Chapter 8: A Dinner Date

The rest of the family acted much as Rhys and Shelly had when Benny opened the door to find Emma and Lucy standing there. Relieve followed by anger. Benny actually did shake her, while he was calling her a 'stupid, irresponsible little girl', but Lucy was too tired and too drunk to care much. Finally Susan and Jess took her up the stairs and gave her a bath before putting her to bed. They would give her a stern talking to in the morning, they decided. When they came back down, Susan made them all a hot drink and Emma once more faced the questions of where they had been, how she had thought of looking there and how she had gotten them home and she answered as best she could, although again she didn't mention Kane. Benny did say that she shouldn't have gone that far afield by herself, but they all agreed that she had done well and they weren't too annoyed with her.

After her family had finished with their questions, the young girl excused herself and went up to her room, pausing briefly to check on Lucy, who was now fast asleep. Jordan was stretched out in his cot, his thumb in his mouth, and she smiled and bent down to kiss him goodnight. It was very late and the day had been a long one, so she had a quick bath and got into bed. However, she couldn't sleep. She liked the idea of having dinner with Kane but she was very scared too. She did believe him about the only as friends part, but it had been almost two years since she had been out with a man and the idea frightened her, as did the feelings she had experienced when seeing him and Kirsty together. Since the rape, she had not trusted, nor had no physical contact with, any man except Benny and she was not about to start now. Although Kane had been a friend for a couple of weeks now he had only ever touched her once, when she had tripped over a stone on the beach and he had grabbed her arm to stop her from falling. Emma had flinched away from him and Kane had looked slightly surprised, but he hadn't tried to touch her since.

Somewhere amidst her worrying, she fell asleep and didn't wake up until just before breakfast when Jordan began to cry.

"Mum," she said as she strapped Jordan in his high chair at the breakfast table. "I'm going out tonight so would you mind looking after Jordan?"

"Of course not," Susan put a plate of toast in front of her oldest daughter and smiled. "Whom are you going with? Allee?"

"Um…yeah," Emma said quickly. She didn't like lying to her family, especially her mum, but she knew that they would only worry if they learnt that she was going out with a boy. They would ask lots of questions and insist on meeting him and sit up worrying about her until she came home. And she didn't want that, so she figured that telling them she was going out with Allee couldn't hurt. "We were going up to Yabbie Creek again," she continued. "To see a movie, maybe get a bite to eat."

"That'll be good," Susan said, just as Jess and Benny clattered down the stairs, only half dressed. "I'm always saying that you should get out more. Shouldn't she, Benny?"

"Huh?" her son rubbed his eyes and looked rather confused. "What was that mum?"

"Emma," Susan told him. "She should get out more, shouldn't she? She's going to Yabbie's Creek tonight with Allee."

"Nice one," Jess instantly began tucking into her cereal. "Have fun. Isn't Lucy up yet, Sue?"

As they began to talk about Lucy, Emma got up and left the table with her son. She hadn't eaten much, she was still feeling too nervous about that night. On the landing, she bumped into Lucy who was looking very ill.

"My head hurts," the young girl complained and winced as Jordan gave a screech. Emma grinned.

"Serves you right," she said at once, patting her little sister affectionately on the shoulder. "They're talking about you down there. Something tells me that you are really going to be in for it."

"That's the last time I go along with one of Kirsty's ideas," Lucy sighed and carefully began making her way down the stairs, while Emma shook her head and silently wondered what her younger sister would get up to next.

Emma spent part of the day at the beach and down by the docks with Allee, Dani, Josh, Hayley and Noah while Leah took care of Jordan for a couple of hours. In the afternoon, she and Allee went to the Diner and Emma told her friend about what had happened the night before. When she mentioned to her friend that Kane had helped her, Allee scowled and fell silent so Emma didn't say any more about it.   

She got home in time for dinner, although she only ate a little, and then handed her son over to Jess, who was watching TV with Benny, while she went to get ready. She had a long bath and then scattered the contents of her wardrobe across the bed as she tried to find something to wear. Most of it consisted of shorts, jogging bottoms, t-shirts and sweatshirts, which was what she normally wore. Emma instantly cast them aside, although she didn't want to dress up too much for fear of giving Kane the wrong impression, she also wanted something a little smarter. The choice was limited though, but in the end, she chose a pair of black trousers and a light blue shirt. Then she put on just a touch of make-up and ran a brush through her hair. As she glanced in the mirror, Lucy walked in without knocking and flopped down on the bed.

"You're rather dressed up for a night out with Allee," she said suspiciously. "Sure there isn't something that you aren't telling us?"

"Like what?" Emma laughed and glanced at her watch. "We might be going to a restaurant and besides there's nothing wrong with dressing up a little, is there?"

"No, I suppose not," Lucy agreed. "Is Allee coming here?"

"No, I'm meeting her at the end of the road," Emma said quickly, slipping on the only pair of going out shoes that she owned. "Speaking of which, I had better be going."

"Are you sure that you are going with Allee?" Lucy pestered. "And not that hot looking who was with you yesterday? Who is he anyway, and what were you doing in the woods at night?"

"Looking for you," Emma said as she gently pushed her younger sister out of her room. "Or have you forgotten that already? As for who he is…well his name is Kane and he is my friend."

"Friend?" Lucy laughed. "Are you sure that's all there is to it?"

"Yes," her older sister said firmly, glancing once again at her watch. "Although you can think what you like. Anyway, I have to go or I am going to be late."

"Have fun," Lucy said with a grin as her sister hurried down the stairs. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Emma got to the corner of her street at exactly two minutes to seven and just a minute after she had arrived there, Kane's car pulled up next to her. She couldn't help noticing that he was wearing a suit, although he wore no tie and the shirt was un-tucked, and she felt relieved that she had dressed smartly.

"Hey Emma," Kane said with a smile. "I've booked us a table at a restaurant in Yabbie Creek. Is that all right?"

"That's great," the young girl nodded and hopped in the car next to him. She felt awkward again and focused her attention on looking at the selection of tapes he had.

"Put one on if you like," he told her, obviously sensing that she felt nervous. "You look lovely by the way."

"Thank you," Emma blushed and busied herself with finding a tape to put on. "You don't look too bad yourself."

"Well I figured that since I was taking such a pretty girl out to dinner, I had better make a bit more of an effort than usual." Kane gave a laugh and Emma blushed even more, as his words did strange things to her stomach. 'He's just being nice,' she told herself. 'We are only friends, that's all. That's all I want and I'm sure that is all he wants too. At least…I hope it is.'

They drove the rest of the way in silence and soon reached the restaurant. It looked like quite a posh one and there were several couples having dinner as well as one or two groups. They were instantly escorted to their table, a small one in the middle of the room, and as soon as they sat down, a waiter was at their side with two menus in his hand.

"I'll have the chicken breast," Kane said after examining the menu for a moment. "Emma?"

"I think I'll have the same," she answered at once, still feeling a little nervous. "Thank you."

"And we'll have a side order of fries with that too," Kane continued as the waiter quickly jotted their orders down.

"Your meal will be ready in a few minutes," he told them as he handed Kane a second menu. "Would you care to order a drink?"

"Do you want to share a bottle of wine?" Kane asked Emma, scanning his eyes over the menu. "I can't drink a lot because I'm driving and I don't want to take you back drunk, but a couple of glasses won't hurt either of us."

"Well…" she hesitated a moment, unsure of whether to agree. She very rarely drunk alcohol and even though she liked Kane, she wanted to keep a clear head. However, she also knew that wine was particularly strong and a glass or two might even help her to relax a little. "Okay," she agreed. "Let's have a bottle of white wine."

The wine was brought to them instantly with two glasses. The waiter, whose nametag said Eric, poured them each a glass and left them to it.

"You seem very tense tonight," Kane observed, leaning back in his chair. "Relax, I don't bite."

"It's…it's not that," Emma glanced down at the table, suddenly feeling very embarrassed. "It's been a long time since I've been out…like this."

"Oh," he nodded. "I see. Well, don't worry about it; I don't expect anything in return, you know. I just thought that it would be nice for the two of us, two friends, to get away from the Bay for a few hours."

It was fine from then on. They discussed their favourite books and films and Emma told Kane about life in England, where she had spent the first twelve years of her life. He was fascinated, or seemed to be fascinated, by what she was saying and gradually she began to relax. They had their food, along with salad, a baked potato and freshly buttered bread, and two glasses of wine each before switching to orange juice. An hour later, their plates were removed and a dessert menu was placed on the table. Emma hesitated, but Kane smiled encouragingly.

"Try the toffee pudding," he said at once. "It's lovely."

"All right," she agreed. "If you insist."

Over their pudding and a cup of hot chocolate, Emma toyed with the idea of asking Kane about him and Kirsty. It wasn't really her business and she did not want to spoil the great evening they had had, but there had obviously been something between them at some stage and she was curious. Finally she decided to go for it.

"Kane," she said quietly, keeping her eyes fixed on her spoon. "What was all that with you and Kirsty last night? You seemed quite…friendly."

"Oh yeah, that," Kane laughed awkwardly. "That was rather embarrassing actually. Kirsty and I…well before last night I hadn't seen her for months or had any contact with her, but we…we used to be a couple. It only lasted a few weeks; her parents were against me seeing her so we had to sneak around behind their backs and in the end we ran away together. We were gone a week before I realised that it…it wouldn't work. So I brought her home, threw her out of the car and left Summer Bay. I should have guessed that she might still have feelings for me."

"And what about you?" Emma asked, taking care to keep her voice neutral. "Do you still have feelings for her?"

"Part of me will always care for Kirsty," he said honestly. "But too much has happened for us to have a relationship now. I've moved on and I think that it would be better for everyone if she does the same."

Silence fell over the table again for a moment, and then Kane began talking about surfing and the conversation again moved on to more cheerful things. After they had both finished, Kane paid the bill and they drove home. On the way, he told her that he thought it was about time that the other residents of Summer Bay knew that he was back. Emma agreed with him and pointed out that he couldn't avoid people forever, especially if he really was planning on sticking around.

He stopped the car just a little way away from her door and turned to face her.

"Thank you for coming out with me," he said with a slight smile. "I had a great evening."

"So did I," Emma told him. "You were right, it was good to get out."

"Maybe…maybe we could do this again sometime?" Kane suggested. Emma smiled and nodded.

"I'd like that," she said. "I really would."

She paused for a brief moment, then gathered her courage and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before opening the door and getting out.

"Thank you for a lovely evening," she smiled. "I'll see you soon."

"See you, Emma," Kane gave her a quick smile before driving off. Emma watched him go, wondering what an earth had come over her.

As she began to walk towards her front door, she heard someone walking behind her.

"Emma," a voice said suddenly. The young girl spun round in alarm and gave a sigh of relief when she saw that it was Allee. And her friend did not look too happy.

"You scared the life out of me, Allee," Emma shook her head. "What's wrong?"

"That guy in the car," Allee said quietly. "That wasn't…Kane Philips?"

"Actually it was." Emma told her. Her friend looked rather shocked.

"What are you doing here with him?" she asked, frowning slightly.

"He took me out to dinner." Emma told her. "Is that a problem?"

Allee sighed and rubbed her eyes, before placing her hand on her friend's arm. "You don't want to get involved with him, Emma, he's bad news. He's done some horrible things to people around here. I swear I'm not lying. Please believe me. You don't want to know him."

"Allee, he's always been all right to me and besides he's just a friend. In any case, I think it's my decision who I decide to go to dinner with." Emma said, wrenching her arm away.

"Fine then go ahead, just don't come crying to me when he rapes you!" Allee said in a
fierce whisper and walked off, leaving a shocked and silent Emma standing staring after her.