Chapter 4

They entered the diner and chose a table in the sun, but Summer's presence in Heath's company certainly didn't go unnoticed.

"Why is everyone staring?" Summer asked Heath as they sat down and looked at the menu.

"Yeah, it's a small town. You watch, by the end of the day someone will tell Bianca that I'm seeing a much younger woman." Heath laughed as he sat back in his chair with his arms stretched out behind his head.

A few minutes later a ditzy blond woman came and took their order. "What can I get you two?" She smiled sweetly at them.

"Why don't you choose first sweetie?" Heath cooed at his sister knowing full well how his actions would be interpreted, with that he put a comforting hand on Summer's arm who smiled.

"Oh I don't know hun, you know what my favourites are." Summer played along causing the waitress to blush but become even more eager to observe the dialogue between the two.

"If you're sure darling?" Heath smiled once more, "In that case, two coffees and two pancakes with all the trimmings. Thank you Marilyn." He nodded to the waitress, Marilyn causing her to frantically scribble away on her notepad and rush off to collect their order.

With that the two of them burst into hysterical laughter as they watched Marilyn sort out their coffee whilst gossiping with the other women behind the counter. "Did I order right?" Heath asked removing his hand from Summer's arm.

"Of course you did." Summer smiled, it was like her and Heath had never been apart.

"The connection is still there." Heath muttered as Summer shot him a confused look he continued. "When you were small, we had a straight off connection. You would always come to me before anyone else, I taught you to walk and talk; your first word was 'He'th' followed by you pointing to yourself and saying 'pup'" Heath reminisced.

"I knew it felt right when I came over last night." Summer smiled as their coffee arrived with a redheaded woman, she hadn't even meant to say anything that would get the rumour mill running but it was too late.

"There's your coffee." The woman almost slammed the coffee down on the table and scowled at Heath.

"Irene, it's not what it looks like." Heath said trying to contain his laughter. "Stop it you!" He said to Summer who also couldn't control her laughter resulting in Heath kicking her under the table.

"It's not me you'll be explaining to Heath Braxton!" Irene snapped and stalked off.

"You're not helping the situation pup!" Heath chastised.

"Hey! You started it!" Summer smiled still laughing.

"Let's just eat these pancakes and get out of here" Heath said moodily as their breakfast, or second in Heath's case, arrived

After tormenting the staff at the diner, Heath took Summer up to Angelo's setting more tongues wagging on their way at how close the siblings were.

"Well you two look like you're up to no good." Brax laughed.

"She's the one causing trouble!" Heath said playfully pushing Summer.

Brax just laughed at his siblings, it was almost like Summer had grown up with them all along. Part of him wanted to feel blessed that the transition back into the family had been easy for her but the other part of him worried slightly, those beautiful brown eyes still held so much pain no matter how much she laughed.

"You know your shift starts in 10 right Heath?" Brax said throwing a black shirt at his brother.

"What?" Heath genuinely looked hurt, "Can't I just hang out with Sum all day?"

"Where's the fun in that? Plus, it's my turn to catch up with the long lost sibling!" Brax laughed stepping out from behind the counter and throwing a dish cloth at Heath who just scowled.

"Come on kiddo!" He said holding out his arm for Summer to take. The two of them happily left the bar waving to Heath as they went as he just stared hopelessly.

"So I got a call from the cops this morning." Brax said as he and Summer sat down on the beach. "They've cleared Richard's place and said we can go and collect your things."

"Oh" Was the only response that Summer could muster, she was suddenly hit with the wave of emotion that she had been putting off all morning.

Brax studied his little sister carefully, he knew that it was only a matter of time before she broke and wept for the loss of her guardian. He had no idea what she was going through, he'd never lost a guardian, something he supposed Richard was, he'd never been removed from his family and then thrust back into it when they were now strangers. But Brax did know about loss as he remembered Charlie, she would have known what to do in this situation. Maybe Ruby would be able to help Summer but would it all still be too raw for her? With that in mind, Brax reminded himself that he and his brothers were all Summer had at the moment and he needed to be there for her.

"I'm here for you, you know that right?" Brax said nudging Summer on the shoulder as they both stared out into the ocean waves. "They said that we can go get the stuff whenever but they'd prefer us to go in the next few days if not today. They said something about the landlord wanting to put it back up for rent or something."

"We were behind on the rent." Summer replied solemnly, "We were getting kicked out at the end of the week."

Brax then began to wonder what Summer's life had actually been like living at Richard's, it certainly wasn't starting to sound how he had hoped. He had always hoped that she would be at a good school, straight A's, with a loving guardian and no money worries or alcoholics to contend with. It was now starting to sound like Richard had been fobbing him off all these years.

"We don't have to go today." Brax said slowly but Summer stood up and shook her head.

"Might as well get it over with." She said pulling her keys out of her pocket and waving them to Brax. "No time like the present and all that."

Brax stood up and patted his sister on the back before leading her to his Ute and setting off for Begali Cove, just outside Mangrove River.