When Storm Clouds Hover

29: Dom - Dawn of a new year

When everyone arrived home at five-thirty in the morning, with plans to watch the sunrise from the balcony, Dom wandered into the lounge room with Attila at his heels. He felt surprisingly okay given he'd wiped himself out only a couple of hours earlier.

'Sac! You drunken bludger!' shrieked Cole, not exactly sober himself. 'What'sh s'happened to ya?' he slurred.

'You guys are tres, tres pissed!' Dom observed.

'Gonna watch - the sun rish...' slurred Cole.

'Okay. Putting the kettle on,' Dom said in return, as he headed towards the kitchen.

Izzy followed him. 'Coffee'd be great,' she said, placing the car keys in the basket above the microwave, where they'd agreed to keep them. Dom glanced at her and said 'hey'. She responded with a small smile. He was relieved to see she didn't appear annoyed at him. Remembering how he'd been with her the night before made him a bit uneasy. She had looked so cute in her little bikini, and he'd been drunk and useless and flirting with her like a tool. He shouldn't have been like that with her-he wondered if she'd tell Em.

'Moccono, okay?' he asked.

'Sure, thanks.'

When Dom turned back, Cole and Tal had both stumbled into their separate bedrooms.

'So much for watching the sun...rish,' Izzy laughed.

'Fraid you're stuck with me then,' said Dom.

Izzy shrugged.

'Hey, did they hook up?' Dom asked, nodding his head in the direction of Tal's room.

'Mm...hmm,' Izzy responded.

'Ex...cellent!' Dom said mid yawn.

'You okay?' Izzy asked, with a grin.

'I will be,' Dom replied, stretching. 'After I get some caffeine in me.'

'Did you chuck?' Izzy asked.

'D'you wanna know?' responded Dom, crumpling his forehead.

'Not really,' Izzy laughed. As she walked through the front door onto the balcony, she leaned her head through the kitchen window and asked if he'd pass a treat for Atilla. Dom reached into the treat tin and handed her a liver stick.

A glint of sun peeped out from behind the majestic Mount Warning, casting silver beams of light through the rainforest. When he stepped out onto the decking, Izzy was sitting cross legged on the Persian rug facing the rising sun. Dom watched as she coaxed Atilla to sit before handing him his treat. She looked at peace in this magnificent setting. When they first arrived, she'd gushed over and over how much she loved the house and being in the forest and despite being embarrassed about his behaviour last night, Dom was pleased he'd brought her. She was an easy person to be around.

It wasn't hard to appreciate nature here if you were that kind of person, it was so close to the house, almost as if the forest was creeping in and taking over. There was even a resident huntsman spider in the kitchen, which seemed entirely at home, and which hadn't seem to bother Izzy at all. Briefly Dom thought of Em and how different the two girls were. Em was not the kind of person to love that spider!

'Listen to that,' Dom said, placing their coffee down on a small Balinese side table.

He had always loved the dawn chorus of birds singing in the bush, interspersed with the high-pitched sound of cicadas. ''Isn't it fantastic?' he said.

Izzy nodded. 'I miss the sound of the bush so much now that we live in the city.'

Dom sat next to her on the floor, placing sachets of sugar between them on the rug. He thought how pretty she looked. She had a pink hoodie on zipped up to her chest and even after a night without sleep, was fresh faced and glowing.

'How was the rest of your night?' he asked

'Raucous,' she said, with a chuckle, sprinkling sugar into her cup. 'Impossible. Like herding drunk elephants!'

'Sorry,' Dom said shamefacedly. 'I'll be deso next time-promise. I never want to see tequila again.'

'It's okay. The fireworks were good. How come you're up?' asked Izzy.

'Force of habit,' Dom said.

They sipped their coffee and watched the sunrise in comfortable silence. When Attila snuck into Izzy's lap, Dom mentioned it would take a nice photo to send to Em, but he didn't move to take the picture.

'Was I imagining Bish here?' Dom asked, his face paused in reflection.

'He helped you home with me,' said Izzy chuckling. 'He'd never used a composting toilet. I think it was a shock to see one!'

Dom laughed. 'He'll make me pay for last night. He's rescued me one too many times lately.'

'What's that about?' Izzy asked gently. 'You okay?'

If it had been anyone else, Dom would have found the question patronizing but, that wasn't how it came across.

To his surprise Dom admitted to Izzy that he just wanted to get bombed for New Year and not think about anything. Then, he started to talk about what was bothering him and as he spoke, everything seemed to roll out of him. He told her about what was going on at his home with the farm being in trouble and Lulu having to leave school.

Izzy sat listening quietly and when he paused, she said: 'I'm sorry to hear things aren't what they seem with you family. You guys all look so close.'

'I'm so angry at my dad,' Dom said. 'On some level, I know what happened wasn't his fault, but he made stupid decisions too. Things we warned him against.'

'Like what?' Izzy prompted.

Dom paused, watching Atilla lick her fingers. He explained how before the recent rains, they'd had two years of drought and were bleeding money, trying to feed the cattle. That the family had begged his dad to sell the herd, but the breeding line had come down from his grandfather, and that his Dad would have preferred to sell the house, so he did nothing for too long, and they ended up having to sell the cattle anyway, to pay mounting debts.

Izzy sat listening quietly while he spoke, absentmindedly stroking Attila's ears with one hand and cradling her coffee cup in the other. She said nothing more. Somehow, to Dom, that was more comforting than if she'd offered some words of advice like Em always did when he tried to speak to her. Advice that invariably had nothing to do with his reality.

'If it weren't for my mother giving him an ultimatum, we would have lost it all,' Dom continued. 'My dad is so damn stubborn.'

After a brief silence, Izzy asked gently: 'What about the horses?'

Dom signed an shook his head. 'Dads got an offer on Bolt from one of the guys I play Polo with,' he said. 'We had a huge fallout. But selling the horses will put my parents back in the black. It would mean they won't have to sell the house and now that the rains have come, they might have a chance at getting back on track.'

Dom noticed Izzy biting her lip. She knew what Bolt meant to him and instinctively he already understood that when it came to animals, Izzy was incredibly sensitive. He liked that about her.

'Hey, listen, I'm sorry to burden you with all this shit Iz. You don't need it, we're on holiday.' Dom stood up abruptly and offered to take her cup to the kitchen. 'New year's resolution,' he said. 'Don't unload my crap on other people!'

Izzy looked up at him. 'It's okay. Y'know. Anytime.' She smiled briefly, handing him her mug. 'We all go through tough stuff, but we're here for you. All of us.'

'Thanks, mate, I think I'm just going to go for a run-clear my head before my mum gets up.' Dom responded. 'Do you wanna come?'

'Are you kidding me?' Izzy grinned. 'I'm crashing! I'll see you in eight hours.'

'Fair enough,' Dom chortled. As he was leaving to go back into the house, he turned at the doorway.

'Hey, Iz?'

'Yeah?'

'Thanks for driving me home last night. You're a good friend.'

Izzy smiled and waved her hand.

'At least that's what my mum says about you,' Dom said. 'She's not usually a fan of the girls I bring home.'