A Father At Last by Julie Mac

march on over there and make his presence known.

    “Friends, maybe, in third form and fourth form,” said Leighton, “but by the time you two hit fifth, sixth and seventh form, it was luurve, baby. Everyone knew that.”

    Ben was shocked. It was true—his feelings for Kelly had grown way beyond simple friendship, and the older he’d got, the more intense those emotions became.

    But he never thought she felt the same way, and he’d done his best to hide his deep attraction to her. Had everyone else really known? Had she known? He couldn’t think of anything to say to Leighton’s revelation.

    Leighton was watching Kelly. “Don’t worry, mate, you’re in with a chance. She’s not interested in him. Read the body language—see how she’s leaning away from him?
    Anyway—” he looked back at Ben, “did you two keep in touch after—you know…?”

    “After I got in trouble? Yes and no. She came with me to court, then I went down to Wellington and she moved to Dunedin to do her law degree so we were in different cities.
    She wrote to me a few times.”

    He lifted his bottle to his mouth and took a long swallow. “Then we mostly lost touch.” He shrugged. “We’ve been getting on with life, I guess. I was in Sydney for the last couple of years. We exchanged texts every now and then, like Christmas and birthdays, and I’ve seen her once or twice since I’ve been back.”

    Twice to be exact. The first time on a Sunday in a busy shopping mall when he’d seen her looking in a shoe shop window. He’d watched her for a few seconds before moving on, glad she hadn’t seen him, because he was on a job and about to meet a contact.

    The second time, on a Friday night outside a bar in Takapuna, she and a group of girlfriends were out on the town. He’d been going into the bar when he spotted the girls getting into a maxi cab to be whisked away to their next destination. She’d said ‘Hello’, Julie Mac
    given him a hug and looked pleased to see him, and then she left. He’d been left feeling oddly bereft, with just her lingering fragrance to tell him the fleeting encounter was real.

    And then tonight, here she was again. Real, beautiful, and just five paces away.

    He listened to Leighton talking about his job as a graphic designer for a company that built websites.

    He heard Leighton’s words and nodded, and all the time, he was watching her; watching the way her burnished hair swept against her shoulders, watching the way the revolving lights above the dance floor sent kaleidoscopic waves of colour through that hair and the shimmery, silvery dress she wore, watching the endearing way the muscles in her upper arm flexed slightly every time she picked up her glass from the bar top. He also saw her surreptitiously glance at her watch, twice in as many minutes.

    “You’re not listening, are you?” Leighton gave a theatrical sigh.

    “Not really, mate. Sorry.” Ben sent a rueful grin his way. “You reckon she doesn’t want that guy hanging around?”

    “Uh‐uh. Go do your stuff, tiger. And remember, don’t act too keen.”

    So he walked up to the bar, edging into a gap on the left side of her stool. Her companion was on her other side, and both turned to look up at Ben. Kelly’s eyes lit up but her admirer, thickset, shaven‐headed and thirty‐ish, looked far from pleased.

    Good. He didn’t recognise the man—he certainly wasn’t one of their contemporaries; most likely he was a relative of the birthday boy or a workmate.

    She jumped off the stool to hug Ben and kiss his cheek. Deliberately, he kissed her briefly, intimately, on the lips, and as he did, he glanced at the man behind her. Scowling, the man turned away from them and called out to the barman for another drink.

    “Dance with me, Kelly,” Ben whispered in her ear, and without waiting for her answer, he took her hand and walked towards the dance floor. She turned her head to call over her shoulder to the man, “Excuse me,