Free The Road Back by Di Morrissey Page B

this year. How about we catch up after Christmas? Go fishing or play a round of golf?’
    â€˜Sounds good to me. I’ll be in touch. It was good to see you, Duncan, and please say Merry Christmas to the family from all of us.’
    After Duncan left, Chris wandered out to the kitchen to see if he could give Susan a hand with lunch. Megan joined them from the dining room, where she’d been put in charge of the floral decorations for the table.
    â€˜Are you ready for lunch, Megan? Well, a rather late lunch, I’m afraid. How sweet you look. I love seeing you in that dress,’ said Susan, gesturing at the white A-line lace dress Megan had on.
    â€˜Well, it is Christmas. And I wasn’t sure how proper or formal your friends might be, Bunny,’ said Megan. ‘Carla surprised me. Didn’t know you had a biker friend. Not that I mean she’s bad or anything.’
    â€˜She’s mean, she’s bad, she’s wicked,’ laughed Susan. ‘A tamed wild woman, and she rides her bike in rallies for charities all over the place. You’ll soon see why I enjoy her company. She’s smart and quick and funny.’
    â€˜Does she have kids?’
    â€˜No. She never married. But she supports kids from all over the place. I know she’s helping educate an Aboriginal brother and sister out west.’
    â€˜How come you two are friends?’ Megan asked.
    â€˜Mum first met Carla years ago when she came to town to check up on some old hippie friend she had. He ended up being put in the nursing home in town where Mum used to volunteer. Carla visited the old chap every day and that’s how the two of them met,’ explained Chris.
    â€˜Dear Carla,’ said Susan, checking on the potatoes cooking in the oven. ‘She was looking for a place to stay while she was in town, so I suggested she come here. The old chap only lasted two more months, but it was certainly fun to have Carla here for that time. She likes to take off on long road trips rather than settle down in one place, so she is a sporadic visitor to Neverend, but a welcome one.’
    â€˜It was nice of you to ask her to come for Christmas, Bunny.’
    Susan smiled. ‘And it was nice that you came to church with me for the midnight service last night.’
    â€˜It was different,’ said Megan thoughtfully. ‘I enjoyed the singing. I liked going to the carols in the park, too. It’s great that you can just walk everywhere. You don’t have to get the car out and then look for a parking spot. Mum says looking for parking is the worst thing.’
    â€˜I’m not sure that it’s the worst thing, but it can be very frustrating.’
    Suddenly Megan hugged her father and her grandmother. ‘Thank you for my presents. This is the best Christmas ever.’
    â€˜I think so, too,’ said Chris. ‘And I love my new swimmers. I’ll look really flash when we go out to the waterhole.’ Megan rolled her eyes at his comment, but smiled broadly at him.
    Susan held Megan for a moment. ‘It’s so lovely to have you here. You’re growing up so quickly now.’
    Some twenty minutes later, Susan announced to everyone, ‘The food is served.’ With Megan’s help, Susan set out the various dishes as Chris carved the turkey. Friends and family came together around the table sharing food, laughter, friendship and stories. Time was of no consequence.
    Susan was a traditionalist on Christmas Day. There were crackers to pull. Everyone looked festive wearing their paper hats, and they all took turns reading out the silly Christmas cracker jokes, which produced more loud groans than laughter.
    Chris smiled at Megan from time to time, hoping that she wasn’t finding such a grown-up Christmas a bit boring, but the look on her face suggested that she was absorbed by the interesting conversations that flowed around her.
    The guests were Susan’s friends, some of