This silenced Milla. She was beginning to wish she’d come up with an excuse to back out of this evening. Instead she’d weakened and phoned Heidi, who had of course insisted that she bring Ed to the barbecue.
‘I’ve sliced the baguette,’ Milla said now in an unsubtle bid to change the subject. ‘Would you like it buttered?’
‘That’d be great,’ Heidi muttered impatiently. ‘But I’d rather you answered my question.’
Milla sighed as she reached for the butter dish. ‘Ed came here to settle family business.’
‘But he stayed here to help you with your business?’
‘He’s a control freak. He can’t help interfering.’
‘Nice try, Milla.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘I’m sure a man like Ed Cavanaugh only interferes when and where it suits him,’ Heidi remarked archly.
Milla fumed for a moment. ‘Ed thinks his family owes me. He’s always had a well-developed sense of responsibility.’
‘And that’s not the only thing that’s well developed.’
Milla wisely ignored this. ‘Ed also knows business plans inside out and backwards.’ It felt weird to be quoting Ed almost word for word, but with Heidi backing her into a corner she was at a loss. And quoting Ed was certainly safer than discussing his physical attributes. After another day of working in his close proximity, answering his endless but surprisingly patient questions about her plans for the bakery, Milla was all too familiar with the way Ed looked and behaved.
All day, while she’d painted window frames, Ed had worked on her business plan, and his presence had dominated her awareness. Mostly, she’d been trying to digest the astonishing reality that a top-flight business magnate from New York was paying such earnest attention to her little country bakery’s profit and loss potential.
While they’d talked about the range of goods she might sell, about staff she might need to employ... While they tossed around ideas like leaving samples of her baked goods in the general store during the lead-up to opening day... Milla had also been stealing glimpses in Ed’s direction simply because the breadth of his shoulders was so impressive.
Much to her embarrassment, she’d found herself also admiring the sheen of his dark hair and the neat line it made across the back of his neck as he hunkered over her laptop.
It was mere aesthetic appreciation, of course. Nothing personal. But unfortunately, Ed had caught her peeking. More than once. He’d looked up, their gazes had met, and she’d seen a flash in his eyes that had sent flames shooting under her skin.
She’d tried to cover up with the lamest of excuses, making a comment that she’d never seen him wearing his reading glasses. She was quite sure he’d seen right through her.
But despite these slips, she wasn’t interested in Ed. Not in that way.
‘Admit it, Mills,’ Heidi persisted with a grin. ‘The starry guys have always fallen for you. Remember high school? And Heath Dixon?’
‘I’d rather not.’ A flash of unpleasant panic scorched Milla, followed by an involuntary shudder.
Heidi seemed oblivious to her reaction. ‘You had the sexiest guy in the whole school practically begging you to go out with him.’
‘Aren’t you being disloyal to Brad by suggesting that some other guy at school was the sexiest?’
‘Brad doesn’t have a jealous bone in his body.’ Heidi’s face softened, transformed from plain to exceptionally pretty as her cheeks were warmed by an affectionate smile. ‘Brad knows how I feel about him.’
Milla watched as Heidi sent a dreamy, private smile out of the window and she felt a sharp pang of envy.
So, I guess that’s what true love looks like.
‘But Heath Dixon was something else,’ Heidi continued emphatically. ‘He was hot-looking and dangerous...and drooling over you, Milla. And every girl in Year Twelve was pea green with envy. You never explained why you went on one date with the guy and gave him the flick. We were stunned and in awe at your heartlessness.’
If only they knew...
Milla had never told anyone, not even Heidi, about what had happened on that one night with the loathsome school heartthrob. ‘Heath Dixon was a creep,’ she said now, bitterly.
Heidi stared at her with wide-eyed interest. ‘Do tell.’
‘Actually, no. I’d rather drop the subject of men. I’m afraid it bores me to tears. I’m completely over the male of our species. I’m here to resurrect a bakery.’
‘Milla, you can’t turn your back on men altogether. Apart from any other considerations, they make up half the world’s population.’
Milla shrugged. ‘I’m over falling in love with them, that’s for sure. And I’m certainly over the Cavanaughs. After a disastrous relationship with one member of that family, I have zero interest in getting involved with another.’
‘Well, yes, I can see that’s fair enough.’ Heidi nodded sagely, but it wasn’t long before she was smiling again. ‘But you have to admit...it was so cute when you arrived here tonight and Ed was so desperately keen for us to admire your cherry lattice pie. He looked so proud...and so fond...of you.’
‘That’s because I remind him of his grandmother.’
Heidi hooted.
‘No, it’s true. He bought me these pastry cutters, you see, and—’
‘Ed bought pastry cutters?’
‘Yes. I told you he was a control freak. He had to make sure I had decent equipment.’
‘Sure, sure,’ Heidi’s voice purred with sarcasm.
‘Apparently, his grandmother used to let him cut the pastry strips when he was a kid,’ Milla explained.
Heidi’s eyebrows hiked. ‘Well, there you go.’
Watching her friend’s amused disbelief, Milla conceded that the picture of Ed helping her with pastry strips was totally incongruous with his normal persona as Mr Big of the business world.
It had been fun today, teaching him about pastry and explaining how she would plan things when she had to make a dozen pies at one time.
Heidi had said... He looked so proud...and so fond...of you.
The word fond lingered in Milla’s mind, like a favourite passage of soul music.
‘Anyway, I’m very glad you brought Ed out to our place,’ Heidi continued chattily. Once again, she cocked her head towards the view through the window. ‘Brad’s certainly enjoying his company. The two of them seem to be getting on like a house on fire.’
Curious, Milla stepped closer to the window, and she saw Ed with Brad, looking extremely relaxed, drinking beer and chatting and laughing as they kept a weather eye on the sizzling food. Her heart gave a strange little lurch.
Having so recently and vocally avowed that she was off men, she felt like a hypocrite. This sentimental pang was a mistake, a momentary aberration.
Perhaps she could blame the perfect setting. Heidi and Brad seemed to have a knack for making their home look welcoming and heart-warming, like something you’d want to photograph. Not the perfect shots of magazines though, but appealing and lived-in and somehow just right.
They’d built their own barbecue and set it in a pretty paved courtyard, and tonight there was a wood fire burning brightly, and the air was filled with the mingled smells of smoke and frying onions. Heidi had strung glowing Chinese lanterns between the trees, and she’d covered the outdoor table with a red gingham cloth and fat yellow candles.
Despite the cold winter’s night, a backyard had never looked more inviting. And Ed had never looked more relaxed, Milla thought. He almost looked as if he belonged here.
‘Watching from here,’ said Heidi, standing close to Milla’s elbow. ‘A person could be forgiven for thinking that those two were old, old friends.’
It was true. Ed’s and Brad’s backgrounds were worlds apart, but they were probably around the
same age, and they were both tall and broad shouldered and athletic and they seemed to be talking and laughing non-stop.
‘It’s pretty amazing, actually,’ said Milla. ‘Ed’s usually frowning and earnest.’
Just then Brad said something that was greeted by a crack of laughter from Ed. She wondered what they were talking about.
‘So, I’m assuming Ed’s keen on your bakery idea?’ Heidi prompted as she lifted a potato salad from the fridge.
‘I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m mad. But he does seem intrigued by the Save Our Town scheme.’
‘Well, Brad’s totally committed to that. Keeping the town alive depends on keeping the school open, and now that Thomas has started in Year One, Brad’s on the Parents and Friends’. Poor Ed’s probably copping an earful right now.’
Milla smiled. ‘If he is, he doesn’t seem to mind.’
‘True.’ Heidi surveyed her prepared salads with a critical eye. ‘OK, these are good to go. Let’s get them outside and join the party. Can you bring the bread and the pepper and salt? I’ll drag the kids away from their DVD.’
She lifted her voice. ‘Thomas! Lucy! Dinner’s ready.’
* * *
‘I want to sit next to the man,’ insisted a small, golden-haired cherub as she looked up at Ed with huge brown eyes.
‘How about asking nicely, Luce?’ her mother reminded her. ‘And the man’s name is Ed.’
‘I want to sit next to him,’ the little girl said with pointed emphasis.
Heidi groaned. ‘Did I hear the word please?’
The golden angel smiled impishly at Ed. ‘Please, Man.’
‘Lucky me,’ he said gallantly, but he was wondering what he was in for as he shifted over and made a space beside him on the long wooden stool. ‘Shall I lift you up?’
‘No, I’m a big girl. I can get up all by myself.’ With a certain amount of huffing and puffing, the small person scrambled onto the seat. Once she was in place, she pushed a golden mop of curls out of her eyes and beamed at Ed with a grin of unholy triumph. ‘See, I’m up.’
‘You are indeed.’ He couldn’t help smiling. He’d never before been at such close quarters with a diminutive female, and he was intrigued.
‘I’m going to have a sausage wrapped in bread with tomato sauce,’ she announced importantly.
‘And salad,’ warned Heidi.
Her daughter’s small pink lower lip drooped. ‘I don’t like salad.’
‘No salad, no sausage.’ Heidi followed up her stern warning by serving a spoonful of lettuce with cherry tomatoes and cucumber and carrot onto her daughter’s plate.
Ed watched, mildly amused, half expecting a wail of protest. Instead, he found two large brown thickly lashed eyes gazing up at him solemnly. ‘Do you like salad, Man?’
‘I love salad,’ he assured her.
Next moment, as her mother turned her attention to her brother, the little girl scrambled to her feet. Standing on the seat, she leaned into Ed with her mouth pressed against his ear. ‘I’ll let you have my salad,’ she whispered in great excitement, as if she were bestowing an enormous honour. ‘Don’t tell Mummy.’
In a flash, she was down again, sitting demurely as her father set the desired, crisp and crunchy sausage on her plate. ‘You want sauce, pumpkin?’
‘Yes, please, Daddy.’
Ed swallowed an urge to chuckle. He’d never realised that feminine wiles started so young. He was enjoying himself immensely, and out of nowhere snuck the most surprising thought. What would it be like to have a small cherubic imp of his own?
He’d hardly given fatherhood a thought, but this evening was having a strange effect on him. From the moment he’d arrived at Heidi and Brad’s farmhouse, he’d felt as if he’d stepped back in time. Not that Milla’s friends were out of touch with the modern world. They were fully informed and up-to-date, but there was a beguiling, old-fashioned and slower-paced atmosphere about their home and family that took Ed straight back to gatherings at his grandparents’ farm in Michigan.
Truth be told, Thanksgiving in Michigan when he was around fifteen was probably the last time Ed had eaten a meal where the adults and the younger generation sat down together. The adults, of course, had been his grandparents, not his parents.
Ed couldn’t remember ever sharing a meal with his parents. He could barely remember his mother and father dining together. They were divorced before he’d turned five. After that, whenever he’d stayed in his father’s new house, his dad had rarely been home at mealtimes. He’d always been at board meetings, or business dinners or benefit breakfasts.
As for Ed’s mother, she’d always slept in late in the mornings, never rising before he had to leave for school, and her evening meals had usually been liquid and consumed on the couch in front of the television. If she’d been awake to say goodnight to Ed, she’d reeked of whisky and slurred her words. He’d been brought up by a succession of nannies and maids.
Sitting here now, pretending not to notice as pieces of tomato and cucumber were surreptitiously deposited onto the side of his plate, Ed watched Milla’s smiling eyes and listened to her laughter mingled with that of the others, and he felt unexpectedly, deeply...happy...
And at home.
It was a shock to remember that, no matter how comfortable or welcome he felt here, he was still an outsider. Cavanaugh Enterprises existed in another dimension. It might as well have been an alien planet where the inhabitants had calculators instead of hearts.
Tonight, Ed couldn’t help thinking how different everything had been on the one night he’d taken Milla to a social gathering. Harry’s glittering, over-the-top birthday party in Beverly Hills had been light years away from this simple, unpretentious backyard barbecue.
Of course, Ed could see now why Milla had been so easily dazzled...
He could also understand why she’d come running back home when the scales had finally fallen from her eyes.
CHAPTER SEVEN
ED DROVE BACK into town along quiet country roads, past starlit paddocks where owls sat on fence posts, waiting to pounce on unwary field mice, or whatever strange equivalent they had in Australia. He drove past dark clumps of gumtrees and over rattling, narrow, one-lane bridges. And in the view through the windshield, a shining full moon bobbed through drifts of gauzy white cloud.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had such a clear view of a moonlit landscape and sky. The scenery was almost mystical and it seemed to cap off a perfect evening. He felt uplifted. Touched by magic.
Beside him, Milla sat in silence, her bright hair and delicate profile limned by silver light as she stared out at the countryside, apparently lost in thought.
‘I really enjoyed tonight,’ he said when the silence had gone on a little too long. ‘Thanks for letting me tag along.’
‘I’m glad you enjoyed it.’ Her voice was friendly enough, but she quickly lapsed back into her musings, huddled inside her padded jacket. It wasn’t long before she folded her arms, hugging them to her chest. A fencing-off gesture, if ever Ed had seen one.
But he was in too good a mood to let her body language deter him. ‘I enjoyed meeting your friends,’ he said. ‘Brad’s a cool guy. Great sense of humour.’
Milla roused. ‘Brad’s always seen the funny side of life. I suspect that’s why Heidi fell in love with him.’
‘No doubt.’ Momentarily, Ed’s happy mood was sideswiped by memories of his brother’s laughter and charm. Almost certainly, Milla had been attracted by Harry’s broad grin and his love of telling a clever joke, a skill Ed had never mastered.
With an effort, he shook off disturbing memories. ‘Brad has a really good head on his shoulders. I’d say he’s a very good farmer.’
‘Seems to be.’
‘I had a good chat to him about growing organic
wheat.’
‘Really?’ Milla sounded incredulous. ‘Why?’
Ed shrugged. ‘We were talking about your bakery and how there’s a growing market for organic products.’
‘Oh.’ Now she sounded prickly. ‘Brad never said anything about it to me.’
‘We talked about a ton of stuff,’ Ed reminded her. ‘But if you did decide you wanted to try organic wheat, Brad would be a good guy to talk to.’
Milla nodded, apparently satisfied. ‘Heidi says Brad’s very passionate about saving Bellaroo Creek’s school.’ Unfolding her arms, she sat straighter. ‘Isn’t it great that they’re encouraging those young families to come here by offering farmhouses for a dollar a week?’
‘Yeah, maybe. I’m still not sure it will work.’
She turned to him. ‘Do you have a better idea?’
Ed couldn’t resist the obvious challenge. ‘What Bellaroo Creek needs is a proper injection of capital.’
‘Whose capital?’
‘Anyone’s. I’m talking in theory, right?’
‘I suppose your family could buy the whole town if you wanted to.’
He gave a non-committal shrug as he changed gears and eased the ute around a sharpish corner. ‘The thing is, if the place looked more prosperous and was offering solid employment, people would come and pay full rent.’
‘Hmm...’ Milla sounded doubtful. ‘Nice theory. I suppose you might get faster results. But apart from the fact that no one’s likely to risk their money on this out-of-the-way place, if one person or a company owned all the businesses in a town, whose town would it be? How would you develop a sense of community?’
‘I don’t see why—’
‘And how could you guarantee that the people you employed would have children to keep the school going?’
‘Simple. You’d screen them during the interview process.’
Milla appeared to consider this. ‘OK, tell me this, Ed.’ She paused as they reached the main road and Ed waited for a truck to pass before turning. Once they were whizzing down the bitumen, she said, ‘Do you think the people who came here to work for you would have the same sense of self-worth as someone like me, starting from scratch, doing the hard yards and the renovations by myself?’
Miracle in Bellaroo Creek (Bellaroo Creek!) Page 8