Outback Sisters (8 page)

The site was easy to navigate and with a few clicks, Angus found her. As her headshot appeared on the screen, he sucked in a breath, startled by her unique, natural beauty. He couldn't remember having such a visceral reaction to a woman in a long time—maybe he really did need to get out more. A larger-than-life smile had pride of place on Simone's pale face. It was as if she were smiling right at him. Despite being fair, her skin was flawless, not a freckle, wrinkle or blemish in sight, and her lips were full and red; looking at them made his mouth dry. She looked younger than he'd imagined. Then there was her hair—all soft and wavy, so feminine, hanging just past her shoulders, and a rich ruby-red that went perfectly with her sparkly green eyes.

No wonder Logan was smitten.

Angus shifted in the swivel chair, uncomfortable with the unfamiliar sensations Logan's girl had stirred within him. Could he sign up for something like this?

He dismissed the idea almost immediately. The mere thought of having to dress up, go on dates, make polite small talk while he worked out if there was potential for more with someone made his head hurt. And then there was the image rising in his head—a horrible image he would never forget.

No, he couldn't possibly risk anything like that again.

‘Bye, Mum, love you. See you this afternoon.'

Simone's heart swelled as Grace stretched up and kissed her on the cheek. ‘Have a good day, honey,' she said, waving off both her girls as they headed down the street to the school bus. Not that Harriet responded. Simone sighed. At least she still had one child who didn't hate her guts and wasn't embarrassed to be seen with her. She'd once read somewhere that having a child was like letting your heart forever walk outside your body and, man, was that the truth. Everyday she prayed that her girls would have a good day; that they—Harriet in particular—wouldn't get into any scrapes.

It was Grace's second year travelling to the high school in Geraldton and thankfully, she seemed to have taken to the extra travel and the greater workload without much drama. Bless her heart. Harriet, on the other hand, lived for the drama. Everything felt like a battle with her at the moment—from the second she reluctantly crawled out of bed in the morning to their final, usually turbulent, words at night.

On Friday night, when the girls had confessed to their online-dating scheme, Simone had felt a mix of emotions. Her first instinct was anger, and then concern for what might have happened—you never knew who they might have met online—and then she'd almost felt closer to Harriet, as if her daughter had finally been thinking about someone besides herself. But by Saturday morning she'd been living with a stranger again. The only time Harriet wanted to speak to her now was to argue about the limits Simone had enforced on her relationship. Quite frankly, she thought she'd been lenient letting Harriet continue seeing Jaxon after the fiasco with the stolen car—not to mention the fire business—but Harriet didn't see it that way. As far as she was concerned, her mother was hell bent on ruining her life.

Her confession of that morning still rang loud and clear in Simone's head. ‘I only signed you up for online dating because I hoped if you got a life you'd butt out of mine. But you'll probably stuff things up with Logan like you did with Ryan.'

Usually quick at retorts, Simone hadn't been able to come up with one this time, so had simply ignored her daughter's caustic words. Neither of them had spoken to each other since. Not that that was out of the ordinary—Harriet often left for school in a mood but usually by the end of the day she'd forgotten it or moved onto some other drama. By God, it was draining.

Were she and Frankie such nightmares to their mum during adolescence? Simone didn't think so and wondered why-oh-why she was being punished like this. Hadn't she already been through enough crap? Closing the door behind her, her gaze caught on the photo of her and Jason on their wedding day that still sat in pride of place on the hallway table. When they'd first found out she was pregnant, she'd never imagined she'd have to do this tough parenting gig without him. Not a day went by when she didn't think of him, nor a day where her heart didn't feel empty with missing him.

She sighed, kissed her index finger and then touched the tip of it against his face. The irony of the situation was that Harriet's Jaxon reminded Simone so much of Jason: they were both larrikins with big hearts who sometimes acted before thinking things through. Even their names were similar.

‘Not that you'd be able to see the likeness, would you my love,' Simone said, smiling bittersweetly down at her husband. ‘Jaxon would never have got within ten feet of Harriet with you around.' Jason had adored Harriet from the moment she was born and they'd shared a special connection right up until he'd died.

Simone went into the kitchen and began the arduous task of cleaning up after breakfast. For two girls, they sure could make a mess. Harriet was ‘cleansing'—or so she said—and that meant she blended about a million vegetables each day for breakfast. Meanwhile Grace ate half a box of cereal.

She was tossing all the leftover vegetable scraps into a plastic tub for the neighbours' chooks when her phone beeped with a message. The bus would barely have left Bunyip Bay yet, so it couldn't be the school with bad news.

Wiping her hands on her jeans, she started rifling through the clutter on the bench and on the dining table and finally found her phone under a tea towel. Her stomach did an unfamiliar flip when she saw the name
Logan Knight
on her screen. God, even his name was sexy.

They'd exchanged numbers at the end of their date and had been texting friendly and flirty messages over the weekend. It was a bizarre feeling to have so much interaction with someone besides her mum, Frankie, Harriet or Grace. But lovely all the same. Well aware she had a goofy grin on her face, Simone swiped her finger across the screen and found herself looking at the most beautiful sunrise. In the message were the words:
Cable Beach first thing this morning. Hope you have a lovely day. Chat later. x

Her whole body warmed as if the sun in the photo was shining down on her. It was such a simple message but exactly what she needed this morning. Well, that or a bottle of wine, and eight o'clock was too early to hit the grog. She tried to ignore the prick of guilt that somehow she was cheating on Jason. He wouldn't want her to be alone forever and Logan accepted that she and the girls were a package deal. Although he hadn't met them yet, they'd interacted with him more than she had, so she was confident they'd get along in person. Knowing Harriet, she'd probably prefer Logan to Simone.

Shoving that thought aside, Simone took a quick snap of the carnage that was her kitchen, pressed send and then typed back:
Jealous. Your morning looks so much more fun than mine. x

The first time she'd replied to him it had felt a bit odd adding the ‘x' to her message—Logan had had longer to get used to their communications than she had—but then she remembered that until now her teenage daughters had been handling her side of the relationship and Harriet and Grace even put smiley faces and hugs and kisses on shopping lists and school essays.

LOL
, came his reply.

Her mood vastly improved by their interaction, the last thing she felt like doing was the housework she'd promised herself she'd do today before heading into the studio to begin her paid work. Feeling the need for fresh air and an injection of coffee, she abandoned the kitchen, yanked on her boots, grabbed her bag and left the house. She had a Meals on Wheels committee meeting this afternoon and needed to get to work on her latest commission—a wall hanging of an owl for a local—but nothing would be achieved without caffeine and she wanted to see Frankie. Although they had meant to catch up over the weekend, Simone had been busy ferrying Grace to netball in Geraldton on Saturday and Frankie had been unusually quiet.

Striding down the footpath towards the main street of Bunyip Bay, Simone let her mind wander to her cousin Adam's upcoming nuptials. Weddings were always lovely but the prospect of potentially having a man to attend with made her even more excited. Did she have the guts to ask Logan? Was it too soon? Without a doubt he'd fill a suit, or whatever he chose to wear, just as well as he filled a pair of jeans. Her mouth went dry at the thought and her nerves tangled with excitement in her stomach. She hadn't slept with a man since Jason; he was the only man she'd ever slept with.

Maybe she was getting ahead of herself. After the disaster with Ryan Forrester—how was she supposed to know he was gay?—she'd thought herself destined to be a widow for life. Yet although it was early days, this thing with Logan felt different. She'd all but given up the idea of dating again but the universe had brought Logan to her anyway.

‘Hey Simmo.'

She turned to the sound of her name as she headed past the primary school to see Stella Reynolds, Adam's fiancée, coming out the gate. ‘Hi Stella, how are you?'

‘Good.' Stella beamed. ‘Heidi's really settling into the school here and everyone is being so supportive and helpful. I couldn't ask for a better transition for her.'

‘That's great,' Simone said. ‘You must be so relieved.'

Heidi, at seven years of age, was perhaps the most adorable thing on the planet, Simone's own daughters aside, of course. Heidi had Down syndrome and she embraced life—and everyone in it—with such a big heart and a huge smile that your heart melted every single time you saw her.

‘What are you up to now?' Stella asked.

‘I was thinking of heading to the café for a cuppa. Want to come?'

Stella's brow furrowed. ‘I thought Frankie closed on Mondays.'

‘She does, but I'm family and you will be soon, so we have special privileges, like taste-test Monday, when she does all her baking.' Simone held out her arm for Stella to link hers through. ‘Come on.'

‘If you're sure she won't mind the intrusion, I'll come with you and fetch my car later.'

As the two women approached the strip of shops on the main street, Stella said, ‘So, what's this I hear about a new guy in your life?'

Simone groaned, pretending to be annoyed. ‘God, is nothing sacred in this town?'

Stella laughed. ‘Apparently not. You know what the bush telegraph is like. Adam heard it from Drew, who saw you in the pub, I believe. Are you gonna spill the beans or should I just listen to the idle gossip?'

As they walked, Simone gave Stella a condensed version of how she and Logan had met. By the time they came to the post office, Stella was in hysterics. ‘I can't believe your girls did that.'

‘Oh, believe it.' Simone shook her head in exasperation. ‘I wouldn't put anything past Harriet. At first she pretended it was all for the good of my mental health, but then she told me this morning she just wants me to have a life so I'll butt out of hers.'

Stella gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. ‘She didn't?'

Simone shrugged. ‘Teenagers. What can you do? And the thing is, if things do work out with Logan, she'll probably take all the credit and try to use it as bargaining power to get her own way.'

With a sympathetic smile, Stella patted Simone's arm. ‘I'm just going to check the post.'

As Stella went over to look inside her and Adam's post office box, a shadow came up behind Simone. Something told Simone it would be one of the local gossips.

Sure enough, when she turned around, she came face to face with Mrs Brady, her purple-rinsed hair almost sparkling in the winter sunlight. ‘Hello,' she said, preparing herself for some sort of drama.

‘I hear you've got a new man in your life too,' Mrs Brady said, her tone disapproving.

It was all Simone could do not to roll her eyes. ‘I've just started seeing someone, yes.'

‘I hear he's a strapping lad. Quite nice to look at. Vera was having dinner in the pub Friday night and she said he had a handsome face that would be even better if he didn't hide behind an untidy layer of stubble.' She tutted.

‘Did she?' Simone smiled tightly. In her opinion, Logan's stubble was just about perfect.

‘Hmm.' Mrs Brady frowned. ‘He sounds suspiciously like the fella I saw Frankie kissing in the café on Friday afternoon. It was
quite
a display. I was only thankful there were no children present.'

‘What? Frankie was kissing someone?' Simone couldn't hide her shock and then cursed herself, because everyone waiting outside for the post office to open had probably also heard it. ‘Are you sure?'

Stella returned with a bundle of envelopes and looked from Simone to Mrs Brady in confusion.

‘I saw it with my own eyes. I thought
you
would have known,' said Mrs Brady, obviously enjoying herself.

‘I'm sorry, Mrs Brady,' Stella said, taking Simone by the arm. ‘We're in a bit of a hurry. Chat later.' And with that, Stella tugged Simone along the path. ‘What was
that
about?'

‘Eff knows.' Simone frowned and glanced behind her as Mrs Brady started up the steps to the post office. Frankie kissing someone? Maybe the old biddy's eyes had been playing tricks on her. Or maybe she was simply confused?

If her sister was seeing anyone, Simone would have been the first to know about it, wouldn't she?

* * *

Frankie looked up from the kitchen as a knock sounded on the café door. ‘Tourists,' she muttered to herself as she continued icing a carrot cake, hoping they'd read the sign on the door and go away. Being open six days a week was enough in a small town—in theory she needed a day's rest but most Mondays she spent baking and preparing for the rest of the week.

When the knock got louder, it dawned on her it must be someone she knew and she stepped sideways to look through the hatch into the dining part of the café. Simone and Stella were out the front, waving through the window like a pair of lunatics. Inwardly rolling her eyes, she forced a smile and lifted her hand to wave.