Talk of the Town

by Rachael Johns

  Both these things had been on her to-do list. Entertaining a cute little kid and his even cuter father had not.

  Again her heart shuddered at the thought of the two guys waiting outside and her stomach twisted as if someone were giving it a Chinese burn. She couldn’t leave them waiting forever but what the hell had she been thinking, offering the kid a drink?

  Ungluing herself from the back of the door, Megan forced her feet to move her across the house to the kitchen, where her shaking hands took a few attempts to open the damn fridge. The blast of cool air from inside helped clear her head. Why was she so jumpy? They didn’t know who she was, so if she acted normal, they’d go on their way without another thought.

  She took the jug of juice out of the fridge, grabbed three glasses—then put one back—and filled them to the brim. Leaving the jug on the bench, she carried two full glasses outside, kicking the door shut behind her as she handed Ned and Lawson their drinks.

  The little boy gulped his down immediately, but his father thanked her first and then lifted the drink to his mouth and took a sip. Megan watched his Adam’s apple move slowly in and out as he drank. Heat washed through her that had zilch to do with the outside temperature and everything to do with how pleasing he was on the eye.

  At that thought her eyes snapped to his left hand in search of a ring and her heart sank. Of course there was a gold band glinting in the sunlight that streaked onto the verandah. What had she been expecting? That he got the child on eBay? And even if there hadn’t been a Mrs Cooper-Jones, it wasn’t like she’d want to interview for the position. Her last boyfriend had soured her on men.

  ‘What brought you to Rose Hill?’ Lawson asked eventually.

  She swallowed. ‘Oh, this and that.’

  ‘I see.’ He nodded once. ‘You live here alone?’

  ‘Yep.’ Perhaps she should have made up a partner. Two people living out there might have seemed less peculiar.

  ‘Well, thanks for the drink.’ A slight frown creased his brow. ‘Guess I’d better go change this tyre.’

  He held the glass out and she took it, careful not to let her hand brush his in the exchange. She nodded and again tried to smile, her face aching from the sudden and frequent use of muscles that had barely moved in years.

  ‘Wanna kick the football with me while Dad fixes the car?’ Ned asked.

  Megan blinked. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d kicked a football, although her brother had been footy-mad and made her play with him lots as a kid. If Ned were entertained, Lawson might finish faster, right?

  ‘Sure. That sounds like fun.’ Her chirpy, enthusiastic tone sounded alien to her ears, but she took Ned’s now empty glass and placed both glasses down by the front door. ‘Lead the way.’

  Ned looked up at her and frowned. ‘It’s hot out there. Maybe you should get a hat or something? And sun-cream. You don’t wanna get burned.’

  She looked to Lawson with amusement. ‘That’s one smart kid you have there.’

  Lawson’s smile stretched to bursting across his face as he reached over and tweaked Ned’s cap. ‘Yeah, he’s not too bad.’

  ‘Ned,’ Megan said as she looked back to him, ‘you’re absolutely right, it is hot and I do need a hat and sun-cream, but I’ve only just moved in and I haven’t unpacked them yet.’

  Part of her welcomed the excuse not to go kick a ball, but the other half sagged in surprising disappointment. She might not have wanted company, but it felt surprisingly good to talk to someone besides her own reflection in the mirror. Maybe she should consider getting a pet.

  ‘That’s okay,’ Ned said brightly. ‘We’ve got a spare hat and sun-cream in the ute, don’t we, Dad?’

  Lawson nodded and that was that. She found herself voluntarily stepping off her front verandah and walking alongside them to the vehicle, where Lawson reached in to retrieve the hat and Ned conjured up a bottle of sun-cream. Lawson plopped the Akubra hat onto her head and then grinned down at her. She wondered if it was his wife’s, although it didn’t seem very feminine.

  ‘It suits you,’ he said, once again looking at her in a way that sparked goose bumps on the back of her neck. She couldn’t quite tell if they were good or bad goose bumps.

  Thankfully, Ned thrust the sun-cream at her, giving her an excuse to look away.

  ‘You need any help with that?’ Lawson asked as her fingers wrapped around the bottle.

  ‘No!’ She almost shrieked her reply, then quickly squeezed a dollop out onto her palm and rubbed it up and down her exposed arms.

  ‘All right. Sorry.’ Lawson shrugged one shoulder and backed away, sounding half-amused, half-offended.

  As he went back to the tyre, Megan tried to regulate her breathing.

  Beside her, Ned bounced the football in his hands. ‘Ready yet?’

  ‘Sure.’ She followed him along the road to a spot out of the way of the ute.

  ‘You stay there,’ Ned ordered. ‘I’ll kick first.’ He sprinted about twenty metres and then, with an intense look on his face, positioned himself to kick.

  As the football sailed through the air towards her, Megan tried not to worry about the fact they were playing in the middle of a road. Where she grew up in the inner suburbs of Melbourne, playing on the street was a dangerous pastime. But Rose Hill was hardly a metropolis and she reminded herself that she’d seen more native animals on her daily runs in the forest that surrounded the town than she had cars on the road. With this thought, she threw herself into the game and tried to ignore the impulse to glance back towards the ute.

  ‘Won’t your mum be wondering where you are?’ she asked when Ned ran close to her.

  ‘Nope. She’s dead,’ he said matter-of-factly.

  Her heart turned over at the thought that this cool little kid didn’t have a mum. She’d lost hers in her teens—bad enough. ‘Oh. I’m sorry.’

  He shrugged one shoulder in exactly the manner as his dad. ‘She died when I was little. I don’t remember her.’

  That piqued Megan’s curiosity big time. How’d she die? Do you have a step-mum? Or does your dad wear a wedding ring because he’s still mourning the loss of the love of his life?

  Without meaning to, Megan found her head twisting to look back at the ute. Or rather to look back at him. The tanned skin of Lawson’s lovely forearms glistened as he lifted the spare tyre onto the axle, and the back of his shirt was soaked in sweat.

  ‘Come on, Meg,’ Ned called again, forcing her to look away.

  ‘Sorry.’ She turned around to see the football hurling through the air towards her and reached out to catch it just in time.

  ‘Nice one,’ he cried and Megan smiled—really smiled—for the first time in a long while. They kicked the ball back and forth a few more times, all while more and more questions formed in her head about Ned and his dad. But with Lawson only a few feet away, she couldn’t risk asking them.

  When he finally swaggered over to join them, Megan couldn’t help but wish he’d taken a little longer. Ned was such a cool kid and it had been fun to do something so normal for a change.

  ‘Thanks for entertaining him,’ Lawson said. ‘We’ll get out of your hair now.’

  Megan resisted the urge to ask them in for afternoon tea good and proper. She’d succumbed to the desire to bake that morning and made far more scones than she could ever eat; the act of baking made her feel good though. ‘No worries,’ she said as she handed the borrowed hat back to Lawson.

  Ned handballed the footy to his dad. ‘Yeah, thanks Meg, see ya round.’

  ‘It was fun.’ She lifted her hand to wave.

  Lawson hesitated a moment as if he wanted to say something, but then he shook his head slightly and turned to follow his son to the ute. Megan watched as Ned climbed into the vehicle. Lawson threw the football in after him and then got in the driver’s side. A strange feeling washed over her as he started the ute. She hadn’t wanted visitors, but now that they were leaving, her chest tightened at the prospect of being all
alone again.

  ‘Hey,’ Ned leaned out of the window and called to her. ‘Did you know your house is haunted?’

  ‘What?’ She stifled a chuckle.

  ‘Your house,’ he shouted, jabbing his finger towards it, ‘is haunted. The whole town is.’

  ‘Ned, there’s no need to shout,’ Lawson warned.

  ‘Is that right?’ Megan rubbed her lips together in amused contemplation as she lifted her hand to wave goodbye. She had enough skeletons in her closet: she could deal with a few ghosts!

  Chapter Two

  ‘Isn’t Meg cool?’ Ned said, half hanging out the window waving to her as Lawson pressed his foot down on the accelerator. ‘She can kick a footy almost as good as you. Can we ask her over for dinner or something?’

  Lawson swallowed—he wasn’t in the habit of asking strangers round for dinner. Hell, he wasn’t in the habit of asking friends round to dinner. His lack of a social life was something his sister berated him about constantly, but this was the first time Ned had said anything of the sort. While he had no intention of asking Meg out to the farm for dinner or any other reason, something made him put his foot on the brake pedal. Once stopped, he yanked the ute into reverse and then drove backwards up the road to the old general store where Meg had set up home. She was almost inside again but looked up at the sound of the ute and … God, she was gorgeous.

  The thought hit him like a physical blow—he hadn’t noticed any woman in such a way since Leah.

  But Meg’s wavy, mahogany-coloured hair hanging down to her bum, and the fringe across her face hiding her eyes, drew his attention. She was thin but ripped, and something—something he couldn’t quite identify as clearly as he could her great body and amazing hair—intrigued him. Although he’d caught her looking once or twice when he’d glanced up from changing the tyre, she came across as shy and he found her quiet reserve compelling. Also, she’d been good with Ned.

  ‘Was there something else?’ Meg called, her brow creased.

  Realising he was sitting in the ute gawping at her, he opened his mouth to speak but Ned got in first.

  ‘Do you want to come over for dinner?’ he shouted.

  What? That had not been what Lawson was going to say. It didn’t matter if he felt some weird, physical pull to this woman; he wasn’t about to invite anyone into his and Ned’s life without getting to know them on neutral ground first.

  ‘Um …’ Meg rubbed her lips one over the other, clearly as uncomfortable with the invitation as he was. ‘Thanks for the offer, but I’m pretty busy unpacking and …’

  Her voice drifted off but Lawson could fill in the gaps. And she didn’t know them from a bar of soap—why on earth would she want to have dinner with them?

  ‘We could help you unpack,’ Ned suggested, his voice brimming with enthusiasm.

  Meg’s lips curved upwards and she met Lawson’s gaze. ‘Does he always have an answer for everything?’

  He chuckled. ‘Pretty much. Look, you’re welcome to dinner any time,’ he found himself saying, ‘but how about I give you my number in case you ever need anything and—’

  ‘That’s very kind of you,’ she called, stepping down off the verandah and coming back towards the ute, ‘but I don’t actually have a phone, so I couldn’t call you anyway.’

  ‘You don’t have a phone?’ asked Ned and Lawson at the same time.

  She shook her head. ‘I haven’t got round to getting the landline connected yet.’

  But what about a mobile? he wanted to ask. Network coverage might be dodgy out there in Rose Hill, but surely she had a mobile. He didn’t know any woman who went anywhere without hers: not even his grandma, and she lived in a nursing home. And who in this day and age could live without wifi?

  His surprise and concern must have shown on his face for she said, ‘It’s okay, I’ll get it connected soon—and I’ve got a car so I can drive for help if there are any real problems.’

  He guessed the car must be parked around the back because he couldn’t see it.

  ‘Don’t you have an iPhone?’ Ned sounded incredulous. For once Lawson was grateful for his son’s tendency to say whatever came into his head.

  ‘Nope,’ Meg said with a shake of her head. ‘Don’t have one of them either.’

  When she didn’t offer any further comment or explanation, Lawson said, ‘Have you met Cr—Archie yet?’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Crazy Archie,’ Ned said.

  Lawson gave him a look, then, ‘Archie,’ he emphasised. ‘He’s an old guy who lives in the abandoned service station and keeps an eye on the town. Been here forever, or so it seems.’

  ‘I filled my car up there the other day.’

  He nodded. ‘There’s only a pre-paid machine now. I can’t imagine Archie makes much from it, considering hardly anyone drives through Rose Hill any more, but I guess he gets what he needs.’

  Meg shook her head. ‘I haven’t met him. I must admit, it’s been so hot, I’ve pretty much barricaded myself indoors.’

  ‘Well, rumour has it he’s not very sociable but he might have a phone if you ever needed to borrow one.’

  ‘Okay. Thanks. I’ll go over and introduce myself some time.’ She half laughed. ‘And here I was thinking I was the only resident of Rose Hill.’

  She sounded a little put out that she wasn’t and that only piqued Lawson’s interest more. What on earth was she doing living out here all alone? He wanted to ask but he also didn’t want to be rude. Besides, he should be getting back to the farm to get ready for the evening milking.

  ‘Well, we better be going, but here,’ he leaned over and scrounged around in the glovebox for a pen and something to write on, ‘have my phone number just in case you ever need anything. It’s hard moving into a new town.’ Especially one as deserted as Rose Hill.

  He scribbled down his mobile and home number alongside his name on an old receipt and then he held it out the window to her. She hesitated a moment, before reaching out and taking it quickly. He didn’t think himself that repulsive.

  ‘Thank you.’ She folded the receipt in half and tucked it into the pocket of her shorts.

  ‘No worries and thanks again for the OJ. Have a great day.’ Lawson took his foot off the break and put the car back into drive.

  ‘Yep. You too. Bye, Ned.’ Her smile looked forced as she lifted her hand to wave them off again and this time, when he glanced backwards after driving a few metres up the road, she’d already vanished inside the house.

  Ned spoke all the way back to the farm about how wicked-cool Meg was and how brave she must be to be living in a haunted house. As with many of his conversations when he got overly excited about something, he was happy to talk with only the occasional mumble of agreement from Lawson and that suited Lawson just fine. He should probably try and put Ned straight about the whole haunted thing, but he didn’t have the energy, not when his head was filled with thoughts of Meg. He’d probably pay for it later when Ned couldn’t sleep because his head was full of ghosts.

  Ned was still talking when Lawson parked the ute in front of their old farm house. He leaped out the passenger side and ran towards the house, calling, ‘Aunty Tab, Aunty Tab,’ as he went. Lawson chuckled and felt a rush of love for his son as he went around to the back of the ute to grab their bags. It was good to have Ned home after a week away in Albany visiting his grandparents. He didn’t want to begrudge Leah’s parents their only grandson, but he didn’t like spending even a night away from his kid. Tab sometimes jokingly called him a helicopter dad but he didn’t care. He’d lost his mum and then Leah, he didn’t want to even think about losing his son.

  The door to the house flung open as Ned approached and Tabitha stood there waiting, one arm wide ready to grab him into a hug.

  ‘God, boy, I’ve missed you!’ She scooped him up and clung to him.

  ‘I missed you too, Aunty Tab.’

  ‘What are his grandparents feeding him?’ she asked as Lawson approached carrying Ned’s suitca
se and his own overnight bag. ‘Won’t be long and I won’t be able to lift him any more.’

  Ned laughed and struggled free. ‘Soon, I’ll be able to lift you. Guess what? We just met this woman. She’s living in the haunted shop at Rose Hill. She has no phones but can kick a football way better than you can.’

  As Ned harped on about the virtues of their stranger, Tab raised her eyebrows and looked to Lawson. ‘There’s someone living at Rose Hill besides Crazy Archie?’

  He shrugged. ‘Seems so. I got a flat tyre driving through and she gave us a drink.’

  ‘Intriguing,’ Tab said. ‘How about you two come inside, have some ice-cream and you can tell me all about it?’

  ‘He won’t eat dinner if he has ice-cream,’ Lawson said as he toed off his boots and discarded them on the verandah.

  ‘Yes, I will,’ Ned whined as he did the same.

  Tab grabbed Ned’s hand and started inside. ‘Don’t be a spoilsport,’ she called over her shoulder. ‘I haven’t seen the kid in a whole week; besides, I need his opinion on my latest flavour. He’s my chief taste-tester. We’re like business partners, aren’t we, Ned?’

  Dinner was still a few hours away, but Lawson and Tabitha’s mum had always been such a stickler for snacking. Her rule had been only fruit between meals and then if you ate all your dinner, you got dessert, which was the treat of the day. Being a young, sole parent, Lawson generally tried to do what he thought his mum would have done, but Tabitha sometimes reckoned he was a little too stringent. Knowing he was fighting a losing battle, he followed his sister and son into the house, dumped the bags in the hallway and then went into the kitchen.

  ‘Was everything okay last night and this morning?’ he asked as Tab took a container out of the freezer using her good arm. Lawson had gone down to Albany yesterday and stayed the night with his in-laws before bringing Ned home, ready for when the school year started next week.