Shadows of Hunters Ridge

by Sarah Barrie

  ‘It’s not, it’s just … stupid.’

  ‘Ah … it’s Lee.’

  She nodded, pressing her fingers to her eyes. ‘I’m a bitch. And if you listen to Fiona, I’m a jealous little cow. And I think I can probably add a few more.’

  Mia put an arm around her. ‘All right. Inside, sweetie. Sit down and talk. Ally’s given me the basics, but you should tell me everything. From the night at Lee’s onwards.’

  Ebony sat and ran through the story about the man in the mask, about hiding in the recovery room, about Lee turning up.

  ‘And because he could see you were upset, Lee took you back to his place,’ Mia said. ‘Ally told me.’

  ‘Yes. That’s all it was. Except Fiona was at Lee’s too and so I went to bed early – I didn’t want to intrude more than I already had – and she came and found me.’

  Mia growled. ‘Oh, she’s the bitch. I can just imagine. Let’s plot our revenge.’

  Ebony somehow managed another smile before shaking her head. ‘The thing is, I don’t blame her. I am always interfering with their time.’

  ‘What makes it theirs? Lee’s a big boy. He can decide what he does with his time. Besides, what? She’s choosing his friends now? I didn’t think he’d allow that.’

  ‘Yes, but after that I couldn’t sleep, so I went downstairs to make myself a cup of tea and they were all over each other.’

  ‘Which is the last thing you needed to see after the night you’d had and the mouthful she gave you,’ Mia said.

  ‘I told myself I had no right to feel upset about Lee and Fiona, and that I needed to get my feelings under control. Get over it. Except I can’t. When I try, I just end up sounding like a bitch and hurting his feelings. And this afternoon that’s exactly what happened – again – and he finally snapped back. He had every right to, but now, here I am, upset about it. I’m an idiot.’

  ‘You’re no more an idiot than you are a cow or a bitch. You just need time – and chocolate,’ Mia said with a sympathetic hug. ‘These situations call for it. And it just so happens I have rocky road.’

  ‘Everyone will be wondering where we are.’

  ‘Well, I don’t have a landline here yet and the no mobile reception thing drives me nuts, so they’ll just have to wonder. It won’t take me long to cheer you up.’

  It didn’t take long, not really. Mia could always make Ebony laugh. And before full dark they were sitting around the table at Ally’s while the men enjoyed their Friday night football. Lee had barely acknowledged her when they’d arrived and hadn’t spoken to her when they’d eaten dinner. But then, she’d made no effort either. It would get easier, she promised herself, when she got herself in a better headspace, but for tonight she’d just stick with Ally and Mia.

  ‘So then along comes Nick and he has Bill eating out of his hand,’ she told them.

  ‘He sounds too good to be true,’ Mia said. ‘What’s wrong with him?’

  Ebony shrugged. ‘Don’t know him well enough to say. Lee doesn’t like the way he looks at me.’

  ‘Lee’s protective. He can’t help it,’ Ally said.

  Mia scoffed. ‘Lee’s jealous and he won’t admit it, more like.’

  ‘And he accused me of wearing something nice tonight because he thought I’d invited Nick,’ she told Ally.

  ‘Did it occur to you that the fact that he pointed that out might mean something?’

  ‘Yes – it might mean he has to stop playing big brother and also mind his own business. I’m over it. He doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t want me, but he’s shitty because Nick asked me out.’

  ‘Really?’ Mia drew out the word. ‘You never mentioned this. And you said …?’

  ‘Didn’t I? I told you we had coffee the other day, now he wants to have dinner tomorrow night. I would have come up with an excuse, except I didn’t feel like I could after he’d been so nice. And he has some sort of proposition he wants to discuss with me.’

  ‘I’ll bet he does.’

  Ebony pulled a face and took a sip of her wine. ‘I’m not interested in that kind of proposition.’

  ‘Wait and see when you get to know him,’ Mia said. ‘He could be just the thing. And if work runs late tomorrow, don’t worry about coming out to help with the gardening. Spend the time getting ready for your dinner.’

  ‘No way. I like gardening. I’m looking forward to it. Besides, I won’t be getting too dressed up. I’m over the whole “men” thing entirely. It drives me mad.’

  ‘Oh come on, that’s not Nick’s fault. By “it”, you really mean Lee,’ Mia said and reached out to pat her hand. ‘Sweetie, sometimes the first step to forgiveness is realising the other person is just stupid.’

  Ebony reluctantly laughed and buried her face in her hands. ‘Someone start a new topic. Anything. Please.’

  ‘I’ve got one,’ Ally said. ‘I’m pregnant.’

  The sound of women screaming had Lee catapulting out of his chair and spilling his beer.

  ‘Don’t stress,’ Cam told him with a chuckle. ‘It’s just Ally giving them the news.’

  ‘News? Did I miss something?’

  ‘We’re having a baby.’

  ‘What? No. Really?’

  Cam stood and Lee gave him a slap-on-the-back hug.

  ‘Congrats, man, that’s awesome.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  ‘It is awesome, isn’t it? I mean, you said you were going to wait a while. Ally was adamant.’

  ‘Junior had other ideas.’

  ‘Oh man, there’s not going to be a Cameron William Blakely number four is there?’

  ‘Ally said the same thing to me once. When I laughed at her for falling in the mud during a thunderstorm.’ He smiled widely at the memory. ‘But seriously, no way. I still haven’t forgiven my parents for making me number three. If this is a boy he’s having his own name. I’m not going to persecute him.’

  Lee shook his head, trying to get used to the idea. ‘You’re going to be a dad – that’s huge. Wow.’

  ‘Yeah. I can’t wait. And for someone who wanted to wait, Ally’s done a complete turnaround. She’s already counting the days.’

  Lee tapped his beer to Cam’s. ‘Cheers.’

  ‘Cheers.’

  A dad. Jeez. Wasn’t that something that you did ‘one day’ – as in, sometime in the distant future? How did Ally and Cam get here so fast? He thought back to the conversation he’d held with himself over his extravagant, family-sized home. Yeah, he’d always liked the idea of having kids. Had always pictured himself settling down. He just never had. And now his best mate, his younger best mate, was going there, while Lee didn’t even have a serious partner. What was he doing with his life?

  He’d thought he was happy enough, but Cam’s news shook up something inside him, an empty something. He’d have to think about that. But not right now. Right now he was celebrating Cam’s good fortune.

  CHAPTER

  14

  Ally greeted Lee as he arrived the following afternoon.

  ‘Afternoon! Weren’t you bringing the bobcat?’

  ‘Already at the cottage. How’s the gorgeous mother-to-be?’

  Ally put a hand on her non-existent baby bump. ‘It still doesn’t feel real. I wanted to wait – now I can’t wait. I want this baby so much.’

  ‘I’m happy for you. I’ll be even happier when you name it Lee.’ He stepped up onto the veranda to join her and kissed her on the cheek, then dropped onto a chair to pull off his boots. ‘Cam around?’

  ‘He’s negotiating a price on pavers for the Singleton place.’

  ‘Today?’

  Ally shrugged.

  ‘I’m surprised he’s not planning a nursery.’

  ‘Two new rooms – because why settle for one – study turning into playroom, new study to be announced when he figures it out, probably off the lounge. You’re not keeping up.’

  Lee laughed. ‘Marriage, kids, extensions … hell, Ally, I’m not even close to keeping up.’

&nbs
p; Ally sat beside him. ‘You thinking about trying to? You’d make a great dad.’

  ‘Hope so. I’d like a tribe of them.’ He pressed his back to the wall of the house. ‘I suppose I’m getting a bit old to be talking about tribes though.’

  Ally shrugged. ‘You’re only thirty-three.’

  ‘Yeah and I’m yet to meet the woman crazy enough to want to spend her life with me.’

  ‘How’s it going with you and Fiona?’

  ‘That’s … not going anywhere.’

  ‘Oh, sorry. She never comes out here.’

  ‘She doesn’t want to. And she seems to have a thing about Ebony.’

  ‘About Ebs?’

  ‘She’s always bringing her up. “You do this for Ebony, you do that for Ebony, but you won’t do more for my six thousand friends and their three-times-removed relatives.”’ He ran a hand through his untidy hair. ‘Shit, didn’t mean to be nasty.’

  Ally smiled sympathetically. ‘You’re not. You’re a really sweet, really thoughtful, really generous man and perhaps she’s taking advantage of that?’

  His gaze slid sideways to hers. ‘You don’t like her any more than Cam does.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter. While you do, I’ll make an effort.’

  ‘Appreciate it. But I’m going to have to tell her it’s not working. Try to figure out a nice way to do it.’

  ‘You’ve had plenty of practice,’ Ally muttered with a grin.

  ‘Not that much,’ he objected.

  The front door opened.

  ‘Ally – oh, hi, Lee. What are we talking about?’ Mia asked.

  ‘Fiona’s wearing thin,’ Ally informed her.

  Mia looked remarkably pleased. ‘Starting to think with your brain, huh?’

  ‘And she’s jealous of Ebony,’ Ally continued before Lee could object to Mia’s comment.

  ‘Jeez, Ally, Mia, would you both just –’

  ‘No kidding?’ The dry tone and the accompanying look Mia and Ally shared had him getting to his feet, wondering how he’d got himself into this conversation, and, more importantly, just how the hell he was going to get himself out of it.

  ‘I dropped the bobcat down to the cottage,’ he told Mia. ‘So we can start on those garden beds.’

  ‘Awesome! And while you’re being so generous with your time, by any chance do you ride a skateboard?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Would you like to try?’

  ‘I think that one might be Cam’s department.’

  ‘Funny, he never said.’ She stuck her head back through the door. ‘Cameron!’

  Cam appeared, phone still in hand. He said a few more words, hung up. ‘Why am I in trouble?’

  ‘Lee informs me skateboard riding is your thing.’

  Cam sent Lee a cool stare then said to Mia, ‘I told you, not since I was ten. And not very well.’

  ‘Don’t you want a chance to relive your childhood?’

  ‘No.’ Then he laughed. ‘Flutter those eyelashes all you like. I have to be responsible. I have a child to consider. Why don’t you just stick the camera on the skateboard and roll it down the driveway?’

  ‘That will kill the camera.’ She indicated to it with a sweep of her hand. ‘That driveway’s one step short of Everest.’

  ‘What if we attach the GoPro under the car’s bullbar when we drive down to play with your new garden?’ Lee suggested. ‘Can you Photoshop in the front of the skateboard?’

  Mia thought about that, nodded slowly. ‘Yes! Great. Let’s do that.’

  Ebony climbed out of her car. What were they all doing on the front veranda?

  ‘Hi. I hope I’m not late?’

  There was a round of greetings. Lee sent her a cool look, but nodded.

  ‘No, we were just making plans for your car,’ Mia told her with a grin. ‘Is that okay?’

  ‘I guess that really depends on what they are. Are we driving it off Cam’s mountain?’

  ‘Not off it, just down it,’ Mia promised, and went back inside to get her camera.

  They worked out the best way to strap on the GoPro and Ebony drove up and down Cam’s driveway twice before they continued along the road and down the long winding lane to the cottage. The bush was alive with birds, and the sun shone through foliage, dappling the ground and highlighting the golden yellow flowers of the abundant acacias. It was pretty, but she couldn’t help but notice again how completely isolated from everything it was out here.

  ‘Are you sure you don’t mind being alone all the way out here?’ Ebony asked Mia.

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘It’s the middle of nowhere.’

  ‘True. And I have a much better chance being robbed or mugged in the city than out here.’

  ‘Good point, I suppose.’

  ‘Yeah, but there’s no Rob to worry about in the city,’ Ally said.

  ‘There doesn’t seem to be a Rob to worry about here either,’ Mia replied.

  ‘Well, someone took my keys, so there’s somebody poking around out here.’

  ‘That’s miles over that way.’ The land cleared and the little cottage came into view. ‘And this is just gorgeous.’

  The women got out and Mia cut the cable ties holding the GoPro to the car. ‘I should get some good pics out of this. I’ll just pop it on the back seat of your car and we’ll unload these plants.’

  ‘So where’s the new garden going?’ Ebony asked.

  ‘In front of the veranda.’ They took over the plants, then Mia looked down at her clothes. ‘I might just get changed. Come inside. Until the guys arrive we can sit in the middle of the house and imagine what’s going to go where and what colour everything’s going to be.’

  ‘Everything won’t be much.’ Ebony walked into the lounge area. Just beyond it was a little hallway with a bathroom on the right before it reopened into a combined kitchen-dining room. On the end of that were two small bedrooms. ‘It’s only a little place.’

  ‘Have you seen my terrace in the city? You’d be amazed what I can do with a small amount of space. I wonder if I could talk Cam into extending the bedrooms, though?’

  ‘You make it sound like you’re moving in,’ Ebs commented, ‘not just using it as a weekender.’

  ‘If Ally decides to sell the place, it won’t hurt to have it looking pretty,’ Mia said.

  ‘I’m not in a hurry to do that,’ Ally replied. ‘I know you prefer to have your own space, and I like the idea of you having a place for yourself when you come out and visit.’

  ‘Which is why I’d like to furnish it all myself – that okay?’

  ‘Of course.’

  They discussed colour schemes, furniture, carpets, and worked their way out the back.

  ‘Cam’s going to underscrub – all those low bushes can make way for some grass and pretty flowering natives. I’m hoping the wallabies and birds might come in.’

  ‘I’m sure they will,’ Ebony said. ‘Gus had feeders everywhere.’

  ‘Sounds like the guys are here,’ Ally said. ‘Let’s go find something for them to do.’

  They worked through the afternoon. While Cam slashed the grass behind the house, Lee manoeuvred the bobcat around the front of the cottage, scraping back grass, digging holes, loosening soil. The front garden was planted out as he prepared another along the side. He’d just pushed another pile of rocks together when Mia beckoned him. She handed him a bottle of water and he threw it back.

  ‘That looks great, thanks, Lee.’

  ‘No worries. You want a hand placing those rocks?’

  ‘Sure. They look nice as a border around the garden.’

  ‘They do.’ He picked one up, dropped it next to the others. ‘Where have Ally and Ebs gone?’

  ‘Ally’s feeding horses then starting dinner. I didn’t want her lifting rocks. And Ebs couldn’t stay – she’s having dinner with Nick and had a couple of things to do first.’

  ‘Dinner with Nick?’ Jealousy, sharp and strong, ripped through him.

  ‘Yep. She di
dn’t mention it?’

  ‘I don’t seem to be able to talk to her at all. She hasn’t been herself lately. I think all this stuff with Martin and Rob’s getting to her.’

  There was a pause, then Mia said, ‘Oh, so that’s what you think.’

  He dropped another rock down harder than necessary and sucked in a deep breath to quell the instant shot of angry frustration. ‘Okay, spill.’

  ‘Excuse me?’

  He didn’t appreciate the twitch of her lips. This wasn’t funny. ‘You know something.’

  ‘Well, of course I do, but as much as I love you, I’m not saying. Ask Ebs.’

  ‘I did. She wouldn’t tell me. How the hell am I supposed to fix it if she won’t tell me?’

  Mia blew out a breath. He could almost see her mind working. ‘This is probably going to come back to bite me but you need to put a gag on Fiona. Ebs has enough to deal with.’

  ‘What? Why? Fiona gets a bit put out when I do stuff for Ebs but she’s always nice enough to her.’

  Mia folded her arms, raised an eyebrow. ‘Nice enough to wait for you to jump in the shower so she can sneak in and hurl abuse at Ebony – on the same night some freak has already chased her out of her own home?’

  The anger burned so fast and so hot that, for a moment, he just stared. ‘She did what?’

  ‘I won’t tell you what she said, only that it was straight down the line nasty with a whole lot of leave you alone.’

  ‘Leave me alone? That’s what this is about? Well, that just made this easier.’ He dragged off his gloves and tossed them carelessly in the bobcat.

  He was heading for the car when he stopped, turned back and kissed Mia on the cheek.

  ‘Owe ya.’

  ‘This is really good Pad Thai,’ Nick commented as they ate their meals. ‘I guess I didn’t expect much from such a small town.’

  ‘Tree change. The owners had a restaurant in Melbourne for twenty years. This is their retirement plan.’

  ‘Looks a bit busy for that.’

  She looked around. It was full, but that wasn’t unusual. ‘People come from neighbouring towns.’

  ‘Did I mention how gorgeous you look?’

  She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. ‘Ah … yeah, three times, I think.’

  ‘It makes you nervous when I tell you how lovely you are.’ His eyes warmed another notch. ‘Why?’