Page 12 of Outback Secrets
‘I don’t blame you. It’s a gorgeous place, and as infuriating as some of the people in Bunyip Bay can be, this is one of the prettiest parts of the country. There aren’t many towns that have good farming land on one side and a fab beach on the other.’
‘Yeah, this place also looks pretty good on postcards,’ he said, gesturing to a little stand on the bar, which was dusty because nobody really bothered with postcards anymore.
They shared a smile.
‘Do you get to go home much?’ she asked.
Home?At this one word, Liam’s chest tightened. He shook his head and changed tack. ‘You said you’ve flown in the US and Canada? Whereabouts? What exactly did you do there?’
The diversion worked. ‘There’s not as much flying work in Australia as there once was, so most of us travel a bit. The last couple of years I’ve taken a forestry contract spraying Spruce Budworm over there. After Quebec, I generally stay for a few months in the Prairie Provinces spraying fungicide on crops.’
‘That’s a really nice part of Canada—I went on a school trip there. You’re lucky your job takes you to such cool places.’
‘Yeah.’ That one word was long and heavy, and Liam got the feeling she had something on her mind, but she hit him with a wry smile and said, ‘It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to do it.’
‘How long are you back here for?’
She glanced over to the table where her sister and friends were deep in conversation, then sighed. ‘Almost four weeks. I don’t usually get as long between contracts and I thought it’d be nice to spend a bit of time back at home, but I’m beginning to second-guess my decision.’
‘Did you ever consider flying for a commercial airline?’
She scoffed. ‘That would bore me to bloody tears. At that level the details disappear, but low-level flying you can see everything from an angle and height most people never get to. You see cattle feeding, the wind rustling through crops and shimmering over entire fields. On a still morning in the mountains, sometimes the fog looks like a waterfall flowing over a precipice, tumbling down into a valley in beautiful slow motion. You see amazing sunsets and sunrises, and not one day or flight is the same.’
‘Flying that low in such a small plane must be pretty dangerous though.’
‘Oh my God!’ Her wistful smile faded and her eyes narrowed. ‘Don’t you start. I get enough of that from my mother, and I came here tonight to escape her.’
‘I’m sorry. I just—’
‘What’s taking you so long?’ Tilley came up to the bar and wrapped an arm around her younger sister.
Liam thought he noticed Henri flinch.
‘I’m only coming back if you promise there’ll be no more talk about setting me up with anyone,’ she said. ‘I swear if Grant mentions marrying me off one more time, I’ll rip off my sock and stuff it in his mouth.’
‘Henri!’ Tilley scolded and Liam stifled a smile. ‘No one meant any harm,’ she added with a bit of a pout. ‘We just care about you and want to see you happy.’
‘I am happy.’ Henri sighed and pushed her now empty glass towards Liam. ‘Top-up, please?’
‘How about you have a glass of soda water instead?’ Tilley suggested, glaring at Liam as if warning him not to refill her sister’s glass if he knew what was good for him.
Henri glared at him just as hard and although he agreed with her sister that maybe she should lay off the heavy stuff or at least slow down, he found himself unable to say no to her. Besides, she was a grown woman and he imagined being treated like a child when you were an adult would be infuriating. Without a word, he picked up a fresh glass and made her another whiskey on the rocks, slightly heavier than normal on the ice.
‘Thanks, Liam.’ Henri gave her sister a triumphant smile as she picked up the glass and sauntered back towards the dining room.
Tilley opened her mouth as if to give him what for, but he held up a hand. ‘Don’t involve me in your sister squabbles,’ he said and then moved along the bar to pour Rex his final pint for the night.
With a huff, Tilley went back to join her group and Liam did his best to focus on his job, resisting the urge to glance over at Henri and see how she was getting on. At about nine o’clock, things started to slow down. Rex and the Poker Pensioners had headed home and only a few youngsters around the pool table and a couple of contract workers who were staying above the pub remained. When Tilley, Frankie and everyone stood to leave, he assumed Henri would go with them, but instead he watched with interest as she hugged them all goodbye.
He wasn’t close enough to hear her and her sister’s conversation, but in his years owning the pub he’d become pretty good at reading body language and theirs was tense. It looked like Tilley was trying to encourage Henri to go with her, but she was having none of it. Eventually James said something—probably about needing to get home to relieve his mother, Susan, from babysitting duties—and Tilley gave in and went with him. Henri headed to the bathroom and when she emerged again, she went over to the group shooting pool, downing shots and generally having a grand old time celebrating the end of harvest.
He guessed they were all about five to ten years younger than Henri but the high-fives she gave a couple of them indicated they knew each other, cementing the fact in Liam’s mind that whether she lived here or not, Bunyip Bay was in her blood. She was part of it and it her. Damn pity, because he couldn’t remember the last time a woman had walked into the pub and set his blood boiling the way she had.
Deciding it was safer to steer clear of Henri, he didn’t allow himself to pay too much attention to the goings-on around the pool table, instead focusing on the few remaining patrons sitting at the bar. When things got a little rowdy, he sent Dylan over to deliver a warning and then grabbed a coffee and retreated into the office to do some paperwork, leaving the bartenders and his dog Sheila, who always slept in her basket behind the bar, to hold the fort.
As office work was his least favourite task, a massive pile of invoices awaited him. His nights were generally busy and during the day he favoured manual tasks, like hauling and replacing kegs or spending time in his workshop out the back. Being active helped keep his dark thoughts at bay, whereas when he sat down in the office, it was much harder.
He took a deep breath and sat down to tackle the paper beast.