Lara really had to admire that era. No creature comforts. At least she could go home after a hard day’s work to a comfortable house with plumbing.
Marge reached across and held her arm. ‘I believe in you, Lara. Do you believe in you?’ she asked, studying her with years of wisdom in her hazel eyes.
‘I do. I want to make this work, and I know I can. I want to do it for my parents but most importantly I want to do it for me. It feels right, Marge. Even with the hurdles, this place feels right.’
‘That’s what I like to hear. I’ve buried friends, family and more animals than you’d ever guess. Life is a struggle, Lara. It’s not easy, but if you can keep moving forward, keep battling on, you’ll be so much stronger for it.’ Marge reached for Lara’s hand and glanced at the tearing skin on her palms. ‘Come on. I’ll get the last of this super while you go and get the gloves out of my ute. Otherwise you’ll have more blisters than a teenager has pimples.’
22
‘HELL’S bells, it’s Mel!’ Lara screamed, spotting her best friend getting out of a white Ford Courier ute. Lara ran to her and wrapped her arms around her friend.
‘You’re early.’
‘Hey, Larz! Missed you like crazy.’
Mel smelled like animals and lavender and she was wearing her olive-coloured vet clothes.
‘Did you work this morning?’ Lara asked.
‘No. I’m wearing my work clothes and I brought a ute just in case you needed help shifting sheep or something,’ she said, glancing around at the bush. Her eyes were shining like sparklers in the dark. ‘This place is just like I remember it.’
‘Yep. Come on, let’s get you settled in, have smoko and then you can help me check on some lambing ewes.’
Mel clapped her hands with glee, her dimples showing with her smile. Her auburn hair was pulled up into a slack ponytail and some loose strands framed her face.
‘Man, I’ve been looking forward to this for weeks,’ she said. ‘It’s so good to be out here with you, Lara. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve dreamt of this place since those school holidays. I’d never have become a vet if it wasn’t for your mum and all those bloody pets you had. God, and we couldn’t even have a dog or a cat.’ She picked up her bag and grabbed her pillow from the back-seat then followed Lara towards the house, her steps as bouncy as an Energiser bunny.
‘Well, wait till you meet Gretel. You’ll love her.’
‘Oh, I’d love a pet. If I lived out here, I’d have a few dogs, some cats, heaps of chooks, maybe a few birds. It sounds like heaven,’ she laughed. ‘Till then, the stuffed cat that sits on my bed will have to do.’
‘So how’s things back home? How’s your dad?’
Mel rubbed her forehead. ‘Justin’s been given another warning at work, Dad’s drinking has picked up again after he hurt his back and had to take two weeks off, and I’m tired of looking after both of them.’
‘Then stop,’ said Lara as they faced each other, pausing near the veranda.
‘It sounds so easy when you say it like that.’
‘Well, what’s the worst that could happen? It might make Justin start to think for himself and maybe your dad could use a few home truths. Remember last time you lost your block at your dad and the next week he’d cleaned the house and tidied himself up?’
‘Yeah, but it took a lot for me to do that. I’ve been looking after them since I was fourteen. I don’t know how to stop.’
‘Well, for a start, while you’re here, you’re not to think of them. A week without you won’t kill ’em. Maybe it’s just what they need. Your dad can learn to go buy his own groceries.’
Mel smiled. ‘God, I feel better already.’
Lara frowned and pointed to her pillow. ‘You know, I have plenty of spares. You didn’t have to bring your own.’
‘This is my favourite pillow. I can’t sleep without it. Don’t you have one?’ asked Mel, clutching her pillow to her chest.
‘Um, no.’ Lara chuckled. ‘Let’s get you and your enormous bag inside.’
They headed through the door, both dogs trailing behind them. ‘I didn’t really know what I’d need, so I packed a bit of everything. So, tell me, how are the wedding plans going?’ said Mel.
‘Well, last I heard, everything was sweet and Mandy was working on the menu. It’s going to be divine … but things have got a little tense.’
They dumped Mel’s stuff into Noah’s room and sat down on the bed. ‘What do you mean? Is her mother taking over?’
‘No, no, nothing to do with the wedding.’ Lara took a huge breath and expelled her concerns. ‘I’ve just found out that Noah’s been gambling, and not just little gambling but huge gambling, and he’s denying it’s a problem, which tells me it’s a big problem. And because I confronted him about it, he’s chucked a fit and then I went to Amanda because I thought she needed to know and that we could help him, but now he hates me for interfering and I haven’t heard from him since.’
‘Oh my God! Are you for real? Noah?’ Mel’s eyes grew huge, like a barn owl’s.
‘Yes and yes. Don’t worry, I’m still having a hard time believing any of it myself.’ Lara rubbed her temples and Mel threw an arm around her shoulders.
‘Jesus. What a mess. Well, I reckon that since I’m not thinking of my family, you shouldn’t think of yours either. Let’s just have this time together. Just you and me. How’s that sound?’
‘Like bloody Christmas!’ Lara smiled and felt her mind clear for the time being. ‘Let’s start with a beer. Want one?’
‘Hell, yes!’
By Sunday, Mel looked as comfortable on the farm as any farmer would.
‘I told you I could easily be a farm girl.’
‘Maybe you should start a practice out here. We could use a local vet,’ said Lara as she drove Millie to the lake. They were meeting Trent for a ski.
‘Lara, that has been a dream of mine for years. But I think it’s only ever going to be a dream. I’m not like you. It took a lot of guts to up and change your whole life, and at the moment I don’t have that willpower.’
‘You do, Mel. You just don’t realise it yet.’
‘I knew there was a reason I loved you,’ Mel said, grinning from ear to ear.
There was a much bigger crowd at the lake this time, as people had come to enjoy the last days before it got too salty. Kids were running and playing by the water’s edge and camp chairs sat under each bit of shade as folks chatted, beer-filled eskies at their feet.
‘He’s cute,’ said Mel as they walked towards Trent.
‘And he’s really nice,’ Lara whispered back.
When they reached Trent, Lara introduced them.
‘So you’re the nice next-door neighbour?’ asked Mel. ‘I’d borrow sugar from you any day,’ she said with a cheeky smile.
Trent laughed. ‘Oh, I like you, Mel. Can always use a great sense of humour around here. Let’s go and introduce you to the rest of the group.’ Lara set up their chairs as Trent did the introductions. Jack was standing near them and when Trent introduced Mel, he shook her hand.
‘So, I finally get to meet you,’ she said charmingly.
‘Likewise,’ he said, raising his eyebrow. ‘Thanks for all your help with my dog.’
‘No worries. A mate of Lara and Noah’s is a mate of mine.’ She beamed as Jack stood before her, shirtless in his black boardies. Water was glistening on his body and dripping from his hair. Jack turned to talk to Trent and Mel mouthed the words ‘Oh my God’ to Lara, a touch of pink reaching her cheeks.
A little girl with blue frilly bathers and two orange floaties on each arm pushed between Mel and Lara and slipped her hand into Jack’s.
‘Hello, Ella,’ he said, swinging her arm playfully.
‘Can I go on the boat with you, Jack?’ Ella’s wet hair clung to her head and she shivered slightly.
‘Sure can, darling. If it’s okay with your mum.’
‘Aw, so sweet,’ said Mel. Lara figured she wasn’t
talking about the little girl.
Jack turned back to them. ‘Ella, this is Mel and Lara. Ella’s parents are ambulance officers and Ella is usually at our training days and meetings.’
‘Jack plays with me but he gets told off for not paying attention,’ Ella said matter-of-factly.
‘You’re an ambo?’ Mel asked, taking the question right out of Lara’s mouth.
‘I joined up seven years ago,’ Jack said, glancing at Lara. His voice was laced with tenderness that Lara instantly interpreted. Right after her parents’ accident. He was also rubbing the long scar that ran down his left arm and she wondered again about how he got it. There was so much about Jack she didn’t know, things that may have happened to him to make him the bitter person he seemed to be. For some reason, she didn’t think he had always been that way. His eyes hinted at something deeper, something he was carrying. And it took a special person to volunteer as an ambo, arriving at crash sites, helping the injured. He had to have a big heart hidden somewhere in that sexy chest of his.
‘Jack’s the best, my dad says,’ said Ella, still clinging to his hand, swinging it slightly.
‘A man of many talents,’ said Mel, equally amazed. ‘Does Noah volunteer too?’
Jack’s muscles tensed. ‘Ah, no. It’s all a bit too close to home for him.’
‘Understandable,’ Mel agreed. ‘So what do you do around these parts?’ she asked him.
Wow, Lara thought. Mel had got more words out of Jack in the last few minutes than she had been able to extract in the last few months. But that was Mel for you. They could be lined up for a concert and Mel would have made new friends before they’d even got to the ticket booth. And how she didn’t have a boyfriend was beyond Lara. Mel’s time, emotionally and physically, was taken up with her brother and father, and Lara thought that until she sorted that out, there’d be no room for a boyfriend.
‘Hey, Lara. You up for a ski?’ asked Trent with a wink.
‘Why not?’ She took his outstretched hand and he pulled her towards the water. She waved to Mel and caught Jack’s glare of disapproval. There he goes again! thought Lara. What was it with that guy? One minute he’d pretend she didn’t exist and the next minute he’d behave as if he was jealous or something. She couldn’t figure him out. Trent helped Lara into the boat. ‘I like your friend,’ he said. ‘She’s really friendly and easy to talk to.’
‘Yeah, Mel’s great. Everyone gets on well with her. She’s got the gift of the gab.’ She glanced back to Mel and Jack, who was now sitting in the seat Lara had just vacated. She shook her head in wonder. Why was she the only one who ever got Jack’s cold shoulder?
Back on shore, Jack turned to face Mel. ‘So, how long you up for?’ he asked. She had her hair pulled up into a ponytail and her black one-piece bathers flattered her feminine curves.
‘Till the end of the week, but I’m loving it out here. It’s good to spend time with Lara and see how much she’s changed.’
His curiosity spiked. ‘Has she really? In what way?’
‘Oh, you know. To see how happy she is now, like she’s free. She was like a caged animal in the city, not that she’d ever have believed it. I see how much she’s opened up now. She’s alive and glowing, she looks so strong. I see what she’s achieved on the farm, what’s she’s trying to do, and I’m so proud of her.’
Mel’s words reverberated through his mind. He didn’t want to believe them. ‘You two sound close,’ he murmured.
‘Yeah, I lost my mum when I was fourteen so we’ve always had a lot in common. I couldn’t ask for a better friend.’
‘I’m sorry about your mum.’
Mel shrugged it off. ‘It was a long time ago, but thank you.’ She cleared her throat. ‘Do you get on with Lara?’
‘What makes you ask that?’ Jack’s shoulders stiffened.
‘I don’t know. You just seem a bit stand-offish with her.’
Jack was silent for a few seconds, watching Lara ski behind the boat out on the lake.
‘Am I right? Oh, I am. Do you not like her? Sorry. Am I being too forward?’ Mel brought her hand up to her mouth. Jack rolled his eyes. ‘What’s wrong with her?’ she asked softly.
‘She’s gorgeous,’ Jack said quietly. ‘I’m just trying to keep my distance so I don’t get hurt again.’
‘What do you mean?’ Mel leant closer to Jack.
He rubbed the scar along his arm. ‘Let’s just say, in my life the city girl never stays, never changes and never picks me.’
‘Oh.’ Mel touched his arm. ‘But Lara’s different, you’ll see. Besides, she could use a friend, and you and Noah are so close.’
Jack got up to get a beer from the esky. ‘I don’t think I could be just friends,’ he mumbled.
‘Pardon?’ Mel asked as Jack sat back down. ‘What did you say?’
He opened his stubbie. ‘I just said, “I’ll wait and see”.’
By the time the sun had dropped below the horizon, someone had started a bonfire and Jack had swapped numbers with Mel.
‘Please, call me about anything. Sheep, dogs, or Lara. I’d welcome the distraction,’ Mel assured him.
Jack laughed. ‘Yeah, you’re all right, Mel. You remind me of my sister, Bec. She also has a way of making me talk.’
‘It’s good for you, and look, you’re not even injured. It hasn’t affected your strong manhood persona, has it?’
‘Just don’t tell anyone.’ He smiled and glanced across the circle of chairs to Lara, who was sitting next to Trent. Her long hair draped over her shoulders. She looked over at him and caught him staring.
As the flames grew high, Jack relaxed in his fold-out chair and gazed at the reflection of the setting sun on the glassy water. ‘You know, this place is so different to New Zealand.’
‘Besides the snakes, flies and spiders?’
‘Yeah. But I’ve kinda gotten used to the flatness, the red and brown of the soil, and even the bloody heat. I just wish that Noah was here.’
‘You must miss him,’ said Mel.
Jack nodded and sipped his beer.
As the sun disappeared and the darkness encased them, the flames of the fire grew brighter and danced across the water. The faint smoke helped to keep away the bigger mosquitoes and the flies had gone for the day.
Eventually he spoke. ‘It does feel weird without him here. Like I’ve forgotten to call him up and tell him to join us at the lake.’
‘That sounds like me with Lara. She’s so far away on the farm.’
‘Don’t worry, she may be back sooner than you think. There’s no way she’ll survive seeding.’
Mel laughed loudly. ‘Well, Jack, then you don’t really know Lara.’
23
THE next morning, Lara quietly left the house after grabbing a cold sausage for breakfast. Mel was still sound asleep, so Lara had left her a message on the fridge: Gone to feed sheep. Back in a few hours.
With both dogs following her, she headed out to the ute and lifted Dippa onto the back as Roy jumped up. ‘Let’s go, gang!’
Hooking up the sheep feeder was routine to her now; she could do it in her sleep. With a load of grain, she headed out. While driving around the paddocks, she liked to stop and pick up large rocks or mallee roots so they wouldn’t wreck the machinery at seeding or harvest. Her dad had hated hitting big rocks with the header comb.
After the sheep feeder emptied out, she made a stop at the scrap pile. It was a rubbish tip of sorts: old bits of tin cans, bottles, discarded metal and tin sheets, and machinery parts. The back of the ute was quite full with rocks she’d collected and a rusty drum she’d found, and it was time to dump them while she was close to the scrap pile. She followed the little track through the gate and into the bush of gimlets and jam trees, pulling in close to the dump. Lara started throwing off the rocks, and both dogs jumped off and went sniffing through the discarded remains.
‘You boys, don’t go too far.’
After ten minutes, the tray was empty, bar the
toolbox. She brushed her hands together, dusting them off. Heat from the sun was starting to bite into her skin. Raising her hand to shield her eyes, she looked into the dense scrub for the dogs. Roy was relieving himself on an old tyre that belonged to an ancient tractor parked behind the pile. She walked over to the tractor, which had lived in this spot since she could remember. ‘Hello, old girl,’ she greeted it, touching the rusty shell. It amazed her to think what farming was like sixty years ago, and she tried to picture Marge sitting up on a tractor like this.
She moved on further into the bush, noticing Dippa up ahead with his nose near a big old tin, fossicking around for something. He started to growl.
‘What have you found, buddy?’ she asked, patting his head. She saw something move and Dippa began to bark madly. Lara looked closer, saw the dark scales of a snake, and cringed. Oh, how she hated snakes. ‘Back, Dippa. Leave it alone.’ The last thing she needed was for him to be bitten. He wouldn’t make it at his age. Dippa was persisting so she nudged him away with her legs. ‘Move, Dippa!’ she cried out, then tried to drag him away. ‘Bloody dogs and snakes,’ she cursed.
Lara heard the rustle of leaves and the creak of the old tin before she felt the whack to her leg. She screamed and jumped away, then saw the tail end of the snake as it took off. Dippa continued barking as he chased it.
Two red marks sprouted blood on her calf. ‘Oh my God. Holy shit. Bloody hell!’ Lara felt the world begin to spin. She looked around desperately, her heartbeat throbbing through her veins. The ute was over a hundred metres away through the rugged bush. She tried to remember what she was supposed to do – immobilise the limb or find a tourniquet or something? She stripped off her shirt and leant down to tie it around the fang marks as quickly as she could, but when she stood back up the world spun again as everything started to fade and she felt herself fall. A sharp pain spread through her and then she was engulfed in blackness.
The Road Home Page 17
