the desire to be with one special person was something that came with age. Maybe that was it; at the ripe old age of thirty-eight, perhaps he was finally heading towards maturity.
The faultless autumn morning in Melbourne couldn’t be overlooked. He had time to head out for a run before he went over to Jem’s place to put up the painting he had bought her for her birthday.
A light breeze caressed the back of his neck as he pounded the pavements from his apartment block just behind the Exhibition Centre down to Albert Park Lake.
The sun, suspended between broken clouds, splintered the surface of the lake as he ran past the sailing club. He ran wide around a swan with her waddling cygnets, and then he fell back in step beside the shimmering section of the water’s edge again.
Running always gave Evan the space to think, and the only thing on his mind this morning was Maddie. Last night, she hadn’t blatantly turned him down; he hadn’t given her the chance to actually say the word no, but he suspected that was going to be her response. Perhaps that was the attraction. Perhaps if she’d said yes, he wouldn’t be so obsessed by her, by the thought of her bum in those figure-hugging jeans, the allure of her caramel-coloured hair tidied into a neat ponytail he wanted to release and run his fingers through.
*
When he arrived at Jem’s place, Evan pulled his toolbox from the boot of his swish black Audi TT and then pressed the remote on his key ring to lock it and set the alarm. Holly thought his car was unnecessarily flashy and that he would always love it more than any woman; sometimes he was inclined to agree with her.
‘Evan!’ Jem pulled open the door to her unit that sat a couple of streets back from the beach in the trendy suburb of Albert Park. She enveloped her grandson in as big a hug as she could manage, considering she only came up to his chest.
‘Before I set you to work, have a slice of cake.’ Jem disappeared along a narrow corridor until she reached the open-plan kitchen and lounge. ‘It’s a lemon drizzle, freshly baked this morning,’ she added when he set down his toolbox.
‘You’re a star. Now tell me, is it better than the birthday cake?’
She scrunched up her nose. ‘I didn’t complain too much about that as your mother arranged it from a caterer, but next time I want Maddie’s number.’
‘Don’t we all?’ He had known it wouldn’t be long before Jem mentioned Maddie.
‘You know, I could’ve sworn she’d jump at the chance to go out with you.’ She cut a slice of cake for Evan and a smaller one for herself. ‘You need a woman in your life.’ She made her point with the knife still in hand.
He was glad he had a mouthful of cake so she couldn’t see him smirk. The lecture sounded all too familiar because the women in his family had formed a united front to get him married off. Last week it had been Holly telling him he was going to be forty and alone if he wasn’t careful; a few weeks ago his mum had taken him aside and asked him whether he had anyone serious in his life. He hadn’t prolonged the conversation with either of them because there was nothing to tell.
‘Don’t worry about me.’ He devoured the cake, including the final crumbs, then slipped the plate into the hot soapy water in the sink. ‘Now where do you want me to put this new painting of yours?’
Once Jem showed him the section of wall where she wanted it hung, he said, ‘I’m glad you like it. It took me forever to think of something for you.’ He rummaged through the toolbox to find a spirit level. ‘What do you buy the girl who has everything?’
When Jem laughed it was like music to his ears, always had been.
‘Where did you find the painting?’ she asked.
He tapped his nose. ‘Let’s just say that your friend Stan tipped me off.’ He’d found it in an unassuming tiny gallery not far from Melbourne’s Central Business District, but he would never have known it was there had it not been for the covert detective phase prior to her birthday.
‘Well it’s bright and colourful. Exactly what I wanted.’
Evan pencilled marks on the wall and used the spirit level to get the position of the hooks just right before he