Hope's Road (6 page)

Chapter 9

What had got into her? Travis Hunter must think she was hell on wheels. Which, at the moment, she was.

Bloody men.

Tammy grabbed hold of a piece of poly pipe and went out into the cow-yard to bring up the first row of cows to be milked.

What was his story, being a single father and all? He looked like Mad Max meets George Clooney. There was something animal-like emanating from him, something rough, primitive and raw, yet he was good-looking, in a tough kind of way. He disturbed yet at the same time intrigued her. He wasn't overly tall but he was solid, with a close-cropped head of sandy-brown hair that looked like it might curl if left to grow. Nothing too remarkable about all that. But it was his eyes, a piercing blue, that had struck her. They seemed to see right into her soul.

Tammy absent-mindedly swung the cups onto the cow's teats. Billy's mother wasn't around so Hunter must have left her or something. He'd been here for about six months but she hadn't sighted him much. Hadn't even known they'd turned up until one day she saw Billy waiting for the bus down at the intersection of Hope's Road and the Narree–Lake Grace roads. The boy sure as heck hadn't come from Joe's place so that left only one option. The old Hunter joint. Lucy hadn't been able to shed any light on the details: Travis Hunter preferring to keep to himself, which nearly killed Lucy as she loved a good gossip. Especially about someone so enigmatic.

Crikey, what must that man think of her now? She had no right to blow up at him like that. Just all this stuff with Shon, then Billy arriving and looking like a little lost soul. Damn it! Didn't that man see what he was doing to his son? The kid was desperate for love, for a father. And where the hell was he? Up the bush playing with dogs. He left Billy alone for hours on end. No wonder the child looked feral half the time – though that appearance belied the guts of it. The boy was capable of a lot. He was intelligent, loved words, loved learning but just not in the traditional way. Billy really needed a schoolroom set in the scrub, one that was part of the environment. To learn by doing in the real world rather than by rote in a stuffy ­classroom.

And Tammy couldn't shake off the feeling there was something else wrong with the boy. He was so bright but sometimes couldn't get really simple stuff through his head. Something was holding him back. She just couldn't put her finger on what it was.

Whatever, she needed to apologise to Travis Hunter. She'd had no right to meddle in affairs that weren't anything to do with her. She had enough troubles of her own. She'd go later this evening, after she'd finished her jobs and had tea. Shon was staying in Cann River in far East Gippsland tonight, so she didn't have to concern herself about him coming home.

It was around seven-thirty when Tammy let herself out her back door, gathering up the paperwork she'd found printed beside a humming computer. She decided to walk. The night was bright with a full moon and it would do her good to trudge up that hill. She'd had a shower, slapped some concealer around her eye to blot out the bruise, donned a pair of clean Wranglers, a soft blue shirt and her Redback boots. Leaving her hair to float around her shoulders to dry, she walked down her driveway and along Hope's Road, hesitating as she got to the low level crossing. Up on the bank of the Backwater Creek and casting dark shadows in the moonlight was a decrepit bark structure. It had once been a hut for an elderly prospector named Cecil Du Pont. Such an auspicious name for a vagabond who lived in hope of finding gold.

She walked on, around the corner and then through Travis Hunter's front gateway. As she climbed the hill, she started to puff and wondered at her stupidity. She should have brought the ute. Damn. So much for feeling cool and fresh. She was sweating and cursing as she topped the rise that led to the house yard.

A smart red car sat in the drive. She hadn't pegged Travis Hunter as the owner of a girly car like that. She slid past the vehicle where it sat shining in the moonlight, let herself in through the garden gate and walked onto the old wide verandah. She spotted a beer fridge, dog kennel, and a blackened metal washing machine inner drum that had seen better days. It was stacked with firewood. Obviously the drum was all ready to be set out in the yard and lit on a clear night, so you could watch satellites, cook jaffles, drink beer and pretend you were camping up the bush. Tammy felt a stab of jealousy. She wished Shon enjoyed doing that type of thing. She used to do it as a kid with her grandfather. Cook marshmallows and draw pictures in the sky with the end of a burning stick.

She sighed and knocked on the door. The sound of crashing crockery came from inside, followed by a high-pitched squeal. What on earth was going on in there? She knocked again and a head of red hair appeared at the door. Billy slid back the glass.

‘Tammy? Gee, you look pretty!'

‘Thanks, Billy, you little charmer. You forgot this stuff when you left.' Tammy thrust out a handful of papers. ‘I thought you might need it for your speech on Monday.'

The boy ducked his head in embarrassment as a voice came from behind him somewhere. ‘Who's there, Billy?'

In for a penny in for a pound, her grandmother used to say. So when Billy moved back reluctantly, she stepped through the doorway and past the curtain, to see a sight which would have been funny if it wasn't so shocking. Jacinta Greenaway, the lower-grades schoolteacher, was on her knees in front of Travis Hunter. All Tammy could see were acres of blonde hair but she'd know that voice anywhere. Slightly breathless, almost childlike in its intonation. ‘Ohhh, Trav . . .'

Hunter looked like he was in ecstasy, or was it agony? Hard to tell from this angle. If she moved a step to the right maybe she could work it out.

‘Dad, it's Tam – Ms McCauley.'

Travis started, stood up straight and now Tammy could see it was agony cloaked with embarrassment. ‘It's not what it looks like, Ms McCauley.'

Jacinta squealed again. ‘Trav, I can't do it if you stand like that!'

Hunter immediately bent back over and the blonde hair disappeared into his groin once more, a hand coming up to wave hello – or maybe it was goodbye? – to Tammy as she went.

Tammy grinned and leaned against a post that extended above her head and supported what looked like an old wire gate on its side, holding a harvest of apples. ‘And just what do you think it looks like, Mr Hunter?'

An agonised expression crossed Travis's face once again.

‘Oooh . . . I think I've got it!' Jacinta put her head up for a breath before diving back into action.

Travis glanced at Tammy. She quirked an eyebrow in question. He sighed and shrugged his shoulders as he held himself up over Jacinta. ‘She dropped the dish of lasagna and it shattered on the bench. I've got the stuff all over my front here, glass shards and all.'

‘Well, why don't you just take off your clothes?' suggested Tammy, smirking. The next moment she wished she could snatch those words right back because Travis Hunter's piercing blue eyes fixed on her from across the room. Her face blazed with embarrassment. Where the hell had that comment come from? She was a married woman; she had no right to flirt with someone who was possibly still married as well.
And
he had yet another woman on her knees in front of him. Shit.

Tammy cleared her throat and stood up straight. ‘I should be going. I just wanted to drop off this information for Billy. He's got a speech to do at school on Monday.' Her chin lifted in challenge.
There, did you know that, Mr Hunter?

Jacinta's head appeared again and she made to stand up, bringing with her a bag of clinking glass that dripped with tomato sauce and pasta. ‘We'll have to make do with salad and garlic bread, boys! Yes, we're doing public speaking – talking about where we live, our families, what we do in our spare time, all that kind of stuff. It'll be such fun, won't it, Billy?' The woman's voice lilted upwards with excitement.

Billy's head dropped and he muttered, ‘I don't know about fun,' before excusing himself. ‘Thanks, Tammy,' he said as he hoisted himself up a ladder to a loft-like structure next to the apples. A mezzanine floor? His bedroom perhaps?

Tammy glanced back at the couple in the kitchen. Seeing them all together – Billy, Trav and Jacinta – reminded her of what a family was supposed to look like, which gave her pangs in her gut. If only. She sighed and focused on the two adults on the other side of the kitchen bench. It made for a cosy twosome, the pair of them standing there. Jacinta came up to Hunter's nose, all fragile and feminine.

Tammy peered down at her own jeans and shirt. Always jeans and a shirt. Then back at the schoolteacher. No wonder men went for women like Jacinta Greenaway and Joanne, who really knew how to work it. Pull on a tight, shortish skirt, a shirt with buttons or a V-neck to drip cleavage that didn't need a Wonderbra to enhance the look. Spend an hour in the bathroom with a hair straightener, slather on some makeup and pull on a pair of killer high-heels and
voila
! There you had it, a dick magnet. Tammy sighed. She couldn't handle the man she had let alone attract anyone else.

‘I'll be going then. I'll leave you to it . . .' she said with a mocking smile. ‘Whatever
it
is. I'll let myself out.'

Tammy turned to go but as she made it through the sliding door she found Hunter right behind her. ‘Not so fast, Ms McCauley.' He shut the door after him, cutting off Jacinta's voice as she called Billy down for tea. ‘This really isn't what it looks like. She came to talk about Billy and then . . . well . . . didn't leave.'

Tammy stuck a hand in the air. ‘Mr Hunter, you don't owe me any explanations. You can do whatever you damn well like. If you want to spend your nights with someone half your age who looks like Lady Gaga, then go right ahead.'

‘Trav.'

‘What?'

‘My name's Trav.'

‘Well,
Trav
,
I'll be off. Thanks for the interesting entertainment. That was better than SBS TV.'

‘Lady Gaga, huh? Never heard of her but she sounds interesting.' A half-smile crossed the man's face. It transformed him. Tammy sucked in her breath. Christ. ‘It must have looked pretty funny.' There was a husky edge to his voice, as though it wasn't used to being tuned in to normal conversation for extended periods of time.

It made her remember the other reason why she was up on top of McCauley's Hill at this time of night. ‘I also came to apologise.'

‘What for?'

‘For this afternoon. I was way out of line, yelling at you. What you do with your kid is your business. I've got enough troubles of my own without messing with yours.'

‘How'd you get here?'

‘On foot. Did you hear what I said?

‘On foot?'

‘Yes, I used my legs,' said Tammy exasperated. ‘I said I'm sorry!'

‘Yeah. Yeah. No worries. You mean you walked all the way up here by yourself? In the dark?'

‘It's hardly dark. The moon's out.' Tammy could feel her hackles rising again, damn the man. ‘I'm not precious, you know. I can look after myself.' Her eyes flicked back towards the house and the shiny red car.

‘I'll run you home.' He moved towards his ute.

‘No! I'm fine.' She did not need him doing anything for her. ‘Thanks all the same,' she added before setting off down the drive.

She tripped on a rock. Trav went to help her back up. ‘I'm really fine,' she said as she righted herself and took off at a clipping pace, only to just miss a renegade branch sticking out from a gum tree at head height.

‘Very fine,' she said again. Move, McCauley. Get the hell out of here before you make a
complete
fool of yourself.

‘Thanks for bringing the stuff for the kid.' The yell came floating down the hill to settle around her shoulders as she tripped on yet another rock.

No worries,
Trav
, Tammy muttered.

She was just about at her own gateway when the shiny red car blew past, showering her with grit and gravel. A hand was in the air, blonde locks and glittering rings on show, as the vehicle roared past.

‘Bye, Jacinta,' muttered Tammy. Nice enough girl but did she have to make it
so
apparent she wanted Travis Hunter? Where had subtlety disappeared to? Then again, perhaps she was getting old. Maybe it was all about just putting it out there. Come get me, big boy, I'm all yours, you don't even have to ask. Joanne and Jacinta. Two peas in a pod. God, now she
was
getting cynical. Joanne would eat the poor schoolteacher alive, any day.

She was in front of the dairy when she heard the whistle of a turbo diesel motor out near her front gate. The vehicle had passed the drive and turned into the gateway of the hayshed. She watched as the lights did a 360-degree turn, then slowly made their way back to her driveway. The ute then propped and the driver turned off the motor. The lights disappeared but just before they did she saw the shadow of a man in a hat in the driver's seat. Shon? But it wasn't a twin-cab ute. And why would he be casing the joint out?