Talk of the Town

by Rachael Johns

  Adeline’s eyes widened as she looked from Megan to the dozen or so finished crocheted tea-cosies on the other end of the table. ‘You crochet tea-cosies but you don’t drink tea?’ She sounded incredulous, as if doing such a thing were a mortal sin. What would she think if she knew some of the other things Megan had done?

  She shrugged, annoyed. ‘My grandma collected teapots and she taught me to crochet. I just like tea-cosies I guess.’

  Adeline reached across to pick a black and white example with a crocheted dog on the side. ‘They are cute in a retro kind of way,’ she admitted, managing to make the compliment sound condescending. ‘These would be very popular at our …’ Her voice drifted off as if she’d suddenly changed her mind about saying something.

  ‘At your what?’ Megan prompted.

  ‘Oh, nothing.’ Adeline dropped the cosy as if it were a dead rodent and waved her hand in dismissal. ‘Do you sell them?’

  ‘No. I just enjoy making them.’ Which was true, although not the whole truth. Crocheting was therapeutic—sometimes when the sadness and grief of losing her loved ones started to overcome Megan again, she simply needed something to occupy her mind. Crochet and exercise were safer than the alternatives. And if making endless tea-cosies stopped her seeking other comforts, so be it. Crocheting also helped her feel close to Granny Rose, as she’d been the one to teach her in the first place. ‘Do you crochet?’

  ‘No.’ Adeline shook her head. ‘But I knit for the church’s winter appeal. We make jumpers and beanies for homeless people. If you also knit, I could drop you round a pattern—we’ll be starting the appeal again soon and we can never make enough.’

  Of course someone like Adeline would do something worthwhile in her free time. And Megan would like to help, but she didn’t want to give Adeline any excuse for a return visit. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it but something about this woman left Megan feeling cold.

  ‘That sounds great, but maybe I could pick up the pattern next time I go into Walsh to shop. It’ll save you a trip. Now, can I get you coffee or water?’

  Adeline frowned. ‘I would have said it was too hot for coffee, but these old buildings are really good at keeping the heat out, aren’t they?’ She rubbed her upper arms.

  Megan made no comment as she retrieved two mugs from a cupboard.

  ‘What are your plans for the store?’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Hurry up, kettle, she willed. The faster she made the coffees, the faster they could drink them and the faster whatever this was could be over. Entertaining Lawson and Archie was one thing because they were guys and in general guys didn’t pry, but she got the feeling Adeline could be very good at prying.

  ‘Well, this is a very large place for one person to live.’

  ‘One person and a dog,’ Megan pointed out.

  Adeline didn’t act as if she’d even registered Megan speaking. ‘Why did you decide to move here? What are your plans for the building? It’s going to take a lot of work to fix and clean it up.’

  Megan took a lesson in fake smiling from her visitor and plastered one on her face. ‘Do you want sugar in your coffee?’

  ‘No, thank you.’

  You probably think you’re sweet enough, Megan thought as the kettle whistled. ‘So how long have you been breeding Maremmas?’ Adeline wasn’t the only one who could ask questions but Megan hoped she could be distracted by the lure of talking about herself.

  ‘This little guy …’ she tugged her shoe out of Cane’s mouth ‘… is from my third litter. What did you decide to call him?’

  ‘Cane,’ Megan said as she put the coffees down on the table and sat down opposite Adeline. ‘Short for Hurricane.’

  ‘Interesting.’ Adeline’s expression showed her distaste.

  Megan couldn’t help herself. ‘It was Lawson’s suggestion actually.’

  ‘Oh?’ Adeline raised one eyebrow and her mug to her lips.

  ‘Yes, when he first brought Cane over, the puppy wouldn’t stop running around and Lawson joked he’d delivered a hurricane. I liked it.’

  ‘Well,’ Adeline cleared her throat, ‘as much as I adore Lawson, I do hope he knew what he was doing bringing you a puppy. Maremmas are energetic dogs and they need a firm hand or they’ll easily become out of control. I strongly recommend you coming to my puppy-training classes. It’ll give us a chance to catch up again too.’

  Neither idea appealed. ‘I’ll give it some thought,’ she lied, ‘but honestly he hasn’t been much trouble. I love to run so we’ve been getting out every morning and—’

  ‘I hope you’re not over-running him. It’s a fine line with puppies.’

  Speaking of fine lines, Megan formed her mouth into one, her irritation at having Adeline in her home growing by the second. ‘Thank you for your concern, I’ll be careful.’

  ‘If you have any problems, don’t hesitate to give me a call though. I’m happy to help.’ Adeline scooped a business card out of her handbag and laid it on the table.

  ‘Thanks,’ Megan said.

  ‘So, what brought you to Rose Hill?’ Adeline asked again and it was clear she wasn’t going to give up.

  ‘I have had some family tragedy over the past few years, culminating with the death of my grandmother a few months back. I needed a tree change.’

  ‘Strange place for a tree change.’ Adeline rubbed her lips together and put down her mug. ‘Won’t you get bored out here?’

  ‘As you said, there’s a lot of work to do on this building; that will keep me busy for a while.’

  ‘No offense,’ Adeline began, telling Megan that what she was about to say would indeed be offensive, ‘but have you really thought this through? Even if you renovate the old store into a palace, what are you going to do with it? Since the bypass was put in, hardly anyone comes through even Walsh, let alone Rose Hill, so it’s not exactly good real estate.’

  Megan hadn’t really thought past doing the building up. Quite frankly, she’d paid so little for it that she didn’t really care what happened to it once she was ready to move on. She just needed a project to stop her going insane for the time that it took for people to forget. When she’d seen this old place on the internet, she’d contacted the real estate agent before she could talk herself out of it.

  ‘I’ve got a few ideas,’ she said, ‘but I’m not really ready to talk about them yet.’

  Adeline glanced around again. ‘They say this place is haunted, you know.’ She added quickly, ‘Not that I believe in ghosts.’

  ‘Don’t you?’

  ‘You’re not telling me you do?’

  Megan thought about the coolness on the stairs and the way Cane didn’t want to go anywhere near it. She thought about the noises in the night and the chair moving out as Adeline had tried to sit down. ‘Of course not.’ She laughed.

  At that moment the light bulb dropped from the ceiling and crashed against Adeline’s mug. They both startled at the noise as glass shattered across the table. Cane froze, then rushed to cower and whine under Megan’s chair. Adeline pushed back her seat and stood, snatching her bag off the floor and clutching it against her chest.

  ‘Well, look at the time.’ Her gaze darted around the room, everywhere but at the face on her shiny gold watch. ‘Things to do, people to see. I’ll be sure to tell Lawson you and Cane are doing well.’

  Adeline didn’t offer to help clean up the mess; Megan didn’t care. It had probably been a weird freak-episode—the light fitting was ancient and she hadn’t had to replace that bulb yet—but if there were a ghost, Megan would love to thank her for spooking Adeline into a hasty departure. She stifled another giggle as she scooped Cane up from under the chair, then followed her unwanted guest as she hurried down the hallway.

  Adeline wrenched open the front door, rushing out as if the building were on fire.

  ‘Nice meeting you,’ Megan called, waving Cane’s little paw at his rapidly departing breeder.

  Adeline climbed into her expensive-looking four-wheel dr
ive and then skidded on the gravel at the side of the road as she pulled away without even a backwards glance. Megan hoped she’d been spooked enough not to consider returning.

  Aside from her looks, Megan couldn’t understand what a lovely guy like Lawson could see in Adeline, but they were obviously friends and, if Adeline could be believed, perhaps a lot more than that. Was that the real reason Megan had not taken to her? She was jealous?

  She sighed sadly as she closed the door and put Cane back down on the floor to continue wreaking havoc. On her way back into the kitchen to resume crocheting her useless tea-cosies, her eyes fell on the books Adeline had messed up … only now they were back in a neat pile.

  Megan shivered as she glanced at the book on the top. All of them were from a couple of boxes she’d found among the previous owners’ junk and although she hadn’t paid much attention to the titles before, she felt certain she’d never seen this one. Her hand quivering a little, she reached out to pick it up—The Ghost and Mrs Muir. She’d never given much credence to the notion of ghosts, but the longer she spent in this house, the more she started to wonder.

  Chapter Nine

  Lawson wiped the sweat from his brow and then reached for the next calf in the queue to be tagged. It was barely eleven am and already he’d worked as many hours as some people did in a day. Normally he liked hard work but even in the shade it felt about a hundred degrees, and he’d been fantasising about skiving off work and jumping into the swimming pool beside the farmhouse. His phone vibrated in his pocket and he yanked it out, glad of the distraction until he saw the school’s number on the screen.

  He cleared his throat as he swiped to answer. ‘Hello?’

  ‘Hi Lawson, it’s Beck calling from the school. How are you?’

  ‘Fine thanks, Beck. What can I do for you?’ He tried to tell himself she didn’t sound panicked so he shouldn’t either, but a call from the school in the middle of the day always worried him. ‘Is Ned okay?’

  ‘He’s feeling a little off,’ she said. ‘I’ve got him here with me in the office and I don’t want you to worry, he doesn’t have a temperature and he hasn’t been physically ill, but he’s not his usually chirpy self. Do you think you could come and collect him? He might just be over-tired and need a little rest.’

  ‘I’m on my way,’ Lawson promised before disconnecting. He called across to Ethan, who was just coming back after returning the last lot of calves. ‘I’ve got to go get Ned from school. Will you be okay to finish up here?’

  ‘No probs, boss. I am the Nightrider. I’m a fuel-injected suicide machine. I am the rocker. I am the roller. I am the out-of-controller. And I have it all under control.’

  Lawson raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

  ‘Is Ned okay?’ Ethan asked.

  ‘I hope so,’ Lawson replied as he headed off in the direction of his ute. The keys were in the ignition where he always left them and, as he started the vehicle and drove off, he thought back to that morning. Ned hadn’t shown any signs of illness as far as he could remember, but then again, if he’d learned anything in eight years of parenthood, it was that kids could go from healthy to pretty damn sick in a flash. Tab would have happily gone into town to collect Ned but another thing Lawson had learned was that if Ned was really ill, no one but him would do for comfort.

  The calves could wait but his boy couldn’t.

  He drove through the main street of town and then turned into the school, which was located at one end just before the Thank You For Visiting Walsh sign. As it wasn’t recess or lunchtime, the playgrounds were empty and the whole place almost eerily quiet. He walked briskly towards the front office building, which also doubled as the staff room and sickbay.

  ‘Hi, Lawson.’ Beck, who’d been the school receptionist for longer than he could remember, rose from her swivel chair.

  He nodded a quick hello and then turned straight into the room off the office, which he knew held a bed and the school’s first aid cabinet. Ned lay atop the mattress, curled up in a ball and hugging the pillow to his chest. For all his talk about growing up lately, he looked small and vulnerable, and Lawson’s heart squeezed as he rushed over to him.

  ‘Hey, little buddy. What’s up?’ He pulled him into his arms and put his hand against Ned’s forehead. ‘You not feeling well?’

  Ned looked up at him, his eyes wide and a little red. ‘I just wanted to see you.’

  ‘I’m here now. Let’s get you home.’ He scooped Ned up and carried him back into the office, where he signed him out, picked up his school bag and thanked Beck for looking after him.

  ‘It was my pleasure.’ She smiled and waved. ‘Get better soon, Ned.’

  ‘Thanks, Mrs Sampson,’ Ned said before burying his head in Lawson’s chest.

  He frowned as he carried his son to the car and deposited him in the passenger seat. ‘What’s up, buddy? Where don’t you feel well?’ Should they stop in at the doctor’s surgery on the way home?

  Ned looked down at his shoes.

  ‘Is it your head? Your tummy? Do you feel like you might vomit?’

  ‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘Sorry, Dad, I’m not sick, I just didn’t want to be at school any more.’

  ‘What?’ Lawson was more surprised than angry. ‘But you love school.’

  Ned took a breath. ‘Some of the kids have been saying mean things to me.’

  What the?! Lawson’s hands formed fists as he glanced back at the school. He usually didn’t have a violent bone in his body but if some little brats were being cruel to his son, they’d better watch out. Taking a deep breath, he looked back to Ned. ‘Who? And what kind of things?’

  Ned hesitated a moment, then, ‘Tate and Levi Walsh. They said they don’t want to play with me because I don’t have a mum.’

  ‘What? But you guys have always been good friends. That’s just ridiculous,’ Lawson scoffed, then realisation dawned. Tate and Levi were twins and, according to the bush telegraph, their parents—Adeline’s brother and his wife—had just separated after their father had been found in a compromising position with their farm hand. He guessed the kids were feeling insecure in their own home situation and were trying to make themselves feel better by making others feel bad. Not that this was an excuse. Should he try and explain it to Ned?

  ‘I told them I do have a mum, she’s just in heaven.’ Ned let out a long sigh far too big for his little body. ‘I’m sorry for interrupting your work.’

  ‘Hey, it’s all right.’ Lawson hugged him tightly before pulling the seatbelt across his body and clicking it into place. ‘But if you’re not feeling ill, how about we go get one of those spider drinks you like from the café and a big piece of Mrs Mac’s apple pie to share?’

  Ned’s eyes lit up. ‘Seriously?’

  Lawson nodded. ‘Seriously.’

  By the time they arrived at the café, Ned looked so much better that Lawson wasn’t sure whether to mention the Tate/Levi thing again or just wait and see if there were further developments. He’d send an email to Mrs Warburton later, explaining what had happened and asking her to keep an eye on things.

  ‘Well, isn’t this a surprise?’ Mrs Mac, who’d been a friend of Lawson’s mum and had inherited A Country Kitchen from her own mother, wiped her hands on her apron and beamed at the two of them from behind the counter. ‘You’re not skiving off school are you, young Ned?’

  He looked to Lawson for help.

  Lawson put a hand on his shoulder. ‘Ned hasn’t had the best day but it’s nothing one of your famous lemonade spiders and a piece of apple pie won’t fix.’

  ‘Got it.’ Mrs Mac tapped the side of her head where she kept orders no matter how big they were. ‘And what can I get you to drink, Lawson?’

  He contemplated a moment, then, ‘I think I’ll have the same.’

  ‘Splendid.’

  Lawson tried to pay but she waved his hand away. ‘This one’s on the house.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said he and Ned in unison.

  �
��Take a seat, gentlemen, and I’ll bring your order out to you in a moment.’ Mrs Mac turned and bustled back into the kitchen.

  ‘Where shall we sit, Dad?’

  ‘You choose,’ Lawson said, looking over the near-empty café. Within the next hour the place would fill for the lunch rush—there wasn’t anywhere else in town except the servo to eat—but they should be gone by the time it got really busy.

  Ned grabbed his hand and dragged him over to a table in the corner by the window. Tab had schooled him in the fun of people-watching and they often played this game where they’d choose a random passer-by and make up a history for them. In the absence of his sister, Lawson guessed he’d have to take part.

  ‘Hey look,’ Ned said.

  Lawson followed the direction of his finger, expecting to see the first victim for their game, but instead he almost fell off his chair at the sight of Meg from Rose Hill coming towards the café. Her long, dark mahogany-coloured hair fell in two curtains on either side of her face and he didn’t know how she could bear it like that in the heat, but it had to be the prettiest thing he’d ever seen. He imagined what it might feel like to run his hands through.

  ‘It’s Meg!’ Ned cried out, as if Lawson needed any reminding.

  He couldn’t tear his eyes away and he held his breath as he wondered whether she would come inside or keep on walking. He’d been trying not to think of her, had brushed the conversation off when Tabitha tried to talk about her and had been ignoring Ned’s pleas to take another trip out to Rose Hill, but he’d be lying to himself if he said he didn’t want her to come into the café.

  ‘She’s coming in,’ Ned shrieked, leaping off his chair and heading for the door before Lawson could think to pull him back.

  He looked down at his attire, cursing the fact he hadn’t at least cleaned up a little before he’d high-tailed it into town. As Meg opened the door, Lawson surreptitiously lifted his arm a little and sniffed. Why hadn’t he thought to spray some deodorant over his farmyard aroma?

  Because you usually don’t give a damn what you look or smell like.