Found: His Family. Nicola Marsh

been better,’ she finally admitted, fiddling with the cash register, dropping her gaze to her fingernails, which were chewed to the quick courtesy of the earth-shattering news she’d received about Toby two days ago.

      ‘Look, why don’t you sit down and I’ll get you a drink?’

      Before she could blink, he had scouted around the counter, taken gentle hold of her arm and was leading her to a corner table.

      ‘You don’t understand…’she started to say, shrugging off his hold while biting down on her lower lip to stop herself from crying. ‘I need to close up before we talk.’

      ‘Let me.’

      He strode to the door, flipped the sign to ‘closed’ and turned the lock. The soft clunk of metal on metal resounded in her head as she suddenly realised her predicament: she was locked in her shop with Jed, the guy who’d broken her heart. The guy she’d never wanted to see again as long as she lived. The guy who’d fathered her son.

      People streamed past the floor-to-ceiling glass windows as they bustled along Acland Street, St Kilda’s busiest thoroughfare any time of day or night, and she stared at them in anger, wishing she could be like them, without a care in the world. Jed had been her past and now, thanks to a cruel twist of fate, he could become her present.

      ‘I was surprised to hear from you after all this time,’ he said, leaning against the counter and looking way too handsome in his pinstripe designer suit, pale green shirt and matching tie, his dark hair curling around his collar the way it used to. ‘An Express Post letter seemed a bit formal. You could’ve called if it was that urgent.’

      No, she couldn’t. Holding herself together following the doctor’s appointment had been hard enough without hearing Jed’s voice, hearing the judgement and censure when she told him the truth, a truth that would blow him away.

      ‘No, I needed to see you. The phone wouldn’t cut it for this.’

      ‘I’m intrigued.’

      He smiled, a simple action which illuminated his eyes with warmth. Similar to the reaction his light grip had on her as he guided her to the table, infusing her with a reassuring heat she hadn’t felt since she’d last hugged her dad.

      Dad…Mum…I wish you were here. I need you so much; Toby needs you so much.

      How many times had she sent this silent plea heavenward over the last two years since her parents had unexpectedly died in a freak storm? Too many times to count and, once again, it went unheralded.

      If her parents were around, she wouldn’t be about to have this conversation with a man she’d never intended to see again. They could’ve been tested as donors, the odds in favour that one of them would’ve been compatible and everything would’ve been OK.

      Instead she’d been forced to contact Jed out of sheer desperation and, now he was here, she still had no idea if he would help her. She’d thought she’d known him inside and out at one stage.

      She’d been wrong.

      ‘Before you pass out on me, how about I get you a coffee? Then we can have this talk that’s making you look like you’ve got a story and a half to tell me.’

      She shook her head, finding the experience of being waited on by Jed in her own shop strangely surreal.

      ‘If anyone needs a hit of caffeine, you do,’ he said, his astute gaze sweeping over her as if he expected her to faint at his feet any second.

      ‘That would be great,’ she said, too tired to resist, too worried to argue.

      Besides, he was right. She needed a jolt to jumpstart her brain, which had partially shut down since she’d seen the doctor and he’d delivered his mind-numbing news in a soul-destroying, terrifying week.

      ‘Mind if I have one? I could use a caffeine boost myself.’

      ‘Of course! I’m sorry, my mind is elsewhere.’

      ‘Don’t apologise. Flat white OK?’

      She nodded and watched him handle the espresso machine like a pro. Dressed like that, she could imagine him with an army of subordinates serving him any type of coffee he chose any time of the day yet here he was, looking at home in the cosy space behind the counter of Payet’s Patisserie. Surreal didn’t come close to describing this bizarre encounter and it was about to get worse. A whole lot worse.

      ‘Help yourself to any cake you like,’ she said, knowing she should get up and do it herself but finding the lethargy that had invaded her body the last few days had spread now that she’d finally sat down.

      Stopping wasn’t a good thing. Keeping busy was the key. The key to coping. To not focusing on the past. To not thinking about the future. It was how she’d survived the last few days, how she’d struggled to mend her broken heart after leaving Jed, how she’d raised Toby, how she’d always been the strong one in her family.

      A family which had been decimated by tragedy, a family now consisting of Toby and her. And Jed, if he came through for them.

      Yet right now, as strong as she tried to be, it felt good to let someone else take charge for a change, even if that someone was the last man on earth she would’ve approached, given a choice.

      ‘Thanks, but I’m watching my weight.’

      He patted his waistline after placing two steaming coffees in front of them and smiled, a small, self-deprecating smile, and for the first time since Toby’s diagnosis she found herself responding.

      The slight upturning of her lips at the corners felt foreign, like muscles stretching after the first Pilates class she’d ever taken, yet it felt good at the same time. Who would’ve thought Jed could actually make her smile again after what they’d been through, what they’d said to each other at the end?

      However, her smile vanished as quickly as it had come. What was she thinking? Toby was dying and she was wasting time trading smiles with Jed. She needed to get on with things, with convincing him to help. Her momentary lapse had to be anxiety, a purely nervous reaction to a life-threatening situation and the role Jed would play. She hoped.

      ‘Ready to talk?’

      Nodding, she took a quick gulp of coffee which scalded her tongue. Good, it might take the edge off her urge to bawl on his broad shoulders.

      ‘Whatever it is, it must be pretty bad for you to approach me after all this time.’

      Cradling the hot mug in her hand, she peered at him over the rim, liking the changes the years had wrought. The smattering of grey in his black hair, the fine lines radiating from the corners of his striking eyes adding a seriousness to the boyish face which had once charmed her into loving him.

      Though she’d dated through uni and been serious with one guy for about eight months, the minute she’d set foot on Dunk Island, walked into the restaurant for her first real job since graduating top of her French-pastry class and spied Jed she’d fallen. Hard.

      They’d created magic together before her dreams deflated like a saggy soufflé.

      Banishing her useless memories, she said, ‘I need your help.’

      She had to keep it simple, short, straightforward. Lay the facts out before him, state her case, appeal to his better side, the side she knew he had despite how he’d pushed her away all those years ago.

      ‘With what?’ He paused, fixing her with the soul-searching stare only he did so well, his confident grin grating on her thinly stretched nerves. ‘You know I’m a supportive kind of guy.’

      ‘Yeah, right. Like the way you supported me right out of our relationship?’

      Where had that come from? Why did she sound so accusatory, so annoyed, as though she still cared?

      Shutters descended over his eyes in an instant, blocking out the warmth, shutting her out as he always had when he didn’t want to