Christmas at Coorah Creek (Choc Lit) (2 page)

He wriggled his fingers on the wheel to relieve the stiffness and the boredom. He’d never thought he’d see this part of the country again. And certainly not of his own volition. But times change. People change. He was coming back to Coorah Creek and he had no idea what was waiting for him there.

He reached out to pick up the water bottle from the centre console. His air-conditioning was going full bore, but he could still feel the sun beating down on his car. He was looking forward to getting away from the relentless heat. And the dull burnt colours. And the rain that thundered so hard on a tin roof that you couldn’t hear yourself think. His future was full of lush green places, where rain fell in gentle refreshing showers. He might even get his first white Christmas, if things went well. That could be fun. He’d never seen snow.

At least he would be in a place where there were no memories to haunt him.

But if he was going to escape those memories, there was something he had to do first. He had to return to Coorah Creek.

Somewhere ahead of him, the sun flashed off metal, pulling Scott’s attention back to the long straight road. It was easy – and very dangerous – to lose concentration like that. He strained to see through the shimmering heat haze in the distance. There was a dark shape – a car – on the side of the road up ahead.

Scott immediately lifted his foot from the accelerator. He’d been away from the outback for more than eight years, but some lessons are never forgotten. In the outback, you never drove past a stranded car without stopping to see if the driver needed help. Out here, a broken down car could cost someone their life.

Scott pulled off the road a few yards behind the blue Commodore. He registered its make with a smile. The car was a classic, but getting on in years. He wasn’t surprised that it was stuck way out here. Now, where was the driver?

That’s when he noticed the fabric stretched between the two open doors. Someone had tried to construct a shelter. He strode quickly forward when he saw a girl apparently unconscious lying half in and half out of that makeshift shelter. He swiftly knelt beside her and reached out a hand to touch her face where the skin was already red. She looked so young and so terribly vulnerable.

‘What the …’ With a jerk the girl suddenly sat up, her eyes staring wildly around her.

‘Hey. It’s all right.’ Scott sat back on his heels to give the girl some breathing room.

She ran her hand over her face. Slowly her eyes came to focus on him. ‘Oh.’

‘I saw your car. Are you all right?’

‘Yes. I fell asleep. Jet lag.’ The words came out as a harsh croak.

‘Hang on a second. Don’t try to get up yet. You need water.’

Scott rose to his feet and jogged back to his car. The water bottle he’d been drinking from was half empty, but there were two more on the passenger seat. He picked up both of them.

The girl had pulled herself into a sitting position, leaning back against the car. She looked terrible. Scott tried to conceal his concern as he passed her an open bottle.

‘Slowly,’ he warned as she began gulping down the warm liquid. ‘Slowly!’ Scott put his hand on her arm and she lowered the bottle. ‘If you drink too fast you’ll probably throw up,’ he told her. ‘And we don’t have enough water to waste it like that.’

The girl took a deep breath, and nodded. She leaned back and closed her eyes. Scott could see the strain on her face. He waited silently until she was ready to take a few more slow sips of water.

‘Do you want to try to get up?’

She nodded.

‘Okay. But take it easy.’

The girl really didn’t need the warning. She was moving very slowly, and looked quite shaky as she gathered her feet under her. Scott
stood up and reached down to help her. She was a small thing – light as a feather and barely up to his chin. She swayed a little, and he kept one hand on her arm until he was certain she wasn’t going to fall down again.

She took another smaller drink of water, and finally looked him squarely in the face.

‘Thank you.’ Her voice sounded much stronger.

‘Are you all right?’

‘I think so,’ she said. ‘I must have fallen asleep. It was so hot.’

‘You passed out,’ Scott said. ‘Dehydration and heat exhaustion will do that.’

‘I know that,’ the girl said. ‘I’m a nurse.’

‘A nurse? Then you should know better than to come out here without water.’

‘In my part of the world, there isn’t much chance of dying of lack of water by the side of a road.’

As she spoke, her accent finally registered. ‘You’re English?’

‘I am.’

‘Then what the hell are you doing out here all by yourself? And without water? This isn’t England.’

‘I know that,’ she girl said, a touch of anger bringing a spark into her blue eyes. ‘I had water. I ran out. I wasn’t expecting this rubbish car to break down, was I?’

‘It’s not a rubbish car.’ Scott tried to hide his smile as the girl painfully shook the fist she’d just thumped the car with. ‘It’s just old. What happened?’

‘It exploded.’

Scott raised an eyebrow. Obviously a girl given to understatement. As she sipped slowly from the bottle of water, he moved to the front of the car and checked under the bonnet.

It didn’t take him long to figure it out.

‘You’ve probably put a stone through your radiator.’

‘I’d figured that out too.’

Scott was pleased to see the girl had produced a hat from somewhere and was now wearing it. The brim wasn’t broad enough to give her face much protection, but it was better than nothing.

‘So what do I do now?’ she asked.

‘You’re heading to Coorah Creek?’

‘How did you know?’

‘That’s where this road goes,’ he told her. ‘After the Creek, there’s just Birdsville.’

‘And after that?’

‘The desert. You really don’t want to go there – and especially not with this.’ He patted the old Holden affectionately.

She smiled at that, and Scott caught a glimpse of the girl behind the stranded tourist. Now that her eyes were no longer wide with distress, they were a lovely shade of blue-grey. Her face was a bit red from the sun, but she was a very pretty girl. About his own age, he thought. And as for that accent – that was just a cuteness bonanza. He couldn’t help but wonder what on earth a girl like this was doing heading for the Creek.

‘So?’

Acutely aware that he had been caught staring, Scott tried to look efficient. ‘I guess I’d better get you into town.’

‘Can’t I call the … whatever you call the Automobile Association out here?’

Scott smiled. ‘No, actually.’

‘Oh. No phone service.’

He nodded.

‘Well, there must be a garage at Coorah Creek. Have they got a tow truck? You could send them back for me.’

The words froze Scott in his tracks, his face closing down. It wasn’t the girl’s fault. She didn’t know what memories her words had just unleashed to strike him with an almost physical force. She had just turned an impulse into a stark reality. His return to Coorah Creek was no longer something in his future. It was here and now and he wasn’t really ready for it. That wasn’t a good sign. He struggled for a few seconds to regain an appearance of normality.

‘No truck,’ he said. ‘I’ve got a rope in my car. I’ll tow you in.’

‘But I don’t know …’ The girl’s voice trailed off, and Scott saw the apprehension in her eyes.
You and me both
, he thought.

‘Perhaps it would help if I introduced myself. I’m Scott Collins,’ he said. ‘And I promise you I am not an axe murderer or even a car thief.’

That almost wiped the tension from her face. Her lips twitched in the start of a smile. ‘Hi Scott. I’m Katie Brooks.’

She held out her hand and he took it briefly. Like Katie herself, it was small and looked far too delicate for life in the outback.

‘I’ll get the rope.’

Chapter Three

Ed Collins didn’t recognise either of the approaching cars. He squinted against the glare outside his workshop. He’d been Coorah Creek’s only garage and mechanic for more than thirty years. There wasn’t a car within 200 kilometres he hadn’t worked on or filled with petrol. These must be tourists, passing through on their way to Birdsville. He studied the blue car. It was getting on in years. It wasn’t surprising that it was being towed. He hoped the driver wasn’t planning to take it into the desert. People died doing stupid things like that.

The car towing it was interesting. It looked like one of those hybrids. He’d read about them. Never seen one though. The Creek wasn’t a place for flash environmentally friendly cars. Workhorses. That’s what the cars out here were. It was too much to hope he’d get his hands on the car, but it would be nice to have a look under the bonnet. If the driver seemed a good bloke and was going to be around for a day or two, maybe he’d get a chance.

Ed picked up an old rag and began wiping his hands. The owner of a car like that wasn’t going to want greasy handprints on his shiny new paint. As he tossed the rag aside, Ed looked at his hands. The dirt never really seemed to come off. Not that it mattered. There was no one he wanted to impress. He was a mechanic. Always had been and always would be. Mechanics had dirty hands. People just had to accept that.

The lead car angled off the road towards the garage and began to slow. Ed could see the person being towed wasn’t paying attention. He knew what was going to happen next. The Commodore clipped the back of the hybrid, shunting it forward. Both drivers hit the brakes and the cars came to a halt about a metre apart.

A girl jumped out of the Commodore. She was young and blonde and pretty. And very distraught.

‘Oh my God. I am so sorry!’ As upset as she was, her English accent was still very pronounced. She bent over to examine the damage to the back of the hybrid.

‘I wasn’t paying attention. It’s all my fault. I’ll pay to get it fixed.’

So, maybe he would get to work on the hybrid after all. Ed stepped towards the open door, but stopped in shock as the driver of the hybrid got out of his car.

Eight years is a long time. In eight years, regret can eat at a man’s soul leaving him empty and lonely. In eight years a boy becomes a man. But even after eight years, a father knows his own son.

Shocked to his core, Ed took half a step backward to remain hidden in the dim interior of his workshop.

His son … Scott … wasn’t paying any attention to the girl. He was studying the outside of the garage. He wouldn’t find anything changed, Ed thought. At least, not the building.

‘I feel just so bad about this,’ the girl was still apologising. ‘After you rescued me when I was in trouble.’

‘Don’t worry about it.’

His voice was the same. So too was the shock of brown wavy hair. Just like Ed’s when he was young. And the way he stood, straight and sure of himself. As a teenager, Scott had always been unwilling to back down or give an inch. It didn’t look like that had changed.

But something must have changed, because he was here – in the place he had left, vowing never to return.

Ed’s hands were shaking. He jammed them deep into the pockets of his dirty overalls. He had to do something. He couldn’t just stand in the shadows looking at his son. But he wasn’t ready to face him yet. He just needed another minute.

      
‘I can’t say how sorry I am, or how grateful.’

The girl was still talking. Ed wondered who she was. It sounded like she was a stranger Scott had found on the side of the road.

‘Anyone would have done the same.’ Scott finally turned his attention back to the girl. He dropped to the ground and reached under the Commodore to untie the tow rope.

Now was the time, Ed knew. He should go and speak to them. He wished the girl wasn’t there. He would much rather have been alone when he faced his son for the first time after so many years. There was a lot they had to say to each other. Things that couldn’t be said in front of a stranger. In front of anyone. But it looked like he wasn’t going to get any choice.

He took a step forward.

Outside, he saw Scott stiffen, staring in Ed’s direction. Had his son seen him?

‘You’ll be fine now,’ Scott said to the girl, without taking his eyes from the door of the garage. Then he turned, quickly got back behind the wheel of his car. Within a few seconds he was gone.

His son didn’t want to see him. Ed’s heart was pounding. He wasn’t sure what he felt. Relief at having more time to prepare for their meeting. Fear that Scott might leave town without ever talking to him. He wanted to know what had brought him back after so long. And most of all, he desperately needed to know if Scott had ever found what he was searching for.

Outside, the girl was still waiting.

Ed took a deep breath and walked out into the bright sunlight.

‘G’day.’

‘Hello. I’m afraid my car has broken down. Radiator, I think.’

‘I’ll take a look.’

Working on cars had always been Ed’s great joy. Even at the worst of times, he could lose himself in his work and put his troubles to one side. Not so today. He took a cursory glance.

‘Yeah. Radiator. It’ll need replacing. I can get one in for you. Take a couple of days though.’

‘That’s all right. I’m here to stay. I’m going to be working at the hospital. My name is Katie. Katie Brooks.’

‘Ed.’ There was no need to tell her more than that. ‘Lucky for you that bloke was able to tow you in. Is he a friend of yours?’

‘No. He found me on the side of the road. Good thing too. I was out of water and starting to worry.’

‘A good bloke then?’

‘Oh yes. He was just great!’

Ed looked at her face as she spoke. There was a shine in her eyes that told him his son had impressed this girl. Clearly she was hoping to see him again. Ed knew that look. A woman had once looked at him like that. A long time ago. It hadn’t lasted long, but how sweet it had been. It had given him a son, but that relationship too had soured.

Ed felt just a small flare of hope deep inside. Maybe he was about to get a second chance.

Chapter Four

Scott
felt bad about leaving the poor girl so abruptly. He wasn’t normally that rude. She seemed rather nice. She was also very pretty and just a little bit lost. It must be tough for someone so very English to find themselves all the way out here, beyond the black stump. He was normally more than happy to help a lady – especially one with blonde hair and blue eyes, but he’d had to get out of there. He did not want to face the man he’d seen moving in the shadows inside the garage.