On the walk home, Ry cursed himself and his decision, which was made hastily in the days after he’d bought the pub. He’d been in a meeting with David and they’d got talking. Ry was buzzing about his acquisition and, before he knew it, the invitation had been issued and accepted. And now the Winters were in his house, his only refuge away from work and the city. He knew Amanda would be there when he opened his front door. She was number two on the list of women he didn’t want to have to deal with. He should have known what was going down. David had mentioned his daughter a few times, in the way that the fathers of single women do, that she was single and beautiful, that she loved the beach. It’s what people in the A-list crowd did, he got it. A single, successful and no-doubt-about it heterosexual man was mentioned in despatches all over Adelaide in that set. Parents were probably handing out his CV and photo at cocktail parties and charity fundraisers.
