Chapter 3. Kate & Chris
She was already eyeing off the clock inside on the kitchen wall and wondering if it was suitable to take a daytime nap before midday, in your 30's and not have it mean you were getting old.
Sipping her second coffee for the morning, she slid further down on the sun lounge and stretched out her legs, fighting off another yawn. They had left Dutchy's place just after midnight but that wasn't the cause of her fatigue. Kate had tossed and turned most of the night, falling asleep here and there but mostly laying in bed and allowing her mind to work overtime.
Her newfound awareness of Swain, so to speak, was not a totally comfortable place to be in. She had already put her job, her career, in a precarious position many years ago for a man that just didn't love her enough and where had that gotten her?
She certainly would not risk the only stable and sure thing in her life. The Navy gave her a sense of belonging that nothing else in her life ever had, Mike included. Her career was going in the right direction for the hard work she had always put in and so maybe it was only natural to look at other aspects of her life that were otherwise lacking.
Kate figured this really wasn't about Swain. Rather more about feeling like he had everything she wanted, despite the divorce, at least he had experienced a relationship and love and had Chloe to show for it. Swain represented everything Mike didn't want and perhaps it was easy to be drawn in by that level of maturity and life experience.
She breathed deeply and sipped her tea and stopped herself going down that particular path in her mind.
Work was always a welcome distraction, and she had a promotion to chase. She stretched her arm to place her coffee on the table next to her and swapped it for her laptop. She opened the half finished document she'd set aside last night. She'd been almost glad to be distracted from the awkward recitation of her own qualities by her phone ringing. She had been about half way through an essay on why she believed herself capable and confident enough to be considered for her promotion when her phone started to ring.
Seeing the name flash on her mobile caused a smile to spread before she answered. "Hello Stranger!"
"Don't just hello me!" the other voice was clear in frustration. "You were supposed to call me two weeks ago!"
"I know, I know but Hammersley got the short straw and had to stayed out for a double patrol." Kate moved her laptop off her lap and relaxed back. "Didn't you read my e-mail?"
"That was two weeks ago!" the caller stressed again.
"Huh…" Kate's eyes widened in surprise, "time flies." She offered back with a somewhat remorseful tone.
"Ugh!" the other voice grumbled but good naturedly.
"Did you call to fight or because you missed me?" Kate teased, happy to hear from her.
"I called to tell you I'm engaged but I haven't finished my rant yet. I mean you could be dead, and I wouldn't know!"
Kate was silent for a second while she registered Nikki's words. "What?!"
"You were supposed to call me …."
"That's not important!", Kate cut her off. "You got engaged!"
Nikki chuckled, "I did!"
Emotion flooded Kate's chest and she held her hand over her own heart to keep it all in "Oh Nik." Her voice conveyed just how wonderful she thought that was.
"I wanted to tell you first…" Nikki paused, and Kate heard the worry in her voice. "I know everything that happened with ET you…"
Kate assured her, "It's ok Nikki."
Kate was happy that the young woman had found the peace and comfort to move forward with her life. Kate had been a friend who listened but also one who encouraged her not to mourn forever. Kate had assured Nikki time and time again that ET would never want her to be alone forever, that he would want her to move forward with her personal life.
"…just thank you for always making me feel ok about it all." Nikki sounded teary and Kate wanted to fix that.
"Of course." Kate assured her and steered the conversation to her wonderful news. "So, tell me about this guy. You have kept him very quiet from me and I had no idea it was moving at this sort of pace or this serious!"
The frosty start to their working relationship was one they could now laugh about. They both kept in touch with regular phone calls and of course e-mails for Kate while out at Sea. Nikki kept up a Hammersley Facebook group of sorts, but Kate rarely checked it out.
"Yeah ahh…there was a reason I was so vague on details. You were the only one who sort of knew," Nikki blew out a hard breath, "You even know him." She admitted quietly.
Kate's eyebrows raised while she mentally went through a list of mutual sailors they knew. Kate was careful to keep an open mind. "Ok. You want me to guess or…"
"It's Toby." Nikki had let it all come out in a rush that Kate took a second to process the words. "Chefo" she added in case Kate wouldn't make the connection quick enough.
Kate sat up sharply, twisting so her feet were flat on the floor, "Chefo!?"
"Yes I know!" She heard the groan through the phone. "I didn't see it coming either but it just happened and –"
"Chefo?!", Kate interrupted. Last Kate knew of the previous Hammersley cook he was engaged to a young woman named Jen and they had a baby on the way. Careful to keep any judgement out of her voice, no matter how blindsided she was, Kate had to ask the question. "Isn't…I meant I thought he was married?"
"I swear this didn't start until after their divorce!" Nikki rushed to assure her.
"Divorce?!"
"You really need to keep up with the Hammersley Facebook group Kate!"
Kate ignored that in favour of asking the important questions, "How and when did this happen?"
Nikki launched into the story of him being posted to where she was in Sydney about eight months ago. They had quickly fallen back into their friendship before catching up for the occasional lunch turned into regular dinner dates. Toby, as Nikki now referred to him, had a little girl with Jen but that they had been separated for a while before they proceeded with divorce and that had been finalised for over a year prior to Nikki running into him.
"Wow." Kate sat back after she heard the short version of it all.
"I'm saving the details until I see you in person next. The short version is we are coming back to Cairns permanently, I didn't want to say anything until it was official, but we will arrive within the month!"
"Well, that's great news!" Kate heard how Toby's daughter and Jen still lived near Cairns and Toby had wanted to come back for some time now but needed to finish his Sydney contract first. "It's almost like the original Hammersley group is back together." She joked.
"With Buffer coming back I'd say it is."
"What?" Kate was sure she hadn't heard her right but all she heard was Niki groan again before she burst out laughing.
"Check that bloody group chat will you? We'll see you in a few weeks!"
#
The news of Buffer being back to Cairns had reached some of the crew and no one was more grateful than Chris himself.
Their first meeting so many years ago had seen a close friendship turn brotherly, one that included equal humour, fun, fishing trips and advice.
Buffer had been his best man at his wedding to Sally and he was Chloe's godfather. When he had transferred to Darwin a few years ago, the two men kept in frequent contact.
Buffer had been aware of the ups and downs of his marriage from the very start. He had been the one to hear his worries about his crumbling marriage, long before he could bring himself to talk to Sally about it. Buffer had been wise to point out it wasn't crumbling but rather had flat lined. He had made sure Chris knew that there was no shame in calling it out for what it was.
While he hadn't been assigned back to Hammersley, the Kingston had needed a Buffer.
"It's a shame you're not back on the old girl with us Buff." Charge said while he put a beer in front of them all.
"Doesn't matter mate," he patted Charge on the back. "We'll be in the same town again and that's a pretty good deal too I reckon."
"Cheers to that!" Chris agreed and they clinked beer glasses in celebration.
Friendly banter and tales were shared and there was a moment where Charge and 2DADS had lined up at the bar for their shout and Chris was alone with Pete.
Pete sipped his beer and relaxed back in his seat and looked across at him carefully. "Now that we got all the gossip and stories out the way…how's it really going?"
Chris huffed a small chuckle and relaxed back in the booth. There was no malice though in his voice, just honesty, "I mean, I didn't get married thinking it wouldn't last…but I also knew things were rockier than I imagined. Even before Chloe came along."
Pete nodded like he understood, and Chris was reminded that Buffer had actually witnessed some of those moments. Chris knew from many conversations that Buffer felt too often people liked the idea of their partner in uniform and working in defence more than they liked the reality of what it all really meant.
Chris got his thoughts together before he spoke again. "It's mostly just the title of divorced that feels…not so pleasant. Perhaps the hardest part to live with at the moment."
He felt Buffer lean forward, "Plenty of people get divorced mate. It doesn't make you a bad guy." He spoke with conviction.
"Yeah." Chris breathed out while he traced a finger over the condensation on his beer glass.
Buffer sighed and waited until Swain looked at him. "You will find someone else you know; you are actually a good guy."
Chris snorted and smiled, "…the X said something similar." He spoke aloud absently.
Buffer frowned in surprise, while the X had been on board a fair while now and had a good friendship with guys like Charge and Swain, he hadn't thought the X and Swain were close enough to have had a personal discussion.
Chris sat up slightly defensive at the look on Buffer's face, "She caught me in a vulnerable moment and she said…nice things is all."
"Ok." Buffer was surprised, "I didn't know you guys were sharing personal stuff."
Chris shrugged easily, "I guess when you and Nikki left, the senior crew circle got smaller and she is my divisional officer." He pointed out the level of openness that was required.
He wasn't sure if he would ever be ready to share what he had been thinking and had been feeling lately about Kate. He didn't think it was a smart move either, it wasn't that he didn't trust Buffer, but it was best not to put people in any kind of uncomfortable situations.
"True." Speaking of the X, "Is she still with the SAS Captain?"
"Nah mate, that was over long ago." Swain shrugged, projecting nonchalance. Buffer nodded and then his mouth twisted in amusement.
"…and what about he who shall remain nameless?"
Chris scoffed at that, "Still on the boat." He told Buffer in a carefully blank voice.
While the more senior crew didn't know for sure and highly doubted anything had actually happened between the boss and their X, there had still been an obvious tension in the bridge. Chris was about to voice that he and Charge suspected that was long gone now but he didn't want to go down that line of questioning for fear he'd give himself away.
Buffer shook his head and rolled his eyes, "I like the man well enough, hell I can even respect him to a point but in this matter… god what a fuckin idiot!"
#
Charge and 2DADS had called it a day and that left Pete and Swain to drink a few more and catch up on a more personal note.
"So", Swain slid a beer in front of him, "You never mentioned Sasha when you mentioned the transfer here." Referring to the on and off girlfriend Buffer had been with in Darwin.
"Things weren't going to work out." He admitted quietly. "I just think she didn't really want marriage and a family and that's fine. I want those things though and I realised you can't change people no matter how you feel about them."
"You will have those things Buff." Swain assured him and Pete wondered something.
"So not bitter and twisted about the idea of marriage then?"
Swain huffed out a laugh and shook his head, "It's a long way off …and I don't know how I feel about 'that' again for me but we have already talked about me."
Pete ignored that comment though and pushed a little more. "Do you think it's time you know…that you got back into the dating scene?"
Swain rolled his eyes but ignored eye contact, "The guys have been in your ear already? You've been back five minutes!" he sipped his beer and Pete was sure Swain was trying to deflect – which was interesting.
Pete was determined not to let him change the subject "What's the problem?" he pressed.
"There is no problem!" He watched the way Swain wasn't meeting his eyes.
Pete sipped his beer and watched Swain focus on swirling the last reminder of his own beer around in the bottom of the glass.
"Do you fancy someone already?"
"Who uses the word 'fancy'?" Swain looked up and teased.
All Pete noticed was that he avoided the question again.
"Come on Swaino!" He smirked back. "You've got your eye on someone.'',he pressed just that little more.
He waited for further protest but instead Swain signed and swallowed the last of his beer, "I'm not ready yet." he declared.
Pete wasn't sure if he meant for dating in general or for sharing who the girl was but he had a feeling it was the latter.
He did not push anymore, he knew how stubborn Swain could be. He didn't mind though, he was back for good and Swain couldn't hide it forever.
"Just, don't leave it too long, yeah?" Pete added and finished the last of his beer. With his last bit of shared wisdom, they walked out to head to their respective homes but not before a promise of a fishing trip before Hammersley was back in action.
