Julia wondered if the advice applied to bringing up kids. She guessed she’d never know now.
‘Montana’s actually got a lot of stock sense,’ mumbled Charlie beside her.
‘You sound surprised.’
‘I am. The kid’s been here, there and everywhere since she left school. Only came home when her mother was dyin’ and even that took some doin’. There was no love lost between her and Elsbeth. Butted heads all the time, particularly when Tan hit her teens. Both as pig-headed as each other.’
‘So wanting to work dogs and be a farmer is a new thing?’
Charlie nodded. ‘The kid’s always been a free spirit. Guess Rick’s worried that if he lets her take on the properties with him, she’ll get bored and take off.’
Julia gave a snort. ‘She could hardly get bored! Rick doesn’t stop and neither do you.’
‘Farming’s a hard slog. There’s plenty of jobs that are just plain drudgery. You’ve got to love it to stay in it.’ Charlie patted at his pockets like he was looking for something. With a sigh, he grabbed his chewing-gum packet again. ‘This givin’ up the smokes is hard yakka. Anythin’ good in life is either illegal, immoral or fattening.’
Julia smiled. That was one way of putting it.
‘So, tell me, Charlie, why is Rick so overprotective of Montana? The girl’s twenty-three. When’s he going to face the fact that he can’t order her around forever?’
Charlie stared across the muddy yard at the tall, red-haired girl, who was now animatedly chatting to a young man wearing a dark blue woollen jumper. Her hands were flying through the air, obviously explaining some intricate story to her keen listener, who, to Julia’s mind, was very good-looking in that country-boy way. Fresh-faced, tanned and fit. He was leaning towards Montana and nodding like this was the most fascinating conversation he’d heard in his whole life. Julia wondered where Owen was, and how he felt about Montana spending so much time with all these men. Although, looking around, there were several women attending the school too.
Charlie’s thoughts were obviously along the same lines. ‘Wonder if young Hamish there is plannin’ on cuttin’ Owen’s lunch.’
‘Montana wouldn’t encourage that,’ exclaimed Julia.
‘Well, he’s not much into dogs, her Owen. And from what I’ve seen of these people, you’ve got to love their dogs, or at least tolerate them, if you want to stay together. It’s like real horsey people – they live and breathe them. You gotta be on the same page for it to work.’ His eyes had a faraway look, as if he was thinking of Lottie.
‘Are you saying you think their marriage is on the rocks?’ Julia pressed.
‘No idea,’ said Charlie. ‘Gettin’ back to your first question. Even though Ricardo tried to shelter young Montana from all the shit their parents dished out, she couldn’t help bein’ affected by it.’
‘What do you mean?’
He turned his back and spat his chewing-gum into the grass, then pulled another piece from the packet and put it in his mouth, all the while looking contemplative.
‘Well?’ Julia prompted.
‘Cormac adored Elsbeth, right?’
Lord knew why. ‘Yes. And?’
‘He knew she had affairs during their marriage and he ignored it. Didn’t need to acknowledge they happened because they were while she was away in the movie world. But as she got older, they got more frequent, and that meant she and Cormac fought a lot more, over inconsequential stuff usually, but the affairs were at the heart of it. They’d have a huge bust-up, and Cormac would head up to his hut, while Elsbeth stayed at the Grange or went back to work. They’d ignore each other for a while, and then end up back together in the biggest reunion since Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara. Then it’d start all over again.’
Charlie paused. Took another long look at Montana. ‘But when Elsbeth got pregnant with young Montana here … well, it’s a bit hard to ignore a baby now, isn’t it?’
Julia couldn’t trust herself to speak.
‘Cormac couldn’t look at the girl without seeing evidence of Elsbeth’s betrayal right there in front of him. It nearly killed him. But, to his credit, he allowed Elsbeth to stay, along with the baby.’
‘You sound like you didn’t approve.’
‘I love Montana.’ The old man’s voice was sincere, but Julia noticed he didn’t mention Elsbeth. ‘I want to see her happy. And thank God she arrived when she did, because she gave young Rick someone to love and dote on. His parents were too focused on themselves or each other. Having Montana gave the boy a reason to come back home.’ He took a deep breath. ‘We would’ve lost him otherwise. I would’ve lost him. He’s like my son.’
Julia smiled at the old bushman. ‘You’re a good man, Charlie Howell.’
He squinted across the paddocks, his expression rueful. ‘Wish Lottie had’ve thought that.’
Julia patted his arm. ‘I’m sure she did in her own way.’
‘Yeah … maybe.’
In the arena, the instructor was bellowing to his group of working dog-owners. ‘If you want a good dog, you’ve got to make it your project. Think of your dog like your golf clubs or your tennis racquet – your hobby. Take the dog everywhere with you. You’ve got to form a connection between you like that mobile phone bluetooth thingo.’
‘Bluetooth, ay?’ said Charlie with a twinkle in his eye. ‘Better work on me phone skills then.’
Julia giggled. She knew he didn’t even own a mobile.
‘Hey, Charlie!’ The shout came from the other side of the yards. Montana was up on the rails, calling and waving. ‘Can you bring my young red pup around?’
Charlie gave her a wave and turned to Julia. ‘Best grab Miss Summer then.’
‘You know all the dogs’ names?’
He nodded, looking a little bashful. ‘Me and Rick aren’t totally against this whole dog caper. Just want to make sure the girl’s committed. You can’t take on a bunch of dogs and then set them aside if you change your mind.’
Julia frowned. ‘But if Rick’s not against the school, why didn’t he want to let Montana have it at the Grange? It would’ve been much easier for her there with all the facilities and the sheds.’
Charlie looked taken aback. ‘Montana was dead-set on havin’ it here. Didn’t want to have it at the Grange.’
‘She did, but didn’t want to ask Rick.’
‘Well, young Chloe heard us talkin’ about it when she was cleanin’ the other day. She said there was no way Tan would even contemplate it so not to bother even offerin’.’
‘Since when has Rick started listening to Chloe?’ The words were out before Julia thought about how they sounded.
‘Since she and Montana became best buddies.’
They had? Now she thought about it, the two of them had been doing a few things together recently. Chloe had helped organise the dog school, and they’d been to the movies in Narree once or twice, and on a shopping trip.
‘I’ll have a word with Chloe,’ Julia said.
‘You do that.’ Charlie gave her a meaningful look before shoving himself away from the fence to go and collect Montana’s dog. ‘Those Hallorans can get in enough trouble all by themselves without someone else stirrin’ the pot.’
Chapter 26
Julia waited until after dinner to broach the subject of the Hallorans with Chloe. The girl was sitting back from the table, her bare feet playing with the edge of the floor rug, flipping through photos on her phone. Julia would have loved to take a look, but knew that if she asked, she’d be knocked back. Why put your heart out there to be stomped on?
She walked over to the large windows. Except for the moon, darkness surrounded the cottage, not a light to be seen anywhere.
She turned to face her daughter. ‘Chloe?’
‘Hmmm?’ The girl didn’t even look up. Her painted toes flipped and flicked the rug’s tassels.
‘Why did you tell Rick that Montana wouldn’t want to have the dog school over at the Grange?’
&
nbsp; Chloe glanced at her over the top of the phone. ‘Because she wouldn’t.’ She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
‘Are you sure about that?’
‘Yep. She hates her brother.’
‘I hardly think she hates him.’
‘She does.’ She sounded so definite.
Julia turned and stared out at the creamy-white moon, wishing she was someplace with less complicated relationships. She may as well go straight to the heart of the matter.
‘Chloe, why are you so against Rick?’
Her daughter heaved a big sigh and put her phone down on the table with a clunk. Julia turned again and found Chloe staring at her with confrontational eyes.
‘Because he’s a dictatorial asshole who won’t let his half-sister do what she wants. I’m sure as hell glad he’s not my father or brother.’
Julia was shocked by the girl’s bitterness. This probably wasn’t a good time to tell her the truth about Rick then.
‘I also told her she should dump Owen,’ Chloe said.
‘What? Chloe, you shouldn’t be interfering –’
‘First up, your lover-boy just wants her to be a good girl, have Owen’s babies, help run the real estate agency and stay out of his precious Grange. He’s just a rich fucking tosser who twists things around to suit himself and lords it over everyone in Lake Grace, you included.’
Chloe’s words made Julia uneasy. Was Rick really like that? He certainly was a man who knew what he wanted and where he was going. And he owned a lot of the town. So many in the small community relied on him. Had she become reliant on him too, like she had with Rupert? Rick certainly liked to give her advice, whether she wanted it or not. Her mind went back to her conversation with Charlie. Rick had come from two very self-involved parents, one of whom, she knew from personal experience, had no qualms about manipulating people to get her own way. What if Rick was the same underneath that handsome, loving exterior?
Chloe was back to talking about Montana. ‘And then there’s Owen, who’s not the right guy for her anyway. She loves dogs and he doesn’t. He only showed his face at the school to do the breakfasts, and then he was out of there. He didn’t stick around to watch at all. It’s never going to work out between them.’
Julia walked to the table and sat down. She needed to think. Chloe sat hunched in her chair, staring at her mother, seemingly daring her to deny what she was saying about Montana and Rick. Oh, Chloe, Julia wondered, what made you so untrusting? So defensive?
Finally she said, ‘Regardless of what you and I think, Chloe, the Hallorans have to work this out themselves. You can’t interfere.’
The girl scoffed. ‘Of course I can. She’s my friend. My only friend here.’
That hurt. ‘We could be friends,’ Julia said in a quiet voice.
‘Why should I give you the chance?’ Chloe spat. ‘You didn’t want me back then, and you don’t appear to want me now, so what’s changed?’
‘My situation! Back then I was a teenager without a home, a job, or any way to support you.’ Julia heard her own voice rising. ‘Are you going to punish me forever? How can I make you understand that I had to do what I did? I didn’t have any other choice!’ She slammed her hand on the table in frustration.
‘You took the easy way out.’
Julia wasn’t sure she’d heard right. How could handing over her child, her baby, be the easy way out?
‘What did you say?’
‘You heard me.’
She was about to retort when a little voice whispered, Did I have a choice? Or did I take the easiest way out of a sticky situation? She thought back to her own mother and her belief that she had no choice but to stay with Henry Gunn. Julia had thought her mother was so wrong. Was she the same? Like mother, like daughter?
‘It was the only choice I had,’ she said again.
But was it? Was it really?
Desperation clutched at her, gnawing at her bones. She couldn’t let it devour her. Not after all this time. Not after surviving for this long. It had been her only option.
She reached a hand out to her daughter. ‘Chloe, please can we try to start over? Leave the past in the past and move forward?’
‘What if I don’t want to?’
Chloe’s sullenness reached through Julia’s despair. She sat back and folded her arms. ‘But you’re here. Why wouldn’t you want to sort things out?’
The girl went quiet. Slid her phone around in circles on the table with one finger. Finally she said, ‘Yeah, but I might not stay.’
Defensiveness. Vulnerability. Insecurity. They were all there in Chloe’s posture.
Despite everything, Julia didn’t want to lose her child a second time. She leaned forward, her hands open on the table.
‘Stay. Work this out with me.’
‘Maybe …’
‘Please, Chloe.’
She knew, heaven help her, she was putting her heart out there to be stomped on, but she couldn’t do anything else. She desperately wanted another chance.
The girl pushed her phone this way, then that. Not looking at her mother.
‘Chloe?’
‘We’ll see how it goes.’ She stood and picked up her phone. ‘I’m going for a walk. I need to ring a mate. Wouldn’t mind a raise in my pay – this new plan’s costing me a fortune thanks to all the extra data I use out here.’
Julia sat back. It wasn’t the best olive branch, but it was something. ‘I’ll see what I can do,’ she said.
Julia found it difficult to sleep that night. Her thoughts were all over the place after her conversations with Chloe and Charlie. Then there was the tension between Montana and Rick … If only they weren’t both so bull-headed.
Rick had rung earlier to suggest a jaunt over the lake to his place. She’d put him off, using the dog school and her need to keep an eye on the premises as an excuse. When he’d heard how well the dog school was going, he’d sounded proud of Montana, which was promising. But then maybe she was imagining what she wanted to hear rather than what was really there. Thanks to Chloe, she was questioning everything now. Mentally pulling out all the time she’d spent with Rick and examining each one under a microscope.
She shifted onto her side, then turned to face the ceiling again. Most prominent in her mind right now was Chloe’s dislike of Rick. It was getting out of hand. What was the girl going to say when she found out he was her father? Julia didn’t even want to think about it.
A car horn sounded in the stillness of the night. Then she heard people yelling. Motors cranked over, revved, wheels spun and lights flashed across her ceiling. She sat up. What on earth was going on out there? Were people coming up to the cafe again? But why?
She glanced at the clock. The old-fashioned hands on the dial showed twenty-five past ten.
Car doors slammed below, right at her gate if she wasn’t mistaken. She climbed out of bed, threw on a dressing gown and ran down the stairs. She met Chloe in the hall, wiping sleep out of her eyes.
‘What’s going on?’ asked the girl.
She looked so cute and child-like in her purple pyjamas, Julia thought. Was that her daughter’s favourite colour? She didn’t even know that.
A hammering on the door had her pulling back the drapes. Montana and the handsome bloke she’d been talking to earlier in the day – Hamish? – were standing on the verandah looking agitated.
Julia unlocked the door and Montana fell inside. ‘All the dogs are gone!’
‘What?’ Julia said.
‘Well, actually not all the dogs,’ Hamish said, ‘some are still at the camp. But most of them are gone.’
Julia was dumbfounded. ‘Where?’
‘I have no idea!’ roared Montana.
‘Settle down,’ Hamish told her. ‘We need to work out what’s happened.’
‘I’ll give you bloody settle down! Your dogs are all in the back of your ute! Wish I’d taken my vehicle to the pub. The rest of us …’ She couldn’t finish. A tear rolled do
wn her cheek.
‘I’ve lost them all!’ she wailed. ‘They’re not coming when I call. I mean, Croz wouldn’t come anyway as he’s only a pup, and young Summer doesn’t listen either if she’s got something more interesting to do. But Winter and Ange should’ve come. Thank God I left Honey at home!’
She stood with her shoulders slumped, looking shattered. Another tear ran down her cheek.
Julia gave her a quick hug, then said, ‘Do you think someone stole the dogs while you guys were at the pub having tea?’
‘Or let them off their chains,’ said Hamish. ‘Have you seen anything suspicious over on the hill tonight? A vehicle, or anyone skulking around?’
She hadn’t. Not a thing. ‘Chloe was outside earlier though – she might have seen something.’
All eyes moved to the girl in purple pyjamas.
‘Did you see any cars?’ Julia asked her.
The girl shook her head.
‘Any dogs?’ asked Hamish.
Another shake.
‘Can you help us search?’ Montana asked. ‘Julia, Chloe? I’ve rung Charlie. And Rick, even though I didn’t want to. We’re desperate.’
Julia was already reaching for her gumboots. Chloe disappeared and returned a minute later with boots and two coats, one for her and one for her mother. Julia was touched by the small sign of consideration and thanked her daughter as she went past. Chloe didn’t respond, just kept walking out the door.
By the time they’d searched the cottage gardens, the track, and reached the portable yards, a few owners had found their dogs. The others were still looking, yelling various names and whistling in differing tones. Torches flashed across the hillside, as did vehicle lights further down the slope. A cool breeze blew and rain started to fall.
‘Rick and Charlie will be here shortly,’ Montana said. ‘Send them down the hill towards me, will you, Julia?’ She strode off with her torch and Julia could hear her bellowing, ‘Win-ter! Sum-mer! ANGE!’
Chloe trailed behind her aunt, echoing her calls.
A dog came flying out of the darkness past Julia, followed instantly by another, both heading for an older, dark-haired lady called Carol. Her husband, Barrie, was ready with leads and both of them grabbed the dogs, patting them and praising them for coming. It wasn’t the dogs’ fault they’d been let off their chains.
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