Back on Track, page 17
The low glow of the reading lamp illuminated Ning’s wide smile and there was a sparkle in her eyes Judith realised she hadn’t seen much of lately.
“I feel like I’m back in my childhood,” Ning said. “Sometimes when my parents worked late my sisters and I would take our tea and huddle together in the lamplight.”
“Are any of your sisters in Australia?”
Ning shook her head. “They’re both in America. They keep promising to visit. We stayed with them before my boys started high school.”
“Of course. I remember that now. You were away for over a month.” Judith sipped more tea. “It doesn’t seem that long ago and yet your boys are grown and Peter’s going to be a dad.”
“Yes.” Ning’s eyes shone and then her face fell. She looked down quickly.
Judith thought of all the phone calls. “Everything’s all right with the baby, isn’t it?”
“Yes, yes. My daughter-in-law has kept very well and all the tests they have these days tell us the baby is good too…”
Her voice trailed off. Judith waited.
“They’re going to move in with me.”
“Peter and his wife and the baby?”
Ning nodded. “They want to save money to buy their own house.”
Judith leaned forward. In the low light it was hard to read the look on the other woman’s face.
“How are you feeling about that?”
“I know you don’t have children,” Ning said softly. “But for me, being a grandmother…it’s very special.”
“I’m sure it is.” Judith could only imagine. Having lived with a husband who was regularly drunk and sometimes violent with it, she’d been glad she’d had no children. She’d never dwelled on it. Ning’s marriage had been a happy one and she adored her children but Judith wondered how well it would work for Ning with them all living in her house. “Henry still lives at home too, doesn’t he?”
“Yes.” Ning nodded slowly. “We’ll all be together again. And I’ll be able to look after the baby once it’s older, so my daughter-in-law can go back to work.”
“Is that why you’re retiring?”
Once more Ning nodded.
Judith thought it a shame. “You’re such a good seamstress and your embroidery is exquisite. Won’t you miss it?” Even though Judith had struggled to see Ning’s expression clearly there was no missing the flash of despair that crossed her face in that moment.
Ning lowered her head quickly and took a sip of her tea. Judith did the same and thought about all the messages and calls Ning had been receiving.
“Your personal life is none of my business, Ning, but I…well, Ketty and I are sorry you’re leaving. It’s not just your sewing talents but you’re a well-respected member of our team. Are you sure it’s what you want?”
Ning continued to stare into her cup. “I do love working for Ketty but…I’m excited for the baby.” Her voice was so low Judith could barely hear it above the background noise of the train.
“Of course you are but do your son and daughter-in-law realise what they’re asking you to give up?”
“They’re both very…focused.”
Judith thought that an unusual choice of word. To her it sounded as if Peter and his wife were being selfish but then she didn’t have children. “I’m not prying, Ning, but while you’re helping them to save, what about your income? You’re young to retire.”
“My husband’s life insurance covered the house, so Peter doesn’t need to pay board and I don’t need much to live on.”
“Neither do I, but you still have one son at university and now the other is coming home with a wife and baby. Your expenses will go up.”
“Peter has it all worked out.” Ning nodded emphatically but just as quickly her shoulders drooped.
Judith imagined he did but she wondered if it was mutually beneficial. Free rent and potential childcare might help him but what about Ning’s future? “I’m sure Ketty would always find a place for you if you decided to come back to us.”
“As Peter reminds me, no-one is irreplaceable.”
Judith opened her mouth then closed it again. She had no idea what to say to that but she was fast becoming annoyed with Peter.
“Ketty will find someone else,” Ning said. “And she has a strong team with you right behind her, plus Birgit and Tien and Lacey, of course. That young woman has something extra.” Ning leaned a little closer and held Judith’s gaze. “Don’t you think?”
“I…yes…she’s definitely good with computers.”
“She’s very creative but I think maybe her home life is sad. Work is her happy place.”
“I wouldn’t know about that.” A prickle ran down Judith’s spine and she shivered even though the air was comfortably warm.
“She doesn’t say much but I think maybe her father is not a good man.”
Judith knew little about Lacey’s home life except that her mother had died many years ago and her gran more recently.
“She had a boyfriend,” Ning said. “But she’s gone quiet about him.”
Judith bristled at that. “That was my neighbour, Dean, and they’re not together any longer.”
“Oh, that’s sad.”
Judith swallowed the remains of her tea. It was very sad but none of Judith’s sympathy was for Lacey.
“I’m getting sleepy now,” Ning said. “Shall we try again?”
“Of course.” Judith shuffled off the bunk. She used the bathroom, but when she came out Ning was peering at her phone instead of being tucked up in bed.
“Have you got signal?”
“Yes.” Ning barely glanced at her before she began furiously tapping on her phone.
Judith made her way carefully up the ladder, eased between the sheets and turned out her light. She’d enjoyed the peppermint tea but she felt no closer to sleep than she had before her chat with Ning. And now she could see the glow from Ning’s phone so she obviously wasn’t sleeping any time soon either.
Judith didn’t get many text messages so typing on that tiny keyboard was a skill she lacked. Dean teased her about her sometimes strange responses. She smiled as she recalled the worst of her muddled texts. It had been a few days after their lovely Christmas lunch at Ketty’s. Ketty and Carlos had gone away to their separate families for New Year and Judith had called in to feed Ketty’s cat. She’d been about to head home when she got a text from Dean inviting her to share fish and chips with him. It had been good timing. There was a lovely shop near the bus stop on Oxford Street that made delicious ready-prepared meals. She’d messaged Dean to say she’d pick up a salad. When his response had been several laughing faces, she’d re-read her text. The jolly phone had changed it and she’d sent I’ll sick up a salad.
That had been the evening he’d quizzed her about Lacey.
twenty-one
The previous December – Randwick, Sydney
The remains of the takeaway fish and chips were spread across the table. Replete, Judith sipped her wine. Outside the evening was hot and muggy. Dean’s air conditioner was making quite a racket but not lowering the temperature in the apartment all that well. The warmth was making them both lazy.
Dean popped a chip into his mouth. “Not quite the calibre of Ketty’s Christmas lunch but that was nice fish.” The corner of his mouth quirked up. “Even the salad wasn’t bad for one that you sicked up.”
“Stop,” she said as he laughed again.
“Ketty’s food was pretty good,” he said.
“She loves to feed people.”
“And Carlos is good on the drinks. They make the perfect couple.”
“Oh no, they’re just good friends.”
“You’re never too old for love.” Dean grinned and Judith’s cheeks warmed even more.
“They’ve known each other for years, that’s all,” she said sharply. “Besides, Carlos is only here on a visa, he has to go back to Spain eventually.”
“They looked pretty comfortable together to me.”
“That’s as may be but they’re simply friends.” She sniffed. “Ketty has many friends.”
“She’s a generous lady. Lacey likes her. She sang Ketty’s praises.”
“You two seemed to have your heads together an awful lot over lunch.”
“No offence,” he pulled a cheesy grin, “but it was good to have someone around my age at the table.”
“She’s only in her mid-twenties.”
“And I’m only thirty.”
Judith took a measured sip of her wine. She had to concede he was right. The rest of Ketty’s luncheon guests were much older than Dean. They all had quite a few years on Judith for that matter. Except for Klaus.
“Klaus and I aren’t ancient yet,” she said.
“Tell me about Klaus. He certainly had his eye on you.”
“There’s nothing to tell.” She pulled herself up straight. “He can do what he likes. I’m not in need of a man in my life.” Klaus had tried to engage her in conversation but she’d kept busy helping with the food and washing dishes. He was a nice man, kind and interesting, but that was as much as she would admit.
“Jude, Jude, Jude.” Dean shook his head. “What am I going to do with you?”
Dean was the only one she tolerated shortening her name. Her ex-husband had always called her Jude and she’d hated it, but somehow when Dean called her Jude it was fun and she allowed it. She reached for the wine bottle he’d put in a bucket of ice and refilled her glass, wanting to divert the conversation. The sudden extra loud rattle of the air conditioner gave it to her.
“Have you heard any more about when they’re going to replace your air conditioner? The old one’s hardly working.” She put the replenished glass against her cheek, enjoying the brief chill before taking a sip.
“Old grumble-guts down the back doesn’t reckon it will happen.”
The man in the apartment at the very back of the building had been there even longer than Judith. He wasn’t the easiest person to get along with but Judith was always civil to him and usually got a decent response. “Why not?”
“He reckons the owner is up to something, perhaps going to sell the building.”
That gave Judith a moment’s fright before she thought it through. “In that case it would be in his best interest to have the place in good repair.”
She sipped the chilled wine and glanced around Dean’s apartment. It had been painted before he’d moved in a few years earlier. Her place had been painted once since she’d moved in over twenty years ago. It needed doing again. Her aircon was only eight years old but the carpets were worn, a couple of her windows were jamming and the cupboard under her laundry trough was more rust than metal. Some updates wouldn’t go astray.
“She didn’t mention a partner,” Dean said.
Judith dragged her gaze back to him. “Who?”
“Lacey. She didn’t say anything about anyone special in her life.”
“I wouldn’t have any idea. We don’t discuss our personal lives at work.” That wasn’t true, of course. Judith heard plenty about Birgit’s boyfriend – too much detail; it was a fiery relationship. Ning was always talking about her family and the upcoming grandchild got an almost daily mention. Tien regaled them constantly with the latest reality TV show updates.
“We’ve organised to catch up.”
“Pardon?”
“We’re meeting up again in a few days.”
“Who is?”
He frowned. “Have you had a brain fade, Jude? Lacey and me.”
“Do you think that’s wise?”
“Is there something about her I don’t know that I should?”
“I don’t know anything about her.”
“Someone you’ve worked with for several years? You must have some inside goss. She’s not a smoker, is she? I didn’t see evidence of that. No weird habits I should know about?”
He studied her intently with eyes that sparkled and that cheeky look on his face.
“Would it change your mind if I did?”
“No.”
“Then I guess you can find out for yourself.”
She took a gulp of wine. She’d never say as much to him but Dean was the closest to a son that she’d get. She cared for him very much. She didn’t think Lacey was right for him but it wasn’t her place to tell him.
twenty-two
Day Two – On board the Ghan
“Ketty.” The voice calling her was gentle but insistent. She pulled away from an image of Judith dressed as Mother Christmas sitting on Carlos’s knee, both of them grinning knowingly at her.
“Ketty?” The voice called again. The dream faded as she opened her eyes. Carlos stood a short distance away, peering at her, his head at the same height as hers.
“I’m on the train.” She blinked and looked around.
“Yes, you are.” Carlos smiled. “Were you dreaming of somewhere else?”
She nodded, the fantasy of her sleep world being replaced by the reality of the cabin, which was light despite the blinds being closed.
“What time is it?”
“Nearly eight o’clock. I’ve brought you a cup of tea.”
“That’s kind of you.” She propped herself up, pushing away the nightmarish memory of a deceptive Carlos.
He handed the cup up to her. “Do you mind if I go to breakfast without you? I’ve woken up feeling extremely hungry.”
“No, you go. I took ages to go to sleep and then I must have slept deeply. I’ll be a while getting organised.”
Once he’d gone she settled back against the pillows and sipped her tea. She’d lain awake for a long time thinking about Carlos and Judith and then the things Lacey had told her about her home life and about Judith. There was a common denominator – Judith – and Ketty had pondered how she was going to tackle her good friend about her behaviour. Not reaching any conclusion that was palatable and with her empty mug in one hand, Ketty eased her way carefully down the ladder. It made her think of Maurice. He’d turn her descent into some derogatory reference to aging, no doubt. She frowned as she remembered he’d been in her dream too, wearing a huge paper Christmas hat and shouting “you’re too old, Ketty”.
She rolled her shoulders to dispel the image and opened the blind to be greeted by a flat landscape stretching as far as she could see. Grey knee-high grass was scattered across the ever-present vibrant red earth and the odd stunted tree reached gnarled limbs towards the brilliant blue sky. The view made her think of Lacey, whose creativity was flourishing in this strange new terrain. She was important to Ketty Clift Couture but Judith was obviously making her unhappy.
Ketty pondered Judith’s comments about Carlos. It was problematic but not as urgent as the clash with Lacey. Like Lacey, Judith had been timid and unsure of her strengths when Ketty had first employed her. Since then she’d proved Ketty was right to have that faith in her over and over again. Judith was forthright, well-organised, a capable seamstress and an excellent pattern maker, who also managed the paperwork with efficiency. Both women were important to the future of Ketty Clift Couture. There had to be a way forward. Ketty simply needed to work out what it was.
By the time she got to the lounge car it was almost empty but she was pleased to see Val and Warren just in front of her heading in to breakfast.
“Are you on your own?” Warren asked.
“Yes, I slept in.”
“So did we,” Val said. “Join us if you’d like.”
Ketty was delighted to be seated with them – the perfect opportunity to find out a little more. On the way to their table they passed Carlos and Tien seated with two women, and Lacey and Birgit with Rory and Rhys at another table. They all said good morning, Rory’s “Good morning, Ketty” the loudest of all. Of Judith and Ning there was no sign.
Their waiter was Simon again. He remembered Ketty’s name, his smile was warm and genuine and his waiting skills were perfect, even when the train wobbled a little as it did from time to time. He poured water into their glasses with expertise and not a drop spilled.
“Thank you, Simon.” Ketty glanced out at the sparse landscape topped by a cloudless blue sky. “It looks like a beautiful day out there.”
“Perfect weather for your daytrip, Ketty.” He glanced around their group. “What have you chosen for your off-train experience?”
“I’ve never been to Alice Springs before,” Ketty said. “So I decided on the Alice Explorer tour.”
“Great choice. You’ll get to see quite a bit.”
“I wanted to do that one,” Val said, “but Warren wants to see birds and animals so we’re going to Alice Springs Desert Park.”
“You’ll enjoy that too,” Simon said.
“I hope so.” Val gave Warren a sharp look.
“We’ve been to Alice Springs before,” Warren said.
“That was years ago and only for a couple of days.” Val straightened her cutlery. “I can hardly remember it.”
“I’m sure you’ll all enjoy your day,” Simon said diplomatically. “I’ll be back in a moment to take your order.”
Ketty glanced over the menu. It had several choices including quandong and hazelnut pancakes, which sounded very tempting.
“I’ll be having a full breakfast,” Warren declared and Val immediately suggested he have the fruit and yoghurt parfait instead.
“You overdid it last night,” she said and nodded at Ketty. “He was up at two am looking for his indigestion tablets.”
Warren cut in. “There was something spicy in the beef cheeks, that’s all.”
“Nothing to do with all the red wine you drank,” Val said.
Ketty tipped her head to the menu again and observed them through lowered lashes. Warren was getting quite defensive and Val seemed to enjoy pressing his buttons.
“We’re on holiday,” Warren said.
Val sniffed. “Every day’s a holiday for you.”
“Except when you line me up for childminding.”
“Listen to him.” Val turned her attention to Ketty who looked up. “Anyone would think he didn’t like his grandchildren. Do you have any, Ketty?”
