by Annie Seaton
A long row of garden beds edged the length of the house, and a medium-height fence ran along the edge of the pathway. A small wooden gate with an arch above it stood at the end near the back garden.
“Oh, that will be perfect for Gran’s climbing rose.” Again that glimmer of something tugged at her. “Are you going to have time to look after all of this when I go back to Sydney, Garth? I know how busy you are with the farm.” Lucy moved away from his arm and walked up to the arch he had built over the gate.
His back was to the sun and his eyes were shadowed. “I guess I’ll have to.”
For a moment, the silence was tense until Garth broke it with a laugh that sounded a bit forced. “I don’t want your gran coming over here and seeing dead plants. I’m still as scared of her as I was when I was a kid.”
“Come on, let’s get these plants unloaded and I’ll water them.” Lucy followed him back to the ute, and they worked together unloading the plants and carrying them across to the shade in the hay shed. “Where’s the closest tap and hose?”
“I’ll go and get it while you get the last of the pots from the ute.” She watched as he walked out of the shed. Honestly, she had to get over this need to look at him. She’d found herself daydreaming about Garth when she was at her desk in the city. She was letting herself get a bit too involved here. She turned her attention to the plants before she stood back with a grunt of satisfaction as she lined up the last pot in the row of shrubs. There were more than a hundred plants here, and it was too late to start planting them this afternoon. The sun was sinking quickly, and a beautiful pink sky was building over the western horizon. The contented mooing of the cattle in the paddock closest to the house filled the still afternoon air, and a couple of tiny birds chirped as they picked at the hayseed on the floor of the shed. A feeling of peace stole over her, and she pushed away the memory of the noisy city traffic that had bothered her more than usual this week.
As she mused, a couple of drops of water plopped onto her head. She swung around. Garth was holding the water hose, and his lips were stretched into a cheeky grin as he pointed the hose at her.
“Lucy love, you look really hot.”
She backed away as he stepped closer. “Don’t even think about it, Garth.” She squealed as the water arced towards her, catching the late-afternoon sunlight in brilliant droplets. She wasn’t quick enough; a soft mist of water drifted onto her hair and T-shirt.
“You are so in for it, Garth Mackenzie.”
Garth stood there for a moment before putting the hose down, a smile playing around his lips. He turned the tap off and strolled over to her, lifting her wet hair between his fingers and sliding his lips down her damp neck. Lucy shivered. She wasn’t sure if it was from the water trickling down her back or the soft brushing of his lips on her skin.
“So how am I in for it, Luce?”
“You’ll keep,” she said primly, but she couldn’t stop the laugh bubbling up from her chest as he dropped his fingers to her wet T-shirt and began to slowly peel it up.
“Did you know they have a wet T-shirt competition at the B&S ball? You could enter it.”
Heat flooded her face and neck as she looked down at her T-shirt.
…
Garth frowned as he waited in the kitchen. Lucy had gone to the bathroom to dry off, knocking back his offer to get the towel for her. It was great to have her back, but for some reason, she was a little distant this afternoon. He’d managed to make her laugh, but it hadn’t been long before the serious look had come back into her eyes again. He didn’t like the way it was making him feel. He gripped the edge of the kitchen benchtop as he waited for the kettle to boil, staring out over the green paddocks. Winter was coming quickly, and that meant that Lucy’s three months would be up and she would be going back to the city full-time.
What did that mean for them? The speed at which their relationship was building was a problem. Not for him. He was delighted with them taking up where they had left off six years ago.
But he was destined for heartbreak. Lucy was going back to the city. No matter how much she did over at Prickle Creek Farm—the cooking, helping her grandmother in the garden—she was adamant that country life was a temporary thing for her. Helping out the Peterkin family, that’s all it was. And it looked like he was a bit of fun for her on the side.
What if I want more?
He remembered his thoughts a few weeks back when he’d considered that it might be time to take a wife.
They loved the same things. They both shared a passion for country and western music. They watched movies together, argued politics, and both dreamed of holidays in the tropical north. On the nights Lucy stayed over, she seemed to enjoy pottering about his house and garden and soaking in the huge tub with him.
Seemed to. Maybe he was reading too much into it?
But she was a city person now. Although for the life of him, Garth couldn’t understand how anyone could prefer living in Sydney to the outback. He knew the time Lucy was spending here with him was not going to change that. She didn’t want to live out in the country. And he didn’t want to live in the city. Each to his own, he thought, as disappointment shafted through him.
He couldn’t change the way he was; he was a country boy, through and through. The city stifled him. When he had to visit there he missed the golden paddocks of home, and he hated being in the crowded, noisy streets. Traffic blaring, car pollution, and a night sky where the stars were almost invisible closed him in.
Lucy wandered back through the hallway, running a comb through her wet hair.
“Luce?” He kept his voice even; he didn’t want her to hear the desperation he was feeling.
“Yes.” She paused in the doorway and the knowledge that he was going to lose her soon was worse than a kick from an angry steer in the cattle crush.
“Tell me one thing you love about the city. One thing the country can’t give you,” he asked.
“Is this a trick question?” Her voice was light.
“No. I’m trying understand what you love about it so much.”
She put the comb down on the countertop and tapped a finger to her chin. “Well, I can get the best Thai food right at a little place next door to my apartment. And there’s a great little Japanese restaurant around the corner.”
“That’s two things,” he said. “Don’t you miss the stars?”
Lucy’s tinkling laugh lodged in his heart like shards of glass. “Come on, Garth. We have stars in the city, too!”
“Yeah, I guess you do.” He had no hope if the lure of the city was as simple as a Thai restaurant. They needed different things to make them happy. Confusion filled him; Lucy seemed so happy and content out here, but maybe she was making the best of things and putting on a front.
Whatever it was, they’d had fun while it had lasted. Now all he had to do was move on.
He pulled himself out of his thoughts as the kettle whistled. “Want a cuppa?”
God, how domesticated did that sound?
Chapter Eighteen
The mad rush of cooking had finished at Prickle Creek Farm. Pop was on the mend and starting to get out and about on the quad bike, and Gran was spending more time in her garden. The only time Lucy saw Liam was the nights when she was at Prickle Creek for dinner—and that wasn’t very often. He spent all day out in the paddocks and most of the nights in the farm office with Pop. Lucy had watched him last night over dinner after she’d come back from Garth’s place. In the few weeks they had been here on the farm, Liam had toughened up. He looked like a rugged, outdoorsy man, and he’d lost the English pallor that he’d had when he arrived. When he spoke to Pop, his face was animated and his voice full of enthusiasm. Lucy was surprised how quickly he’d adapted to cattle work. She wondered what he’d do when their time was up and Jemmy and Seb came out to take over.
Tuesday afternoon the phone rang, and Gran beckoned her over. “For you.”
Lucy frowned. It was unusual to get a call on this numb
er. “Hello?”
“Hi, Luce, it’s me.”
“Garth? Is everything okay?” Any other time he’d wanted to see her or talk to her, he’d dropped by. Gran had laughed, saying Garth had almost cleaned out the biscuit barrel single-handedly.
“Yeah. All good. I just wanted to tell you not to come over tonight. Gotta go into town for a meeting. Don’t know how late I’ll get back.”
“Oh.” Disappointment ran through her, but she pushed it away. When she went back to the city, she would have to toughen up. Not seeing Garth for one night wouldn’t hurt. He’d been unusually quiet over the past few days, and a little bit of distance had sprung up between them.
“What time are you going in?”
“Before dinner.”
“Okay.”
Lucy hung up the phone thoughtfully. She would be going back to the city and back to her job. Away from Garth and the Mackenzie farm. It—whatever this thing was between them—had developed way too quickly. Lucy suspected it wouldn’t be long before Garth asked her to stay or hinted at making their relationship permanent. She’d seen the way he looked at her when he didn’t think she was watching. It drove a spike of pain right though her. She couldn’t stay here. There was no future for them. He was firmly entrenched in the land and his property. She had her career and was a part of the city, and that’s where she wanted to be.
It was.
Time to talk to Garth about her going back to the city. It had been fun, but yes, they needed to slow down. Perhaps they did need to put some space between them.
Gran had baked some scones, wrapped them in a tea towel, and told Lucy to take them over to Garth before he went into town. Despite her best intentions, it hadn’t taken much persuasion for her to get into the car and drive over. No matter what her city-girl brain told her, her heart won out. She wanted to see him.
As Lucy drove over the third cattle grid after going through the gate, she glanced to the west. Garth’s horse was tethered to the fence that formed the eastern border between the two properties. Lucy pulled over to the side of the dusty road and put her hand up to her eyes, squinting in the strong afternoon sun. Garth was about fifty metres along the fence, and as she walked towards him, he leaned back and pulled the wire tight. She reached up and shooed the small black flies that always aimed unerringly for her eyes. His muscles strained beneath the tight T-shirt, and his hat was tipped forward over his eyes as he concentrated on tightening the fence wire. His head was down, and Lucy gasped as a movement in the red dirt behind him caught her attention.
A large snake was slithering towards his legs. Lucy stopped walking and put her hand over her mouth. If she called out or caught Garth’s attention as she got closer, he was likely to step back and land right on it.
A six-foot eastern brown snake. One of the deadliest in the west. Perspiration ran down her face, and the flies were forgotten as she stood and watched. The snake came to a stop about a metre behind Garth’s legs but she knew how quickly they could strike. Her heart thudded and dread filled her chest.
Oh, no. What should she do? Before she could move, Garth’s cattle dog began to bark and ran between Garth and the snake. The snake reared and struck the dog as Lucy screamed. “Run forwards, Garth! Snake!”
Garth dropped the wire strainer and with one hand on the wire vaulted over the fence in one fluid movement as the dog barked and circled around the snake.
“Stay there, Luce,” he called.
As she watched, he ran to where his horse was tethered and pulled his stockwhip off the pommel of the saddle. He whistled to the dog to come as he approached the fence. Jack, his red kelpie, limped over to Garth and flopped in the dirt as he cracked the whip and the snake twirled in the air.
Lucy ran over to Garth and he put one arm around her shoulder. “Thanks, Luce. That bugger snuck up on me.”
“Garth.” Lucy gulped in a breath. “I think it bit Jack before you got it.”
He leaned down to the small red dog, who was panting on the hot ground, his eyes cloudy.
“Bugger, I think the bloody thing did.” Garth looked around. “Damn. I knew I should have brought the ute out.”
“What do you need to do?”
“I need to keep him still and get him to the vet.” As he spoke, Jack started to twitch as his muscles went into a spasm. “I wonder where it got him.”
“On his back leg, I think,” Lucy said. “Pick him up. I’ll drive you into town.”
“Thanks, sweetheart.”
The endearment hit her like a punch to her chest, but Garth was unaware of her inner turmoil as he lifted the dog and ran to Lucy’s car. She grabbed a blanket from the boot and spread it on the back seat, and he gently laid the small dog on it as she jumped behind the wheel.
…
Garth sat in the back with the dog cradled gently in his large hands and spoke softly to Jack as Lucy sped down the road towards Spring Downs.
“If you want to tell the vet we’re on the way, my phone’s in my bag on the floor.” Lucy spoke over her shoulder as they got closer to town where the mobile phone service kicked in.
Garth made the call and kept one hand on Jack’s forehead. Jack was his best dog, and was more than a work dog. He was old, and he’d had him before he’d gone away to the west. He clenched his jaw as Lucy accelerated. She knew Jack was special to him.
By the time they pulled up outside the vet surgery, Rod, the local veterinarian, was waiting for them with the antivenene loaded, ready to inject.
“I’ll put him on oxygen, too,” he said as Jack lay on the stainless steel table. Rod looked up from the dog and smiled at Lucy. “Hello, Lucy, I heard you were back in town.”
Garth pushed away the surge of jealousy that ripped through him when Lucy bestowed a high-wattage smile on the good-looking vet.
My woman.
“Oh, hi, Rod. I’m so sorry. All my attention was on Jack. I didn’t even realise it was you. You came back to Spring Downs?”
“As soon as I qualified.” Rod glanced across at Garth before he turned to Lucy. “You’ve moved back, too?”
“Oh no, I’m only visiting.”
“How about coming into town for dinner on the weekend, and you can tell me what you’ve been up to?”
“I’d like that.” Lucy’s voice was strange, and she looked away from Garth as she accepted the invitation. “It’ll be great to catch up.”
Disbelief slammed through Garth and he tightened his lips. She could have said, “we’d like that” or “we could both come.” She could have given the guy an indication that she was in a relationship. He frowned; at least he thought they were. It was time to talk about what Lucy thought and what she wanted.
“Good to see Rod working back in town,” Lucy said as they headed back home.
“Yes.” Garth looked away and watched the brown paddocks flash past.
“I sat next to him right though primary school.”
Garth nodded and stared out the window.
“He said Jack would be okay, so don’t be too upset. He’ll be fine.” This time her smile was tentative.
“Yep.” Lucy thought he was upset about Jack; she didn’t understand what she was doing to his emotions. Confusion—and fear—were becoming constant companions. Fear of what he was getting himself into.
“He always wanted to be a vet. Good to see he got there.”
“Yes.” The word was almost a grunt, but Garth didn’t particularly want to talk about Rod Rogers. What he wanted to know was what it would take to get Lucy to move back to the country.
“I’m really surprised that he came back to Spring Downs,” she said.
This time he couldn’t help himself. “And why’s that, Lucy? Because it’s not a place that anyone with any brains would want to live? Have you ever thought that’s only your opinion on the place? Some of us love living out here. Give me the west over the city any day.”
“Why are you so angry?”
The hurt in her voice calmed Garth a littl
e bit. “Lucy, what do you want?”
She shot him a funny look, but he turned to stare out the window again. “What do you mean, what do I want?”
“What do you want out of life? Do you want a career? Do you want to stay in the city?”
“I made my intentions quite clear when I first came to your place, if you think back, Garth. You said you were fine with it.” Her response was clipped, and Garth noticed her hands tighten on the steering wheel.
“I guess you did. “ He slunk down in the seat and tipped his head back.
I’ve got no chance of changing her mind.
The rest of the trip home was quiet, and he pointed to the paddock where he’d left his horse beneath the trees. “Just drop me here, please.”
“What about your meeting?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, I’ll go back into town in a while.”
“See you later, maybe.” Her voice was quiet.
“Maybe.” Garth watched as the dust billowed behind the car as she drove towards Prickle Creek Farm.
Okay, so they were sleeping together and maybe he’d been stupid to think it meant anything, but he’d not been able to stop his dream of making a life with Lucy. Out here in the country. Like she said, she’d told him at the outset what her intentions were. Yet the more time she’d spent with him over the past six weeks, the deeper and harder he’d fallen for her. She had seemed to enjoy working with him, getting the garden in order, cooking meals with him, and just being together. Foolishly, he’d thought that meant she’d softened in her attitude about being back out here in the Pilliga.
They could sit in the living room at night and not speak for an hour, and the silence between them was comfortable. How stupid was he to think that meant that she wanted to stay?
How stupid had be been to start that argument in the car? The bloody green-eyed monster of jealousy had pushed him into it. Rod was an old school friend, but it had fired up his insecurity. Garth wasn’t good enough for Lucy; he didn’t measure up to what she wanted in life. How stupid was he to think she’d be happy as a farmer’s wife? Because that was the direction his thoughts had been taking.