was proud of and things that didn’t matter all that much to me. And friends seeing the house in a mess was one of those things I didn’t really care about.
Patrick wasn’t a friend though. He was more than just a quick shag, but I wasn’t quite so comfortable with him that I was prepared for him to see me in all my semi-slovenly glory.
Which meant the next few hours passed relatively quickly, as my initial ‘cursory tidy’ turned into a semi-serious top to bottom clean of my whole place. There was just enough time to shower and get dressed before the doorbell rang.
I opened it to find him with an open smile on his face and a bottle in each hand. When he held them up, I saw it was a bottle of red wine and a bottle of whiskey.
“I didn’t know what kind you were so I covered the bases,” he said.
I pointed at the wine. “I’m the kind that believes you should finish the wine before making a start on the whiskey.”
“Ah, one of my kind.”
I took him through to the living room and proceeded to get us a couple of glasses.
“I was thinking pizza or Thai for dinner,” I told him.
“Both excellent choices.”
“Pizza goes better with red wine, do you think?”
“I find pizza goes with everything.”
I smiled as I walked back in. “Excellent.”
I pulled my phone out and brought up my favourite pizza place.
“What do you want?”
“I’m pretty easy.”
I looked at him. “You’re not one of those weirdos who hates pineapple on pizza are you?”
He laughed. “No. I love pineapple on my pizza.”
I didn’t know why that was a relief. “Brilliant. Barbecue chicken, cheese and garlic, and…?” I looked up at him.
“Three pizzas?” he asked, a quirky humour in his eyes.
I nodded. “One each plus cheese and garlic.”
“It’s good cheese and garlic?”
I nodded again. “The best.”
“All right. A third?”
“Yup.”
“Surprise me.”
I grinned and picked one I thought he should try, having no idea if he’d like it or not. After I placed the order, I picked up my wine glass and settled on the couch with him.
“So, how did you get into security?” I asked him.
He kicked his head as he swallowed. “The team and I were in the military together. We served in the same unit and became more like family than anything else.” He scrubbed a hand over his chin. “After the last near-death experience, I think we all just kind of felt like we’d done our time. Chaos and I started talking about life after. Started out kinda whimsical, but the others seemed into the idea of a security company. We could use our skills but have less imminent danger to our lives. I can’t really remember when we decided on it, but it just happened. About four or five years ago we all settled in Adelaide and got started. We were lucky business took off. How about you? Did you always want to be a teacher?”
I shrugged. “Sort of. I always liked school, so I decided not to leave. While I studied, I coached tennis and I got a job after I graduated.”
“You play tennis?”
I nodded noncommittally. “I play passable tennis. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m all that good.”
“Clearly good enough to coach.”
“At high school level,” I laughed.
“You still coach?”
I nodded. “Yep. Conveniently makes up a fair chunk of my mandatory co-curricular. You play sport?”
“At school, it was cricket. Since then, not really.”
“What about the team?”
He smirked like the idea of any of them playing sports was ridiculous. “Nico games, but I wouldn’t call it sport. Tank’s pretty big on boxing, but it’s just a hobby. Rollie’s convinced sex counts as a marathon. And Chaos has, up until recently, been far too uptight for organised sports.”
“You boys really didn’t skimp on the nicknames, did you?”
He snorted. “Comes with the territory.”
“Tell me more about them,” I asked.
So, while we waited for our pizzas, he told me about his team. He was so animated as he talked about them, and I could tell there was a lot of love between them, even if I was also sure they wouldn’t use such words with each other.
As we ate, I repaid the favour and told him about my friends. Not that we’d got up to half the shit they had, despite our best efforts. My three best friends had been in my life since school and thankfully had nothing to do with my mother and her chosen lifestyle.
“I don’t see Hannah as much