‘That’s great. Your folks live out near Stanley, don’t they?’ Edwina asked. ‘I don’t think I’ve met them.’
‘Yeah, they’ve got about a thousand acres. Sheep and cattle. My dad doesn’t get out much.’
Edwina smiled. ‘Plenty of blokes like that.’
An awkward silence fell. There was nowhere else for the conversation to go.
Harry took a backwards step towards the gate. ‘Well, it was nice to meet you, but I’d best keep moving or Mum will send out the SES on a search and rescue mission. Have a lovely Christmas, won’t you?’
Christine beamed a smile at him. ‘Yes, Merry Christmas, Harry. Talk to you soon.’
As Edwina stepped aside to let him pass, their gazes connected again briefly and his heart sped a little faster. He gave her a little wave, and strode down the path. When he glanced back over his shoulder, a rush of pleasure whipped through him when he caught her looking at him. As he jogged back to his car, it took all his willpower not to spin around and keep staring at her.
Chapter 5
Eddie stared after Harry as he disappeared down the street. She was fully aware of who he was – she’d have to be living under a rock not to know who Harrison Baxter was – but she was older and they hadn’t gone to school together so their paths had never crossed. Until now.
It was difficult not to gape at him. He carried himself like a man comfortable in his own skin – exuding confidence, but not arrogance. The ‘tall dark handsome’ description, despite being an overused cliché, fitted him perfectly, although he didn’t seem to have any clue the effect he had on women’s heart rates. The way Christine was acting made Eddie smile. She was clearly as smitten as Eddie, even though she was old enough to be his grandmother.
Eddie watched him fold himself into the tiny hire car. He had grown tall and filled out since his teenage band-playing years, and for an opera singer he was nothing like she’d expected. Apart from being very good-looking, he had an amazing physique. Tall and slim with a body that filled his clothes in all the right places.
She caught the tail-end of what Christine was saying. Something about the choir. Eddie followed her inside and took a seat at the kitchen table.
‘Sorry. What did you say?’ Eddie asked. Her mind was still on the very hot Harrison Baxter.
‘I was saying how sorry I am there aren’t going to be enough of us to make up the choir for the Christmas dinner.’
Eddie gaped at her, Harry promptly forgotten. ‘What? Are you kidding me? No choir?’
‘I’m really sorry.’
Eddie screwed her eyes shut and laid her head on her arms. ‘No,’ she moaned. She risked a peek at Christine. ‘What next?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Let’s put it this way – it’s been an awful day and nothing’s going according to plan. I should never have agreed to take this on.’
‘I thought you looked like you’d been crying.’
‘With good reason. Mick’s pulled out and now I have no one to drive the fire truck or play Santa.’
‘Oh, love. The kids will be so disappointed.’
‘I know,’ she wailed. ‘But that’s not really why I’m crying.’
Christine looked expectantly at her.
‘Jarrod broke up with me.’ She gave Christine a brief summary of the details.
‘Oh sweetheart, that’s awful. I’m so sorry about Jarrod. Daisy thought you two were planning on getting married. I guess my news is the icing on the cake. I’m so sorry.’
Eddie sighed. ‘It’s not your fault. And I’ve had a cake disaster too, but that happened after the Santa dilemma and after Jarrod dumped me.’ At Christine’s confused expression, Eddie waved her hand. ‘Too hard to explain. What’s the problem with the choir?’
‘We’re down to only four of us – three women and one man.’
‘From twenty-five?’ Eddie squeaked. ‘How?’
‘Multiple reasons, including laryngitis, pneumonia and a broken leg.’
Eddie winced. ‘Ouch. I hope not in the same person.’
Christine shook her head.
‘What about the Miltons?’ The family of six girls were so excited about the community choir. The eldest two fancied themselves the next Australian Idols.
‘Last-minute change of plans. An aunt paid for all of them to fly to the Gold Coast for Christmas. The lure of theme parks was stronger than the lure of the stage.’
‘Can’t we still do it with the people we have?’
‘No, it wouldn’t work without the harmonies.’
‘Come on, are you kidding? Harmonies? We’re talking “Silent Night” and “Away in a Manger”. Who needs harmonies? Everyone knows the tunes.’
Christine’s face fell. Eddie might as well have suggested the choir sing rap music dressed in their underwear. She’d forgotten how serious Christine was about her singing group. Eddie quickly apologised before letting out a little huff of frustration. It wasn’t like it was Christine’s fault.
‘I’m not upset with you, just the situation. It won’t be a proper Christmas without the choir.’
‘I’m really sorry.’
‘What should I do? It’s on all the flyers that we’ll be singing Christmas carols,’ Eddie said. ‘What about Harrison Baxter? Do you think we could ask him to sing?’
‘I don’t think so, not at such short notice. But between your nan and I, we have an extensive collection of CDs. There’s bound to be a Christmas one or two amongst them. Let me know if you get stuck and can’t find anything.’
‘I guess I don’t have a choice.’
*
After saying goodbye, Eddie hopped in her car and leaned her head back against the headrest. What a morning. Could anything else possibly go wrong? She released a sigh and her handbrake at the same time.
It was nearly noon when she arrived home. She turned into the gates of Glenview and felt an instant peace wash over her. Up ahead was her grandparents’ house and her little cottage, which sat underneath the umbrella of a massive jacaranda tree in full bloom.
Solomon and Titus, her grandparents’ black curly-coated retrievers, stood on the front porch waiting, wagging their tails as if they hadn’t seen her in a month. Eddie wasn’t sure whether they missed her or the treats she snuck them when her nan wasn’t looking, but she didn’t care. She stepped out of the car, bent down and wrapped her arms around their necks. In response they lavished her with slobbery kisses before rolling over for belly rubs.
‘You’re so much easier to understand than men,’ she told them. ‘You offer unconditional love and zero judgment.’
With one arm draped over each dog’s neck, Eddie sank down on the front steps of the main house and stared out across the garden, down the valley and to the hills in the distance. What a day. She exhaled loudly and Solomon looked at her as though in sympathy.
‘How am I going to tell Nan?’
Titus wagged his tail lazily in reply, disturbing the carpet of blue-mauve jacaranda petals. Daisy would be concerned when she heard about all the issues Eddie had encountered with the Christmas dinner, and Eddie hated for her nan to worry. She’d be doubly worried when Eddie told her about Jarrod breaking up with her. She sighed again. Had she made a big mistake? Should she have agreed to move to America with him? No. For dozens of reasons it would never have worked.
She squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself not to cry again. The tears ignored her though, building and spilling over, running down her cheeks. If only her mum was alive. They could have sat and had a long mother-daughter chat over an endless cup of tea. Nan was good, but Eddie didn’t want to talk about sex with a woman in her eighties, regardless of how much she loved her.
She barely remembered her mum and over the past few years whenever she was reminded of her, she no longer experienced that familiar breathtaking stab of loss, but today the memories hit hard. Eddie had been so young when Maggie died, and in the last two years of her life, conversations were little more than whispered sni
ppets – one or two sentences at a time – when she wasn’t dozing or in excruciating pain.
Cancer had taken so much from all of them, not only Maggie’s life, and it had taken a long time for Eddie to forgive. To forgive her mother for getting cancer. Then to forgive her for dying. She couldn’t forgive her father though – a man she didn’t know and had never met. A man who left when Maggie was pregnant with Eddie.
For years Eddie’s fertile childish imagination had run away with itself. She’d daydreamed her mum lived in another place and pretended they were merely separated by distance, not death. With no father and no siblings or cousins to offer emotional support, Eddie had felt adrift for years. She was too young to properly understand her feelings, but the constant hum of abandonment and confusion had peppered every thought and action for a long time. Time and counselling slowly healed her wounds and as she launched into her teenage years, she realised how fortunate and blessed she was to have the unconditional love and support of her grandparents. Nothing or no one would make her abandon them, and she knew she’d made the right decision to put them and their wellbeing before Jarrod.
She massaged her temples and forced the tears and unhappy memories into submission. She needed to think straight. With Christmas only two days away, she had to find some festive spirit. So much for the merry jolly Christmas she’d been looking forward to – this was turning out to be the worst one in history. If she didn’t do something quickly to improve her mood, they’d be calling her The Grinch.
She straightened her shoulders and stuck out her chest. There was no time to sit there feeling sorry for herself. She still had dozens of things on her list. Standing and brushing the dust from her backside, Eddie vowed not to shed another tear. She might have been abandoned by her father, and now Jarrod, but she wasn’t going to cry over another man ever again.
For as long as Eddie could remember, she’d called her nan every time she was having a bad day. Despite her desire not to trouble Daisy about anything while she was still recovering, Eddie needed to hear her voice. She picked up the phone and dialled. It rang and rang and she was about to hang up when Daisy breathlessly answered.
‘Hello?’
Eddie stifled a smile. Her nan still hadn’t figured out caller ID on the phone Eddie had given her when she went into hospital.
‘Hi, Nan, it’s me.’
‘Eddie, sweetheart. Lucky you caught me. I was about to go off for my physiotherapy session. Everything okay?’
‘Everything’s fine,’ Eddie reassured her. ‘How’re you doing today?’
‘Much better. I haven’t had to ask for any pain relief.’
‘You don’t have to be stoic, Nan. If you’re in too much pain you won’t be able to do as much physio.’
‘Don’t worry, I’m fine. Is everything ready for the dinner?’
‘It is now.’
‘You picked up the cake?’
‘Yes.’ It wasn’t a lie. She had picked it up, but when she got home she’d had to throw it in the rubbish. It was an unsalvageable mashed mess.
‘And you remembered to confirm the details with Mick about what time he needs to arrive with the fire truck?’
‘Yeah, I caught up with Mick.’
‘It’s the best part of the dinner. Santa arriving is what the kids look forward to the most.’
Eddie swallowed her frustration and disappointment. ‘I know.’ She remembered her own childhood and her excitement at receiving a gift from Santa handed down from the back of the fire truck.
‘I’m so proud of you, sweetheart. You took on this challenge of organising the dinner the way you do everything – with commitment and determination.’
A knock sounded at the door and Eddie glanced at the window. It was Aimee. She’d tell Nan about Jarrod another time. Maybe it was better not to tell her over the phone anyway, she’d only worry more.
‘I need to go, Nan. Aimee’s here.’ Eddie waved her inside.
‘All right. Now promise you’ll call me if there are any issues tomorrow. The caterer will be arriving at three so make sure you’re down at the hall to meet her.’
‘It’s fine, Nan. It’s all sorted.’
‘And we’ll see you for lunch on Christmas Day?’
‘Yep. I’ll drive up after church.’
‘Good girl. Now off you go. Say hello to Aimee for me.’
‘I will. Love you.’
‘Love you too.’
Eddie hung up and looked at her friend. Aimee’s face said it all. She’d heard about Jarrod.
‘News obviously travels fast. Who told you?’
‘The waitress overheard part of your conversation at the cafe. She said something to her mum who called my mum. Mum called me to make sure you were okay.’
Eddie groaned. Typical small town. Probably ten minutes after she’d stormed out on Jarrod the entire population would have known they’d split up. At least Frank and Daisy were in Albury – with any luck the news wouldn’t reach them until Eddie had a chance to tell them herself, preferably in person.
Aimee followed her into the kitchen.
‘Tea?’ Eddie asked, already taking a mug out of the cupboard.
‘No, thanks. I can’t stay long. I just wanted to pop out and make sure you were okay.’
‘I’m okay.’
‘You’ve been crying.’
Eddie felt the tears well again. ‘Of course I’ve been crying. My boyfriend and I just broke up. I’m humiliated. Upset. Angry. Hurt. He said some awful things.’
‘But aren’t you relieved too?’
Eddie sagged against the kitchen bench. ‘Yeah. A bit.’ She looked at her friend. ‘Is that bad?’
‘No.’
‘To be honest, I’m probably more annoyed he broke up with me before I had a chance to tell him it was all over if he chose America instead of me.’
‘So what are you going to do?’
‘Right now? About Jarrod? Nothing.’ Her voice cracked. ‘Unfortunately, I have bigger issues.’
Aimee raised an eyebrow. ‘Bigger than Jarrod?’
‘I don’t have any dessert for the Christmas dinner.’
Aimee tilted her head. ‘I thought you’d organised a cake from the bakery.’
‘I left it in the car in the heat and it melted. I had to throw it out. I feel like an idiot. What am I going to do?’ she moaned. ‘I went past the supermarket and they’ve sold out of pavlovas.’
‘Leave it with me.’
Chapter 6
A trail of red dust billowed behind Harry’s hire car as it rumbled over the familiar corrugated gravel road. He drove carefully. Despite years of city living he’d never forgotten how bad the road was, with lots of sharp twists and turns as it journeyed through the mountains. He’d been caught out in the past, coming up over a rise too quickly to be met by a farm vehicle, a slow-moving herd of cows, or worse, a mob of kangaroos. The potholes were notoriously deep too, from all the trucks that travelled from the pine plantations back to the highway.
The sun blazed a hot trail across the northern sky but the air conditioner kept Harry cool. He took his time, watching the countryside unfold, seeing it the way he always did – with the eyes of someone who was soon to leave again. He forced himself to enjoy the views and sing along to the radio. As soon as he was back home, the familiar hurts would rise up like weeds and try to strangle him. He needed plenty of time to be prepared.
He glanced across the valley. It was dry, but not unusually so for December and nowhere near as bad as this time last year when the entire region had been under a constant ‘watch and act’ fire warning. In January that year, an unattended campfire caused a bushfire that nearly wiped out the Yallambah township. Dozens of properties and thousands of dollars’ worth of valuable livestock were lost. Thankfully there’d been no loss of life but the financial toll was high. The charity concert was one way to ease the burden many people still faced a year on.
He was slightly worried about the concert and how some of the cast me
mbers would cope with the country hospitality, especially Ashleigh. There would be no backstage area, no green room and no dressing rooms with well-lit mirrors. Instead, they’d all be doing costume changes in tents to the side of the stage. He could already hear Ashleigh’s complaints.
Thinking about Ashleigh made his mind wander to Edwina.
Edwina Campbell.
It was a long time since anyone had stopped him in his tracks. He’d taken a second look and wished he’d paused to take a third. He pushed her from his mind. It didn’t matter how cute she was, he was only in town for the week.
On either side of the road, gnarled gum trees were ageless reminders that time stood still out here. It was funny, really. No matter what was going on elsewhere in the world, things in the country never seemed to change. The vast, cloudless blue sky was the same, the mountains wrapping around the valley were the same, the sheep and cows dotted in the middle of dry paddocks, the same. He’d bet a million dollars his father’s attitude towards him would be the same too.
The road beckoned for his attention again. In a few minutes he’d be home. He sucked in a deep breath. Home. Thornhill. The farm. Was it pointless wishing things would be different this time?
His parents had lived in the same house since they’d married and the only way Jim would ever leave was in a pine box. Harry had spent the first eleven years of his life there before being shipped off to boarding school in Geelong for a ‘good, solid education’. Claire hated every second of her time in Geelong, but Harry took to boarding school immediately and dreaded going home for the holidays. While he liked the farm, the land and the people, he disliked farm life. The only thing that kept him coming back was his mum, Claire and her family, and his beloved dog, Digby.
Harry’s father, Jim, was a second generation farmer who loved the land and loved farming. His plan, from the time Harry was in nappies and old enough to understand, was for Harry to take over when he retired, but those plans were as different from Harry’s as chalk from cheese.
As far as Harry was concerned, it was common knowledge that the first generation started the farm, the second generation built it and the third destroyed it: the pressure of keeping the farm afloat, especially when he felt in his bones that he wasn’t meant to be a farmer, was something he was reluctant to take on. Nor was he interested in the hardships and stresses of farming life – living like his parents had – getting up in the middle of the night when there were problems with calving or dealing with foxes killing lambs. It wasn’t the life he wanted, yet getting his father to understand that was an impossible task and over the years he’d given up trying to explain how he felt.
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