Jealous Storm by Jack Stroke (book recommendations .txt) 📕

focus on tomorrow the less I enjoy today. And tomorrow.”

They wandered out of the hall, locking up behind them.

“I know you’re anxious for this whatever it is to start, but it will probably be better if you just chill and let it happen.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Ben said, his words agreeing even if his tone didn’t.

9

“God, Mum. Why are we doing this?”

“For goodness sake, Megan. Do you have to complain about every little thing?” Joan turned to Ben. “You probably don’t realise this, Ben, but there was a time when your Mum loved to get dressed up. Love it. It was her favourite thing to do in the whole world.”

“Yeah, because I was going out. Not dressing up to stay home like a lunatic.”

They were sitting around the owner’s cottage in Paradise by the Bay, all four of them. Megan, Ben, Joan and Amber. All of them dressed up nicely. Ben even in a shirt with a collar.

“Remind me to get some photos later,” Joan said.

“Oh, great. There goes another three hours of my life I’ll never get back.”

Joan stopped, resting her hands on her ample hips. “Megan, you are not going to ruin this for all of us. This is Ben’s special night, and we’re going to celebrate in style. He has finished school. It’s a big step in the young man’s life.”

“I swear, Mum, if you start crying, I’m done.”

Amber smiled, content, the bickering warm and familiar, like a favourite blanket. She hadn’t been in the owner’s cottage as much of late. She wasn’t exactly sure why. There was something there. A tension. Although possibly she was imagining it.

“I just don’t see why we couldn’t have celebrated in our normal clothes,” Megan went on.

“It’s nice to get dressed up sometimes.”

“Did you even ask Ben if he wanted this? He probably wanted to go out with his mates or something.”

“No, it’s all right. This is… Nice. Thanks, Joan.”

“Traitor…” Megan muttered.

As Joan returned to the stove, Megan’s phone beeped. Whatever the message was, it prompted a substantial smile.

“Anything important?” Amber asked as casually as possible, unable to stop herself.

“None of your business, Beetroot.”

Megan had delighted in calling her ‘Beetroot’ ever since Amber arrived back from the Gomez tracking job heavily sunburnt. The sunburn hurt, but no one had mentioned the strangulation marks around her neck, so the plan had worked. Both would go down in a few days.

Megan and her phone though… Between them they were challenging Amber’s Chill Amber persona.

Megan had been fixated with the device of late. Constant messages back and forth. Who —

Amber caught herself. Actively she did her best not to engage. Stupid. So easy to get caught up in the familiar patterns. That was old Amber, who had to know everything. Like a lot in life, Chill Amber was simple when things were going well. There were times Amber actually quite enjoyed her new persona. Then there would be something like this - a burning desire to know who Megan was messaging and being Chill Amber became incredibly challenging.

She took a deep breath and refocused. It was none of her business who Megan was chatting with and it didn’t matter.

Joan returned to the table. “Right, everything will be about twenty minutes.”

“Oh, Mum! What are we doing here now then?”

“Hush, Megan. I thought we could go around the room and each give our favourite memory of Ben.”

“Or we could just stick forks in our eyes. No one wants to do that, you crazy old woman.”

Joan pushed on, undaunted. “I’ll go first. I remember when Ben was four. He was cute as a button, the little guy…”

Megan buried her head under her arms.

Amber tuned the older woman out. She had heard this story many times before. They all had. They could probably join in, almost word for word. The smile was just holding on Ben’s face as he tried to humour his grandmother, nodding like this was all brand-new.

What would Amber say in regards to memories about Ben? She could bring up the time she almost shot Ben, mistaking him for a drug smuggler. Or the time he stormed a warehouse with no weapon because Amber was being held at gunpoint. How about when the two of them rescued Joan from a demented boyfriend, intent on slicing her to pieces on his fishing boat? She reset her mind once more, none of those stories very Chill Amber.

In the end it didn’t matter. Joan finished and no one else seemed interested in playing or offering stories, so Joan changed tack.

“Are you excited? To finish school?”

“Umm, sure. It’s great.”

“Sure is. Your whole life in front of you.”

Megan’s phone beeped again.

“Megan, will you put that thing away, please.”

She didn’t, messaging whoever it was right back.

Joan rolled her eyes. “I thought it was you young ones who were meant to be rude and obsessed with your phones,” she said to Ben. “You should be excited. Do you have any idea what you might do for a career?”

“Yeah, some. Some.”

“Well, don’t keep us in suspense.”

“I thought I might, you know… Get a job with Amber.”

That got Megan’s attention.

10

The resulting silence hung heavily in the room.

“A job with Amber?” Joan said eventually.

“Yep.”

“In… logistics?”

“Yes.”

Megan and Joan looked at him, then at her. No clue this was coming.

“You’re very quiet for once, Beetroot,” Megan said. “What you have to say about all this?”

“We might have an opening coming up. At Diamond Logistics. It’s his choice. He would be good at it though.”

For a second it wasn’t clear what was going to happen. Then Megan’s phone beeped, distracting her once again.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” Joan asked.

Megan shrugged, not looking up. “Me? What you want me to say? It’s better if he has a job than if he plays that stupid Xbox all day.”

Joan stomped back to the kitchen. Ordinarily, Amber would have been concerned at the extra vigour Joan attacked the final stages of dinner preparation, but she was Chill Amber now and really, Chill Amber couldn’t care.

After dinner, she and Ben