سال نو مبارک!

CHAPTER NINE

Happy New Year!

‘I still don’t understand why you didn’t tell us about your Dad,’ said Claire.

It was New Year’s Eve and Lisa’s Dad was paying for them to have dinner in an expensive restaurant.

From their table there was a fantastic view of Sydney Harbour and the Opera House. The night sky was full of stars. The nightmare of the past few days was finally over.

‘I wanted you to like me for who I am, not because my Dad was a famous judge,’ said Lisa.

‘Well, I don’t care if your Dad is a judge or if he cleans the streets! What are you going to order? I can’t decide. I’m so hungry I could eat two of everything’ said Amy.

‘We’ll order some champagne first,’ said Lisa’s Dad. ‘I’m a lucky man. I always worried that something like this was going to happen.’

‘It’s over now, Dad, Because of Amy and Claire, Jack’s in prison and he’ll stay there for a long time. I want to get on with my life,’ said Lisa and she kissed him on the cheek.

‘What are your New Year’s resolutions’ asked Amy.

‘I’m going to give up chocolate. After I’ve tried that delicious-looking chocolate cake,’ said Claire.

‘I’m going to retire,’ said Lisa’s Dad.

‘Why? You can’t do that, your job means everything to you,’ said Lisa, surprised.

‘I’ve thought about it for a long time. Even before all of this happened. I want to spend more time with my family,’ he said, smiling at Lisa.

‘My New Year’s resolution is to remember my money and mobile phone when I go out,’ laughed Lisa.

‘Cheers’ laughed Amy, raising her glass.

Dinner was delicious and they all ate too much.

‘Have you thought about what you are going to study at university’ he asked.

‘Oh Dad. Don’t be boring. It’s New Year’s Eve. There’s lots of time to think about that,’ said Lisa, suddenly nervous.

‘Your future is very important,’ he said, seriously.

‘I know. But’ Lisa knew that joining the police was what she definitely wanted. She also knew that sooner or later, she needed to tell her Dad about her decision.

But she didn’t want to ruin this evening. She was having such a good time.

‘Dad’ she started. Taking a deep breath she said the words she knew were going to disappoint him. ‘I don’t want to go to university.’ She avoided his eyes and waited for him to shout that she was making a big mistake.

But when he spoke his voice was warm. ‘I know’ he said.

‘What do you mean, “I know”?’ Lisa looked at him confused, but he was smiling.

‘I’m your Dad, I could see that whenever I talked about university you looked unhappy. And what’s important to me,’ he said, taking her hand gently in his, ‘is that you’re happy.’

‘So can I join the police?’

‘If that’s what you want,’ he smiled.

‘Do you mean that’ asked Lisa, excitedly. She threw her arms around him.

‘Well, if Lisa is going to join the police, then you two could always become private investigators,’ he said and Claire laughed. ‘I’m serious. You found Lisa before the police did.’ But the girls were laughing too much to take him seriously.

‘Here’s to us, Charlie’s Angels!’ laughed Lisa making another toast. ‘It’ll soon be midnight. Shall we go outside with everyone else?’

At last the countdown began, ‘10, 9, 8, 7,’ everyone shouted, ‘6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Happy New Year!’

Fireworks filled the sky with loud bangs and a beautiful rainbow of colour.

Sydney was impressive at any time of year, but the harbour at New Year was unforgettable.

Any plans for the future could wait until tomorrow. It was too good, here and now.