Mountain Ash

by Margareta Osborn

  Damn. Mue really knew how to sell a winner.

  Chapter 13

  Alex arrived at McCauley’s Hill two nights later. As his BMW climbed the hill, Milly ran out the back door into the twilight. ‘Where’re you going?’ yelled Jodie to her daughter’s back.

  ‘To feed the horses,’ her daughter called. ‘I forgot to do it earlier.’

  That’s funny, thought Jodie, I could’ve sworn Milly doled out a couple of lucerne biscuits earlier. She shrugged. At least the kid was taking Floss with her for a run. Thanks to the heat, the dog had been sitting under the house most of the day.

  Out the front Alex climbed out of his car. She could tell by the way he walked he was tired. He was busy on the station, he’d told her. Cattle were being mustered and drafted and those heavy enough trucked out and sold to the abattoirs. Add to that the ongoing meetings in town over state funding; the man liked to keep his finger on the pulse of both his property and his community commitments. She hadn’t realised how much time his position as shire councillor took up.

  She met him at the front door. ‘Hello, Alex.’ She wasn’t sure whether to kiss him or not, so she just pecked him on the cheek as he walked past into the front room.

  Jodie was proud of her parlour-cum-lounge. When they’d first arrived on the hill, it had looked cold and smelled of age and damp. Now it couldn’t have been more different. A basket of dried flowers spilled from the open fireplace. She’d replaced the ornate picture frames of the previous inhabitant’s glaring ancestors with her own patchwork rugs. Beautiful florals, along with paisleys and stripes, all blended to make the walls warm and cheerful. The old stuffed leather club chairs were draped with comfy throw rugs in pinks and sage green, to blend with the walls. It was a cosy space, encouraging visitors to curl up and relax. Which Alex did, right away. He sank himself into a chair, reefed at his tie to loosen it, kicked off his shoes and thrust his long legs out in front of him. ‘You’ve done a lovely job of this room, Jodie,’ he said, looking around. ‘Feel like a drink?’ Alex waved around a bottle of red wine.

  Jodie hadn’t noticed he was carrying it. ‘I’ll find some glasses.’ She fled to the kitchen, darting glances out the back door to check on Milly. The dog was lying at her feet, and she had a handful of hay and was feeding Parnie. The horse would be in heaven.

  She walked back into the lounge to find Alex lying sideways on the plush floor-rug. ‘Milly’s not at home?’ He didn’t wait for her answer, just patted the spot next to him. ‘Come down here, my love.’

  My love? Since when had she been ‘my love’? But Alex looked so earnest, so dashing in his suit and tie. His eyes had darkened and he was giving her a little encouraging smile. Even though Milly was just outside, it wouldn’t hurt, would it, to sit with him and just have a glass of wine? It had been so long since she’d done anything like that with a man.

  Jodie sank down onto the rug. Alex reached for her, to draw her in against his body, where it was obvious he was ready for something she wasn’t. Not with her daughter around. And plus, she couldn’t. Not this week. Her period had just arrived. A better excuse than a headache!

  ‘Alex –’

  ‘Please, Jodie. I have been dreaming of this all day.’

  And by the size of what was obviously in those pants, she could believe it, but –

  Alex’s hand came around to cup her neck. His body twisted to move over her. His lips searched for her mouth.

  ‘Mum?’

  Jodie shot upright in a nano-second. ‘Milly! Sweetheart! Are you all right?’

  ‘Yes … But is Mr McGregor?’

  Jodie swung around to see Alex clutching his groin. She’d managed to knee him in the nuts as she had got up. ‘Alex? Oh God, Alex? I’m so sorry.’

  ‘I’m fine,’ he wheezed, struggling to get back into his seat.

  ‘Milly, go and get ready for bed.’

  ‘But, Mum, it’s only six-thirty!’ The little girl was scowling.

  ‘It doesn’t matter, young lady, do as I say.’ Jodie tried to sound stern but underneath she was smarting. Oh God. What had Milly seen?

  The child disappeared from the doorway and Jodie could hear her dragging her feet towards the bedroom. Jodie swung back to Alex. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to, well, you know –’

  ‘It’s fine.’

  It didn’t look fine. It looked like she’d really hurt him. ‘Can I get you anything? Some ice?’

  Alex thrust up one hand. ‘I said,’ he took another deep breath, ‘I’m fine.’

  Jodie cast wildly around. Where was the wine? The glasses? Maybe that would help. She rounded them up and poured a drink for both of them. Alex took his with a nod of thanks. He was still grimacing.

  The phone in the passage started to ring. It was a heavy old-fashioned one with a twirling dial and Milly loved to answer it.

  ‘I’ll get it, Mum!’ her daughter called, belting down the passage from her room.

  Jodie could hear her little voice sounding pleased to talk to whoever was on the other end.

  Alex sipped some wine, closed his eyes and put his head back against the chair. Anyone would have thought he was soaking up the non-existent warmth from the fire, the ambience of the cosy room. But Jodie knew better. The strained look around his eyes told her she’d got him in the goolies, good and proper.

  ‘Mum! It’s Stacey on the phone. She wants to know if we’d like to go to a campdraft in a couple of weeks.’

  ‘You can’t take that horse, Jodie,’ said Alex from his chair, eyes still closed.

  She tried not to grit her teeth. Why couldn’t he leave Parnassus alone? ‘No, his leg is still too sore, you’re right.’

  That hadn’t been what Alex meant, as well she knew. He took a breath and tried another tack. ‘We could go and buy Warrior tomorrow. I’ll come across to McCauley’s Hill after I finish with the cattle. The last load should be trucked out by then.’

  ‘Mum! Stacey wants to talk to you –’

  ‘We can get the horse straight away. One of my men can pick it up.’

  ‘Mum! You need to come now!’

  Alex was still talking. ‘I can come with you to the draft, if you like. I should be able to manage that. The cattle will be gone by then and the council can’t do much more about the budget issues now. We’ve lobbied all we can.’

  ‘Mu-uummm!’

  Jodie wanted to kill them both. ‘Alex, I only want Parnassus. Milly, tell Stace I’ll call her back.’

  ‘You can’t do that!’ both man and child said together.

  Jodie rubbed her forehead, shot Alex a look. He was sitting up now, trying not to glare. ‘Milly, just tell her, will you?’

  ‘She has to go to work,’ said Milly. ‘Her shift starts at nine and she has to do her shopping first.’ Damn.

  ‘Okay, I’ll talk to her. Alex, I’ll be right back.’ Jodie walked out of the room, gently closing the door. She glanced over her shoulder as she went. Alex didn’t look pleased.

  ‘Hi, Stacey.’

  ‘Now, that is so not the tone I want to hear. You’re on leave. You should be sounding like a happy Vegemite, Ashie.’

  Stacey loved nicknames and, seeing Jodie’s surname was Ashton, her friend had called her the diminutive version since they’d first met.

  ‘I’ve got a few things going on right now, Stace.’

  ‘A bloke in your life, maybe? A certain older, rich man?’

  ‘What have you heard?’

  ‘Oh, just that you and Alex McGregor are definitely seeing each other.’ Stacey laughed. ‘He’s a bit old for you, isn’t he, Ashie?’

  ‘He’s not old. He’s only fifty-eight!’

  ‘Ash, my father’s fifty-eight.’

  Right. There wasn’t much she could say to that. And she was very much aware Alex was only on the other side of that door. Time to change the subject. The good thing about Stace was she had the attention span of a goldfish. ‘You said something to Milly about a campdraft?’

  ‘Yes! Weekend
after next. I’ve got a few girls together and we’re heading north into the Snowy Mountains. It’s a rodeo too so Wrangler butts are coming our way, sunshine. We’re gunna drown in them. I’ve even got special T-shirts made up.’

  ‘I can’t come, Stace. Parnie’s not up to it.’

  ‘Who said anything about taking horses?’

  ‘It’s a campdraft, isn’t it?’

  Stacey laughed. ‘You’ve been outta the game too long, sista. We’re going for the piss-up, not the serious stuff. That sounds too much like hard work.’

  Jodie closed her eyes. She could remember a time when she would have been the first in the ute for a weekend like this. But that was before she’d had Milly.

  ‘Anyway,’ said Stace, ‘I heard you got yourself a new ride. That smart horse of Brad Turner’s, Warrior.’

  Geez Louise, what had Alex been saying? ‘I have not got a new horse, nor do I intend to get a new horse.’ Jodie’s voice was louder than it should have been. She could hear Alex start to move around.

  ‘Okay, okay. It was just that I heard –’

  ‘Well, what you heard and what’s right are two different things.’ Jodie tried to inject some warmth into her tone so Stace didn’t think she was annoyed at her. ‘Getting back to your weekend. I haven’t got anyone to look after Milly,’ she wasn’t going to mention Mue’s offer, ‘and I can’t bring her on a girls’ trip.’ Definitely not. All they did was hang shit on the biggest male chauvinist on the course, drink piss, check out who got laid by whom and give them a score. Oh, and a little riding got done too. Sometimes. A lot of other girls’ groups were more devout. Helped each other out and actually took the campdrafting side of things seriously. But not Stacey and her friends. And especially if there was a rodeo involved. Some of them didn’t even ride.

  ‘What about Mue? She’d love to have Milly,’ said Stacey. Her voice dropped. ‘Plus, Jodie, I honestly think you need to lighten up. What with your dad, your accident, and now Mr McGregor …’ Stacey let the sentence hang.

  It wasn’t often Stacey got serious, and the fact she was serious now was clear because she’d used Jodie’s real name. Jodie stood in her little passage and thought. This campdraft and rodeo were possibly part of the same festival as the patchworking workshop Muey mentioned. And the older woman had offered to look after Milly to give Jodie some time away. That’s what she’d said, wasn’t it? Put a bit of distance between herself and her problems? She could hear Alex coming towards the door. ‘I’ll think about it, Stace. Can I get back to you?’

  ‘Sure. Just don’t leave it too long. If you don’t come, I’ll drag in someone else to fill the seat – and the T-shirt. But, Ashie,’ Stacey paused a beat, ‘please come, mate. It’ll be awesome fun and I think that’s what you might need right now.’

  Fun? Since when had she had ‘fun’? It sure as hell hadn’t been in the last little while.

  ‘I’ll ring you,’ Jodie promised as the lounge-room door opened. ‘Thanks heaps for the invite.’ Alex appeared with his tie done up, shoes back on. It looked like he was leaving. ‘I’ve got to go,’ she said to Stace and put down the phone. ‘Sorry, Alex.’

  ‘Jodie, if you will excuse me, I’ll be heading off now.’ He seemed distant and his eyes weren’t quite meeting hers. He must have heard what she’d said to Stace through the door.

  She stepped towards him, put her hands up onto his chest, straightening his tie. ‘Alex, about the horse?’

  ‘My dear, you’ve made it perfectly clear you don’t want it.’ His expression was wounded.

  ‘Look, it’s not that I don’t appreciate what you’re doing, it’s just – I’m not serious enough about the sport to warrant spending that sort of money. I don’t need that calibre of horse. And I have tried to tell you that without making too big a deal of it.’

  His eyes, when he finally looked at her, were still hurt. ‘I just wanted to give you the best.’

  Jodie smiled. ‘I know. But Parnie will do me fine. I’m no champion campdrafter, Alex, not like some of the other girls out there.’

  His gaze softened. ‘You ride well.’

  ‘Well enough, but I don’t ride like I was born in the saddle. And that’s what you’ve got to do to be a campdrafting princess or queen, as the case may be.’

  Alex studied her for a moment. Slowly he put his arms around her and pulled her in close. ‘Well, you’re my princess, regardless of what anyone says. And if we ever get married you won’t have time to be a campdrafting queen. You’ll be too busy looking after me.’

  Jodie laughed hesitantly. Was he joking or serious?

  ‘Now about that weekend, why don’t we go away, just you and me? Forget about your friend’s girls’ trip. I’ll book a weekend in the Barossa or the Clare Valley instead. We’ll fly over and perhaps do a winery tour. Or how about a drive into the Flinders Ranges? Quorn is supposed to be very nice.’

  Jodie thought quickly. How to say no gently? She needed space. Thinking time. She needed to get away, but on her own.

  ‘Oh, Alex, I’m so sorry, but I’m going to a patchworking weekend. I’ve booked and paid and everything.’

  ‘I can get you out of that. Who’s running it? The CWA? I know the president. I’ll fix it for you.’

  The CWA? She wasn’t old enough for the CWA! But then again, looking at the pictures in the newsletter Mue had on her bench the other day, CWA members were getting younger and younger, plus they were a fantastic organisation. Come to think of it, wasn’t that who was running the workshop? Damn.

  ‘Ummm, no. It’s a local craft group I joined when Dad was sick.’ She crossed her toes in her boots, praying God would forgive her for the lies. ‘I can’t back out, Alex – they’re relying on me for the numbers.’

  ‘And what about Milly?’

  ‘She’s staying with Mue,’ said Jodie quickly. She had better ring Muey real fast. Alex was likely to ask her about it when she came to clean his house in the morning.

  The man opposite her heaved a sigh. ‘Right.’

  Oh God, he sounded so disappointed. His hands had loosened their hold around her waist. He was just trying to give her everything, in the only way he knew. And maybe she needed to give it a proper go, to know for sure, to give the passion a chance to grow. ‘But Alex, how about another weekend? Soon?’

  His arms tightened again and he kissed her on the mouth. ‘I’ll have to see when I can get away again.’ Then he let her go and went to walk out the door.

  She could hear Milly talking to her teddies in her room. ‘Now, you can be the mummy bear, and you can be the daddy. But you’re not allowed to have a horse, cause you might ride away on it …’ That’s how Jodie had explained Rhys leaving. That he’d just packed up his things one day and ridden away.

  ‘Alex?’ She grabbed his hand and pulled him back to her. ‘Thanks for Friday night. It was …’ she searched for the right word ‘… delightful. Really beautiful. And I’m so sorry about the weekend. If I’d have known you were thinking …’ She let the sentence hang. He could take from that what he would.

  He looked appeased. ‘Never mind. You weren’t to know. We’ll do it again. I might have more space in my schedule shortly, so we can have more time together.’ She couldn’t imagine how that would ever happen, but she wasn’t about to ask what he was on about. It was enough for now to know she was back on the right side of his feelings.

  Chapter 14

  ‘Ashie? Remind me why we’re taking a sewing machine on a girls’ trip?’ said Stacey as she pushed and shoved the Pfaff into the back of the ute. The tray was piled high. Swags, Eskies, camp stoves, tents, duffle bags and beauty cases all jostled for space.

  ‘Alex thinks I’m going to the patchworking weekend.’

  Stacey turned, raised her thick eyebrows, and said in an aghast voice, ‘You’re not, are you?’

  Jodie couldn’t help but smile, which she followed up with a wince as Stacey turned back and pushed down hard on the cover of her beloved machine. The plastic groaned and
scraped against the sides of the ute. One last belt to the top of the lid and Stacey had it in. It looked a tad incongruous surrounded by all the other paraphernalia, like it was ashamed to be there. Not unlike the way Jodie was feeling right now. She shouldn’t be leaving Milly, and she shouldn’t be leading Alex down the garden path either.

  ‘Well, he thinks I am,’ said Jodie, ‘and I will go to the Saturday workshop tomorrow. It was just amazing your campdraft and rodeo are part of the same festival.’

  ‘Mate, after tonight, you’re not going to be in any fit state to walk a straight line let alone sew one,’ said Stacey. ‘Now get your arse in that ute and let’s get crackin’. We’ve got some tar to put behind us before teatime. The others are meeting us at Riverton.’

  Jodie looked around in surprise. Stacey drove a Holden Crewman. She already had two girls in the back. ‘How many of us are going?’

  ‘Six, maybe eight, possibly ten. Who the bloody hell knows?’ said Stacey, bouncing around to the driver’s side and opening her door. ‘I’ve got enough T-shirts for ten. Here’s yours.’ She threw Jodie a scrap of material across the roof between them. Jodie caught it just as Milly attached herself to her mother’s legs. ‘I’m going to miss you, Mum.’

  The primary school, in its wisdom, had decided today and Monday were ‘pupil-free days’. Just what Jodie needed to ramp up the guilt of going away.

  Over her daughter’s head, Jodie could see Mue waiting with her dog under one arm, her other hand held out for Milly. ‘C’mon, munchkin, give Mummy a kiss and then we’ll be off.’ The older woman glanced at Jodie and gave a slight wink. ‘We’ve got to get some groceries from the supermarket this morning so we can do a cook up. Milly’s going to help me. She’s becoming quite the expert at decorating with hundreds and thousands.’

  Jodie smiled. Thank God for Muey. She didn’t know what she’d do without the woman. She bent down to enclose her little girl in her arms and whispered into her hair, ‘I’ll miss you too, sweetheart. Be good for Muey and Mum’ll be home on Monday before you know it. It’s only three days.’