Breaking Up Pt. 01

"After the cops took him away we moved from Perth to Melbourne just to get away. The Perth cops tried to get her to give them inside information about the gang but she always refused. She fully agreed that they deserved to be locked up, but she knew if she talked then she'd wind up six feet under and her children would be orphans."

"Bloody hell," Ilona sank down on the bed, "I read about it and see it in tv shows but I've never met anyone who came from that background."

"It's almost foreign to me," she opened the window, "my sister was the one who was affected the most, but mum turned her life around completely. She got a job as a receptionist in a solicitor's office and then went to law school part time. Eventually her boss stumped up the money to put her through full time on the proviso she sign up to a seven year contract to them on lower wages to pay back the school fees. She did her time and now she's a senior partner."

"Have you ever met your dad?"

"No," she turned and put her back against the windowsill, "he was killed in a fight in some pub out in Kalgoorlie," she fixed her eyes on the built-in wardrobe behind Ilona.

"Shannon and I used to go home via mum's work most days, we'd either sit and do homework in the staff canteen or sit in her office if she wasn't too busy, but one day the police came to see her while we were sitting in her office. Mum sussed it out before they opened their mouths because she sent us into the canteen. She came through with the policewoman a few minutes later and told us that dad was dead."

"I'm sorry," she blinked, "how old were you?"

"Thirteen," she replied, "I wasn't really that badly affected because he'd just been someone I'd heard about, I have no physical memory of my father just the odd picture, but Shannon was quite shaken up by it. She went off the rails for a few months but then mum made friends with a female counsellor, Harriet and she was a big help to Shannon," she fiddled with her cuff.

"I wouldn't call her sex mad but she's always had a high sex drive, every few months she'd go out for dinner with one of her special friends and one of her girlfriends would babysit. They'd do their thing but she always came home afterwards. It could be one in the morning but she'd come home, even if she had to get a taxi home, because there was never a morning when mum wasn't in bed alone, her bedroom door was always open."

"She never found the right guy?"

"My mum swings both ways," she replied, "and she's had a few good offers over the years, but after being in an abusive marriage and dealing with the results of kids from abusive homes going through the court system was a constant reminder to keep her eye on the ball. We were her priority, if she needed a fuck she could put out the right signs and go out for dinner and back to their joint. She has this ability to just switch off and go home," she glanced down at Darren who was peering beneath the raised bonnet of her mother's coupé.

"She's changed her golden rule now that we're both out of home though, these days she lets her partner stay the night or a weekend providing they don't start talking about moving in. Mum's been living this way of life for so long now it's ingrained in her," she turned to look out the window.

"Darren seems pretty impressed by her car though."

"What's he doing now?" Ilona rose and joined her at the window.

"He's a car fanatic," Ilona explained a moment later, "for years, he had a picture of that exact same car on his wall, a Ford Falcon XC Cobra. For his twenty first birthday, we all pitched in to buy him a ride in an actual Cobra race car out at Calder. He loved that present more than all the others we got him," she leaned on the window.

"I don't think it's an original," Julie replied, "according to mum, it's a coupé made up to look like the real deal," she dug her hands into her pockets, "it's hard to know what he's more impressed with, mum or her car."

"Probably both," she giggled as Darren stepped back to take a picture of Patricia in front of her car, she was still wearing the dress Julie had made her, "check her out," she bumped her hips against Julie's, "she thinks she's a pin up girl."

"Oh, she can still pull that one off, is Darren with someone?"

"Um, yeah, but I wouldn't worry about that. Michelle is three years older than him and she wears the pants in their house," she grinned.

"Okay?" Julie glanced at her, "and what's with the smile?"

"Michelle was my after school tutor in my last year at high school. She was a teacher at another high school but she's signed to an agency who supply part time tutors around exam time. Darren was in and out of home at the time and going out with Belinda but my tutor just rocked his boat, so he took her out for dinner one night. It was payment for changing the fuel pump in her car instead of cash, he dumped his girlfriend two days later."

"Kinda like you and Nick then."

"Yeah, but unfortunately lightning doesn't strike twice," she turned back to the bed and stared at it, "I'm in a bad situation right now. We had the worst fight this morning and it was over nothing at first, just leaving the toilet seat up again."

"Well that can be a hanging offence," she replied.

Ilona smiled at that as she sat on the bed and undid the straps on her shoes. Julie glanced down at the drive as her mother closed the bonnet, a moment later she looked up at the house and raised a hand in farewell and then blew her a kiss. By the time Julie had returned the kiss Ilona was settling back on the double bed with one foot tucked up in front of her and the other on the floor.

"So, how bad did it get?"

"Bad," she leaned forward to inch the stocking off her toes, "he started picking faults with me, leaving stray hairs on the vanity, hair around the plughole in the shower, even though some of it is his hair as well, along with other minor stuff," she straightened her leg out.

"Then it got personal, I was too busy running around with my girlfriends or going to see my family and then he hit me with the gold digger accusation," her eyes narrowed as she plucked at the fluff on her trousers.

"Gold digger?"

"Yeah," their eyes met briefly, "his house, or rather the second home that his parents bought, is much larger than my two bedroom unit. I nearly hit the fucking roof, I swear to fucking God, The rent that she pays me, goes right back into my mortgage and because he's been at Tafe and only has a part time job, I'm paying the mortgage. I should have thrown something at him then, I should have taken off this fucking ring and thrown it back in his face but I calmed down and told him I was late for work and we'd continue this conversation when he came back from Brisbane."

"Jesus," Julie stared at her, "how did he take that?"

"He came after me and actually looked worried, I wound down the window and he actually said sorry and said he'd been under a lot of pressure from his dad. I just said it's fine I understand you're under pressure, but I'm late for work and then I really did have to go."

Julie felt the lump in her throat as she stared at her. Ilona really did look vulnerable sitting on the bed.

"And I shouldn't have said that then," she continued, "because I'm not fine, I'm fucking pissed off with him, this fucking ring," she held it up, "and that fucking bitch of a mother in law. I swear to God I felt like whacking her over the head with a frying pan the other day when she said it hadn't been washed properly," she pulled a face as she put on a whining voice.

"It's got grease spots on it," she switched back to her normal voice.

"I should have smacked her right on the nose with it and asked her to count the spots in her eyes and I'm so not like that, I hate violence. It's the only nice thing I can say about Nick right now, he can be a smartarse and even yell at me but he's never hit me, yet."

"Listen," Julie approached the bed and sat on the edge.

"I know you said you might only stay a few days but if you're at that point where you feel like lashing out then stay here as long as you need to," she patted her leg.

"And if you decide to pull the pin and walk away then we'll come to other arrangements."

"Such as?" Ilona's eyes widened.

"Rent," she squeezed her leg, "what did you think I was going to suggest?"

"Oh," she smiled tightly, "thanks for the offer but I'm still considering options, this has happened before, twice and it was more or less resolved. The second time was before we went on holiday, so maybe time away might wake him up because this time I just clammed up mid-stream and that's just not me."

"No worries," Julie looked at her, "that's what friends are for," she rose and stepped back, "so go ahead and grab a shower, I'll bring that other blouse up for you to try on and leave it on the bed," she took another step back as Ilona swung her leg off the bed and stood up.

"But come down and show me how it looks, just in case I need to make changes," she stopped as Ilona took two steps forward and then threw her arms around her. She felt her breasts pushing hard against her as Ilona held onto her, and Julie held her for the better part of thirty seconds.

"I'm glad I met you," Ilona whispered as she relaxed her grip.

"Me too," Julie murmured and then Ilona kissed her fiercely on the cheek.

Julie pulled back slightly as Ilona stared into her eyes, they were still locked in an embrace when Ilona kissed her on the lips, holding them against hers for far longer than normal and then she broke free and smiled slyly.

"Sorry, I'm tactile, it's a family trait."

"Tactile is good," she let her go.

A few moments later she was making her back downstairs.

Is that an open door?

Ilona stepped into her sewing room some half an hour later, she was wearing the blouse Julie had left on the bed and left it hanging over a pair of tight white jeans. The older woman looked up to give her the once over. This cream-coloured blouse had been cut from the same pattern as the first one, and like the first one it shared the the same double-breasted fastening but Julie had made two modifications. The edge of the blouse had been folded over to form a placket to hide the right hand row of buttons. The cuffs were also different, these ones were two button closures as opposed to the single button ones.

"That hangs well on you," she moved around the table at the same time as Ilona, she pulled lightly on it and then taking her hands, stepped back to check the rise as her arms were stretched out.

"Yeah, that's good," she released her hands, "go into my bedroom wardrobe and grab one of the belts hanging up and we'll see how it looks when it's tucked in."

"Okay," Ilona undid her button and unzipped the jeans, "are you going to take a picture of me in this blouse?"

"Not like that," she glanced down at her crotch, "it might attract the wrong sort of attention."

She returned some five minutes later with a black belt adorned with a large silver buckle, she'd also found an oval brooch and pinned that to the top of the blouse. Julie glanced at the blouse dangling from her arm, it was the garment her mother had brought back with her from Hawaii.

"Nice, that looks really nice," she looked at her.

"Thanks," she held the blouse up, "can you make something like this?"

"Yeah, quite easily, mum bought it from me when she was in Hawaii."

"Cool," she looked at the cutting table. The third blouse Julie was making for her was in a partial stage of construction, the front and back panels had been sewn together and she had just laid out the sleeves.

"Will it be finished today?"

"Yeah, although I've got to duck out and grab some extra food from Coles, we're having the Beef Stroganoff tonight."

"I can do the shopping," Ilona replied, "and the cooking."

"Okay," Julie nodded, "sounds like a good deal, just let me sew the sleeves together, you can grab the purse from my bedroom if you like and I'll write a list."

***

The afternoon wore on and the blouse began to come together as the sleeves were attached to the bodice, the cuffs were next, followed by the collar and ties. Julie had offered her the choice of the same style of lace collar, a mandarin collar or a drooping collar. After some consideration she'd opted for a full mandarin collar in the same material as the blouse with a three button closure on the collar and cuffs, and a placket over the buttons.

With that out of the way she'd gone out to the backyard to play with Max and have a drink before coming back inside an hour or two later to prepare dinner and seeing as she was the one doing the cooking, Beef Stroganoff had been ditched for meatballs in a korma sauce, and vegetables along with steamed rice.

The only break Julie took was to go for a brief test drive after Darren finished putting on new front wheel bearings and brake pads. When she returned to give it the thumbs up, Darren was sitting on the porch steps talking to his sister.

"It's so much better," she smiled, "it drives like a new car."

"Am I good or am I good?" Darren grinned.

"You're better than good," she locked her hands behind her head, "you're my new mechanic from now on, the garage I go to right now are always doing extra jobs that I suspect are just added on to round the bill up."

"It's a common thing in the trade," he replied, "even where I work they're always adding shit on, and women are a prime target because they've often got kids."

"But Darren will look after you," Ilona reassured her.

"Fuck oath," he stood up, "well, I gotta love you and leave you, Michelle just texted me a shopping list, so if I want dinner tonight I have to swing by Coles."

"He's a good man," Julie commented after he'd driven away, "I can tell he's your brother, he even looks a bit like you."

"Darren and me are so alike," she nodded, "both in looks and temperament, we can not see each other for weeks on end and then just carry on the same conversation we had the last time we saw each other. The other two need reassurance, I have to call them at least every second day just to see how they are but Darren isn't like that. What you see is what you get," she fiddled with the ring on her finger.

"Did you tell him what you told me?" Julie glanced down at the engagement ring.

"Yeah."

"And?"

"He said I should just ditch the bastard and move on, there's no point flogging a dead horse," she stared down at the street, "we're the same there as well. We can stick with a relationship even when it's going bad but at some point we have the ability to just get up and walk out, but Ben and Tracey are different. They try to analyse it to death, and even after they've supposedly ended it they can go back and try again, but Darren and I can just say fuck it and leave," she turned to the house.

"How's it going in there?"

"Just the buttons to sew, which shouldn't take long, how about you?"

"Everything's prepared," she replied, "it'll take forty five minutes to cook."

"Sounds like a plan," she mounted the steps, "you might even be able to wear it for dinner tonight if I pull my finger out."

"Cool," she followed her, "I'll hang on until it's done then."

"You need to pick out the buttons first though," she glanced over her shoulder, "and there's plenty to choose from."

"Something bright, even though most of them will be hidden."

In the end however she chose dark brown buttons for a subtle contrast to the light tan.

"It all looks so logical now that I've been able to be here when you make it," she announced some fifteen minutes later as she brought in two cups of coffee.

"Yes and no," Julie glanced up, "the actual cutting is quite logical, it's just panels but knowing the characteristics of different materials can be a case of trial and error. My third piece was a top with a ruffle around the top, the garment was silk but the ruffle was a thicker polyester so it felt and looked almost top heavy. I had to unpick it three days later and make up a silk ruffle instead."

"And then there's the bust darts, you've got to double check your measurements," she grinned, "but it's all a learning process."

"I'd like to try it at least once," she sipped her coffee.

"Sure, thinking of signing on as my apprentice?"

"Maybe, maybe not," she grinned, "but they say don't knock it until you've tried it."

"Yeah, I agree," she stopped sewing and glanced at the chest of drawers, "tell you what, seeing as you're here for a couple of days at least, grab the catalogues and pick out something you fancy and we'll do it together."

"Okay," she smiled crookedly, "don't worry, I won't choose a ball gown."

"Please don't," she rolled her eyes, "it'll just turn you off."

Ilona grabbed a catalogue and picking up her coffee, went through to the living room where Max was obviously sleeping on the couch because she heard her say, "shove over, Max, mummy's friend needs some space too."

Mummy's friend? Julie stared at the open door.

Ilona returned some fifteen minutes later with an open catalogue and Julie glanced over as she set it down on the table.

"Well?"

"This one," she pointed to a picture of a woman wearing a white, short-sleeved blouse.

"Good choice," Julie glanced at her material rack, "there's plenty of white polyester there."

"Yeah, white works for me," she turned to look at the rack.

"It has that virginal look," she smiled.

Julie winced at that.

Julie stared at her reflection in the mirror an hour later. The blouse was finished and Ilona was now wearing it, jokingly referring to herself as Runway Ilona dressing for dinner.

"I'll wear this for dinner on one condition," she finished tying the ties into a pussybow, "you wear the blouse your mum brought over for you," she smiled crookedly.

"I might even consent to candles on the table."

A candlelight dinner?

Julie studied her reflection. She'd tucked the blouse into a white, three-quarter length pleated skirt with an elastic waistband that she'd covered with an elasticised belt.

Movement from the doorway turned out to be Max who was followed by Ilona. She'd changed out of the jeans she'd been wearing an hour ago and into a black leather pencil skirt with a front zipper that extended the full length of the skirt, the waistband was held together with an attached leather belt.

"My runway friend has changed again," she turned to face her, "nice skirt and I love the blouse," she flicked at the pussybow ties.

"I went back home for a few minutes after I picked up your shopping," she moved closer, "it's the first time I've worn this as a matter of fact. I was planning on wearing it for my hen night," she tugged gently at the wooden bead necklace around Julie's neck.

"You're not so bad yourself," she leaned forward and pressed her lips against Julie's, she held her position for a second and then parted her lips slightly, Julie instinctively parted hers as well and then she was breaking free as Ilona released the necklace and stepped back.

"Dinner is served," she wheeled about and ran a hand through Max's thick coat, "come on, Max."

Julie stared after her for a few seconds as she registered the significance of the moment and then she too was exiting the room.

Should I be doing this?

***

Nevertheless, despite the flirting Ilona seemed to bring it back down a notch after dinner when she got a call from her best friend, Melanie and judging by what Ilona was saying, Melanie was offering to sit down and mediate between them. Julie found herself caught between feeling deflated and a sense that perhaps her influence had played a part in resolving the issue.

But for how long?

Julie glanced up at the ceiling. Ilona had gone upstairs to continue the conversation in private, leaving Julie to do the dishes and refill the wine. Dinner had been a pleasant affair that was at times highly suggestive although her smiles were punctuated by more serious expressions as the topic changed from her past to her possible futures and there was more than one. She wanted to set up her own accountancy business before the age of thirty but was evasive on the subject of children before she turned thirty.