“No, Daniel. It won’t,” Sam snapped. “You have tasted the fruits of my culinary expertise over the past few days, there is no way I am up to the challenge of feeding a team of ten hungry shearers three times a day.” Her voice was getting squeaky now. Out and out panic was not conducive to having a sexy voice.
“I don’t even know where to start,” Sam whimpered. “I don’t know the first thing about how much food to prepare?”
“I have an idea,” he said.
“What, you’re going to hire a chef?” Sam retorted, unable to keep her sarcasm at bay.
“No, we can call up Sally next door and see if she can give us some advice. She has to do this every year, too, and they’ve already had their shearing done.”
Now when Daniel said next door, what he actually meant was their nearest neighbor who just happened to be a mere ten miles away on the next sheep station down the road.
“I guess it’s worth a try,” Sam said weakly
“Okay, let’s get a pen and paper,” Daniel said taking charge of the situation. “We can start by asking Sally what provisions we need to buy and if she has any recipes.”
He grabbed a pen and paper from next to the phone and they wandered over to the two-way radio. All of the stations in the area communicated via two-way radio. They each had their own channel number and it was much cheaper than using the phone.
“Shalroma to Thunder Hill. Shalroma to Thunder Hill. Come in Thunder Hill.” Daniel spoke clearly into the handset. A moment later, they got a response.
“Shalroma, this is Thunder Hill. How are you today, Daniel? Over.” It was a ladies voice. Sam assumed it must be Sally.
“G’day, Sally. We are in a bit of a pickle and wondered if you could help us. Over.”
“No worries, Hun,” she replied. “What d’ya need? Over.”
“Mum and Dad got called away. Aunt Marge in Brisbane is really sick and they just called to let us know they won’t be able to make it back before shearing,” Daniel explained.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, Daniel,” Sally replied.
“The thing is, Sal,” Daniel continued. “That just leaves our new jillaroo, Sam, and me to run the shearing next week, and, unfortunately, neither of us have any clue how much to buy or what to cook for the team. Can you give us some tips?”
“No worries, Hun. Got a pen and paper handy?” Sally asked.
About an hour, and a list as long as Sam’s arm, later they at least had the amounts and types of food to buy. It looked like enough to feed an army. Sally also gave them some tips on what to cook and how to cook everything to make the whole ordeal a bit easier. The most important meal, she told them, was breakfast. If the shearers had a good breakfast, they would start the day off happy, and that was always a good thing.
Breakfast was also the easiest meal of the day. Eggs, bacon, sausages, potatoes and bread. It did mean having to get up at the crack of dawn, though, so it would be ready for them to eat at 6 a.m. Not being a morning person at the best of times, Sam was not thrilled by that revelation, but thought she could surely handle eggs and bacon, especially with Daniel’s help.
The other two meals of the day she would be on her own. Daniel had to get the sheep in the pens for the shearers, so he would be out for the rest of each day doing just that.
“Well, I guess we’ll have to nip into town tomorrow,” Daniel said, after finishing up with Sally. He made it sound like it was just a quick trip to the corner store. Town happened to be about fifty miles away.
Sam had all but lost her appetite, not surprisingly. She managed to force down some food, anyway.
“I’m going to take a shower, care to join me?” Daniel asked after they had finished washing up. He held out a hand.
“Sure, why not?” Sam replied. His invitation putting a smile on her face. The first one since that dreaded phone call. Taking a shower with Daniel had become one of Sam’s favorite past times. She took his offered hand and they headed for the bathroom.
They fell into bed afterwards, exhausted. Sam curled up with her back against Daniel’s warm chest and he wrapped a protective arm around her body. Within minutes they were both dead to the world.
***
“How are we going to pay for all this food?” Sam asked Daniel as they headed towards town the next day. She looked up from the immense list they had created the day before.
“Mum and Dad have an account. It’ll just go on that and they’ll settle up when they get back,” Daniel answered.
That’s handy, Sam thought as they drove down the long straight graded road that seemed to go on forever. There were no luxuries like black top out there. Every now and then, they hit a few ‘washboards’ where the rain the other day had washed the road away, but the four-wheel drive handled it with ease.
“Oh, look.” Sam gasped as she stared out the window a few minutes later. “Kangaroos, loads of them.”
A group of about eight kangaroos were bounding along the side of the road. They were the oddest looking creatures, but they moved so gracefully; their long powerful tails helping them balance as they hopped.
“Just let me know if they look like they’re headed towards us,” Daniel replied. “They have a tendency to hop out in front of cars, and they do heck of a lot of damage.”
“Really? I just thought they looked cute,” Sam mused.
Daniel looked over at her and smiled. “Sam, I wish I could see things through your eyes sometimes.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, as farmers, we see kangaroos as vermin, sheep as either food or wool, and dogs as working partners. You see every animal as something that should be cared about, loved even. Now, that I think is cute.”
Sam felt her cheek’s flush. Getting compliments still made her a tad embarrassed, but she was sure it would be something she’d get used to in time, especially, if Daniel had his way. Sam inadvertently let out a little moue of happiness.
“What was that for?” Daniel asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I was just thinking how happy I am out here. I love this place in the middle of nowhere. It’s going to feel odd getting back to civilization again when the season is over and I continue on my travels.”
Just then, Sam realized what she had said. Everything had been going so well that she had come to think of Shalroma as her home, but now it hit her hard and fast. It wasn’t her home. In just a couple of weeks, the season would be over and Mr. and Mrs. Miller wouldn’t need her anymore. She was only supposed to be there for a couple of months.
She would set off on her travels again to see the rest of Australia, just as she had planned. What she hadn’t planned, was falling in love. A lump rose in her throat. She hadn’t even thought about leaving there, leaving Daniel, until that moment. It was inevitable, though, she couldn’t stay.
Daniel could sense a change in her demeanor.
“Is everything okay?”
She pushed the thought to the back of her mind, she would deal with it later. Putting on a false smile, she replied as brightly as she could muster. “Sure, why wouldn’t it be?”
“Good, I was just checking. You’d tell me if anything was wrong, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes,” she lied. Quite apart from the fact that she didn’t know how to cook, if the shearers didn’t run her out of town first, she would have to leave shortly, thereafter. The thought weighed heavily on her heart.
Daniel hadn’t discussed any feelings he may have for the future. Sam thought that he probably viewed what they had as a holiday romance. She had to admit, it would be a good memory of her travels to take home with her, but the thought of leaving him was choking her up inside.
Again, she tried to push the feeling aside. She wasn’t ready to deal with it and, certainly, wasn’t going to address it right now. She would just enjoy the time she had left and be thankful that she met someone as special as he was. Some people can go a lifetime not meeting anyone special. Sam, at least, had that.
They arrived
in town after about an hour of driving, parked the truck outside the grocery store, and headed inside armed with their foot-long list of provisions to buy.
The storekeeper was incredibly helpful. Sam guessed that his store must service most of the stations in the area, so they were used to people coming in and wanting to exit with most of the contents on the shelves. They filled the truck with their provisions. It was brimming with everything they hoped they would need to fulfill the task that lay ahead of them.
“Send my regards to your parents, Daniel,” the storekeeper said as he finished helping them load up the truck.
“Will do, Mr. Stanford. Thanks for your help,” Daniel replied.
“Nice to meet you, miss,” the storekeeper said to Sam.
“Likewise,” Sam replied and shook his offered hand.
“Good luck with the shearing, and drive home safely.” He waved as they drove down the road.
“He was helpful,” Sam mentioned as they headed out of town.
“Yes, he’s a good storekeeper. Always has everything you need in stock,” Daniel agreed.
It was midafternoon by the time they got back to the homestead and unloaded the truck. Sam couldn’t believe the sheer volume of food they had bought. She took a step back, hands on hips and admired the fully stocked shelves of their ‘general store’. Sam had never felt the necessity to wonder what it would take to feed twelve people for a week and, secretly, hoped she never would again.
“Sam?” Daniel asked as he came up behind her and threaded his arms through hers, wrapping them around her waist. “Would you go and give the shearer’s quarters a once over this afternoon? They are probably fine. I’m guessing they will only need a quick dusting.”
“Yeah, no worries,” Sam answered, leaning back against him. They were in this together, and she was going to do her absolute best to make sure this shearing went as smoothly as it could, especially under the circumstances.
It was odd how responsible she felt about making this work, having no real reason to feel the least bit responsible. She knew Mr. and Mrs. Miller would not expect her too, either. Although, something told her that Daniel’s mum knew Sam would not leave her son to face this by himself.
They prepared a quick sandwich for lunch, then Daniel went off to muster some more sheep nearer to the shearing shed. Sam watched with pride as he chose Jess to go with him again.
Sam turned back towards the kitchen and grabbed some rubber gloves, a bucket, and some cleaning stuff before heading out the back door.
“Hop on, Lucrecia,” she said as she walked past her cage on the way out. “We’ve got some cleaning to do.”
The pink and gray bird squawked and bobbed her head in excitement as Sam held out her arm for her to walk up. Once settled securely on Sam’s shoulder, the two headed out the door.
The shearer’s quarters were behind the main house. It was a small cottage with a bathroom, a living room, and three bedrooms set up with two sets of bunks in each. There was a small kitchenette, but it didn’t look like it had been used in years.
Sam started by opening up the windows to let some fresh air in, and then turned on the fridge, which was possibly the most important appliance in the whole building. Keeping the shearer’s beer cold, it turned out, was a life or death situation.
Daniel was right, the place was pretty clean. Sam only had to wipe down a few surfaces and pull the dustsheets off the furniture.
“I guess this place only gets used once a year,” she said to Lucrecia. The bird bobbed her head as if she had just understood every word the young jillaroo had said.
After finishing with the cottage, Sam walked outside to the deck, dusted off the old patio furniture, and plopped herself down. She’d been feeling pretty sorry for herself since the realization had hit that she would be leaving the sheep station, and Daniel, in such a short time.
“I’m really going to miss you,” Sam whispered to Lucrecia, who had now climbed down her arm and was sitting on her knee. She bobbed her head again.
Sam took in her surroundings. The main house sprawled out in front of her. The poultry coops spread out to the left, and the vast oceans of grass stretched out beyond.
A heavy-hearted feeling washed over Sam as she sat there for a while, not wanting time to move forward, but realizing that it had to, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
She had all but moved into Daniel’s room over the past few days. They had been so exhausted when, eventually, they fell into bed each night it was all they could do to kiss each other goodnight before they fell asleep in each other’s arms. But, it was the best feeling in the world, being that close to someone and waking up next to them every morning.
It was hard to imagine going back to sleeping on her own again in a lonely bunk somewhere on this vast continent. But, there was so much more of Australia for her to see and her adventurous side spurred her on. So, see it she would.
Sam encouraged Lucrecia back up her arm and started to stand up. The bird flapped her wings to keep her balance as Sam rose before she was securely perched on the young woman’s shoulder.
“Sorry, girl,” Sam said. “Come on, let’s go see if Arthur is around.”
Sam picked up the bucket of cleaning supplies. She was satisfied that the cottage was clean enough to live in and wandered back to the house and on to the pool.
“Hey, Arthur,” Sam said in a hushed voice when she spied the scaly monster at the end of the pool. “Fancy seeing you here.”
He was basking in his usual place. Sam asked Lucrecia to step onto her finger, and when she obliged, Sam moved her to perch on the back of one of the chairs next to the pool.
The water looked inviting, Sam was glad to have grabbed a towel as she walked past her room on the way out there.
Stripping off her clothes, she left them in a pile on the chair. At least out here, there was no need for a swimsuit, there was no one about to see. She walked over to the edge of the pool and dove in. The cool water hitting her sun-warmed skin made her gasp, but she soon adjusted to it and started swimming lengths up and down the pool.
The water felt wonderful as it enveloped her body. The feeling of freedom without the constraints of a swimsuit was very decadent.
Sam hadn’t been swimming for very long when she heard a splash. She sucked in a breath as a couple of warm hands grabbed her around the waist. She turned to see Daniel’s smiling face.
“I didn’t hear you coming,” Sam said.
“Thought I’d surprise you,” he replied. He lifted her out of the water and threw her a few feet down the pool. Sam entered the water with a splash and a girlie shriek, just managing to pinch her nose before going under.
“Right, just you wait!” Sam squealed as she came up to the surface and swam towards him. When she reached him, she pushed down on his head dunking him under the water.
Daniel forced his way up, shaking his head as he surfaced, splashing her in the face in the process.
“You rotten bugg…” Her sentence was cut off as his mouth claimed hers. His kiss was full of passion, sparking flames of desire within her in an instant. The cool water that was lapping around their bodies did nothing to dampen them. Slowly, Daniel pulled away, kissing a trail first to one breast then over to the other. The brazen little hussies pushed themselves forward, begging for his attention. Sam could swear they were completely beyond her control at that point.
He put one arm around her back and leaned forward slightly putting the other under her knees, scooping her up in his arms. Sam held him around his neck as he turned his attention, once more, to kissing her with a passion that nearly made her insides melt. Desire was pooling in his eyes that sparkled as brightly as the crystal clear pool water.
Sam became aware that the water was receding from her body and noticed that he had walked them through the water towards the shallow end. Daniel carried her up the steps that led out of the pool. He took a few steps onto the soft cool grass that framed the shallow end of the pool and la
id her down, covering her body with his as he did.
“Arthur, Lucrecia. Turn around,” he instructed the onlookers in jest. Arthur ignored him, but to Sam’s surprise Lucrecia covered her head with a wing. Daniel made love to Sam under the beautiful cloud free sky.
“I hope you don’t creep up on me like that next week,” Sam said as they lay in the grass, the warm sun licking their satiated bodies. “Or you may get covered in flour, instead of water.”
“Hmm?” Daniel replied as he drew lazy circles up her back with his fingers. She loved it when he did that.
“Nothing,” she whispered.
Sam was secretly hoping that some miracle would rescue her from Hell’s Kitchen, as she had now nicknamed it. But, she decided that was a world away from where they were right at that moment and pushed the thought to the back of her mind.
She closed her eyes, rested her head on Daniel’s chest, and let out a very contented sigh. I won’t let you down, she thought. I’ll make you proud of me, just you wait and see.
Lucrecia let out a squawk, and Arthur flicked his tongue out to catch a fly. Sam was in heaven.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sam was right. God, she hated it when she was right. Hell’s Kitchen described her new station perfectly. The shearers had arrived the previous night and made themselves at home in the cottage. Everything there was up to their liking, so that was a relief.
This morning, however, was quite another matter. The kitchen was a scene of complete and utter chaos. There was what seemed like thousands of eggs shells scattered all over the place. Okay, maybe that was a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea. Sam had a bowl of scrambled eggs the size of Lake Tahoe in her arms, and God only knew how she was going to get them all cooked at the same time.
Daniel had taken on the task of cooking the bacon and sausages. Sam had to admit he looked like he had it all under control. She, on the other hand, was about to have a nervous breakdown and they hadn’t even gotten through the first and easiest meal of the day yet.
Summer Down Under Page 21
