by Mandy Magro
‘I know, I know, don’t judge. I’m meant to know what I’m doing, seeing as I’m a heavy equipment operator and all, but this beast can be a complete bitch when it wants to be,’ Ralph said with a grin as he unsuccessfully tried to wipe the blackness off with the rag in his hand. He stood up, pointing at the pies in Dylan’s hands. ‘And it appears to me that you’ve brought sustenance. Good on ya! I’m Hank Marvin!’
Dylan waited for Ralph to stand up and then handed him the styrofoam container.
Ralph opened the lid, the gravy oozing out of the opening. He licked the tasty morsels from his fingers. ‘You’re a legend, mate. I bloody love these things!’
Dylan chuckled. ‘Yeah, me too. I can’t walk past the bakery without grabbing one.’ He pulled one of the plastic forks from his jeans pocket and handed it to Ralph.
Ralph pointed to the smoko area in the corner, his shaggy blonde hair flopping around his head. ‘Wanna coffee or tea to go with it…or something stronger?’
Dylan chuckled. ‘It’s too early in the day for something stronger. A coffee would be good, thanks.’
Ralph began to try and eat the pie without his fork by using his lips like a horse eating bread. ‘Sure thing, you party pooper.’
‘Yeah, whatever,’ Dylan said lightheartedly.
Ralph pulled a seat from the smoko table and pushed it towards Dylan, before grabbing one for himself. ‘So anything exciting happening in your world? I hope so, because mine’s been pretty fucking boring.’
‘Yup, I got me a job. Oh, and I ran into Renee Wildwood.’ Dylan shoved a mouthful of pie in, groaning in pleasure with the taste of it while trying to act offhand about running into Renee.
Ralph’s mouth dropped open. ‘Holy shit, times two! That’s great you picked up some work so quickly—whereabouts? And how the fuck do you feel about running into Renee after all these years? I thought she’d disappeared forever.’
‘I’ve scored a job working with Stanley Wildwood over at Wildwood Acres, just a few days a week. Hence the reason I ran into Renee. To be honest, I don’t know how I feel about running into her.’
‘Can’t blame you really, after what she said about your dad. And then taking off like that, well, what can I say.’ Ralph forked a mouthful of pie in, his eyebrows raised while he chewed. ‘How’d she look?’
‘Oh, trust you to ask something like that, Ralph,’ Dylan said, laughing.
‘Well?’ Ralph said, shoving another forkful in.
‘She looks—’ Dylan smirked, ‘—bloody amazing.’
Ralph nodded. ‘I thought she would have, she was always a good sort. You reckon you’ll both be able to let sleeping dogs lie, so you can at least be mates?’
Dylan chuckled cynically. ‘Dunno. Time will tell, I s’pose.’
‘It won’t look good if you’re arguing with the boss’s daughter, so watch your step.’
‘I know, I know, I’ll be civil at least.’
‘Good.’ Ralph scraped the last of the tasty lunch from his container. ‘I’m glad you picked up some work, buddy. It might take the pressure off you a bit.’
Dylan fought the urge to lick his container clean, instead lobbing it towards the bin and cheering along with Ralph when he got it in. ‘It will certainly ease the pressure a bit, but I still need to try and tighten the belt a little on the farm. God knows where though.’
Ralph grinned and leant forward in his seat. ‘Well, I’ve been thinking about ways I could help you out, and you know what I reckon?’
Dylan licked the last of the gravy from his fingers. ‘We should rob a bank?’
Ralph swiped the air indifferently. ‘That was my idea last week.’ He smiled wickedly. ‘This week I’m thinking we should build a dam on the border of your property, down on the lower part. You know, where there is a bit of a natural valley, so you can catch the water running off from Craig’s property—which means free water and drastically lower water bills. One good storm and you’d fill the bugger. I don’t reckon Craig would mind, seeing as it’s not taking away from his water or costing him anything.’
Dylan grinned, nodding eagerly. ‘You’re a fucking genius, Ralph. I can’t believe I never thought of that myself.’
Ralph pretended to blow smoke from his fingers as he sat back all puffy-chested, his confident joviality and surfer dude looks a big part of what attracted women to him like bees to honey. ‘In tribute to my favourite movie of all time…I like to think of myself as a bit of an ideas man.’
Dylan laughed at the old line, the movie The Castle being his and Ralph’s all-time favourite. ‘How big would we build it?’
‘I’m thinking about three to four metres deep and about thirty across, which means it would hold about thirty megs—roughly. We can’t go any deeper than five metres because then you’d need permits and shit from the council, and it’ll take forever to organise. But the size I’m suggesting should be plenty. It’ll only take about three or four days in the dozer and the job will be done.’
Dylan thought for a few moments, rolling the idea around. A dam was a great idea, but he would have to find some money to do it, and he just didn’t have the funds right now. There was no way in hell he was going to ask Ralph to do it for free. ‘How much will it cost to build it? I mean, I have to pay you for the time you spend in your dozer. Times are tough for everyone right now and I ain’t going to accept handouts from my best mate.’
Ralph leant forward, smiling. ‘For you, my friend, nothing.’
‘No way, Ralph. You got to pay the bills too. It’s gonna take almost a week to build the thing, which means you won’t be making money somewhere else in the meantime.’
‘Dylan, I’m not taking no for an answer. You’ve done loads of favours for me in the past, including breaking in a few of my horses for free—which wasn’t an easy task with the latest temperamental bugger—so let me do this for you, please.’
Dylan drummed his fingers on the smoko table, thinking. ‘Are you sure, mate?’
‘Positive. When I’ve got a couple of days to spare I’ll be out at your place with bells on. I’ve got a full week next week so I’m guessing I can make a start on it the week after that.’
Dylan reached out and squeezed Ralph’s shoulder. ‘Thanks, mate, I really appreciate it. I’ll owe ya big time for this.’
‘Oh no you won’t. Just have a few cold ones on hand at the end of each day and we’ll call it square. Deal?’ Ralph held out his hand.
Dylan shook it, beaming. ‘It’s a deal.’
CHAPTER
10
It had been a few days since she’d first run into Dylan, and it still hadn’t got any easier—they hadn’t even spoken a word, just nodding or waving a quick hello if they crossed paths on the property. She was sure he was just being nice to her to put on a show for her pa. Oh well—she’d play along with it to keep the peace. Pa didn’t need any more drama in his life, especially because of her fuck-ups.
Shaking her head at the memory of Dylan spotting her at her worst while sitting out on the front verandah this morning—in her faithful pink-and-purple polka-dot flannelette pyjamas and with bed hair from hell—Renee popped the lid on the slow cooker. She was mighty proud of her effort at concocting a hearty stew out of what was left in the fridge, which wasn’t much—she really needed to do some food shopping tomorrow. The smells wafting from the comfort food were making her mouth water. Satisfied she had dinner under control, she padded into her bedroom to get changed, her thoughts seized by Dylan’s ruggedly handsome face. By God he looked good in a pair of jeans. And those manly hands…
Watching him stroking his horse so fondly as he’d saddled him up this morning, she had imagined him instead stroking her naked skin. He didn’t know that after absconding to the house she had watched him from behind the curtains in the lounge room, each and every move he made making her want to caress his lips with hers. She completely respected the fact that he was married, and she would never even consider going near a married man—and not that
he’d want her within ten feet anyway given how he’d reacted to running into her last week—but it was okay to dream. Nonetheless, she had to find a way to rid herself of the feelings she harboured for him, and the only way she saw that happening was to allow herself to fall for someone else.
How the hell she was going to do that she hadn’t a clue, but she at least had to open herself up to the idea. She knew deep down that she had unconsciously stopped herself from falling for another man these past nine years, in the hope that she and Dylan would someday get back together. But now she knew he was spoken for, and that he felt nothing for her other than resentment, she had to finally let him go. It broke her heart to do so, but she just had to.
Grabbing her togs from the bottom drawer, Renee shoved them into her already jammed-full backpack. She was basically going to have to sit on it to do it up—a bit like her suitcase when she’d left Melbourne. Her pa had always taught her that when she was going out adventuring around Wildwood Acres, she should be prepared for anything, and with everything from her fully charged mobile phone, insect repellent, a torch, a bandage if she got bitten by a snake—yes she was being overcautious—warm clothes if the weather took a turn for the worst, to enough snacks and water to keep two people alive for days in the bush, that’s exactly what she was doing. A bit of overkill, but it was better to be safe than sorry. She’d told Pa she was going to have a look around the place today, choosing to leave out the fact she was venturing as far as the Opals Ridge National Park. She didn’t want to worry him, and if he knew she was going as far as that he’d be worried sick. From her calculations of how long it would take, she expected to be home well before dark anyway, and certainly before her pa. So, like the saying went, what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.
After the backbreaking work of treating the cattle for paralysis ticks and then spending the last few days fixing the fencing around the horse paddocks on her own—Pa had been busy doing other jobs with Dylan—she was secretly relieved to have time off. Although she’d been careful to cover up and use sunscreen, she was still a little sunburnt, her entire body ached, and her hands were covered in blisters, much to her mortification. She used to be much more resilient when it came to hard work—when she was a teenager being out for days on end in the saddle was a breeze. Now, after years of working her city job, it was clearly going to take her a little while to get used to the strenuous physical work required at Wildwood Acres again. Murphy’s Law—she’d probably just get used to it and then return home to Melbourne the next day. Not that Pa was going to need her too often now he had Dylan, it was more the fact that she wanted to help when she could. Farm work was damn tough, and she had to toughen up to handle it, but she loved it, and that was the most important thing. She adored getting outside and being at one with Mother Nature. And she wanted to use the time she had here to get outside as often as possible so she could return to her job as a realtor in Melbourne refreshed and renewed.
Nervous excitement filled her as she pulled on her jeans and then began brushing her teeth. She was going to revisit some of her and Scarlet’s childhood places today and she couldn’t wait—knowing it would make her feel close to her sister. Mapping Wildwood Acres out in her mind, she thought about her movements for the day, hoping to God she didn’t get lost seeing as she hadn’t ventured around the countryside here for years. First she was going to head down to the back of the property, to the caves, and then work her way back to the hunter’s shack, stopping off in between the two places for lunch and a swim at the bottom dam where she and Scarlet used to have loads of fun.
Come on, Reni, I’ll race ya! Last one in has to do the other’s washing for a month.
You’re on. Oh my God, sis, are you taking your bra and knickers off too?
Yup, why not? Get those clothes off, Reni, and let yourself feel free for once!
You really are crazy…
I might be, but crazy people have way more fun!
Renee smiled as she recalled the first time Scarlet dared her to skinny dip at fourteen—and then how it had become a tradition. It was such good old-fashioned country fun. They would both strip off and run squealing to the dam’s edge before diving beneath the goosebump-enticing water, the risk of being caught making it much more exciting. Now she thought of it, who in the heck was going to catch them out in the sticks anyway? She shook her head, laughing, the workings of a teenage mind something an adult would never understand.
The thought of female company made her feel homesick for Melbourne. It would have been nice to have some girly company for the day, but she had no-one to ask. It made her miss Tia even more than she already was. They’d sent the occasional text, but hadn’t spoken since the day she arrived. Tia had let her know that Kat was doing fine and also filled her in on the comings and goings of the odd guy in her apartment block that they both swore was involved in something shady, but it wasn’t the same as having a good old chinwag. If only Tia could jump on a plane and come visit for a weekend, but it wasn’t that easy with her high-pressure job at the hospital. She made a mental note to call her tonight.
Spitting her toothpaste down the plughole, and then rinsing her mouth out with cheek-blasting Listerine, Renee tugged on her favourite t-shirt and sat down on the end of the bed to pull on her socks. She found it hard to believe she’d been back almost a week. Having been confined to the station other than during her and Pa’s nightly visits to the hospital, it felt more like a month. Even though she was enjoying being back home, she was also feeling lonely and she found herself missing her social life and the independence she had in Melbourne. She was hoping to get back in touch with Hayley Gregory, her best friend from high school, but still hadn’t gathered enough courage to call her, afraid she’d get the same cold welcome she’d had from Dylan.
She really had to bite the bullet and call—it would be good to catch up for old times’ sake. Maybe she could organise a night out at the pub, as long as it didn’t send Pa into a worried panic. Renee rolled her eyes. She loved how protective Pa was of her, and understood his reasons completely, but the complete loss of her usual adult freedom was making her feel a little like a teenager again.
Grabbing her loaded backpack from the floor, Renee threw it over her shoulder and headed outside, keen to get the day started. She just had to drop a basket of goodies down to Mick, and then she’d be on her merry way. Jumping on the four-wheeler parked out the front, she revved it to life and skidded off down the dirt track, a cloud of dust trailing in her wake, grinning broadly while the wind whipped her ponytail around her face. Coming a close second to horse riding, she loved being on a motorbike, especially a four-wheeler, although Mick’s accident had certainly made her very aware of what could go wrong on them.
Passing the machinery shed and then the stables, she turned down the track that led to Mick’s cottage, slowing down to admire the horses grazing in their paddocks along the way. She loved the saying that horses made the landscape more beautiful—it was so very true. With their grace, strength and amazing spirit, horses were such beautiful creatures, and ones that would be your friend for life if treated properly. It angered her beyond words when people mistreated them, some individuals believing that a heavy hand was the way to train a horse. In her experience, it was actually the opposite, and she admired anyone who trained a horse with the love and respect they deserved. From memory, Dylan had a magical way with horses—not once did she ever see him raise his hand to one when they were teenagers. Just another damn thing she loved about him.
Pulling up in front of the workers’ quarters, Dylan was pushed to the back of Renee’s mind as she broke into fits of laughter at the sight before her. Mick was out on his front porch, trying to chase off several clucking chickens while wobbling precariously on his crutches. The swear words flying from his lips would have made an old-fashioned mother shove a bar of soap in his mouth. It was absolute chaos, chickens running in all directions, two of the feathered foes making a mad dash for freedom by escaping betwee
n Mick’s legs and into his cottage.
‘Oi, you little bastards! Get outta my house! If you even think about crapping on anything in there you’re gonna be my roast dinner tonight!’ He went to disappear through the cottage door.
‘Are you in need of some help there, Mick?’ Renee called out as she got off the bike. He hadn’t even realised she was there he was so preoccupied.
Sticking his head back out, Mick grinned his notoriously mischievous grin. ‘Hey there, Reni, didn’t see you there… I wouldn’t say no. The bloody mongrels are shitting all over my porch and I’m sick of having to hose it off every day. I’ll give them bloody something to shit their dacks about if they don’t bugger off—I got me a big gun in here which I’d be more than happy to introduce to them too.’
Racing over to give Mick a hand before he fell over and hurt himself more, Renee busied herself shooing the chooks off Mick’s kitchen bench and out the back door. Mick wobbled after them as best he could, cursing when his crutches hampered him. In a flurry of feathers, the chickens joined their partners in crime out on the back lawn and took off down the dirt track and into the old shed across the track—and well out of harm’s way.
‘I’d be bloody running too, if I were you lot!’ Mick shouted out after them.
‘You tell ’em, Mick!’ Job done, Renee pointed to the basket, still chuckling at the hullabaloo. ‘I brought you some corned beef and mustard pickle sandwiches, and some sponge cake I made last night. Thought you might be in some need of some more good old-fashioned tucker.’
Mick smiled while rubbing his rotund belly, clearly having forgotten to put his false teeth in. ‘You’re a star, Renee, just like your dear old nan. Pearl always makes sure I’m fed up to me eyeballs too.’ Shaking his head, he sighed. ‘So sad the poor old bugger’s holed up in that hospital. She’d be going insane, and driving the hospital staff equally insane while she’s at it.’ He chuckled with the thought. ‘I just thank God she’s gonna be okay.’