A Bush Christmas (6 page)

‘You've got a real problem with the festive season, haven't you?'

Jaime hadn't thought her scowl was that apparent. But obviously it was because even Buster had crept back towards Stirling on the other side of the seat.

‘No.' Her retort was short and sharp.
Good one, Hanrahan. Now he'll know you're lying.

‘Mmm …'

Geez, she hated it when he did that. It meant he wasn't having a bar of it. A small corner of Jaime's brain registered the fact she'd taken enough notice of the man to pick up on his ways, while the rest of her brain engaged in shoring up her defences.

‘What do you mean, “Mmm”?'

Stirling leant back as much as he could in his seat and shot her a bemused look. ‘I don't believe you.'

‘Why would I have a problem with Christmas?'

‘That's what I want you to tell me,' he said. And then he leant towards her, a hand in the air, fingers extended. ‘One, you got cranky after I showed you the Santa stamps my nieces put on me. I thought, okay so she doesn't like anything that looks like a tattoo.'

He dropped his thumb.

‘Two, you nearly went under Ryan's counter at the shop when he mentioned the movies on show in Lake Grace.'

A finger went down.

‘Three, you held onto my Christmas lights like they were a nest of snakes.'

He only had his ring finger and pinkie left.

‘Four, you looked at my Santa back there as if he was the most hated man on earth …' His little finger looked very lonely sitting up there on its own. ‘And five, when I mentioned the tree drive your look would've killed the nearest elf.'

Stirling sat back and ruffled his dog's shaggy neck. ‘What gives, Princess?'

What to say? She didn't need to share her heart and soul with this man. No, she didn't want him to laugh at her.

‘I'm just Christmas-phobic,' Jaime said as she stared straight ahead so he couldn't see her eyes. They usually gave the game away when she was lying.

‘Mmm …'

Oh crap. There he went again. Time to be more convincing. ‘It's the materialism. I just can't stand all the wasted money on food and presents.' She snuck a look sideways and was gratified when she saw he was nodding.

‘Yep. I like to make my presents myself.'

‘You do?'

‘Don't sound so shocked, Princess. Therein lurks more than one creative bone in my body. I'm not as gifted as my sister with her stained glass work, but me and leather get on all right.'

‘Leather? Like whips and stuff?' She didn't think he had it in him.

‘Stock whips, saddle bags, belts and purses …'

The man had no idea her thoughts were even
in
the gutter.

‘… handbags and computer satchels.'

Now he was talking her kind of gear. ‘So you sell them?' she asked.

‘No. I just give them away to friends,' he said, pointing towards a pine-treed paddock coming up on her right. ‘This here's the one. Just pull in that driveway there and I'll unbolt the locks.'

She swung in the drive and confronted the gate. ‘Why do you keep it locked?' The chains wrapped around the gatepost looked serious.

‘We get a swag of tourists up here over Christmas, camping up the bush and along the river and, let's just say one or two or ten have been known to help themselves to a bit of Christmas cheer.'

‘Why does Valerie do it?'

Stirling threw her a quizzical look.

‘The trees. Why does she grow them? Does she sell them in the city?'

Stirling shook his head. ‘No, we give them away to charities and to community groups like the local fire brigade. It's our contribution to the community and a gift of Christmas to people who wouldn't be able to afford a tree otherwise.'

Jaime couldn't help but wonder if this Valerie was some sort of Mother Teresa in disguise. And Stirling seemed to know so much about what she thought and did …

She opened to her mouth to ask a few more questions about the mistress of Polly's Plains but Stirling was already gone and heading to the gate. He waved her through and jumped up on the back of the vehicle. Buster whined so much at being left behind that Jaime stopped the car and let him out to join his master, laughing at the comical look on the dog's face as he nearly jumped clean over the small trayback. Stirling caught him just in time.

 

They spent a couple of hours working in unison. Stirling would fell the trees and Jaime would come along behind and load them onto the ute and then the trailer. The sun wasn't too bad as they had the shade of the trees, but Jaime was really glad she'd left on her borrowed straw hat. At least it stopped the sun from hitting her head and giving her sunstroke.

When the trees were at the point of nearly toppling off both trailer and ute tray, Stirling shut down the saw and stretched his back.

Jaime could almost feel every kink the man was ironing out. He'd been going nonstop for ages. She, on the other hand, had rested quite a few times, but had kept up with him, which was something she was proud of. She almost felt like saying,
There, Marble Man. I can be of help sometimes.

Feeling buoyed by the achievement, she grabbed a couple of ropes out of the ute and went to tie one over the trailerload of trees. She was praying her fingers remembered the way her father had taught her a truckie's hitch and breathed a sigh of relief when they did.

Stirling, meanwhile, had tied down the trees on the ute tray. ‘All set, Princess.' His mouth quirked a little as he took in her self-satisfied smile. ‘Congratulations. Who taught you to tie knots?'

‘My dad.' The words came flying out of her mouth before she'd even thought about it. Damn.

‘Is he a truckie or something?'

‘Nope. Not anymore.' Jaime walked towards the ute and jumped in the driver's seat. Started the motor and slammed the vehicle into gear.

Stirling appeared at the passenger side window. ‘Is he in the same category as Christmas? A no-go zone?'

Staring straight out through the front windscreen, Jaime felt tears prick her eyes. ‘Something like that. You going to relock this gate?'

She could feel the man's stare against the side of her face but she didn't care. He'd had all the information he was getting for today.
Her
version of a D & M was officially over.

 

They were flying down the road and were within sight of the Polly's Plains front gate when all of a sudden Stirling gave an almighty shout.
‘Stop! Pull over!'

Jaime immediately slammed on the brakes. ‘What's wrong?' she said, glancing in the rear vision mirror; something she hadn't done since leaving the paddock, so immersed was she in her own thoughts.

Her eyes didn't compute the situation at first.

Buster on the back still? Check.

A ute full of trees still? Check.

A trailer full of trees still? Che–

Nope.

There was not one single Christmas tree left in the trailer. It was like Santa Claus had dived down with his sleigh and carted the whole lot off.

Stirling had bailed out of the ute and was standing beside the road, holding the end of a trailing rope. The culprit. Obviously. Jaime groaned. So much for her fingers remembering the truckies hitch. Damn. Damn. Damn.

She got out and joined him beside the trailer. ‘I guess I wasn't so smart after all,' she said.

Stirling gave her a glance and just shrugged his shoulders. ‘Easy enough to do. You'll have to turn the ute around and we'll go back and pick them all up.'

Turn the ute around? The road was barely wide enough for a car, with a cliff face one side and a steep drop off on the other. She'd have to back the trailer. Damn.

‘I'll walk back up there and get those ones off the middle of the road, otherwise if a car comes round that blind corner they'll plough straight into them.' The man took off, loping quickly towards the scattered green pine trees.

Just great, although at least with his back to her he mightn't witness her final fall, the coup de grâce.

She ran back to the ute, jumped in and looked to the sky.
Please, Dad, help me through this.
What had he instructed her that day?
Chase the trailer, Princess, and you'll be fine.

Putting the ute into gear, she slowly drove the vehicle as far to the right as she could. Now for the moment of truth, she thought, as she pegged reverse. Letting off the clutch she ‘chased the trailer' with the ute back across the road, swinging left and right to try to get the most out of the turn that she could. She then drove forward. Yes! She felt like cheering. She was going to make it round. The ute bumped hard up against the cliff. Maybe not.

Jaime chased the trailer with the ute again and was finally facing towards Stirling. She took a few deep breaths of relief and self-congratulation.
See, Dad? We did it!
Then, making sure to take things a bit more slowly this time, she set off to collect Stirling and the renegade Christmas trees.

 

The digital clock in the ute was displaying two and a couple of zeros by the time they arrived back at Polly's Plains.

‘I need to get these trees down to Ryan,' Stirling said as they pulled up at his front gate. ‘I'll skip lunch and head there now.'

‘No. I'll do it,' said Jaime. ‘It's the least I can do for making you so late.'

Stirling seemed to wrestle within himself for a few moments before finally saying, ‘Okay, if that's all right with you. I have to finish the lights, check some troughs and fix the electric fence into the bunny paddock.'

At Jaime's confused look, he clarified: ‘That's what Valerie and I call the biggest eroded gully. A bit of a slap in the face, but it reminds us why we're putting in the hard yards to revegetate.'

Aha. Back to the bunnies and their nightly feasts chewing succulent tree shoots. Jaime still felt dreadful she'd misjudged the man. The least she could do was get rid of the trees for him.

‘There'll be a
Weekly Times
newspaper down at the shop for me, too. Can you pick it up? I forgot to get it yesterday.'

‘Sure. Be glad to.'

Stirling glanced at her, a suspicious expression crossing his features.

‘Why so amiable, Princess?'

‘No reason.'

‘Mmm …'

Sheesh! He even disbelieved her when she was trying to be
nice
!

Ryan's shop was humming. She'd never seen so many four-wheel drives in one place except at a city car yard. Although most of these vehicles looked nothing like the Toorak tractors she was used to. These trucks bristled with bullbars, aerials and chunky tyres. They looked mean rather than soft and cushy, meant for the real business of four-wheel driving rather than just cruising to the Mornington Peninsula for a weekend in the ‘country'.

She managed to catch Ryan on his second trip from petrol bowser to the till. ‘What's going on, Ryan?'

The store owner paused in his mad dash and flung her a wide grin. ‘Welcome to the madhouse. It's Christmas at Burdekin's Gap. But don't worry, it only lasts a week or so. Ta ta, got to run and make dollars while the sun shines.'

She leant against a petrol bowser and watched as vehicle after vehicle came up the drive. All these people must have finished work early and headed straight for the mountains.

‘Hey there,' called a young buck in a Nissan Patrol. ‘You wanna shine my baby?'

Jaime laughed. Time she got out of here. She grabbed at Ryan's workshirt as he buzzed past again. ‘Ryan, I've got your trees from Stirling. Where do you want them?'

Ryan waved a hand towards the back of the store. ‘Out there somewhere. Hey, listen, JJ,' he caught her look, ‘I mean
Jaime
. You don't feel like giving us a hand here, do you? Just for this arvie? I'll pay you.'

Jaime glanced at the Nissan Patrol driver with a frown. He was giving her legs the once over and, noticing her interest in him, gave a lavish wink.

‘Okay, but here's the deal. I want to work inside, behind the counter. And if any man gives me a hard time, I'm out of here.'

Ryan snatched up a pair of overalls. ‘Put these on then. They might hide that body of yours.'

Jaime didn't know whether to feel complimented or insulted.

‘The fellas won't be able to keep their hands to themselves otherwise,' said Ryan, before taking off to fill another petrol tank.

Okay, so it was a compliment. Shucks.

She glanced down at the protective coveralls in her hands. They looked mighty big. It took a moment but finally it dawned on her that they were Bluey and Jean's Pro Hart lovelies. Oh man, not again.

But she had to admit hearts with ‘BLUEY LOVES JEAN' were preferable to ogling eyes and pinches on the bum. She hauled the overalls on over her cut-offs, pausing to yank down her shorts as they seemed to curl into her crotch in terror. It was only one afternoon. Surely she could do this to help out Ryan seeing he'd been so nice to her since she had arrived in Burdekin's Gap. She'd just make sure she didn't turn around. The ‘BLUEY LOVES JEAN' hearts were something else.

 

Jaime was run off her feet trying to keep up with the fuel accounts, the last-shop-before-we-hit-the-bush grocery stock-ups, fishing gear and families just wanting a souvenir from visiting the ‘the iconic mountain town' of Burdekin's Gap. The biggest seller was a sticker proclaiming, ‘The Gap – the last Frontier'. She couldn't believe the amount of city-slickers hitting this place. It was a nightmare.

Ryan called to her at one stage from the doorway. ‘You doing okay back there, JJ?' She had been so busy filling lolly bags for a bunch of ten-year-olds she didn't even notice him, until someone said, ‘Hey, are you JJ? Guess that stands for Jean something-or-other, hey? The dude with the blond hairdo wants ya.'

Jaime glanced up to see Ryan was now right beside her. ‘Anyone ever tell you how cute you look when you concentrate?'

‘Shhhh. I need to count.'

Ryan laughed, rang up the till and sauntered back outside where the rush of four-wheel drives appeared to be slowing.

‘He your husband, miss?' asked one the kids.

Jaime laughed. ‘No, mate. Haven't got a husband.'

‘Why ya got “BLUEY LOVES JEAN” on ya overalls then?'

‘How did you know that was there?' She'd been so careful to keep facing frontwards. Come to think of it, Jean was what that other bloke called her …

Three kids pointed as one behind her. Jaime peered over her shoulder to see the back of her overalls reflected in all their glory in a long mirror placed strategically at an angle above her head. It had been put there, she guessed, so Ryan could see if anyone was shoplifting while he had his back turned.

Bugger. No wonder people were grinning so widely. It wasn't the fact they were on holidays at all. It because her rear end was shouting her supposed love life to the whole world, albeit in reverse.

She turned back to the kids, who were by now laughing at her red face. She shoved her hands into the lolly jars one more time and didn't bother to count the last sweets into the bags. Just stuffed them in saying, ‘Here, you lot. Scram!'

She snatched another look over her shoulder. Oh boy. The hearts gave a whole new meaning to the ‘arse end of the world'. She'd be glad when today was over.

 

‘Thanks, JJ … Whoops, I mean Jaime. You were a life-saver.' Ryan was sincere in his thanks. ‘I've unhitched the trailer and unloaded the trees out of the ute.'

The store owner sounded so grateful she didn't have the heart to chew him out over the JJ slip. Plus, by now she was sure he was just taking the mickey out of her. Well, two could play at that game.

‘No worries. Look, I don't know if I mentioned it before but in the city my time is usually charged out at $250 per hour.' She watched as Ryan's face blanched. ‘So that would make my wages tally to $1000 …'

‘Jesus H. Christ!'

Jaime couldn't help the smirk that now slid across her face. ‘So it's just as well I'm doing this as a love job.'

Ryan had recovered his usual rosy complexion. ‘Shit, you had me worried there for a minute, Jaime.'

No JJ this time, she noticed. ‘Good. About time someone ruffled your feathers.'

‘Oh, you ruffle my feathers alright …' He broke off embarrassed and stared at the floor. ‘But you're not interested, are you?'

Jaime replaced her self-satisfied grin with a soft but rueful smile. ‘No, Ryan. I'm sorry. You're a lovely man but–'

‘I know, I know. Lovely just doesn't cut it, though.'

Jaime looked at him sadly. ‘No. I'm sorry.'

Ryan frowned for a minute but then perked up. ‘Don't be sorry. At least we can be friends now. This just gets all that boy-girl tension out of the way.'

Unlike her and Stirling, thought Jaime. But that was another story altogether. ‘I guess you've got your sights set on McEvoy?'

Jaime started in surprise.

‘Tiffany Sutton, Irene's townie niece,' Ryan explained. ‘She was the same.'

She could see the store owner was striving for nonchalance but not quite hitting it.

‘She thought Stirling was a bit of all right too, until she realised he wasn't a party animal. The man prefers a quiet life. Not like me. I like a good time.' Ryan waggled his eyebrows in invitation.

At her bland expression, he sighed and shrugged his shoulders. ‘It was worth a try.'

Jaime nodded. It was. Ryan was lovely, but he wasn't Stirling.

‘Drive your ute around the front and fill it up. It's the least I can do after your help today,' he said.

Jaime was about to protest but then stopped. She probably owed Valerie fuel for the use of the vehicle. It wasn't as if she was really
working
for her $100 a week plus board and keep.

‘Sounds great. Thanks, Ryan.' Jaime peeled off Bluey's overalls and gave them back to the store owner. She noticed he was valiantly trying not to ogle her legs, God love him. ‘One of us better get these back to Lake Grace. I think Jean might be missing them by now.' Ryan grinned, slapping her on the back as they both walked out the door.

‘You met Jean?' called Ryan as she set off towards the ute.

‘Nope.'

‘Well, you will at the Christmas Tree.'

Christmas Tree? She'd just got rid of the damn things. She wasn't going back there again.

 

The McClymonts were blasting out the speakers with all the force of a low-flying jet. Jaime had the windows down, the still warm early evening air spilling into the ute's cab. The smell of the bush on the wind was fresh and liberating. She dipped her hand out the window frame into the breeze flying past, allowing her fingers to duck and dive into the slip-streams of air.

She felt … what? It took a couple of minutes to put her finger on it, but she came up with the one word that surprised her.

Happy.

That was until the ute's engine started to rattle. She wasn't sure if she was hearing right first up, but then smoke started pouring out from the exhaust. She could barely see the rear of the tray it was so bad. The ute started doing little bunny hops, followed by big bunny hops. She decided maybe it was time to pull over, just as the ute gurgled and ground to a halt.

Hell. She'd only been here a week and now she'd killed the poor Suzuki. What had it ever done to hurt her?

She tried to key the engine again. The motor rattled something awful before dying. She tried again. Nothing. This wasn't good. What the hell was wrong? She couldn't think what she could have done to it but then she was a fill-it, drive-it and park-it kinda girl. She left all the techno stuff to the experts at the garage.

So, now she had two choices. Either stay with the vehicle or walk home. Doing a search of the cab she realised she was missing one vital item if she wanted to walk around in the fast approaching night. A torch. Plus, she was still just a little afraid of
the dark. Okay, maybe a bit more than just a little, but she was sure she would have tried to hoof it if she'd had a torch.

Jaime decided her best bet was to stay with the vehicle. Surely with all the four-wheel drives thundering along this road today, someone would come past and give her a lift. She just hoped it wasn't that young buck in his Nissan Patrol.

 

It wasn't.

Stirling McEvoy came boring past on his V-Max about nine o'clock, going hell-for-leather towards Burdekin's Gap. He almost put the bike into a non-recoverable slide when he saw her sitting in the ute.

His first words to Jaime weren't the most pleasant. ‘Where in the hell have you been?'

Not a good start to the rescue operation, that's for sure.

‘Burdekin's Gap.' She figured she only needed to tell him the bare essentials.

‘I was worried out of my head when I didn't see any lights on up at the big house. You been with Ryan?'

Well, that was a loaded question.

‘Yes and no.'

‘Yes you have or no you haven't?'

‘Yes, I've been
helping
Ryan in the shop. No, I haven't been in his
bed,
if that's what you're asking. But what that has to do with you anyway I have no idea.'

Stirling seemed to suck in a breath and then stared intently up at the sky. He stayed that way for so long she looked up too just to check she wasn't missing anything. Nope. The Milky Way was right where it should be.

Finally the man spoke. ‘I'm sorry. You're right. It
is
none of my business.'

And now, even though he'd apologised for the first time since she'd known him, Jaime felt disgruntled. It was like deep down she
wanted
it to be his business.

Stirling had moved on to more immediate matters. ‘What's wrong with the ute?'

‘I don't know. It rattled, blew a lot of smoke, bunny hopped and then stopped.'

Stirling did his brow-meets-the-rest-of-his face trick. ‘Sounds like it could be a problem with the fuel. Did you put unleaded in it back at the Gap? Maybe the last load of fuel Ryan got was dirty. Or was it from the bottom of the tank?'

Jaime was still back on the word unleaded. She could feel her toes curling in her Colorados. Her voice, when it came, was closer to a whisper. ‘Did you say unleaded, as in unleaded
petrol
?'

‘Yes. The Suzuki takes unleaded–' He stopped. ‘Oh, you didn't, did you? Tell me you didn't put diesel in the ute.'

Jaime felt sick. ‘I put diesel in the ute.'

‘
Shit!'

‘I'm so sorry, Stirling. I thought being a ute, and a farm one at that, it would take diesel. It just made sense! My dad's ute did!'

‘Well this isn't your dad's ute, Princess. This is Valerie's.'

Oh yes, his precious Valerie.

‘Look, I said I'm sorry. What can we do? I'll pay to get it fixed.' Jaime took in Stirling's foreboding frown. ‘It
can
be fixed, can't it?'

She glanced upwards towards the stars again and sent up a little prayer.
Dad, help me here!

Stirling expelled such a long drawn out sigh she nearly felt sorry for the man. Nearly, but not quite. She had thought she was doing the
right
thing, damn it.

‘I'll bring the tri-axle trailer down in the morning and load it up. It'll have to go to Lake Grace. The boys in the shop there will drain it.' The man cast an assessing gaze towards the ute.

Jaime stood there mute. Man, he must hate a city chick like her turning up to disrupt his nice comfortable life.

‘Go on, get on the bike,' he said before moving towards the vehicle. ‘I'll just lock the thing up.'

She walked over and stood by the V-Max, waiting for him. When he arrived back at her side, he silently handed her his helmet.

‘I can't–' She stopped. The look on his face was enough. ‘Okay, maybe I can.' She pulled the thing over her head and waited for a bareheaded Stirling to mount up. Got on behind him. She was surprised how she was getting used to this whole bike-riding thing. Mind you, it still wasn't her favourite way to get around, but it was growing on her.

A bit like the man she was now sitting hard up against …

She wasn't going to think about that.