention of most male eyes. Only the men that were more interested in each other didn’t look up and follow her progress as she threaded her way through the different groups of people to the kiosk.
    Leo was chatting with Nick, his sailing partner, at the edge of the grass. They had met for breakfast to relive the previous night’s satisfying victory and then spent a few hours checking the boat and making minor repairs. They were just winding up. Nick was about to get into his car and Leo would walk across the park to his apartment.
    Nick spotted Nina first. Just 24, good-looking and full of testosterone, Nick had two interests in life – sailing and women. The merest hint of the female form in his peripheral vision acted as a trigger.
    ‘Whoa, check her out,’ he declared, interrupting Leo in mid-conversation.
    Leo glanced in the direction Nick was looking and saw what had caught his friend’s eye: Nina making her way from the kiosk, shoes held casually in one hand, juggling a paper bag and coffee cupin the other. Leo recognised her immediately. The girl from the taxi the previous evening. She seemed to bounce ever so lightly on the balls of her feet, gliding across the grass.
    Nick gave a low whistle. ‘I’d give her one, and then one more.’
    Leo felt his hackles rise. ‘Hey, lay off. I know her.’ Leo was as surprised as Nick at the words that came out of his mouth and the sharp tone he heard himself using.
    Nick shrugged. Two young women in shorts were unloading hampers of food from the boot of their car. In an instant he was over helping them, leaving Leo alone to watch Nina settle herself against a tree.
    *
    Nina licked the last of the melted butter from her fingers, then screwed up the paper bag and relaxed into the tree trunk. All about her people laughed and played and enjoyed the day. She looked at all the high-rise apartments circling the park. She fancied they were like giant filing cabinets that had spilled their contents out onto the grass. She let her thoughts wander, disconnected images passed through