by Mandy Magro
‘Yeah, but we’re sweet tarts,’ Shirley spluttered, chortling. If Shirley’s eyebrows went any higher they were going to join her fiery hairline.
Ivy grinned at the two women acting like hormonal teenagers and folded her arms, pondering the idea for a few moments. Maybe she’d been too quick to jump to conclusions, because she was on a man-hatey trip at the moment, and maybe Ronny was one of the nice guys. He was looking for work in the building industry, and from what she’d seen of him the other day, she knew he’d be capable of hard work. Being Lottie’s great nephew there was a good chance he had her dependability and trustworthiness … he could very well be the very man she’d been looking for – for the renovations job, that was. She was not going to let herself fantasise about him being her knight in shining armour – she’d done that with blokes too many times before and only ended up getting her heart broken one way or another. Nodding her head slowly, she smiled broadly. ‘Beryl and Shirley, you two are absolute gems. This is the best damn idea I’ve ever heard. If I win him as a slave I’ll get to see how he works for a few days before I offer him the renovation job – if he’s a qualified tradesman, of course. A win-win situation.’
Shirley did a happy jiggle. ‘Wonderful, that’s all sorted. I’ll see you on Saturday night then?’
‘You surely will.’ Ivy beamed. ‘I’ll be there with bells on.’
‘Great. Make sure you bring your lovely aunts along too … I haven’t seen them in ages.’
‘I’m fairly certain we’ll all be there.’ Ivy started towards the front door, an extra spring in her step. The sexy new bloke in town was in need of work, and there was a possibility he was a builder – this might be the little miracle she and her aunts had been wishing for. Fingers crossed their prayers were about to be answered by the powers that be, and Ronny Sinclair would be just the man they needed for the job.
CHAPTER
8
Driving around the block for the third time in a row, Ivy, May and Alice chattered excitedly about the lack of parking spots. Not being able to find a park was such a rarity in this part of the Blue Mountains. Hell, there weren’t even parking meters in Bluegrass Bend, and only one set of traffic lights – country living at its finest. Resigned to the fact they were going to have to walk a little to get to the pub, Ivy headed to the Coles car park. She didn’t mind at all, she needed to chill out and the walk would give her the opportunity to do so. She was feeling a little nervous – she’d never bid for a slave in an auction before and was apprehensive about bidding for the man she’d bumped into at the bank, because as much as she didn’t want to admit it to herself, his handsome face had been lingering in her thoughts way too much. Had he felt the spark between them as she had? Could that be the reason he’d shot off like a bull from a gate? And she was worried the bidding would get too high and she would have to pull out of it – a hundred and fifty bucks was her limit, as she and her aunts had agreed. They really needed a worker and fast, even if it was only for a few days. And on top of that, she didn’t know how she was going to feel if she ran into her ex, which was a given, seeing as the pub was Malcolm’s second home and he was never one to miss a social outing. She sighed. There was so much to worry about and, true to form, she was overdoing it. Sucking in a deep breath, she parked and switched off the engine. She needed to stop stressing and just let the evening unfold. Leave it in Fate’s dependable hands.
‘It looks like every man and his dog has turned out for the fundraiser.’ Alice clapped her hands with delight. ‘How wonderful to see the town pull together for such a great cause, it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.’
‘It certainly is, Alice,’ May said as she climbed out of the ute. ‘Cancer is an absolute bitch. I can’t wait until the day they discover a cure. We’ve lost too many friends and family over the years to the horrid disease.’
Ivy gathered her handbag from the floor and then clambered out, giggling at herself when she tried to do so with the seatbelt still on. Shutting the door, she tried to catch her reflection in the window, feeling a little uncomfortable in the fitted dress her aunts had insisted she looked amazing in. She had to admit she liked the feel of the soft fabric against her skin, and the earthy hues matched nicely with her brown knee-high Dan Post boots, she was just concerned that the neckline was too revealing, the hint of her ample cleavage something she was unaccustomed to.
‘Come on then, Ivy, we’re already an hour late. I hope they haven’t started the bidding for our slave yet.’ May tugged her silky shawl over her bare shoulders. ‘And stop worrying, you look beautiful, as always.’
Ivy graced her with a smile as she pulled the dress up a little at the front, only for it to fall back down. She rolled her eyes. She really needed to find her inner goddess one of these days – believing she was sexy would be a damn good start.
‘Thanks, Aunty May, but I reckon you’re both just a little biased.’
Alice tutted and shook her head. ‘Oh, hosh tosh. You’re an absolute stunner, Miss Tucker – just like your mum was. And I can’t for the life of me understand why a man hasn’t counted his blessings and swept you off to get married.’
Ivy shrugged and said quietly, ‘It’s because the right one hasn’t come along yet, that’s all.’ She looked down at the footpath, emotions welling. She angrily swallowed them down. Men weren’t worth her tears. ‘And after what Malcolm did to me, I kinda want a break from blokes for a while – they’re nothing but trouble.’
Alice drew her niece to her. ‘I don’t blame you, dear, just don’t turn all bitter and give up on love, okay?’ She pulled back gently and tipped her head towards May, smiling compassionately. ‘Because you really don’t want to end up like May and me, a pair of old spinsters who can’t have cats because they’re allergic to them. You, my beautiful girl, deserve all the happiness that true love can give you.’
Ivy offered a resigned sigh. ‘Thanks, Aunty Alice, I haven’t given up on love just yet.’ She tried to sound convincing, but to be perfectly honest, she was pretty certain she’d end up exactly like her two aunts. Although, on the plus side, she’d be able to have the cats because she wasn’t allergic to them. She groaned inwardly with the thought.
‘That’s what I like to hear, love.’ Alice grinned. ‘Now let’s go and have ourselves some fun.’
They headed off in the direction of the pub, chattering about this and that along the way and before they knew it, they were walking through the front door of the Bluegrass Bend Inn, the chatter of the patrons along with the music blaring from the jukebox like a slap to the face.
A woman standing at the door handed them each a small glass of pink champagne from a drinks tray along with a pink heart with a pin on the back of it. As though reading Ivy’s mind, she smiled and pointed to the heart. ‘We thought it would be a nice little gimmick for the night to unite us all in some way. You can pop it on wherever you like.’
Ivy smiled and attached it to her dress, right where her heart was beating beneath it. Alice and May did the same.
Humming to the tune of ‘I Walk the Line’ by Johnny Cash she smiled at the huge turnout, the many familiar faces around the room giving her the same warm and fuzzy feeling Alice was speaking of earlier. The way a country town pulled together always made her proud. She could feel quite a few sets of eyes upon her, the attention making her cheeks flush. She didn’t like being in the spotlight, although it was nice to know her effort of getting dressed up was being appreciated.
Alice placed her hand on Ivy’s back. ‘We’re off to get ourselves a shandy, love, do you want anything?’
‘Um, I’m not really sure what I feel like yet … how about I just come with you.’
‘Might be a good idea. I’m not sure we’d find our way back to you through this lot anyway.’
The trio worked their way through the throng as they sipped on their champagne. Being a beer drinker, Ivy was having trouble swallowing it, but she did so out of good manners, although the contorting of her face was out
of her control. Stopping along the way to say hi to friends, the three finally made it to the horseshoe-shaped bar just as they’d finished their glasses. In seconds, May and Alice had been separated from Ivy, the growing mob forcing their way between them in their haste to get served. Leaning on the bar, her shiny black hair lying over one shoulder of her dress, Ivy scanned the beers on tap and decided on a schooner of XXXX Gold. She was the designated driver tonight so she needed to pace her drinks and stick to lighter beer, and not being a huge drinker, she didn’t mind at all.
After giving Ivy a forced smile, the head barmaid, Amy Mayberry, begrudgingly went to work pulling her beer. As Ivy watched her ex-friend, she recalled the event that had ended their close bond in their final year at high school. It was almost seven years ago now, but Ivy remembered the night like it was only yesterday – the images were hard to forget. Finding Amy in the bushes on the night of their debutante ball, as naked as the day she was born, with her legs wrapped around what was Ivy’s first love, Brett Jones, and her tongue shoved down his throat, had been like a knife through Ivy’s chest. After telling the entire ball over the microphone that Amy was the high school tart (as a scorned woman she had the excuse of not thinking straight at the time), she’d run all the way home from the deb and hidden in her room for a week, crying her heart out, her tissue usage enough to warrant a sponsorship with Kleenex. May and Alice had eventually dragged her from her bedroom, kicking and screaming, in a bid to get her to go back to school, with a firm command to brush her unkempt hair and teeth, and then to hold her head high as she walked through the school gates, because although she’d ratted on Amy in the heat of the moment, in the big scheme of things she wasn’t the one who had done wrong.
Upon returning to Bluegrass High, the gossip around the school hallways had been that Amy had liked Brett long before Ivy had gotten with him, and that Ivy had basically stolen him from Amy, and so Ivy deserved to be cheated on. Amy had made sure everyone knew that Ivy was still a virgin and wouldn’t sleep with Brett. The ‘fact’ that Amy had had a crush on Brett for ages was news to Ivy, and she was guessing it was a big fat lie just so Amy could make herself look like the victim. It was as though Ivy was the one who had done wrong. Ivy knew she shouldn’t have been surprised, because guys always came first in Amy Mayberry’s world, no matter what. Ivy had certainly learnt who her real mates were during the aftermath.
Amy and Ivy had never spoken again, though they were civil enough to each other – as you had to be in a tiny town – and Amy had never once offered an apology for what she had done. Looking back, Amy had done Ivy a huge favour – Brett Jones wasn’t the kind of guy she would ever have wanted to end up with and was now in jail for selling drugs to teenagers. And Amy wasn’t the kind of friend a girl wanted – she was so self-involved she didn’t give a hoot about anyone else’s feelings, her reputation as the town tart a perfect example of her selfishness. Any guy who would go near the likes of Amy Mayberry did not appeal to Ivy.
While waiting for her beer, Ivy scanned the faces at the bar. Her heart leapt out of her chest when she spotted Malcolm and, standing beside him, the guy who had been buck-naked the day she’d walked in on them. She almost ran to the toilets to avoid him seeing her, but found some inner strength and stood her ground – as her aunts had said after the deb ball all those years ago, she’d done nothing wrong and should hold her head high. To any onlookers the two men resembled the average pair of country blokes out for a good night. As she stood tall watching them, she felt a little weird about knowing their secret but at the same time somehow privileged. As her heart rate returned to normal, she thought about how many things people hid from those close to them, and the outside world, for fear of being judged or ridiculed. And she’d be the first to admit she was guilty of judging too quickly at times too – it was human nature. Even so, it was sad. And it made her wonder how many more people here had things they never wanted anyone to ever know – surely some had secrets that had the power to ruin lives? If only everyone could feel safe to open up and be their true selves instead of pretending to be someone they weren’t just to please everyone else – at the same time making themselves miserable – the world would be a beautifully loving place.
Malcolm caught her gazing at him and in turn acknowledged her with a meek smile as he raised his beer. She returned his smile with a broad one – surprising Malcolm and even herself. She realised now that she hadn’t had the intense feelings of love for Malcolm she’d thought she’d had; it had been more the desire to be in love. Of course she’d liked him, a lot – he was a genuinely likeable bloke – but now she could see him without rose-coloured glasses and she could honestly admit to herself he wasn’t The One. The very idea jolted her and got her thinking about her ex-boyfriends. Had she ever truly been in love with any of them? Deep in thought, she jumped when Amy thumped her beer down on the bar, the amber liquid sloshing and spilling over the glass. Ivy almost asked her to top it up, but refrained. It wasn’t worth the argument it would most certainly cause.
Amy flicked her head so her long blonde ponytail swished like a horse’s tail, her glittery earrings swinging as she did so. She stopped chewing her gum. ‘That’ll be four bucks.’
How about a please? Ivy dug in her wallet and then handed the money over, trying to smile as she did so. It didn’t hurt to try to be friendly although her tongue was going to bleed if she bit it any harder.
Unsmiling, Amy snatched the money out of her hand then turned to serve the next patron. She graced the young bloke with the biggest smile she could muster as she leant in just enough for him to peer into her cleavage. Ivy watched as the guy licked his lips. Yuck! Sighing heavily, she turned and leant against the bar, tired of feeling as though she was back at high school each and every time she was anywhere near Amy.
She took a sip from her beer, enjoying the malty flavour, and scanned the sea of faces once more to see if any of the blokes took her fancy. Not that she was going to be following through if there was, she just wanted to see if there was any hope of her finding a happily ever after in Bluegrass Bend. But nope, there was no lightning moment, no sparks, not even a flicker. Hopefully her real knight in shining armour was still out there somewhere, trying to find his damn horse to ride in on when the time was right. Knowing her luck, he’d find himself a donkey and ride off into the sunset without her. She groaned inwardly. Yup, that’d be her bloody luck. Maybe she was destined to wind up a lonely old woman, with cats.
Alice and May appeared in front of her, halting her train of depressing thoughts, both grinning like billyo. Clearly they’d already enjoyed a shandy after their glasses of champagne and were now onto their next drink. Her aunts were lightweights when it came to alcohol, much like herself, and it didn’t take long for them to be merrily tipsy.
May patted her on the arm. ‘Come on, love, let’s get up near that stage and find ourselves a good spot. I just ran into Shirley at the bar and apparently she’s going to start the bidding for the slaves in five minutes. I wonder who’s going to be up first – I can’t wait to see what this new bloke in town is like.’
‘Neither can I. I just hope my heart holds out if he’s as sexy as Shirley says,’ Alice added with a titter. Ivy had decided not to tell May and Alice about her run-in with the sexy newcomer because they’d just start on the whole universe-throwing-him-in-her-path thing and she hadn’t been in the mood for that.
Not wanting to fall into a hole filled with self-pity, she mentally shook her fears away and strode forwards. It wasn’t in her nature to be so, well, so downright negative and miserable, and she needed to snap the hell out of it. And she secretly couldn’t wait to see Ronny Sinclair again so she could perve on his manly scrumptiousness, as did most of the females in town by the looks of women to men ratio tonight. Yes, Frank and Jed were popular amongst the locals, for being such likeable blokes and being easy on the eye for the women, but both were taken – Frank was married and with a fiancée Jed was halfway to the altar himself. So it se
emed as if news had spread like wildfire about the new stud in town. Very unusual for a night at the pub, the Bluegrass Bend men usually were the ones to outnumber the women, but not tonight … by a long shot.
The microphone roared to life as the charismatic Shirley Jones took centre stage. Beneath the spotlight, her bright red smile was as dazzling as her copper hair. Ivy smiled up at her from where she stood with Alice, May and Beryl. Like Ivy’s aunts, Beryl had clearly enjoyed her share of white wine tonight too – her face glowed a warm red hue and she wore her goofy grin. Beryl always liked a bit of a tipple, and she was a cracker when she’d had a few; Ivy knew she’d be dragged onto the dance floor at some stage of the evening. On the other side of Beryl stood a stocky, middle-aged man Ivy had occasionally seen around town but wasn’t overly familiar with. From the proud-as-punch smile on his face as he gazed at Shirley, she gathered he was the Larry Shirley had mooned over at the post office the other day. She caught his attention and gave him a wave, and he returned the gesture.
The crowd hushed as Shirley began. ‘Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, it’s wonderful to see so many of you here for tonight’s fundraiser. It makes me extremely proud to be part of such a loving and supportive community. We’ve already made three thousand dollars tonight with the entry tickets and meat raffles, so hurrah for Bluegrass Bend!’
The crowd cheered and whistled and raised their glasses in the air and after giving them a few moments to celebrate Shirley continued on, her smiling face now turning serious. ‘Sadly, cancer has affected all of us in different ways. Some of us have had it and travelled the long, hard road through chemotherapy, others are still fighting the battle with grit and determination, and there are those of us who have lost loved ones to the terrible disease.’ She sniffed and cleared her throat. ‘Only a few months ago, we lost one of our oldest and dearest Bluegrass Bend residents, Lottie Sinclair, to brain cancer. Lottie fought hard, always remaining positive and never giving up, but sadly, in the end, the cancer won. Tonight is in her memory, and in memory of all of those souls who have lost their battles. We’re raising much needed funds to help find a cure for this life-stealing disease and to aid in funding some of our local residents who need regular trips to the city for their treatment.’ She motioned to the side of the stage with a dramatic sweep of her arm. ‘And who better to start tonight’s slave for a weekend auction off than our dapper local lad, Frank Albano.’