by Karly Lane
She knew exactly what Liv meant. Her mum had practically invented the whole stress-cleaning thing—if she was worried, she cleaned; if she was angry, she cleaned; if her family was falling apart at the seams, she went through the entire house and cleaned it from top to bottom. ‘I tried to talk to her but I think it only makes it worse.’
‘I can’t see why it would. This is not your fault, Hads.’
‘I know, and it’s not that she blames me, it’s more that she gets so upset about everything all over again. Dad says to give her some space—which is pretty much what he’s been doing—and she’ll come good, but I don’t know … maybe he’s right. It has been a huge shock. It took me time to get my head straight.’ The two women shared a lopsided grin. ‘I’m really sorry, Liv. I was a shitty friend taking it out on you the way I did.’
‘Don’t start that again,’ Olivia warned, shaking her head. She’d been the one to discover Mitch and Harmony’s affair. It hadn’t been one of Hadley’s finer moments, the day Liv had told her what she’d seen.
‘I’m only going to say this one more time then we’ll never speak of it again, okay?’ Hadley said, waiting for her friend to look up from the box she’d just finished packing. ‘I get it. I really get how hard it must have been for you to come and tell me about Mitch and Harmony. I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you at first.’
‘You were in shock. Just like your parents are now,’ Olivia said. ‘I knew it was hard for you and, besides, there was a whole heap of other stuff going on at the time. I knew you just needed some time to process it.’
‘Yeah, but I couldn’t even bring myself to tell Mum and Dad. I wimped out.’
‘Well, if you recall, your annoying brother pretty much frogmarched me over here, so it’s not like I had much choice. And don’t be too hard on yourself for not telling them. Who knows when I would have told you—I mean, I was waiting for the right time too, and it may never have come. So Griff probably did us both a favour.’
‘I just wish everything was back to normal. You know what Mum’s like … it’s going to kill her if Harmony and the kids stop coming around. Their leaving town is going to be hard enough on her, but it’ll break her heart if the whole family isn’t ever together anymore.’
‘Just give it time. Underneath that ice queen exterior, we both know Harmony has a heart. It may be buried down pretty deep,’ she admitted, ‘but she’s a Callahan and family matters. She won’t let anything come between that.’
Hadley gave a small smile. She hoped Liv was right.
‘And what about you? How are you coping with it all now?’
‘Mitch and Harmony?’ She saw Olivia nod and thought about it for a moment. ‘You know, I actually feel sorry for them. I know it sounds dumb, but they’re doing it tough with all the media attention at the moment. If this thing between them is real, then I can only imagine the stress it must be putting on them. I seriously wouldn’t wish that on anyone.’
‘Have you forgiven them?’
‘I don’t know if I’d call it forgiveness,’ Hadley said slowly. ‘I was hurt that Harmony didn’t have the decency to make Mitch end our marriage before they started anything, but I’m not hurt because Mitch and I are getting a divorce. I don’t think it was ever really love between us. Not if it isn’t hurting that it’s over.’
A sudden realisation hit her. She knew without a doubt that if she and Ollie ended this, even after only a month or so of being together, she’d be devastated. The thought both sobered her and reinforced something. She was in love with Ollie and she knew that was something special. Something she couldn’t throw away.
Could she really leave him for eight months to finish her contract? Once she would have been certain she could. Her job meant everything to her. But now she wasn’t so sure. Damn it. Just when she thought she had everything figured out, love went and messed up her plans.
Hadley disconnected the call and put the phone down on the table, swearing silently. She’d had pitches turned down before—not often, but it still happened now and again. However, having the pitch she’d just made to her network’s morning show turned down was somewhat of a shock. What the hell? Admittedly she’d never worked with the morning show’s editor before, but it wasn’t as though Hadley was some rookie journalist. She’d been doing them a favour, for crying out loud, in approaching them to do a story on the Dare to Bare calendar. All they had to do was send out a crew.
Something felt off about it. She didn’t like jumping to conclusions, but the most obvious reason behind the rejection was that the network didn’t want to risk giving Hadley any kind of airtime while they were trying to keep a lid on the whole divorce scandal. What did they think she’d do? Have a rant live on air? That’s probably exactly what they feared, she conceded with a small grunt. They were circling the wagons to protect their wholesome, clean-cut poster boy or, more realistically, their investment.
It made her feel … expendable. The more Hadley thought about it the angrier she got. She snatched up the phone and scrolled through her phone contacts, her thumb hovering over a number. She chewed her bottom lip as she considered the implications of this decision, then let out a resigned sigh and pressed the number. Listening to it connect in her ear, she barely had time to go over what she was going to say before a crisp, businesslike voice answered: ‘Hillary speaking.’
‘Hi, Vanessa. It’s Hadley Callahan.’
There was a brief pause on the other end of the line before Vanessa Hillary, producer of her network’s rival morning show, gave a surprised chuckle. ‘Hadley. What a lovely surprise. To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?’ Hadley could practically hear the woman’s mind ticking over as she tried to work out an angle. ‘I was hoping you might be interested in covering an exciting new campaign aimed at rural suicide prevention. It centres around a calendar featuring naked farmers.’
‘Naked farmers?’
‘It’s all done very tastefully, but the underlying message is very serious. The rate of suicide in rural Australia is fifty per cent higher than in capital cities. Also, numbers of male deaths by suicide are three times greater than female deaths. With these facts in mind, it’s become apparent that there needs to be some kind of change in how and who we target in a campaign to try to improve those figures.’ Hadley paused to take a breath. ‘There’s a group of farmers who’ve come up with an idea to change the approach around mental health conversations.’
‘By getting naked?’ Vanessa asked doubtfully.
‘By using getting naked to catch the attention of younger farmers and people in rural Australia. Suicide is a very hard subject to talk about—especially when so many people are touched by it in some way. Every rural town across Australia has a heartbreaking story to tell about young people taking their lives. It’s destroying whole communities. We have to break the cycle and this is as good an idea as anything. If it’s approached from a more larrikin angle, it might have a better chance of getting through to people.’
‘I wasn’t expecting a pitch quite like this from you.’
‘It’s a little left field,’ she agreed, determined not to be the one who brought up anything to do with Mitch or the divorce.
‘So how exactly are you involved in all this?’
‘It was started by a group of young farmers in my home town. I’d like to see them succeed. I’m hoping you might send someone out to do a feature on them.’
On the other end of the line, Hadley heard Vanessa give a drawn-out sigh and braced herself. ‘I don’t know, Hadley.’
‘Oh, come on Vanessa. Hot, naked young farmers in a calendar … it’s a ratings shoe-in.’
‘And why would you be bringing it to us instead of your network?’ Hadley could almost picture the woman’s eyes narrowing shrewdly.
‘They didn’t want it,’ she said simply. She was too tired to play any more games.
‘I see.’ There was a wealth of meaning behind those two little words. ‘I agree it certainly has merit,’ she finally ad
mitted when Hadley remained silent. ‘But I may need something a bit more substantial … for my boss to agree.’
She understood all right. An image of a piranha flashed before her eyes. ‘Really? Like what?’
‘An interview. About your divorce. You know, just so people can hear your side of it. I think many people feel invested in your relationship after so much publicity around your wedding. The viewers feel as though they know you. I’m sure they’d want to see that you’re all right. It would give them closure, so to speak.’
‘You want to give the public closure … on my failed marriage?’
‘Come on, Hadley. You know how it works. Unless of course you’ve been slapped with a no-talk order?’
Hadley glanced down at her hand and realised it was clenched. Tightly. She forced herself to release it, letting out a slow breath. ‘I do not have any kind of order on me,’ she said, striving for a calmness she was far from feeling. Mitch’s request was not an order, she reminded herself firmly. She chose to go along with remaining silent out of respect for her family—not because her bosses told her to.
‘Oh. Well, in that case, there’s nothing stopping you from telling your side of the story, is there.’
Only common decency, she thought bitterly. Something no one in this business apparently thought much of. ‘I’m not going to talk about my marriage, Vanessa.’
‘I understand,’ the other woman said. She couldn’t have sounded any more fake if she’d tried. ‘Unfortunately I don’t think your farmer story will suit our line-up at the moment. I’m very sorry.’
Faker. ‘That is a shame. I know that a lot of your viewers live in rural Australia, so they’ll be very disappointed to hear that your show doesn’t consider something that concerns them important enough for a story. Still, thanks for your time, Vanessa.’
‘If you change your mind about that interview, we might be able to reconsider,’ Vanessa slipped in before Hadley had the satisfaction of hanging up on her. She didn’t bother responding, but pressed the disconnect button on her phone a little harder than was necessary.
Where was a decent sweary teacup when you needed one?
Ollie grinned as he got down from his tractor and walked across to Hadley, loving the feel of her body pressed tightly up against his own as she greeted him with a kiss. ‘I could get used to this,’ he said, then frowned a little as she went still. Damn it. He hadn’t meant to say it aloud. Despite the moment they’d had a few nights ago, the future was still a touchy subject and one that had a bad habit of ruining perfectly good moments. ‘What are you doing here?’ he asked, ignoring any awkwardness.
‘I came out to show you this,’ she said, moving out of his embrace to hand him her phone.
He looked down at the screen and read the email, then looked up at her in alarm. ‘What? Are you serious?’
‘Yep,’ she said with a calm smile. ‘They want to come out and do a live interview with you.’
‘On TV?’ He knew what he’d just read, but somehow his brain was feeling completely overwhelmed by the idea.
‘On breakfast TV,’ she added, sounding far too impressed by the news.
‘I don’t know about that,’ he hedged, handing back the phone. He hadn’t even wanted his photo taken, let alone to be on national television.
‘Come on, Ollie. You’re the face of this campaign. You have to take the helm.’
‘It wasn’t exactly my face that caught everyone’s attention, if you recall,’ he added dryly. The initial photo in the lentils had been swiftly followed by one of him climbing down the side of the chaser bin. He still cringed a little at the thought of his naked arse being posted and shared on social media more times than he cared to think about, despite the fact you couldn’t really tell who it was.
‘Oh, trust me, the face didn’t hurt. You’ve got women everywhere swooning.’
‘I don’t want women everywhere,’ he said, slipping his arms around her waist and lowering his head to nuzzle her neck. ‘I just want one woman in particular.’
‘And that woman is very relieved to hear it,’ she murmured, and he grinned when he heard the slightly slurred reply, knowing he’d found her weak spot. ‘However,’ she said, recovering slightly, ‘we need the publicity and we need to jump on this now.’
‘I don’t know anything about being interviewed on TV.’
‘There’s nothing to it. We’ll get them to run you through the questions they’ll be asking so you know what you want to say and it’ll be over in a few minutes. Quick and painless,’ she said.
‘That’s not something a guy should ever feel proud of. Just sayin’.’ He grinned as she rolled her eyes. ‘I’m about to finish up. You hanging around?’
‘I need to get back and help with dinner. You do remember it’s Cash and Linc’s farewell dinner tonight, didn’t you?’
‘How many farewells do they get? Didn’t we just do one of those?’ he joked. Where the Callahans were concerned, there was no such thing as too many family dinners.
‘They keep coming back,’ Hadley shrugged.
He gathered her close again as a sudden thought caught him off guard. The next farewell dinner would be for Hadley. Christ, how many of those had he endured over the years? Too bloody many. It should feel different this time, only it didn’t. Not really. His gut dropped to his feet just like it always had when he thought of her leaving, only this time it was even worse. This time she was so much more than Hadley, sister of his best friend, long-time neighbour. This time she had his whole heart—his very future—packed up in her bag. Every time he tried to imagine her gone, he came up against a wall. His mind refused to even picture daily life without her nearby. Deep down, he still hoped, somehow, she’d change her mind about going back. There was still time to help her change it. He just had to figure out how.
Twenty-four
Less than forty-eight hours later, Ollie stared at the scene before him with a mixture of horror and trepidation. He’d gone to check on the cattle he’d moved up to the top paddock yesterday, and when he came back, it was to find a cluster of cameras and lights and a heap of other paraphernalia he had no idea about set up on his parents’ front yard. And where the hell had all these people come from? He watched them running about like ants, carrying stuff and checking equipment.
A woman he instantly recognised from the TV was talking to Hadley but stopped speaking as she spotted him. ‘You must be Ollie,’ she said, her gaze roaming the length of him before adding in a low throaty purr, ‘I recognise you from the photo. I’m Cynthia Rivers.’
He was never going to live down that bloody photo. ‘Yeah. Hi. Nice to meet you.’
‘The pleasure’s all mine. So,’ she said abruptly, clapping her hands, ‘we thought we’d start with you, Hadley.’
Ollie glanced over at Hadley and caught the slight grimace on her face before she gave a quick nod. That was weird. He’d tried to get out of all this initially, hoping she’d do the interview, given she was the one with experience in front of a camera, but he’d conceded that the risk they’d bring up her divorce was too great. She hadn’t mentioned she’d changed her mind.
‘This won’t take long,’ Cynthia said, placing a long, slender hand on Ollie’s arm. ‘Then we’ll get to you and we can talk about your new venture.’
His gaze swivelled once more to Hadley. She sent him a smile that didn’t reach her eyes and he instantly had a bad feeling. Something was not right here. ‘Hadley,’ he said, reaching out to stop her turning away. ‘Excuse us for a moment,’ Ollie said to a surprised Cynthia. ‘I just need a word.’
He moved Hadley far enough away to have some privacy before looking down at her. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Nothing. It’s just a thing I said I’d do.’
‘A thing?’
‘Look, it’s no big deal. They agreed to come out here and do a segment on Dare to Bare if I gave them a quick interview.’
‘About Mitch?’ he prodded, frowning. This was exactly what she’d
been avoiding the press about. What the hell was going on?
‘It’s fine.’
‘It’s not fine.’ She looked miserable. ‘Was this the only way they’d do the story?’
‘We need this exposure, Ollie.’
‘Not if it means you have to talk about Mitch when you don’t want to.’
‘I can handle Cynthia. I won’t say anything I don’t want to.’ He had no doubt that Hadley could handle herself, but this was a live interview. He didn’t know a lot about the TV industry, but he knew that being interviewed live would make it a lot harder to dodge invasive questions. ‘No,’ he said abruptly, ‘I don’t want you to do this. I know you don’t want to either.’
‘Ollie, it’s the only way they’re going to do the story on Dare to Bare. It’s important.’
‘You should have told me they had terms, Hadley.’ There was no way he would have agreed to blackmail.
‘And we would have missed out on this opportunity,’ she told him pointedly.
‘Well, screw ’em. I won’t do it.’
‘You will do it,’ she told him firmly.
He went to open his mouth to argue, only to realise she had that steely glint in her eye that he recognised from their years growing up together; he knew they’d be here all day if he started anything. Letting out a long breath, he took a mental step back. ‘I don’t want you to do this,’ he said simply. ‘I hate feeling like some pawn in a game they’re playing. I know you don’t want to do it either.’
His softer tone seemed to diffuse her own anger and he saw her shoulders drop slightly. ‘Do you remember after Luke’s funeral? Remember how badly you wanted to do something? To stop it happening to other people?’
A brief, sharp pain stabbed his chest at the memory. ‘Of course I do.’
‘This is your chance. This is what will help make that change. We are not going to let a stupid, insignificant thing ruin this opportunity.’