Paige’s feet dragged. She still trod the same well-worn path towards the counter. A smile would still light up Anne’s ageless face. Emotion ached in Paige’s throat. But now her beautiful mother wouldn’t be there to hold her hand when a story made her cry, or reassure her happy endings really did exist. Paige stopped at the counter. If only she could press rewind to a time of childhood innocence when hope went hand-in-hand with happily-ever-afters. When there was no death and no drought.
‘Paige?’ As if from a long distance away Anne’s voice registered. The world rushed back into focus.
‘Sorry, I was off with the fairies.’
‘Hope it was raining there in fairyland,’ Anne said, voice soft.
Paige smiled a smile she didn’t feel. ‘Yes, yes it was.’
‘Now,’ Anne placed a small box onto the counter and pulled out a black phone, ‘while this won’t make it rain here any sooner, it will resolve the mobile issue.’
Paige opened her mouth to speak but Anne was quicker.
‘Before you say anything, Paige, please listen. You would be doing me a favour by using this phone. It has nine months of prepaid credit that is being wasted. It’s a long story but I bought this phone when I lost my other one. Needless to say my original mobile turned up soon after I purchased a replacement.’
Paige eyed off the black phone as if it would leap out of Anne’s hands and take a chunk out of her arm. ‘Can’t you transfer the credit to your other phone?’
Tait took the mobile from Anne and pressed the ‘on’ button. Music sounded as the phone carolled into life.
‘Is your other phone carrier the same as this one?’ he asked Anne.
She shook her head.
‘There’s your answer, Paige.’
She pursed her lips. At university she’d owned some antiquated mobile that was different to her friends’ snazzier versions, so she was far from techno-savvy. But there was something in the way Anne and Tait looked at her that tripped her suspicions. She didn’t know whether to believe the two of them or not. It was as though they’d formed an instant united front. They were up to something. She just had no way of knowing what.
Tait pressed some buttons and his phone sang in his pocket. He took out his mobile, typed in a number and Anne’s phone chimed. He pressed more buttons before reaching for Paige’s hand and placing the phone onto her palm. The mobile felt so cold compared with the warmth of his brief touch.
‘There you go. Numbers are exchanged and in contacts and you have about an hour’s worth of battery life.’
Paige stared at the phone. ‘Anne, are you sure?’
‘Yes, dear. Please take it.’
Since her mother died Anne had gone out of her way to keep an eye on her. Paige couldn’t understand why the kind-hearted librarian had never remarried. A year into her marriage to a local farmer she’d lost her husband when a wheat silo he’d been climbing on collapsed. She’d then moved into town and Paige guessed that the library had become Anne’s life.
‘Thank you.’
‘You’re very welcome. Now how about I get those newspapers and books for your father? I’m sure you’ve many jobs to do.’
Anne bustled away but Paige wasn’t convinced it was because of any urgency. She had a sneaking suspicion Anne disappeared before Paige could voice any second thoughts.
Tait scooped the box off the counter and passed it to her. The box hung suspended between them, forming a physical link, before Tait slowly let go.
‘Thanks,’ she said.
‘No worries.’ Seriousness lingered in his eyes and grooves again bracketed his mouth. ‘Now where did you say that coffee shop was?’
Three texts and two coffees later, Tait pulled up outside the local veterinarian. From Dusty’s trampolining on the back seat he knew they’d arrived at the place where Paige had arranged to meet him. He half-opened the window to distract the excited red heeler. Doggy slobber instantly streaked the glass. He briefly shut his eyes. His car was never going to be the same.
Dusty barked out the window as Paige emerged from the vet’s. She crossed the footpath, smiled at the dog and slipped into the passenger seat. Tait couldn’t help but notice her smile dim as she looked across at him.
‘Everything okay?’ If he’d learned anything over the past days it was that when her chin tilted, he’d need his wits about him.
‘Yes. I mean, no, not really.’ She pinned him with a stare that would have made his old headmistress proud. ‘You haven’t been into the vet this morning, have you?’
‘Trust me, this is my first and last visit.’
As if on cue Dusty whined, skidded from one side of the car to the other and again stuck his head out the window.
‘Sorry.’ Paige leaned between the front seats to check the blanket still covered the back seat. ‘He quite likes going to the vet. They have the best treats. Pop the window up and let’s get going and he’ll soon calm down.’
As Paige predicted, by the time they turned onto the empty main street, Dusty had resumed his customary position on Tait’s shoulder.
Tait attempted to look at Paige past Dusty’s muzzle. ‘Why did you ask if I’d been to the vet’s?’
‘Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I wanted to make sure you hadn’t been helping again.’
By the way she’d enunciated the word ‘helping’ he was sure she meant ‘meddling’.
‘Helping?’
‘Yes.’ She hesitated. ‘Not that your generosity isn’t appreciated – Dad did enjoy the chocolates and Tim Tams – but you’ve come here for a break, not to help people you don’t know.’
‘I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I don’t know you and Connor. I’ve learned more about the two of you in three days than I would have from living next door to someone for three years in the city.’
‘That still doesn’t mean you need to feel obliged to solve our problems. You have your own to deal with.’
‘True, but I don’t feel obliged at all.’ This time he hesitated. ‘Someone once helped me, someone very much like Connor, and in a way by helping Connor I feel like I’m helping him.’ Tait didn’t need to see Paige’s face to sense her curiosity. Her knees had moved as she’d shifted in her seat to take a closer look at him. He spoke quickly. ‘Now what happened at the vet’s?’
‘To tell you the truth, I’m not too sure. I went in to pay a bill only to find it wasn’t what I expected.’
‘That bad, huh?’
‘No, the opposite. It was at least a third of what the bill should have been. I queried the amount but Laura was adamant that that was all I owed, despite me having the original invoice as proof. She said there’d been some mix-up and the real amount was the lower figure. So I paid it, but I’m positive there wasn’t any mix-up.’
‘What do you think happened?’
‘Not sure. If it wasn’t you, then someone else paid the bill.’ Concern underpinned her words. ‘Someone who would need the money to pay their own bills.’
Connor Quinn sat in the shade of the front verandah and looked out over what had once been a garden. A few hardy agapanthus now lined the path and a crisp-looking native bottlebrush provided the only focal point in an otherwise flat and barren space. Molly would be heart-
broken if she knew how the drought had ravaged her life’s work.
He consulted his watch. Tait had called to let him know when they’d left Glenalla and they should be home soon. He looked towards the long driveway that rambled down to the old milk-can mailbox. His eyes closed.
A lifetime ago he’d walked up the driveway, his worldly possessions rolled into a swag draped on his shoulder. He’d caught a lift with the postman who said Banora Downs might be looking for a farm hand. Feet blistered in his ill-fitting boots, he’d trudged his way towards the distant roofline. He had no idea what he’d find at the homestead but it had to be better than the misery and degradation he’d left behind.
Connor’s eyelids flickered as images of his childhood shouldered through his memories. His last days on English soil, eating with silver cutlery in the grand country house where all the ‘lucky orphans’ had assembled before their new life in Australia. But the promises of riding a horse to school and of picking oranges in the sunshine soon imploded into a decade of mistreatment for the child migrants. As soon as he’d turned sixteen, he’d left Somerdale Farm to work on the railway. He’d then drifted further and further west where wide open spaces guaranteed anonymity and peace.
The driveway seemed to have gone on forever until, light-headed with thirst, he’d reached the spot where the road curved in front of the sprawling house. He’d stopped, lowered his swag and wiped the sweat from his brow. When he’d focused again he’d seen a slender, dark-haired young woman in a white dress standing on the verandah. Molly.
Connor’s lids lifted. He rolled his chair to the edge of the verandah and swallowed past the sadness that remained as raw as it had been on the day he’d buried his wife. A whisper of red dust waved on the horizon. He ignored the lump in his throat and checked his watch again. Tait and his V12 engine had made very good time. He tracked the growing dust cloud. He should have known better than to indulge his memories. No good ever came of thinking
about the past. It was the future he had to look towards, as well as protect. A future in which he had to make certain Paige would be free to pick oranges in the sunshine.
She’d
done
it.
Paige buckled herself into the farm ute and released the breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding. She’d finally managed to leave Tait at the homestead. When he’d been up before her this morning and insisted that he help feed the cattle, she’d been certain he’d shadow her all day. But lucky for her, Tait was a connoisseur of old cars as much as he was of coffee, and he’d again joined her father in his shed.
Every so often she considered the empty seat beside her as she guided the ute along an uneven track. For some reason it felt strange not having Tait with her. She was sure if she breathed deeply enough she could catch a hint of his aftershave from the passenger seatbelt. She looked sideways again but this time at the mobile that lay in the basket on the floor. Shiny and new it gleamed like a diamond among the ute’s dilapidation and dust. The contrast between her world and Tait’s world couldn’t be any more obvious.
She slowed as she spied a mob of kangaroos beneath a group of shady trees close to the track. The trouble was it was getting harder to stop the lines blurring between her and Tait’s worlds. The more Tait stepped across the divide and helped her, the more her instincts urged her to push him back. She’d let down her defences once before for a man who’d promised to always be there, and then when she’d needed him she’d realised she’d been on the bottom
rung of his priority ladder.
The worn-out gearbox grumbled as she changed gears. If she were honest, Tait’s concern about her not having a mobile phone touched something deep inside. Something she’d thought forever buried. She couldn’t let the whispers of her yearning to have someone to share her life with get any louder. So what if by lifting all the hay and grain this morning he’d lightened her physical load? So what if he’d not only planted a punnet of mint and basil, but also some pretty pink dianthus flowers in the pots at the kitchen back door? And so what if by his amicable arguing with Connor over who made the best V8 supercar driver, he’d returned a twinkle to her father’s eyes? She simply couldn’t get used to having him around. Tait would soon return to his city life and with him would go all the laughter and light he’d brought into their world.
She couldn’t accept any more of Tait’s help. Even if he super-glued himself to the ute’s seat he could no longer come with her into the paddocks. He’d caused enough trouble. She had to keep her physical and emotional distance. Banora Downs was her responsibility and she wasn’t letting any man, no matter how disarming his smile or good his intentions, cause her to lose focus. Her father and the animals depended upon her.
To her right a broken windmill came into view but no white pony stood in the shade of the rusted tank flicking her tail against the flies. Paige stopped to open a gate. The midday sun seared through the thin cotton of her father’s blue shirt. Gidget must be waiting for her daily feed in her second favourite spot on the other side of the dam beneath the coolibah tree. Paige didn’t usually visit the pony so late but she’d lost time tracking down a box of car manuals for Connor and Tait.
The ute bumped its way across the paddock towards the wide-spreading coolibah tree, but again there was no sign of the pony. Paige’s thumbs tapped the steering wheel. While she’d been away droving, a neighbour’s teenage son had been kind enough to cut across their
two farms and feed her. But she was sure he’d fed her in the usual spots so Gidget shouldn’t be waiting anywhere else. So where was she?
Paige’s fingers stilled. Cold panic swept through her like a flash flood down a dry gully. The dam. Gidget had a water trough to drink from but she could have wandered into the near-empty dam to cool off.
The ute engine roared as Paige floored the accelerator. Gidget was the last connection she had with her mother. Everything else had gone. The flowers she’d planted beside her grave. The kelpie puppy. The Persian Blue kitten. The aged Welsh mountain pony had to be okay. Paige reached the dam, slammed on the brakes and left the ute. But with every stride up the dirt bank and every breath of hot air that sucked the life from her lungs, she grew more certain about what she’d find. She crested the wall and a sob tore through the hand she’d pressed against her mouth.
A small, once-white horse was wedged up to its back in thick, brown mud.
Paige spun on her heel and tore down the slope, not caring that loose dirt and stones almost sent her falling face-first. She slid into the ute seat and leaned over to grab the mobile. Please let there be reception. She could use the two-way but Connor and Tait were in the shed and wouldn’t hear her call. The bars indicating she had reception blurred as, hands shaking, she dialled Tait. Then using her shoulder to wedge the ringing phone next to her ear, she sent the ute rattling towards the homestead.
Tait pushed the ancient ute to its limit as he followed Paige’s directions. White-lipped she’d made no protest when he’d insisted he drove. Her driving was nerve-wracking at the best of times. He risked taking his gaze off the barely-there track to glance at her. She sat hunched in the passenger seat, ropes across her lap, as if by leaning forward she could make the vehicle
travel faster.
The edge of a dam wall rushed up to meet them. Without preamble he killed the motor and followed Paige up the steep mound of dirt. He jammed his hat onto his head as the heat sucked all moisture from his pores. He came to a stop beside her. He didn’t know much about horses but he could tell the animal before him was exhausted. The only sign of life was a flicker of her small white ears as Paige spoke.
‘I’m so sorry, Gidget. We’ll have you out soon, I promise.’
Paige turned to him. But however calm and confident her words had sounded, her chest rose and fell with an agitated urgency.
‘Here’s the plan. I’ll put a rope around her neck and another around her rump.’ Even before she’d finished speaking Paige had pulled off her boots and socks. Her fingers flew down her shirt buttons. ‘If you could drive around to where the wall is flatter, we’ll try and pull her out.’
As she whipped off her shirt, Tait tried to concentrate on what she was saying and not on the navy singlet top she now wore that clung to her like a second skin.
‘We have to act fast as she could have been in there since yesterday afternoon.’
Tait nodded as he watched Paige wrap her shirt around the end of the rope she’d formed into a noose.
‘It will be okay,’ he said, quietly. ‘We’ll get her out.’
Uncertainty, fear, determination dashed across Paige’s face before she nodded and hoisted the rope onto her shoulder. ‘Let’s get started.’
Tait jogged to the ute and found a flat portion of the dam wall that would give him the best traction in order to pull the pony out. He strode down to the muddy edge. Behind him lay a parched bed of cracked mud, before him a quagmire, in the middle of which lay a small pool of water. To the right of the water, Paige now sat beside Gidget, her arms around the
pony’s neck and her face buried in the muddy mane. Paige made no sound, her shoulders were still, but she had to be crying. Her fingers clutched the limp mane with such anguish he knew tears seeped into the silt.
‘Paige?’ She didn’t move. He spoke louder. ‘Paige?’
Her head lifted. All the light and hope had been extinguished from her eyes.
‘Gidget’s so old. So weak. She’s in so deep. I shouldn’t have left it so late to feed her.’ Paige’s voice wavered. She rested her cheek against the pony’s neck. ‘I’m not sure if I can get her out.’
‘Look at me. We can do this. We have a plan, remember.’
Instead of his words bringing her any reassurance they seemed only to increase her torment. Her eyes closed.
‘Paige Quinn, tell me what to do now, otherwise I’m bloody well coming in there and even I know that’s not a good idea.’
For the next two hours, Tait battled heat, flies and frustration. But on the third try of pulling Gidget out with the ute, the pony lurched forward, freeing her front legs. Mud oozed and sucked as though reluctant to release its victim but with Paige now able to pull on the rope she’d slid behind Gidget’s hind legs, another tug and the pony slipped free. She staggered onto the dry ground and, legs shaking, stood while Paige ran her hands over her, checking for injuries. The pony’s nostrils flared. She shuffled towards the ute. Paige beat her to the tray back and hefted out a covered bucket and removed the lid. The pony drank from the water, mud from her muzzle turning the clear water cloudy. Paige then lifted out a bright yellow tub that she placed in the ute’s shade. Gidget whickered as she dipped her nose into the food bucket.
Paige sank to the ground, leaned against the ute tyre and rested her elbows upon her knees to watch the pony eat. Tait sat beside her.
‘Thank you.’ Paige spoke without looking at him.
‘You’re welcome.’
Silence settled between them, only broken by the contented munching of the pony.
Tait stood and collected two water bottles from the ute. He again sat, used a clean portion of his shirt to twist off both lids and passed Paige a bottle.
She took a swig, spat out muddy water and then took a long drink. She lowered the bottle and threw him a sideways glance. ‘I hope you weren’t planning on taking a clean hat home?’
He removed his Akubra. Red mud splattered the fawn felt. He passed a hand over his face and mud crumbled beneath his fingertips. Paige laughed softly. ‘I’m not saying anything, other than if I have as much mud over me as I have in my mouth then I look even worse.’
He plucked a twig from the debris in her ponytail that lay plastered over her shoulder. She might be covered from her head to her bare toes in silt but she still looked beautiful. ‘Let’s just say you don’t need to go to a day spa to have a mud bath.’
She laughed again. A light, joyous sound loaded with relief. ‘After this I think mud baths have lost their appeal.’ Her gaze sobered. ‘Thanks again. I couldn’t have got Gidget out without your help.’
Paige shivered before drawing her knees to her chest and hugging them. Shock was kicking in. Without thought, he placed an arm around her slender shoulders. She stiffened but didn’t move away.
‘No worries.’
Paige shivered again. He tucked her closer to his side.
‘It’s all over,’ he said. ‘Gidget is safe, and by the way she’s hoeing into her lunch.
There’s no damage done.’
No damage done.
If there was no damage done why was she nestled against Tait, fighting the urge to rest her head on his shoulder?
No damage done. Infinite damage done. She was supposed to be resisting his help, keeping her boundaries firmly in place. She wasn’t supposed to be leaning on him physically or emotionally. She had to be self-sufficient and strong. She wasn’t picking up the pieces again after letting another smooth-talker bypass her barriers.
She pulled from his hold and stood, knees rubbery. ‘We’d best get going. I’ll come back with the truck and take Gidget to the homestead. She can swap wide open spaces for a smaller, safer paddock.’
Tait slowly came to his feet. The wide brim of his hat shadowed his eyes but beneath the mud she could see the bunched line of his jaw.
‘Right.’ He turned towards the ropes drying in the sun.
Paige trudged over to her boots. With each step mud oozed between her toes and dragged at the hem of her heavy jeans. She collected her boots and with a last hug for Gidget returned to the ute.
Tait stood by the open driver’s door. He raised a dark brow. ‘You’re not really going to get into the ute like that, are you?’
She stopped in front of him. ‘Yes. Why?’
He cleared his throat and inclined his head at her jeans.
‘It’s a farm ute, not your fancy car. I’ve travelled in it far dirtier.’
Tait’s smile appeared even whiter against the mud splashed on his face. ‘I don’t know
how you could get any dirtier than you are now. What we need is a fire hose or a pool to throw you in.’
Paige placed her hands on her hips in mock outrage. ‘Thanks a lot. Just for that I’m driving home.’
Tait jangled the ute keys in his hand. ‘No you’re not.’ He examined her muddy feet. ‘Your soles would slip on the accelerator and I already know how fast you drive. Are you sure there isn’t somewhere I can hose you down?’
‘This is a drought, Tait. We don’t have full dams or springs in which to take a dip.’ She threw her boots on the ute tray back, expression thoughtful. ‘Actually, there is somewhere we could go on the way home. There’s an old bore we can’t use because of the poor quality water. If I can get it working we could wash off there.’
‘Is it far?’ Tait asked as he walked toward her.
‘No. Why?’
Before she could work out what he was doing, Tait grasped her around her waist and hoisted her onto the ute tray back.
‘Because you can ride
here
.’
Paige twisted the tap on the metal pipe but it refused to budge. She squinted up at the windmill, then towards the corrugated iron tank that perched high upon a lopsided wooden platform. The crackle of the white residue beneath her bootless feet told her the tank contained water. A series of small holes had leaked water that had then evaporated into salt on the ground. She examined the thick pipe that had once fed into a trough that no longer existed. If she could just get the tap to budge there’d be plenty of water and pressure to clean off in.
Tait came to stand beside her. ‘Like me to have a go?’
‘No thanks, I’ve got it.’
From the corner of her eye she saw him fold his arms.
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes, quite.’
Tait scuffed the toe of his boot through the white crystals underfoot. ‘Is this salt?’
‘It is.’ Paige gazed around her. ‘No surprise the water from this bore is too salty for either animal or human consumption.’ She spied what she’d been looking for and bent to pick up a large rock.
‘Watch out. When the gravity-fed water comes out it will be fast.’
She hit the tap and was convinced it moved. She lined up the rock for another blow and whammed. Metal groaned. Air gurgled along ancient pipes, then rust-coloured water burst free. Paige took a step back and checked to make sure Tait wasn’t standing in the water’s path.