The Same Deep Water by Lisa Swallow Read Free Book Online Page B

continued. On days I didn’t reply, Guy would send funny memes until I’d relent and respond.  I can only cope with a finite number of funny cat pictures in one day.
    “I should write one too, just things like places I want to visit. Not a tattoo though.” Erica shakes her head. “Still can’t believe you did that!”
    “I might not stop at one.”
    I’m half-serious.
    We head to the city, despite the fact I prefer to stay out of the place at weekends, but Erica’s flown from Melbourne to visit and she wants to compare Perth to our home. She was horrified when I chose to move to the loneliest city in the world, isolating myself the same way Perth is. Perth is more than 2500 miles to the nearest Australian city. I’d hoped moving would help, not appreciating that even though the stress was good because I got the job I wanted, the relocation still had an effect on me. I underestimated the strength of my pull to the familiarity of friends and family. But I’m stronger than I thought and I’m pulling through. Slowly.
    “Which one?” Erica asks.
    I indicate the small shop tucked between a real estate agent and a bookshop. “There isn’t much room!”
    “The place is more coffee shop than cafe.”
    “Evidently” She wrinkles her nose and sits, pulling a face at the crumbs left on the table by previous occupants.
    I check out the staff behind the long, marble counter and spot Ross. Immediately, I duck my head. I’d hoped he wouldn’t be here because Erica is bound to say something I’m sure will call me out.
    “I’ll buy the coffees! What would you like?” I ask.
    “Vanilla latte.” She doesn’t look up from the menu.
    Ross is serving another customer, so I’m served by somebody else, and avoid another attempt to hide my attraction to him, deliberately not looking in his direction. When I return to the table, Erica’s smirk says everything.
    “That’s him.” She sucks the froth from her spoon and indicates Ross.
    “Shush!” I grab her hand.
    “Why sit so you can hardly see him? You could flirt with him from here.”
    “I don’t want to flirt with him!”
    “Jeez, I would.” She sips from her cup. “But, out of respect to you, I won’t.”
    Erica loves to flirt, and especially enjoys shooting down in flames anybody who hits on her in an obnoxious way. She’s half a foot shorter than I am, complains she’s average everything; but Erica is also a master of disguise and has an impressive array of make-up and clothes. Her hair is currently blonde; last time I saw her, it was as brown as mine. One thing’s certain; Erica’s never short of attention.
    I tear open a sugar sachet and tip the contents into my coffee. “I don’t want to get involved with somebody.”
    “A date or two wouldn’t hurt.”
    At school, I didn’t bother with boyfriends, instead spending all my time studying. Same when I went to uni. Sure, I had boyfriends and went through the whole relationship make and break cycle once with a guy from my creative writing class, then gave up. Luckily, I got bored before he did. Battling the dark moods was enough, facing more relationship breakdowns would have added to the spiral.
    “How’s the job? Any better?” asks Erica.
    I’ve whinged to Erica plenty of times, my excitement over the role tempered within weeks, thanks to my treatment by the boss. Did Pam have the same baptism of fire when she started out? I haven’t figured Pam’s age yet or the trajectory her career took but she seems to think being a bitch is acceptable people management.
    “I’m not sure Pam thinks I can do the job.”
    “Of course you can! Don’t let somebody ruin what you want to achieve. Just don’t stay if the job’s making you unhappy, it’s not worth the stress. You can always look for another job and you’ll have experience.”
    “How’s life as a post-grad?” I reply.
    “Good. Stop changing the subject.”
    “I hope you didn’t come over here to mother me.”
    “Fine!”
    My phone