Return to Stringybark Creek

by Karly Lane

  The troop carrier moved on to check out the next stop on the tour, and Ollie sent them another wave and gave a short chuckle as he caught a glimpse of his father’s face through the driver’s window, a smile from ear to ear. It was good to see him happy again. He hadn’t been sure they ever would after his accident on the farm had left him so debilitated, but this idea of his sister’s had made his dad feel useful once again. It also didn’t hurt that the venture kept father and son out of each other’s pockets throughout the day. A farmer who was unable to farm was a disaster waiting to happen. No one liked to feel useless when there was work to be done—least of all a man who’d been farming all his life and wasn’t ready to retire.

  Three

  Hadley sank onto the lounge in her brother’s house with a weary sigh. Her best friend Olivia, soon to be sister-in-law, watched from the couch with a sympathetic smile.

  ‘When are you going to tell them?’ Olivia asked.

  The question had been weighing heavily on her mind and as usual, in times of doubt, her big brother’s voice was always there whispering, or sometimes shouting, what she needed to hear. She knew what Linc would say: ‘Just do it.’ ‘I don’t know, Liv. The whole drive home, I played it out in my head, you know?’ she said, and her friend nodded. ‘I thought, tell them straightaway—like ripping off a bandaid. But then they were both so happy to see me and I just couldn’t make myself do it.’

  ‘Do you want me to come with you?’

  ‘No.’ Hadley blew out a long breath. ‘I just have to stop being such a baby and tell them.’

  ‘It’s a pretty big deal,’ Olivia said, eyeing her friend with a gentle look. ‘You’ve been through a lot lately. And I can understand why you’re reluctant to do this, but it isn’t your fault, Had. You aren’t the one who broke up your marriage, Harmony and Mitch are the guilty ones.’

  ‘How am I supposed to tell them that?’ Hadley searched her friend’s eyes, feeling almost frantic at the thought. ‘This is going to kill Mum and Dad.’

  ‘Let’s just calm down and think it through,’ Olivia said in her steady tone. ‘This will not kill your parents. Yes, it’ll upset them and, yes,’ she continued when Hadley opened her mouth to protest, ‘things are going to get pretty messy for a while but, like you said yourself, it’s only a matter of time before they find out through the media. You can’t allow that to happen,’ she said seriously. ‘They need to hear it from you now. Before they find out along with everyone else in town.’

  ‘You’re right. As usual,’ she added dryly. ‘Why are you always the voice of reason?’

  ‘Because I’m a lawyer and because it’s easy for me to be reasonable when I’m not the one having to tell your folks,’ she said with a lopsided smile. ‘Griff and I can be there if that helps. We could have dinner here or something?’

  ‘No. I think I need to do it alone … but thank you,’ she said, managing a smile. Hadley knew they wanted to help and, in truth, she wasn’t sure how she would have got through the past few months without her best friend and brother to talk her down when she felt like she was losing her grip on everything. But this she felt she needed to do alone.

  Fortified with strong coffee and a pep talk, Hadley left her friend and headed back towards the main house, determination in every step. Just sit them down and tell them, she repeated.

  ‘Hello, darling. That was a quick visit. I didn’t expect to see you again until dinnertime. I know what you and Liv are like once you get yacking,’ her mother said as she placed a roast in the oven.

  ‘Mum, I need to talk to you and Dad about something. It’s important.’ There, she’d said it. Seeing the concern on her mother’s face, she knew there was no way she could back out of this now.

  ‘Your father’s in the office. Why don’t you go get him and I’ll put the jug on.’

  Hadley smiled gratefully, before turning to head down the long hallway towards the office. Chewing her lip anxiously, she paused outside the doorway before knocking and sticking her head inside the room. ‘Mum said to get you. She’s got the jug on.’ Chicken, a little voice taunted inside her head. She didn’t care, she’d made the first step and now she needed to prepare for the next one.

  ‘Hadley’s got some news,’ Lavinia said as Bob came into the kitchen. She saw the small look that passed between her parents and felt a sting in her eyes. She’d wanted that. She’d wanted to have that bond married couples had—the one where a single look could say everything that needed saying. She wouldn’t experience that now.

  As her mother placed their cups in front of them on the kitchen table, Hadley swallowed nervously and stared down into the murky depths of the coffee, praying that the right words would come.

  ‘Mum, Dad …’ she started, before looking up reluctantly. ‘There’s something I need to tell you, before you hear it … somewhere else. It’s about Mitch and me.’ She swallowed hard and took a deep breath. ‘He’s left me.’

  ‘What!’ Bob practically roared.

  ‘Well, it was kind of mutual. He’s moved out and we’re getting a divorce.’

  ‘Oh, darling,’ her mother breathed, placing a smooth hand on Hadley’s wrist. ‘Why? What happened?’

  Here it was. The why. ‘He was having an affair.’

  ‘That bastard,’ her father snarled.

  ‘Now, Robert,’ her mother cautioned—although Hadley could see it was taking a great effort of will to control her own emotions—‘we need to remain calm. When did all this happen?’

  ‘We actually broke up not long after I left here last time.’

  ‘I knew something was wrong. You weren’t yourself at all during that visit, and then you left so suddenly—I knew it wasn’t because of work.’ A frown creased between her mother’s brows and she squeezed Hadley’s wrist comfortingly. ‘I should have made you tell me what was wrong then.’

  ‘I’d only just found out … I needed some space to deal with it.’ She’d also been dealing with a miscarriage, which only Olivia had known about, and then she’d been hit with her husband cheating on her with her sister. She’d needed more than a little space. Lately her life felt like a bad daytime talk show.

  ‘I had more faith in Mitch,’ her mother said with a disappointed shake of her head. ‘I really did.’

  ‘I suppose it was one of those window-shopped women off TV,’ her father said, narrowing his eyes.

  ‘I believe the term you’re looking for is photoshopped, dear,’ Lavinia put in gently, but then turned her gaze upon Hadley for an answer.

  Say it.

  The house phone rang, and her mother gave a long-suffering sigh before getting up to answer it.

  Hadley bit back her own frustration. So help her God, if that was someone calling about a committee matter and rambling on forever, she’d hang up the phone herself.

  ‘Oh, Harmony, I’m so glad you called, sweetheart. Guess who has just arrived home for a surprise visit?’

  Hadley froze and could feel the blood draining from her face. The room wobbled a little, but she took a deep breath and fought for some control.

  ‘Hadley!’ her mother supplied when her sister was obviously at a loss. ‘Darling? Hello? Are you still there?’

  Hadley clenched her jaw as she pictured her sister’s shock on the other end of the line. She watched as her mother’s face slowly changed from delight to deep concentration. ‘Oh, I see. Well, that’s a shame, but it can’t be helped. All right, you enjoy yourself and take care. Bye, love.’

  ‘What’s Harmony up to?’ Bob asked as his wife came back to the table.

  ‘She’s on her way to a girls’ weekend,’ she said, pulling a small surprised face.

  ‘That came out of the blue, didn’t it?’ her father said, eyeing his wife.

  ‘She certainly didn’t mention anything to me about it the other day when I popped in to see her. Still,’ her mother conceded, ‘she’s been doing it really hard lately with the kids being a bit of a handful and on her own too. It can’t be easy for he
r, poor love,’ Lavinia said with a touch of sadness in her tone. ‘She deserves a bit of a getaway.’

  Hadley was surprised she couldn’t taste blood in her mouth, she was biting her tongue that hard. Part of her wanted to scream that Harmony didn’t deserve anything, that she was a cheating home-wrecker. But another, saner part sent herself a sideways glance that made her hesitate. Deep down she knew that she was reacting more out of wounded pride and betrayal than genuine heartbreak. The truth was that her sister couldn’t really be a home-wrecker if there was never really a home to wreck in the first place.

  She hated admitting it, but it was true. She and Mitch both worked jobs that either took them from home for weeks at a time or had them working weird hours. When Hadley was at home between assignments, Mitch was usually buried in work commitments, and his new TV program meant late nights and early mornings. They’d barely spent any quality time together since their wedding.

  No, she didn’t blame her sister for her failed marriage. It was probably over before it even started. She wasn’t sure why they’d both let it go so far. Their relationship was familiar and comfortable, she supposed. They were suited to each other—both fiercely independent workaholics, happy to have someone at home when they needed a little downtime.

  She’d first met Mitch on assignment and they’d briefly been friends before becoming lovers. Things only started falling apart once Mitch left the field and found his niche as a TV celebrity. He always did love preening for the camera, whereas Hadley’s passion had always been the story. She loved writing, researching and digging around until she found answers. For her, the thrill was never about being in front of the camera, it was being able to bring people the truth about what was really happening in places few people ever went to—or had a desire to go to. These were the stories people needed to know about. How would change come around if people weren’t even aware of what was happening to their fellow human beings?

  Harmony might not be responsible for breaking up the marriage, but she was completely responsible for being the woman her husband had cheated with. At some point the thought must have run through her head that this was wrong. Hadley couldn’t have cared less if her sister had had a sordid affair with someone else, married or not. Hadley wasn’t about to judge her, but what she could never forgive was that she chose her husband. They hadn’t been close over the past few years, mainly due to Hadley rarely being home, but they still shared the bond of being sisters. Surely that had to count for something?

  ‘Sorry about that, darling. Now, where were we?’ Her mother broke into her hectic thoughts.

  ‘That was pretty much it,’ Hadley said, trying for a forced joviality. ‘I think that’s more than enough drama to deal with for one day.’ She pushed away from the table and hoped they didn’t see that her hands were shaking. ‘I’m really tired. Do you mind if I go and lie down for a little bit? It’s been a long day.’

  ‘Of course,’ her mother said, concern furrowing her brow. ‘You go and have a rest.’

  Hadley didn’t wait for a second invitation, she needed to escape any further questions. Harmony’s unexpected call had shaken her more than she cared to admit. Not once had she called to try to justify her actions to Hadley. Mitch had tried briefly to explain the situation, but Hadley had refused to listen—she’d been too upset and shocked to even try to wrap her head around the reasons. In all honestly, she didn’t care about Mitch’s explanations; the only person she wanted to hear an explanation from was her sister, and Harmony had refused to return her calls.

  Part of her felt a childish need to tell her parents exactly what their poor Harmony had actually done—make them open their eyes to how un-perfect she really was. She wanted her sister to feel the scorn of her parents’ disappointment and outrage. Although Hadley couldn’t imagine what that would even look like. She’d never once heard her parents say they were disappointed in any of their children.

  Going away for a girls’ weekend, she thought bitterly. How lovely for her. She pictured her sister sitting in a day spa surrounded by her minions from the P&C or whatever damn committee she was president of nowadays, all reassuring her how wonderfully she was handling the scandal of her own husband having had an affair and leaving her for his secretary earlier in the year.

  That was the part Hadley couldn’t understand. How could a woman who had been cheated on go ahead and do the same thing to someone else? She got that maybe Harmony’s pride had been stung and she felt a need to retaliate in kind … but why with a married man? Her own sister’s married man at that? Why the hell couldn’t she have found some unattached toy boy somewhere?

  She hadn’t intended to actually lie down, she’d just needed an excuse to stop the interrogation, but now that she’d sunk onto her bed, she realised just how exhausted she really was. Hadley kicked off her shoes then curled up on the bed and hugged the pillow to her securely. Maybe if she just closed her eyes for a few minutes, when she opened them again she’d find that somehow the last few months had all been a bad dream.

  Four

  Ollie walked into the pub and greeted the three other men standing around the pool table. He nodded to Ashley behind the bar, holding up three fingers to indicate how many beers he needed. This was their weekly social event—mainly an excuse to drink midweek but, still, it was a great way to blow off some steam after a hard day.

  ‘I heard Hadley’s back in town,’ said Josh, one of Ollie’s old schoolfriends, as he selected a pool cue and rubbed chalk on the end.

  Ollie gave a noncommittal grunt and busied himself paying for the drinks that Ashley had brought over. The last thing he wanted to do was get involved in a conversation about Hadley.

  ‘Heard she’s home without that knob she married. Maybe she got sick of guys in suits and realised she wanted a real man after all,’ added Aidan, their other regular player, wiggling his eyebrows at Ashley.

  ‘Well, she’d be hard-pressed to find one of them around here, wouldn’t she?’ Ashley commented, walking away without a backwards glance, a chorus of grumbling following her.

  Ollie observed the third man, Luke Patterson, better known as Patto to his mates, staring down into his glass of beer. He was usually the first to come back with a smart-alec reply, but he’d let this opportunity pass by, which was strange.

  ‘What’s up with you tonight?’ Ollie asked.

  ‘He’s sookin’ because he can’t score himself a girlfriend,’ Josh cut in, in their usual derogatory style. ‘Told ya, mate, with a mug like yours, you’ll be lucky if ya dog even wants to stay faithful.’

  Usually Luke, or any of the others who were on the receiving end of a particularly colourful insult, would laugh and give back something even more insulting, but not tonight. Tonight Luke just gave a half-hearted chuckle and said nothing.

  ‘Come on, tosser, you going to play your shot or what?’ Ollie said pointedly to Josh, who hadn’t picked up on the fact their mate wasn’t in his usual jovial form.

  Later, when Josh went to the gents and Aidan headed to the bar for another round, Ollie took the opportunity to pin Luke down for a chat. ‘What’s goin’ on?’

  Luke glanced over, a little surprised by the question, but gave an offhand kind of shrug. ‘Broke up with Jade over the weekend.’

  ‘That sucks, mate. Sorry to hear.’ He didn’t know Jade very well. She lived up around Hilston way, but he knew Luke had been into her for the last few months.

  ‘Yeah, well, shit happens.’

  ‘Maybe things will sort themselves out?’

  ‘Nah. She’s found some other bloke already.’

  ‘Her loss, mate.’

  Luke gave a small twist of a smile but it didn’t reach his eyes.

  ‘How’s work goin’?’

  ‘Haven’t had any. Got put off a couple of weeks ago.’

  Ollie was shocked by that bit of news. ‘I didn’t know. What happened?’

  ‘Had a fight with the boss. Told him off. He sent me packin’.’

  Lu
ke had been working for Arnie Stokes for the past three years and, as far as Ollie knew, the two had always got along. It must have been a doozy of an argument for the laidback Arnie to get so worked up. ‘That’s pretty rough. You lookin’ for work?’

  ‘Why? You hiring?’ he shot back with a lopsided smile.

  ‘Nothing full-time, I’m afraid, but I could scrounge up a couple of days here and there if you’re interested.’

  ‘Thanks, mate, but I’ll be right.’

  ‘You sure? I can ask around and find some more.’

  ‘Nah. All good,’ Luke said with a dismissive shake of his head. ‘Thanks though. You’re a good mate,’ he added quietly. ‘Anyway, I’m gonna head out.’

  ‘But the game’s not over yet,’ Ollie said.

  Luke’s subdued mood was more than a little out of character. He was usually the life of the party. ‘I’m pretty beat. I’ll see ya round,’ he said, getting to his feet and walking away with a wave of his hand.

  Ollie found himself staring after him, feeling bad. He was a nice guy—funny as hell usually. Still, he’d broken up with his girlfriend and lost his job, so it wasn’t like he had too much to be laughing about right now. Ollie made a note to drop by later in the week and offer him a few shifts on Moorbrook again. In the meantime, he’d ask around and see if anyone had an opening. There was always plenty of work going for guys with the kind of farming experience Luke had.

  Something would turn up.

  Ollie pulled up outside the Callahans’ house and stared at the warm light spilling from the windows. He’d tried to get out of coming over, but it was impossible to do so without having to explain to his parents why.