by Sarah Barrie
She wasn’t entirely happy to see Ned waiting for her when she pulled in at the cottage.
‘Callie,’ he said, getting up from one of the patio chairs and giving her a brilliant smile. ‘I was wondering when you were going to get back.’
‘Hi, Ned,’ she said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. ‘What’s up?’
‘Dad said you took care of him after his fall last night.’
She walked to the door, key in hand, and smiled briefly. ‘It was no trouble.’
‘I appreciate it. A lot. You could have called me.’
‘I called Paisley,’ she told him. ‘I thought you wanted her to monitor that sort of thing.’
‘Yeah, but I can help.’
She opened the door and walked in. ‘Okay, well in that case … the paramedics said you should get rid of the meds your dad doesn’t need.’
He looked blank, then shook his head. ‘Paisley’ll take care of that. Can I take you out to dinner to thank you?’
Okay, she needed to nip this in the bud. ‘Oh, Ned. That’s very nice of you. But it’s not necessary.’
‘I don’t mind. I’d enjoy it.’
‘Ned, I really don’t—’
‘Think about what night suits,’ he said over her protest. ‘Let me know. Oh, and I brought your dish back from Dad’s and the travel cup. I washed them. Here.’ He picked them up from the table behind him and handed them to her.
‘Thanks.’ Arms full, she hooked a foot behind the door on her way to closing it. ‘Bye.’
‘So you like my dad then?’
Was he kidding? With a sigh, she slid the dish and cup onto the side table, and realised he was following her in. ‘Huh? Oh, I don’t really know Cliff yet. But I think he’s warming to me. A bit.’ She stood her ground, hoping he’d take the hint.
Instead, Ned leant against the door frame as though settling in for a chat. ‘He wasn’t always so mad at the world. He was good to all of us. Better than … well, Mum had other interests.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’
‘You like the house?’ He nodded towards it.
‘It’s beautiful.’
‘It was going to be mine, one day. Paisley would have gotten her share, of course, but it’s a big house. Plenty big enough for a couple of families. Guess now we’ll get to share a spot in a retirement home instead,’ he joked. ‘Doesn’t matter much. Never got around to getting married. Not yet, anyway.’ When his eyes met hers again they were warm. ‘Open to it though.’
Ugh. She fought back the shudder. How was she going to be kind and get rid of him? She trod carefully. ‘Once was enough for me. I don’t even see any casual relationships in my near future to be honest.’
He nodded thoughtfully. ‘Sometimes you don’t see what’s right in front of you. Doesn’t mean there’s nothing there.’
What an odd statement. ‘Okay, well … I’ll see you later.’
‘Yeah. No worries. Let me know when you want to do that dinner,’ he said.
She didn’t bother to answer, just kept her polite smile on long enough to get the door closed.
The shudder she finally allowed herself wasn’t quite a convulsion. The long looks, that suggestive pushiness, made her skin crawl. But she didn’t want to embarrass Ned nor hurt his feelings. The guy had issues, she reminded herself. But he wasn’t threatening in any way.
Threatening. There was something about Connor Atherton that had felt threatening, but only to her equilibrium. She’d wanted to close a door on him too. It had been challenging to hold her own under that steady, penetrating stare of his—and all that questioning. To keep her cool under the relentless interest. She’d felt attracted and—damn it—vulnerable.
Callie flopped on the lounge and scowled. What a stupid, crappy thought. Never again. That’s what she’d promised herself. And yet she’d been down here five minutes and one frustratingly nosey, though admittedly rather hot, male had her all restless and worked up.
‘Idiot,’ she muttered and got up to retrieve her laptop. As she was—for some reason—thinking about him, she may as well figure out what she was going to need for his garden.
She worked for a long while, and by the time she finished it was getting on the late side for dinner, so she threw together a couple of ham and cheese omelettes, added salad to the plates, then rugged herself up and took one over to Cliff.
‘Thought you’d forgotten me,’ Cliff complained when he opened the door. ‘Thanks.’
‘No problem. How’s the head?’
‘All better. Was good of you. Not surprising, I suppose.’ He took the meal. ‘See you tomorrow then.’
And Callie was presented with the door. She couldn’t help but laugh. Progress was progress.
CHAPTER
14
Working at Calico Mountain, Callie decided as she looked over her latest garden bed, was turning out to be exactly what she’d needed. She saw Tess a lot, but barely a hint of Connor. He’d stopped to say hi when he’d caught Callie and Tess eating in the staff room on Tuesday, and he’d sent her a wave yesterday as he’d driven past where she was working, but he never hung around, always seemed to be busy. And that was a good thing, as the little leap he encouraged in her pulse whenever he appeared hadn’t worn off. And while it wasn’t as though she particularly wanted that leap, she couldn’t deny it was good to know she could still experience one. She was feeling generally better in lots of ways now she was working again and had people to talk to. Getting away from Waldron Park.
Though Callie had arrived early this morning, Tess had already been outside with a small gathering of people near the guesthouse. A tour group, Callie guessed. Tess had mentioned some of the places they took the guests, and she’d made them sound worth a visit. Perhaps when Callie had some time she’d venture out. She was already in love with the natural beauty of Tasmania, and she’d barely seen any of it. She pressed a groundcover plant into the earth among some low rocks. The cool blue of the prostrate conifer would spill out into the space perfectly.
‘Callie!’ Tess called as she jogged over. ‘Early start.’
‘It’s a nice day. I wanted to make the most of it. What are you up to?’
‘I have to do a run out to Cradle Mountain this morning. That’s what all those people out the front are waiting for. I’ll be gone until mid-afternoon. Is everything okay here?’
‘Yes, of course.’
‘Great. There’s something I want to discuss with you but we’re already pushing it for time. So can we speak when I get back this afternoon?’
‘No problem,’ Callie said. A man in a hoodie was standing at the back of the group bound for Cradle Mountain, and didn’t quite seem to fit in. He was staring right at them. Her nerves jumped. Who is that? Between the sun rising at his back, the way people were milling around and that hoodie he was wearing, she just couldn’t make out his face. The way he stood, watching, reminded her of the man who had done the same thing back in the Hunter, at the courthouse, at her gates. But it couldn’t possibly be, could it?
‘Oh, damn!’ Tess said, sliding her hands into her jacket and dragging Callie back to the conversation. She pulled out a portable hard drive in a plastic case, looked around. Grimaced.
‘What’s wrong?’ Callie felt compelled to ask, reluctantly taking her eyes off the man. She thought he looked a little on the thin side to be the same man. Probably a bit too rangy.
‘Could you possibly do me a favour?’
‘Um … sure?’
‘I was supposed to give this to Indy at breakfast, but I didn’t see her. Can you run it down to the stables? If you give it to Logan, he’ll pass it on,’ Tess said, handing the hard drive to Callie. ‘Tell him Indy will know what it is.’
Indy? Logan? Callie didn’t know who they were. ‘Sure, I guess. But where are the stables?’
‘Just around the bend through the trees on the other side of the last garden bed,’ Tess said, pointing further down the drive. ‘Can’t miss it. Thanks!’<
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‘No worries.’ Tess left and Callie’s attention went back to the stranger. She walked around the trees, keeping an eye on him, almost expecting at any moment that he’d stop pretending to be part of the group and make a break for her. She was so damn sure of it she changed her grip on the shovel, her only weapon.
The man swiftly turned as Tess arrived back at the bus and headed for the guesthouse.
Okay, Callie thought, relieved. I’m fine. He was probably just some random guy checking Tess out.
Connor came down the front steps talking to a group of hikers. The stranger turned again, back towards the parking area. Then he got into a car and sat, watching. Weird, Callie thought, her overactive imagination keeping her occupied as she decided whether it was safe or not to forget about him. Connor was over there. If there was any trouble she could just yell.
As though sensing her gaze, Connor looked up and met her eyes. Damn it—now he was going to think she was spying on him. Did he really have to look up at that particular moment? She turned her back on him and started digging.
‘Morning,’ she heard a minute later.
This is what you get … She turned just enough to send him a small smile. ‘Morning.’
‘I paid the invoice for the garden materials. Some interesting stuff in there.’
She stopped digging and lifted her brow. ‘Is there a problem?’
‘Beats me. I didn’t know what half that chemical-sounding stuff was.’
‘Chemical-sounding stuff?’ she asked, puzzled. ‘You mean the soil additives, fertilisers? They’re not—’ No, she wasn’t about to get into a discussion about it. Instead she went for simple. ‘They’ll give your plants a good start. The soil is okay here but it could do with a boost. And I need to break up the clay base in garden five.’
‘Who knew?’ he said with wonder. ‘I’ve always thought it was just a matter of digging a hole and putting a plant in it, maybe giving it a bit of water, letting mother nature take care of the rest. You really know your stuff.’
Horrified for whatever trees he may ever have planted, she restrained her reaction to a shrug. ‘It’s my job,’ she said.
‘Did Tess tell you she wouldn’t be around today?’
‘It’s not a problem. I like working on my own.’
‘I should take the hint?’ he guessed with a grin. ‘What are you up to now?’
As he clearly had no intention of leaving, Callie leant on the shovel and pointed to the plants nearby. ‘I’m going to plant out a lot of those azaleas on this long bank. Do you want mixed colours, or a couple of big blocks of single colour? I only ask because more than half of what you have in stock is pink. I need to use them up. Are you okay with that?’
‘That’s completely your call.’
‘Okay. Helpful. What if I run the pink around the corner, mix the colours in front?’
His grin flashed. He was cute when he smiled like that, and was that a dimple? How could such a strongly constructed face hide a dimple? God, Callie.
‘Seriously, you’re the landscaper, so either way,’ Connor said.
Her hands went to her hips and, though frustrated with him, she laughed. ‘Do you have any opinion on what you like?’
‘Not when it comes to gardens,’ he said. She wasn’t sure if she imagined the innuendo or not. ‘Though … I went to Cairns once,’ he continued. ‘They had this Balinese setup. Lots of palms and tropical stuff. I liked that.’
‘Then you’d better move a lot further north. In the meantime, I’ll assume it’s fine to do whatever I like.’ She stacked some empty pots and tossed them in the wheelbarrow. ‘You think you might take that hint now?’
She heard his chuckle, felt an answering smile creep back onto her face.
‘Tess thought you might need some help getting those advanced trees you brought over yesterday into the ground.’
‘They’re for the next part of the garden. I’m not up to that yet.’
‘Will you be up to it today?’
‘Possibly. Later.’
‘Okay. Let me see you move them by yourself and I’ll leave you in peace.’
There was no way she could lift them, damn it. ‘We brought them over with the bobcat.’
‘And Logan’s got that out in the paddock. So pass me a shovel and tell me where to dig the hole.’
‘Okay. I guess we could get it done—’
The stranger was out of the car again. Staring again.
‘Callie?’
‘What?’
‘Is everything okay?’
She watched as the stranger turned and walked up the guesthouse steps. After a quick internal debate she decided she should say something. ‘Look … I’m prone to being paranoid …’
‘So what are we dealing with, like, tin foil on the head in case the aliens read your mind? Or are you just really worried about too much pink on the corner? We can buy more plants. Different colours. Whatever you need.’
‘Ha. No,’ she said, one eye on the stranger, who was now at the top of the guesthouse steps. ‘Do you want to hear what I was going to say?’
‘Of course,’ he said removing any sign of amusement from his face. ‘Go ahead.’
‘There’s a guy.’
‘Does he have a name?’
‘I’m sure he does—I don’t know it. Listen!’ she added when he laughed. ‘The guy was hanging around before with the Cradle Mountain group. He seemed to be watching Tess, then when she went back over he turned away and kind of faded into the background. He looked like he was heading for the guesthouse, but when you walked out, he quickly turned around and walked back to his car. He sat there while Tess and the group left, while you hung around on the steps talking to those hikers, then since you got here he’s been fussing around, keeping an eye on us. Now he’s practically bolted into the guesthouse.’
‘Okay … that doesn’t particularly sound like paranoia,’ he said much more seriously. ‘What did he look like?’
‘Tall, all in black. I couldn’t see his face. He had a hoodie on.’
‘I think I’d better go check it out. You’re okay here?’
‘Of course.’
Connor strode away, his face grim. Callie was pretty sure he had an idea of who the man might have been and wondered what was going on. She nervously played with the drive Tess had given her. Something to do with that? She supposed she should find the stables and hand it over.
She headed in the direction Tess had indicated and stopped briefly at the busy farmyard of assorted animals to pet a cute black steer that greeted her with a snort and a stretch of his neck over the fence. He’d been watching the goings on in the garden since she’d arrived and she’d planned on coming down to see him and the other animals at some stage. There was a plaque on the gate suggesting this was Monte, so she greeted him by name and scratched him behind one ear.
‘He loves that. It’s his favourite spot for a scratch.’
She spun around, startled, to see an impressive cowboy-type carrying feed buckets across the yard towards her.
‘Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you,’ he said with an easy smile.
‘He’s very cute.’
‘My wife’s favourite. She raised him from a baby.’ He stopped next to her and gave Monte a rub on the neck before dropping feed into a container in his yard. Monte stayed put a few more seconds, enjoying the scratch, before dropping his head to eat.
‘Spoilt steer. There’s plenty of grass, isn’t there?’
The man smiled and nodded. ‘Spoilt steer. I’m Logan. I run the stables and the cattle business. And this little menagerie.’
‘Little?’ There were multiple yards with chickens, ducks, geese, sheep, a goat, a couple of steers other than Monte, a jersey cow, two black and white pigs, a tiny spotted pony and—‘Is that a llama?’
‘Yeah, it is. We were thinking alpaca but that guy needed rehoming so—llama.’
‘It’s quite the collection.’
‘Don’t get me started,’
he said without heat. ‘Are you staying here?’
‘No, but I was looking for you—sort of. Tess gave me something to pass on to Indy.’
‘Indy? Yeah, of course. And you are?’
‘Oh, sorry—I’m Callie.’
Logan’s gaze flickered. ‘Indy mentioned you. You’re staying in Cliff Waldron’s cottage.’
‘That’s me,’ she admitted. ‘But I don’t know Indy.’
‘She and Tess are close. Tess must have mentioned it. Indy’s at the stables. Let me run you down there.’
‘Oh, I can just give these to you, Tess said—’
‘You’ve already walked all the way over here and I’m sure Indy would like to say hi. It’s no problem.’
She wondered why, but agreed. ‘Okay then.’
He gestured to a white ute. ‘Jump in.’
She supposed it was safe enough.
‘So you’re the new gardener?’ Logan asked as he started the ute and rolled down the drive.
‘I needed something to do and Tess needed help so …’ She shrugged.
‘What you’ve done so far looks great.’
‘Thanks.’
They reached a large stable building and a young woman in a polo, jeans and work boots came out. ‘Logan, are you still doing that lesson at nine?’
‘Yeah. We’ll use Gypsy.’
‘I’ll have her ready.’
‘Thanks.’ Then to Callie he said, ‘This way.’ He opened a gate and she followed him into a paddock. ‘Are you enjoying being out at Waldron Park?’
‘Sure. I needed somewhere to stay for a while and Paisley’s coming back soon.’
‘When?’
‘A few weeks.’
‘How are you finding old Cliff?’
‘Okay. Why?’
‘Just wondering. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him.’ He was leading her towards a tractor standing in the middle of a paddock that was partly slashed. She didn’t see the woman up to her elbows in the engine until they had almost reached it. Music—loud rock—was coming from inside the cabin. ‘She’s fixing my tractor.’
Logan flicked off the noise and the woman in the snug jeans with the short brown ponytail looked up, eyebrows raised.