Alison and Mia sat in the café across the road from the bank and ordered a light lunch.
“When is he going to call?” asked Mia.
“Oh, I don’t know. I wish I could remember everything Geoff Bowden said. I think sometime today. I’m so nervous. What will I say? What if I can’t say anything? After two years, what if he doesn’t even want to see me …”
“Settle down, Mum. You’ll talk yourself into being a mute!”
“I know. I should visit your Nan to get my mind off it. But I want to stay in the hotel room in case he rings.”
Mia shook her head. “Um, you may not have noticed, but your phone is a mobile.”
“Yes, but I don’t want our first conversation to be held in public. If I can manage to get any words out, there are things I want to say.”
“Okay, okay, spare me the details. I’ll still visit Nan anyway. Should I take her something?”
“She asked about a book that she bought from Bertie Birman a few days ago. Maybe you can take that to her.”
When the phone finally rang an hour later Alison was back in the hotel room. She took a depth breath.
“Hello.”
“Ali, it’s me. Has it been six months yet?”
Peter’s voice was strained and he was clearly heavily medicated, but Alison took in every detail and when the all-too-brief call was finished she sat on the balcony overlooking the beach and replayed his voice over and over in her mind:
Will you still have me?
I love you so much.
Thinking of you kept me alive.
If it weren’t for the key with your name on it…
I can’t wait to hold you – but not too tight, I have a few bones that still need mending.
Without realising that she had moved inside, Alison found herself in the bathroom opening a small bottle of prescription pills. She tipped them out and watched as they dissolved under a stream of water and drained away with the pain.
As the sensational news of the rescue of an Australian soldier missing in action for two years was broadcast around the world Alison lay across the bed and fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.