by Fiona Lowe
Cameron stood up and pulled her to her feet, his expression full of confidence. ‘Have you ever known my mother to say no to me?’
She smiled and kissed him.
CHAPTER
4
‘Hi, Alex, it’s Ellie.’ The sound of bleating goats floated down the line, making her smile despite her nervousness.
‘Hey, Ellie. How are things?’
‘Not bad.’ Ellie liked her brother-in-law. Alex was uncomplicated, kind and smart as a whip and if she was ever put in a position where she was asked to choose, she’d pick Alex over Cameron any day. ‘Noah and I were sorry to miss you on Mother’s Day.’
‘Yeah. Lesson learned. Never let a moron operate a back hoe.’
She laughed lightly as her fingers tangled nervously in the office phone cord. ‘I’ll remember that.’
‘You after Sarah? Your call’s come through to my mobile.’ She licked her lips.
‘Actually, it was you I wanted to speak to.’
There was a slight pause and Ellie imagined the cogs of Alex’s mighty mind turning. She didn’t usually call Sarah, let alone him. ‘Righto. Fire away.’
She drew in a breath and let Ellie-the-professional speak. ‘I’ve got three Burmese families keen to move to Valley View and join their extended families. They’ve been guaranteed jobs at the abattoir when a vacancy comes up but so far they’ve waited six months. I’ve just spoken with Ken Havers. He says unless someone unexpectedly leaves, they’ll be waiting another six months to fill two retirement positions.’
‘I sat next to Ken at a business breakfast last month,’ Alex said. ‘He can’t remember ever having such a stable workforce and says that inviting the Burmese to come and work for him was his best idea yet.’
‘He’s done an amazing job. Valley View’s reaping the rewards of his pragmatism and philanthropy. The Burmese come from small mountain villages so they love living here in the valley. They enjoy fishing, growing vegetables, running choo—’
‘How many jobs are you chasing, Ellie?’
She smiled, appreciating how Alex always cut through the bullshit. ‘Ideally six. Minimum three. If it helps, one of the men, Hi Loo, has some experience with goats.’
‘Bet he’s never milked two thousand of them and that’s only one dairy.’
‘Probably not, but he’s keen to work.’ She heard the rumble of a tractor and Alex saying, ‘Over there,’ before his voice came back to her at normal volume.
‘The roster’s short on milkers and we need another farmhand. I reckon we could take two full time and possibly some casuals in dispatch.’
‘That’s fantastic, Alex. Thank you.’
‘Don’t thank me too soon. Milking starts pretty bloody early. Do they have transport from Valley View to get out here?’
She jotted ‘community bus?’ on her notepad. ‘Leave it with me. I’ll sort something out.’
‘All new employees start on three months’ probation but going on Ken’s experience, I’m not anticipating any problems.’
‘Hopefully not. Listen, Alex, I’ve found it’s really useful to talk with existing staff before the refugees start work. You know, explain a bit about where they’ve come from and why they’re refugees. Hose down any concerns that they’re taking local jobs and answer questions, that sort of thing. It helps with the settling-in process. When can I come out and do that?’
‘You need to set everything up with Sarah. She’ll confirm the exact number of jobs we can offer.’
Bugger. ‘Okay. I’ll call her tomorrow after you’ve filled her in.’
‘Call her now. She’s in the office. Why didn’t you go straight to her?’
‘I thought you did the staffing.’ The lie slid off her tongue. ‘My bad. Thanks for your help, Alex. I really appreciate it.’
‘No worries. Catch ya later.’
The line went dead and Ellie set the receiver back in the cradle, staring at it. Crap! The whole point of ringing Alex was to avoid talking to Sarah. Conversations with Alex were straightforward and easy. Conversations with Sarah were like wading through muddy waters, knowing that dangers lurked beneath the surface but being clueless as to exactly what those dangers were and when they were going to strike. Ellie was acutely aware of Sarah’s silent disapproval of her and how she lived her life, she just wasn’t certain why Sarah bothered wasting any energy on it.
Her mother’s disapproval she understood; Ellie hadn’t toed the Jamieson family line, she’d caused ‘problems’. Added to that was her lack of a Y chromosome. It didn’t take a qualified analyst to notice that Margaret preferred men to women and always had. Even at seventy-six, her mother glowed when a man entered the room, which contrasted starkly with her behaviour at an all-female event. Cameron had benefitted from this character trait. He was the golden boy, and Ellie imagined that Sarah had grown up in the shadow cast by his crown’s glow. It left her elder sister holding the position of firstborn but without the usual entitlements. Whenever Ellie observed her family together, as she had on Mother’s Day, she found herself wondering if Sarah was aware that she’d spent her life seeking their mother’s approval.
Perhaps that was the source of Sarah’s disapproval of Ellie— siding with Margaret?
She supposed it made an odd sort of sense, although it didn’t account for Cameron’s critical opinion of her. His attack on Mother’s Day about the cost of her education had been as bitter as it was unexpected. Both Cameron and Sarah had left home to start their adult lives when Ellie was still a child so she had little experience of usual sibling antics. Her brother and sister were more like adults who’d played minor roles in her life. She had fleeting memories of them returning home for their father’s funeral, but that week had been surreal. Although Sarah stayed at Mill House for longer than Cameron after the funeral, the most solid recollections Ellie had of doing sisterly things with Sarah was the week before her sister’s wedding.
As the youngest bridesmaid, Ellie had gloried in all the preparations but nothing had prepared her for the thrill she got when she’d looked at herself in her mother’s cheval mirror. A beautiful stranger wearing a full-length royal blue gown stared back at her, golden hair swept up, eyes wide and bright and lips touched with a hint of pink lipstick. It was a moment free of doubt. She was beautiful— stunning, even—and she’d squealed with the joy of it. It was during the wedding reception that she’d become aware for the first time how she could command attention without opening her mouth. People’s gazes stalled on her. Women gushed over how pretty she was, boys got tongue-tied and seemed in awe of her and men spoke to her as an equal and cut in to dance. She’d floated through the evening on a sea of compliments, and vowed never to return to being the kid she was the day before the wedding.
By the time Ellie truly needed a big sister, Sarah was married and living overseas.
She picked up the phone again but her fingers stalled on the number pad. It would be politic to drive to Riverbend and visit Sarah, and with any other employer Ellie would have chosen the face-to-face meeting without hesitation. But with Sarah, that meant small talk and opportunities for her sister to ask questions about Noah. On the surface, those questions sounded like interest, but they always came with a subtext: I’ve got three children and vastly more parenting experience. Do you have any idea what you’re doing?
She groaned. Visiting Sarah was a necessary goodwill gesture to help ensure future job placements. She had no choice but to take one for the team. To facilitate a long-awaited Burmese family reunion she needed to have contact with her own family. The irony wasn’t lost on her.
Her mobile buzzed and she read the word ‘School’ as it lit up the screen. Her scalp prickled.
‘Ellie Jamieson.’
‘Hey, Ellie, it’s Karen Lecke. Noah’s complaining of stomach pains. I tried the “go lie in the sickbay and get bored” trick but I think he’s got the bug that’s going around. Can you come and get him?’
Ellie stifled a groan, thinking about all the
work she had to get through today. Then again, Noah being sick totally solved her dilemma about Sarah, giving her the perfect excuse to telephone her sister. It would be one call of the many she’d now have to make from home while Noah was tucked up on the couch.
‘Sure, Karen. I’ll leave now.’
* * *
‘Okay, mate,’ Ellie said to a rather pale Noah as they pulled up in their driveway. ‘Go inside and put on your jammies.’
Noah slid out of the car without his usual bounce and trudged to the back door, shoulders slumped. Ellie unloaded the green enviro bag filled with bottles of electrolyte solution, Panadol and hand sanitiser. According to the pharmacy assistant, half the town was down with this bug and she and the rest of the household could live without it.
She’d just slung Noah’s backpack over her shoulder when he called out, ‘Mum! Look!’
She hurried up the steps to the closed-in veranda. Water was pouring out from under the door. ‘Oh, jeez.’ Did someone leave a tap on? She struggled to open the swollen door and a wall of water gushed over their feet.
‘Cool!’ Noah said, suddenly sparking up.
‘Where’s it coming from?’ she asked, talking more to herself than to Noah.
‘I’ll find it. I can do it.’
Before she could stop him, he’d ducked into the house and was tramping through the water in his school shoes.
‘Take off your shoes!’
He only had two pairs and her bank balance didn’t need them falling apart from water damage. Slipping off her boots and socks, she waded inside and walked into the bathroom. Like the kitchen, it had been tacked onto the old farmhouse long after the initial construction. The kitchen dated back to the thirties but the bathroom was slightly more modern. It was part of the enclosed veranda that once doubled as a bedroom. The first thing she looked for was a running tap—it wouldn’t be the first time that Bree forgot to turn it off after cleaning her teeth. The basin, shower and bath taps were all shut off and, thankfully, the toilet wasn’t overflowing. She whipped open the cupboard containing the ageing hot-water service. It had been dripping a lot lately, but despite that it was sitting on its concrete block above the flood line. Clearly, it wasn’t the culprit.
‘Mum!’
Ellie found Noah and the burst pipe in the kitchen. ‘Oh God. I should have turned off the water.’
‘I can do it.’
‘No. You stay here and don’t touch anything.’
She splashed her way to the back door, ninety-nine per cent certain that the entire contents of the water tank were now inside the house.
After switching off the pump and shutting off the tank, she returned to find Noah floating a plastic toy boat and Splotch helping things along by bumping it with his nose. The last thing she needed on top of five centimetres of water in the house was a muddy dog.
‘Splotch. Out!’
The border collie raised his head, a hurt look in his big brown eyes.
‘Now!’ She pointed to the door.
After a quick and ever-hopeful glance at Noah, Splotch padded slowly away.
The chill of the water numbed her feet and Ellie tried not to let the mess overwhelm her. ‘Towels,’ she said weakly. ‘I’ll get some towels.’ But even as she said it, she knew towels weren’t the answer.
‘I’m gonna be sick.’ The flush of excitement generated by discovering the flood had faded, leaving Noah’s face ashen.
‘Here.’ She grabbed a plastic bowl off the sink and shoved it under his chin as he heaved. She rubbed his little back and mumbled soothing words, noticing the water was deeper on one side of the kitchen than the other. She smiled. It was the first time she gave thanks for sagging foundations and a DIY extension. They may not have any running water but with the lean-to lower than the rest of the house, she was hopeful the flood was confined to the back section of the house.
After tucking Noah into bed with a vomit bucket, a bell, electrolyte solution in his drink bottle and a talking book, she rang Heather Guthrie, the owner of the house, to explain the situation.
Heather, who always spoke to her tenants in an ‘I’m a very busy woman’ voice, sighed. ‘And you’re sure that’s the problem?’
Ellie tried not to grind her teeth. The only time she mourned the fact she couldn’t afford to buy her own home was when she needed to convince a landlord there was a problem that was seriously interfering with her quiet enjoyment of the property. ‘I can message you a photo of the water. Of course you’re welcome to come over and see for yourself.’
‘I’ll make some calls.’
‘We’ll need a water delivery.’
‘Tenants are financially responsible for water.’
Pressure built behind Ellie’s eyes and she worked on keeping her voice calm. ‘The only reason I’ve run out of water is because the—’ your! ‘—pipe burst.’
‘Yes. And if you let me get off the phone, I’ll arrange for that to be fixed.’
Don’t say it. Do. Not. Say. It. ‘Great. Thanks, Heather.’ She pressed end call, closed the door between the kitchen and the hall and yelled, ‘Bitch! Bitch! Bitch!’
She messaged Wendy, Rachel and Grace a photo. They replied they were sorry but were tied up at work. Could she cope on her own for a few hours?
Could she? Like so many other times in her life, she had no real choice but to do just that. Wading onto the veranda, she propped the door open with a brick, allowing free passage for the water to flow outside. Then, after pulling on her boots, she made her way to the garden shed. Grabbing a broom and a leaf shovel, she carried them back to the house and set about sweeping out the water, pausing only to check on Noah when the ache in her shoulders burned too hot to be ignored.
After an hour, all her muscles burned, as did her throat. Desperate for a cup of tea, she checked the kettle. ‘Of course you’re empty.’ She picked it up and, with an irrational spark of hopefulness, took it out to the tank. Tapping the rungs, she listened for the responding echoes and determined that the water level was so low it was probably full of giardia just waiting to make her sick for months on end. Back in the house, she bypassed Grace’s wine supply—not that she wasn’t sorely tempted but it wasn’t yet noon—and checked the fridge, regretting her ‘no carbonated drinks except for parties’ rule. They had finished the orange juice at breakfast. Bugger.
The honk of a horn made her jump and she slammed the fridge shut, fully expecting Noah to call out, startled from sleep. The fact he didn’t wake was indicative of how unwell he was and how much his body needed the rest. To prevent another horn toot, she ran outside. A ute was parked behind her car. The windscreen was tinted and she couldn’t make out if the person inside was male or female, but the plumber had arrived. Okay, Heather, I take back one of those bitches.
She waved and as she got closer, the driver’s door opened and she saw a familiar logo. A moment later, Luke Sorenson stepped out.
‘I heard you need a plumber.’ His grin was friendly, familiar and somewhat disconcerting.
‘You heard right. A burst pipe in the kitchen. I’ve shut off the water.’
He nodded. ‘Good. Probably saved you some mess.’
‘Oh, I don’t know.’ She indicated the water line on her jeans. ‘I think I arrived home much the same time as the tank completely emptied.’
‘I got here as soon as I could.’
‘I thought Helen would have called someone from Valley View.’
‘For you, she called the best.’ His smile was the teasing one of their childhood but before she could roll her eyes or say, ‘Yeah, right,’ he added, ‘I’m working on some spec homes she’s building. Bit surprised you’re living here.’
She bristled with indignation. Was he inferring the house wasn’t good enough? Or was it a shot at Rachel and Grace? Or was she just being overly sensitive? Settle. She took the safer road.
‘It’s a great old house.’
‘You’re not wrong there. I just assumed since you came back to the valley, yo
u’d be living in Mingunyah.’ The inquiring rise of his brows added, Where your family lives.
‘It makes more sense to live where my job is,’ she said quickly. ‘Carbon footprint, cost of fuel and all that.’
‘So how long have you been back?’
‘A couple of years.’
Startled, his head snapped forward and he blinked. The comical action made him look like an emu. ‘How did you keep that so quiet? Poison the grapevine?’
‘I guess I’m just not that interesting.’
‘You’re a Jamieson.’
‘Not in Valley View. Here I’m just Ellie from the neighbourhood house.’
‘I seriously doubt that.’ He leaned into the cab before handing her a takeaway coffee cup stamped with the words Valley View Café and capped with a black lid. ‘Thought you might need this. I wasn’t sure what you drank so I took a punt on a flat white.’
She stared at it, not quite able to believe it was real. ‘You brought me coffee?’
‘If you’re more of a tea drinker, I’ve got a thermos of hot water and a tea bag.’ He glanced at the prayer flags and a V carved into the bridge of his nose. ‘Nothing herbal, though. Sorry.’
‘Don’t be sorry. Coffee’s amazing.’ She took a tentative sip to test the temperature and followed up with a deliciously big swallow. ‘Thank you.’
This time his smile swirled a dimple into his cheek. ‘All part of the service. Want to show me the way?’
‘Sorry?’ Her mind was absorbed by the warmth and thirst-quenching qualities of the coffee and nothing at all to do with that dimple.
He laughed. ‘Wow, you really did need that drink. Going by the lean on the front door, I’m guessing we enter round the back?’
‘We do. I’m not sure when that door last opened but I’m thinking at least a decade ago. This way. My little boy—’
‘Noah, right?’
‘Yes.’ It surprised her that Luke Sorenson remembered her kid’s name. ‘He’s got gastro and he’s asleep so—’