No Job for a Girl

by Meredith Appleyard

  According to the numbers Ben had supplied at yesterday’s debrief, the accommodation rooms were at full occupancy. There were workers staying in Nickel Bluff and travelling to the site each day because there wasn’t any room here. She included this in her report.

  By lunchtime she’d finished the report and sent it off. Ben was in his office, door open, when she passed on her way to lunch.

  ‘How’s it going?’

  She popped in and sat down. ‘Okay, I guess. I’ll have lunch and take myself out for the afternoon. I might phone home, too.’

  ‘You should go over now while there’s no one around. Can be a bit noisy when the bar’s open, and there’s no privacy.’

  ‘I’ll do that, thanks.’

  He lumbered to his feet. ‘I’ll walk with you. I was about to go to lunch anyway.’

  They walked across the compound together. ‘I haven’t phoned home since I’ve been here and I suddenly felt the urge.’

  Ben smiled. ‘Know what that’s like. I look forward to getting away from the wife’s nagging, but after about three days I start to miss it, and her. See ya.’

  Leah perched on the stool by the phone, slotted in her phone card and punched in the numbers.

  ‘Rose,’ she said when her neighbour picked up on the third ring.

  ‘How are you, love? I was hoping you’d ring.’ The older w­oman’s warm, familiar voice had unexpected tears tickling Leah’s throat.

  ‘I’m good,’ she said and explained the few second delay on the satellite phone before she continued. ‘There’s been a lot to take in, and —’ Today I feel like I’m completely on my own out here, p­hysically and professionally . . . And I miss my home and my dog, she wanted to say but kept it to herself. Rose would worry.

  When Leah had started work at the wind farm, Rose had tried to understand why Leah had given up a successful nursing career to take on something so different, voicing her concerns when Leah described what the job was and where she’d be. Right at this moment Leah was wondering the same thing. Instead of filling the void in her life with a new challenge, today she felt as if all she’d done was put herself out on a limb, away from everything comfortable and familiar.

  ‘And?’ Rose prompted.

  ‘And I’m getting the hang of it. The desert is amazing. The colours, the wildlife . . . How’s Sasha?’ Sasha was Leah’s six-year-old brown-and-white border collie, and the reason she’d almost said no to the transfer.

  Rose laughed, a merry, tinkly sound that made Leah smile. ‘She’s good. Missing you, though, and I’ve had to go collect her from your place a few times. I’ve brought all her toys over here now and she seems more settled.’

  ‘I miss her heaps. Although I’ve been that busy I haven’t had a chance to think about much other than the job.’

  ‘Remind me, how long before you come home for your leave?’

  ‘Two and a half weeks, and if it’s anything like the first three days, it’ll fly past.’

  ‘What’s it like out there?’

  ‘The work is interesting and challenging, but it’s definitely a man’s world out here. There are only three other women working here. Ruby, the cook, is a hoot.’ Leah went on to describe the accommodation and the meals, and the vastness of the desert. ‘Puts you right back in your place,’ she said. ‘Reminds you how insignificant we all are, in the bigger scheme of things.’

  ‘How’s the weather?’

  ‘Cold, but clear. The blue, blue sky goes on forever.’

  The call was chewing through the phone card but Leah didn’t care if she spent it all on this one call. They talked about the weather in Adelaide, how much rain they’d had, and the state of the gardens.

  ‘Give my lovely girl a big hug,’ Leah said when the money was almost gone and they had to say goodbye. She felt a whole lot better when she hung up.

  Rose Carter was the perfect neighbour. A widow old enough to be Leah’s mother, Rose was one of the reasons why Leah hadn’t wanted to sell the house and move when Richard left.

  Motherless, and pretty much on her own in the world, Leah didn’t know what she’d do without friends like Rose and Belinda, Paul and Eve. And Sasha loved Rose. Just as well, too, because Rose’s place had been Sasha’s home away from home for most of the past year. During her time on the wind-farm project Leah had been away for ten days and then home for four, and Sasha had stayed with Rose in her absence.

  Ben was poring over a days-old Weekend Australian, mug in hand, when Leah bounded into the mess to grab a quick sandwich.

  He looked up from the newspaper. ‘Better?’

  ‘Heaps better, thanks.’

  ‘Anytime you want to make a phone call during the day, go for it. Best time to do it.’

  ‘Late again, Blondie,’ Ruby called from where she was wiping down the countertop. ‘Not much left.’

  Leah spread butter on two slices of bread, layered on cheese and piled what salad there was on top, jamming it together firmly. ‘This will do me,’ she said, grabbing a bottle of water and an apple. ‘I’m off. Out to see what Tony Minelli’s boys are up to. Catch you.’

  ‘Blondie, you make sure you come to dinner tonight. Roast beef. Apple pie and custard. You’re too skinny, girl. Fatten you up a bit. Give your bloke something to hang on to.’

  ‘Jeez, the woman needs glasses,’ Leah muttered.

  ‘If you’re not as round as she is, you need fattening up,’ Ben said, patting his generous paunch. ‘I listened to her, and now look at me.’

  The drive north to the rigging and construction teams took Leah the best part of an hour. Distance-wise it wasn’t far but opening and closing gates, stopping to pull a dead kangaroo off to the side of the road, and making way for water and concrete trucks all took time.

  The kangaroo hadn’t been dead long and Leah steeled herself. She pulled on a pair of disposable gloves out of the ute’s first-aid kit and dragged the carcass well away from the road, avoiding the poor creature’s glassy, sightless stare. Two wedge-tailed eagles circled lazily above, waiting to get started on their next meal. Further on, six huge red kangaroos effortlessly bounced along about 50 metres from the road. She slowed down to match their speed, enjoying the moment.

  The wind had dropped and the sun was warm through the windscreen. The first rigging and construction ground crew weren’t surprised or bothered by her visit. The six men were assembling a tower on the ground, the steel for the two sections precisely laid out and resting on numerous blocks of wood.

  She introduced herself, recognising a couple of them from the pre-start meetings. They chatted amiably, going about their work while Leah observed. Everything looked in order and they were wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment. She picked up a wad of plastic packaging twirling around in the gentle breeze and shoved it in their trash pack.

  ‘Any problems?’ she asked.

  ‘Nah, nothing except the usual crap – missing steel, not enough bolts,’ one of the men said. The bolts were huge, the heads almost as big as Leah’s fist.

  ‘Seen much wildlife around? Any cattle? Sheep?’

  He shook his head. ‘A few emus this morning, couple of wedge-tailed eagles. That’s about it. Oh, and I saw a goanna earlier.’

  ‘I dragged a dead roo off the road, a way back,’ she said.

  ‘Yeah, the trucks barrel through, don’t stop for anything. Station owners get really pissed when they hit stock.’

  She could understand that, and took extra care driving to where the second crew was working on another tower, about half a k­ilometre further north. They’d stopped for a smoko, and had a portable gas ring set up with a billy almost on the boil. They offered her a brew and she let down the tailgate of her ute, perched on the back and dragged out her lunch to join them.

  Alex slowed down and pulled off the road, sure his eyes were deceiving him. But no, it was Leah’s ute, and there she was, long legs swinging from the tray of the dual cab. The group of blokes perched around her looked to be hanging
on her every word. She seemed relaxed, laughing at something, an enamel mug in her hand.

  He parked next to a battered Toyota troop carrier, climbed out and jammed on his hard hat. He came around the vehicles in time to hear one of the men grin and say, ‘Shit, here’s the Big Boss. We’d better get back to work.’

  The men laughed and dispersed and Leah slid off the tailgate. ‘Thanks for the brew.’

  ‘Anytime,’ one of the men called over his shoulder.

  ‘Alex,’ she said, barely making eye contact. Yep, she was still annoyed with him.

  Earlier, after the meeting, Frank had hung around and Leah had left. Alex had hoped for the opposite, disappointed when he didn’t get a chance to debrief with her about the outcome. He understood she wouldn’t have been overjoyed. But it was nothing personal. They couldn’t afford for Frank’s crew to slacken off, for whatever reason. Alex slipped off his sunglasses.

  ‘Leah. What are you doing out here?’

  ‘What am I doing out here?’ She frowned. ‘My job. What else would I be doing?’ She took a bottle of water out of the cab and rinsed out the mug.

  ‘I didn’t expect to see you out and about.’

  She stopped what she was doing and looked at him, grey eyes cool, remote. Oh yeah, she was well and truly peeved with him. With Steve it would have been simple. They would have had an out-and-out argument. Cleared the air. None of this passive-aggressive crap.

  ‘What, you thought because you’d overruled my recommendations and let Frank get away with operating a defective machine, I’d be skulking around the camp, sulking?’

  Alex blinked. Okay. Forget the passive part. And yeah, that’s exactly what he’d been thinking.

  She stared at him for a few seconds and then gave her head a slight shake. ‘I’ve got to get on,’ she said. She put the clean cup on the hood of the troop carrier where the men had left theirs, and took off her hard hat, flipping it across onto the ute’s passenger seat. ‘I have to get back to do inductions.’ With that, she slid behind the wheel, slammed the door and, if he hadn’t moved, Alex wondered if she would have run over his toes without giving a backward glance.

  Leah was late for the daily debrief. Alex was about to ask Ben to go find her when her office chair preceded her into the crowded c­ontractor’s office.

  ‘Sorry,’ she muttered, and Alex raised his eyebrows when Dee threw her a tentative smile and moved over to give her more room.

  ‘Inductions,’ Leah said by way of an explanation, and sat down.

  ‘You want a coffee, Leah?’

  ‘Thanks, Dee. But I’m pretty much all coffeed out.’

  ‘Beer?’ Ben said and held up the one remaining can. Leah shook her head.

  ‘I hear you had a cuppa with some of the boys this arvo, Leah,’ Tony said, waving his beer can around. ‘Good to hear. Keep ’em on their toes. Bastards don’t listen to a word I say. Do as they please as soon as I turn my back.’

  ‘They were good. Bruno told me all about his new grandkid, and Ali said his wife’s pregnant.’

  Alex gritted his teeth and growled, ‘When you’ve all finished with the social chit-chat, maybe we can get this meeting underway sometime tonight.’

  Frank smirked, while Tony frowned. Alex glanced at Leah but her head was down and she was scratching away on her notepad. From where he was standing he couldn’t see what she was writing. Probably making a list of all the names she’d like to call him. He suppressed the urge to move closer to her and opened the meeting.

  After the debrief Leah sat at her desk and typed up the notes. Alex stared at her profile. She hadn’t spoken to him at all, except when he’d asked her for her input during the meeting. With that she’d been professional and to the point. He couldn’t help but be impressed by how quickly she was catching onto the routine.

  ‘Are you going to dinner?’ he said and her fingers stilled on the keyboard. She turned to look at him. Her face was expressionless.

  ‘When I’ve finished the notes.’

  ‘Let’s go now, before there’s only leftovers,’ he said and stood up, grabbing his jacket. ‘You can finish that later. Or in the m­orning.’

  Indecision wrinkled her brow and for a moment he thought she was going to tell him to go ahead without her. But then she closed the document and logged off.

  ‘I’ll finish it in the morning,’ she said as she got to her feet and stretched.

  He did his best to ignore how his body snapped to attention when Leah’s poly-cotton shirt pulled tightly across her breasts as she slipped her arms into her jacket. He stepped past her, unconsciously drawing in her warm scent. As sexless as her khaki shirt and faded jeans were, she was definitely all woman underneath. Of its own accord his gaze dropped to her feet, picturing her scarlet toenails inside the steelcapped boots.

  One disastrous attempt at a date organised by Heather had been enough for Alex and he’d been celibate since Claire had left him. And there hadn’t been much happening in the way of sex for months before that. Not all Claire’s fault – he’d rarely been home. He’d almost convinced himself that it wasn’t specifically Leah he was lusting after, more that he wasn’t used to being in such close and prolonged proximity to an attractive woman. Any attractive woman. Yeah, right.

  They walked across the camp to the mess. It was crisply cold, the open sky milky with stars. Laughter and voices drifted out of the bar and the usual handful of smokers were hunched over their drinks at the tables outside. Leah quickened her pace, beating him to the mess door, not giving him the chance to open it for her. Ruby presided over the bain-marie, her plump face splitting into a grin when they picked up plates.

  ‘Roast beef, Blondie? I saved you some good stuff,’ she said, and without waiting for Leah to answer she stacked several slices onto her plate, dousing the succulent meat with gravy. She leaned towards Leah and in hushed tones added, ‘There’s something not right with that girl.’ She pointed her chin at Stacey, a cleaner and sometimes kitchen hand, busy stacking dirty crockery on the trolley. Stacey was nineteen and thin almost to the point of emaciation; she was rarely seen about the camp, only the evidence of her hard work.

  ‘Like what?’

  Ruby’s face scrunched up, her eyes almost disappearing. ‘Dunno. She hasn’t been herself since she came back from rest leave.’

  Alex listened to the exchange with half an ear. Ruby was a g­ossip. The cook unceremoniously dumped a pile of meat onto his plate, drowning it in gravy, all the while talking to Leah. He reached in front of Leah for the tongs and helped himself to roast vegetables. She gave him a sideways glance and stepped out of the way. Ruby kept talking, piling vegetables onto Leah’s plate.

  ‘Boyfriend trouble I’d say. She goes out with some loser. Always moaning about what a creep he is.’ Ruby clicked her tongue. ‘Don’t know why she doesn’t give him the flick and be done with it.’

  ‘I’ll keep an ear to the ground,’ Leah said. ‘If she’s not feeling well, tell her to come and see me.’

  ‘Do you want a drink?’

  At the sound of his voice Leah and Ruby both turned to Alex.

  ‘Er, no thanks. I’ll maybe get one later.’

  For a second Alex thought Leah looked flustered, but then she shifted her attention back to Ruby. Alex noticed Ruby’s gimlet gaze move from Leah to him, and then back to Leah, her pencil-thin eyebrows lifting slightly. Ruby didn’t miss a thing and that wily mind of hers would be working double-time trying to figure out what was going on between him and his new safety advisor.

  Not that there was anything for her to figure out. But in this camp environment it didn’t take much to fuel any story. Alex realised with mild surprise that the last thing he wanted was for Leah to be the focus of the kind of tacky rumours and tittle-tattle that went through camps like out-of-control fires. He would have to be careful how he behaved around her.

  They carried their food to the table. Amused, Alex watched Leah avoid the seat beside him and sit down next to Ben.

&nbs
p; ‘What was all that about with Ruby?’ Alex said before they started to eat.

  ‘Women’s business.’

  ‘Ruby’s an indiscriminate gossip and what she doesn’t know she fabricates, so be careful,’ he said.

  ‘Thanks for the warning,’ Leah said and started on the mound of food on her plate.

  ‘Ah, she’s harmless,’ Ben said, soaking up gravy with his bread. ‘She spends all day in that poky kitchen with only Syd and Stacey for company. And she’s a bloody good cook.’

  ‘No one’ll argue with you about that, mate, but you know how it can be in places like this. Rumour and innuendo fast become facts, and reputations are lost over stuff that’s mostly bullshit.’

  Ben acquiesced with a lift of his bushy eyebrows. He pushed back his chair and went to get dessert. Leah concentrated on her food; didn’t invite conversation.

  They were halfway through dessert, the apple pie and custard when Dee came into the mess. She filled her dinner plate and came over to where they were sitting. Looking at the empty chair next to Alex she said, ‘Mind if I join you?’

  ‘Sure, sit down,’ Leah said. Alex nodded and Ben kept scraping at his empty dessert bowl.

  ‘So, where are you from, Leah?’ Dee asked brightly.

  ‘Adelaide, in the hills, near Aldgate. What about you?’

  Dee smiled. ‘Born and bred at Port Augusta. Still live there with my mum.’

  ‘Growing up next to the sea and so close to the Flinders Ranges would have been a treat.’

  Dee beamed. ‘Yeah, it was.’

  ‘Have you lived in the Hills long?’ Alex asked.

  Leah’s eyes flicked up to meet his. She swallowed the last mouthful of her dessert. ‘I’ve lived there about six years.’

  ‘You must like it,’ he said, not releasing her gaze.

  ‘I do. It’s a beautiful spot.’

  ‘Don’t you worry about bushfires? I know I would. All those trees,’ Dee said, and Alex wished she’d go away. He wished e­veryone would go away, and leave him alone with Leah. Shit, he thought.

  ‘Yeah, I do worry,’ Leah said, ‘but I have a plan. I keep the yard and gutters clean, prepare as much as I can, and on Catastrophic fire days Sasha and I go somewhere safe.’