Outback Sisters (14 page)

He laughed. ‘Don't stress too much about Harriet. She'll come good in the end, I promise.'

‘Maybe.' Simone shrugged and gave him a what-can-you-do? smile. ‘The question is, how many grey hairs will I have by then?'

Grey hairs or not, she'd still be beautiful. Angus swallowed that thought and asked her about her art. She was more than happy to talk about her passion and he found all she said fascinating. When they heard the roar of the quad bike approaching, he glanced down at his watch and realised that almost an hour had passed. He couldn't believe how fast the time had flown and tried to swallow his disappointment when Grace came racing towards them, Logan only a few paces behind.

‘Have fun, honey?' Simone asked, rising. This made Angus eye-level with her butt and he quickly averted his gaze.

Grace nodded so much Angus was surprised she didn't get whiplash. ‘It was awesome. Logan took me all over the farm and even let me have a go myself.'

Simone pulled her daughter into a hug and glanced over the top of her head at Logan. ‘Thank you so much.'

He grinned back. ‘It was my pleasure. I hope my brother behaved himself.'

Simone met Angus's gaze and the look she gave him—as if they shared a secret—made his pulse quicken. ‘He was the perfect host,' she said.

‘Well, that's a relief. I'm just going to grab some water. Do you want to go for a walk?'

‘That sounds lovely,' Simone said.

Logan went into the house to get his water and returned with a bottle less than a minute later. Grace retreated to the lounge room with Harriet, and Angus watched, something inside him squeezing, as his brother took Simone's hand and led her off down the winding garden path.

He shook his head in an effort to rid the unfamiliar feeling, and then went inside to start on the dishes.

‘I'm sorry about leaving you with Angus for so long,' Logan said as he led Simone, hand in hand, across the paddocks towards his favourite spot on the farm. It had been their place for adventure when they were kids and now it provided solitude when he needed to be alone with his thoughts. ‘Grace was having so much fun and I couldn't bear to disappoint her. We only came back when the diesel was running low.'

Simone laughed. ‘Honestly, Angus was the perfect host. He got me another drink, refused to let me clean the kitchen and made interesting conversation.'

‘Really?' Logan couldn't hide his surprise. ‘Wonders never cease. What did you talk about?'

‘Oh, just stuff. Work. The trouble with teenage girls. We talked a bit about your sister.'

‘About Liv? What did he say? Did he sound depressed?'

‘No.' Simone shook her head. ‘He told me about the time you all went shopping for a ballgown. Why? Do you think he's depressed?'

He let out a deep sigh and kicked away a lone gumnut. ‘I dunno. I just worry about him being out here alone for days, sometimes weeks, at a time. It's not healthy. Besides the farm, what has he got to live for? I can't help worrying he'll go the same way as Dad.'

Simone frowned. ‘Did your dad … did he …?'

‘Yes.' Logan closed his eyes briefly. ‘He killed himself. Depression got him in the end.'

‘Shit.' She squeezed his hand. ‘I understand your concern and I'm no expert, but Angus didn't seem depressed to me. He spoke with great passion for the farm, and about you and Olivia. Not everyone's a social butterfly, but from what you've told me about your dad, it sounds like maybe he wasn't coping with his grief.'

‘Angus found him, you know. Hanging from a rope in the shearing shed.' Logan could barely get the words out. He'd been away at the time—first year of uni—but he had a good enough imagination and that image had never left him. How much worse must it have been for Angus?

‘Oh God. That's something no-one should ever have to see. Did he get counselling?'

Logan snorted. ‘Angus didn't have time for stuff like that. He threw himself into farm work and looking after Olivia and Sarah and—' He shut up before he said too much. Of course Angus would expect he'd eventually share their family history with Simone but it still felt wrong talking about the one thing that Angus himself refused to speak about. Yet how could he explain to Simone that it wasn't simply losing their dad or Angus's split with Sarah that made him worry? Angus had lost so much more than a parent and a lover.

‘He told me about his fiancée leaving him.'

Logan couldn't believe it. ‘He told you about Sarah?'

Simone nodded. ‘We were talking about how hard it is to date with kids and he told me she left because she didn't want to raise Olivia. She sounds like a cow.'

Ah, so he hadn't quite told her everything. ‘She was young … it was … hard for everyone.'

‘You're right, I shouldn't judge. Speaking of being young, I can't thank you enough for spending some time with Grace. She never causes any fuss and I think I'm sometimes guilty of overlooking her.'

‘Nah.' He shook his head as they approached a gate and he had to let go of her hand to open it. ‘You're a great mum. Grace is great. Even Harriet is great … in a kinda scary way.'

‘What on earth did I do to find you?' Simone asked as she walked through the gate.

‘You signed up to Rural Matchmakers with a whole lot of other desperados.'

She laughed. ‘It's not nice to talk about yourself in such a way.'

He merely smiled as he closed the gate behind them and took her hand again.

‘Do you really not mind about the girls?'

He frowned. ‘I'm not sure I understand the question.'

‘You're still young. Don't you want to have kids of your own?'

He slowed and turned to her. ‘I'm honestly not sure. You don't want to have any more?'

She shrugged. ‘I hadn't thought about it.'

He reached out a hand and brushed a strand of flyaway hair behind her ear. She blinked her beautiful green eyes. Maybe this was the time to confess about
his
eyes. They were talking the big issues after all. Relationship deal breakers. But the winter sun was shining above them and he didn't want to ruin what was turning out to be a very good day. They were still getting to know each other … they'd barely even kissed. Maybe they wouldn't even make the distance. If he felt things were getting serious, then he'd tell her.

‘You know … you're not that old. Plenty of women haven't even started their families at thirty-five.'

She bit her lower lip and nodded.

‘Saying that, kids are great,' he said, ‘but I'd rather be with someone I love and can have fun with than someone I think will make good babies with me. And you already have two awesome daughters—having kids is a major lucky-dip.'

She raised one eyebrow and smiled at him. ‘Grace is sweet. Spend enough time with Harriet and you might change your mind.'

He laughed. ‘I like Harriet. She has spark.'

‘That's one way to put it.'

He nodded ahead to a cluster of trees on the edge of the usually dry creek bed. The rains hadn't been bad this year, so there was a rare trickle of water in it. ‘This,' he exclaimed, leading her over, ‘is one of my favourite spots in the whole world.'

She smiled as he led her over to some big rocks in the middle of the trees that he and Angus had pretended were a fort when they were kids. He smiled whenever he thought about the battles they'd had here, the war wounds they'd returned home with. Mum often joked about needing to buy bandages and antiseptic cream in bulk.

‘Sit,' he said, pulling her down next to him on one of the rocks. ‘You've read the Faraway Tree books, right?'

She chuckled. ‘Who hasn't? Dad was an English teacher and he read to Frankie and I since we were babies. Frankie adored Moonface and … what was the name of that blonde fairy?'

‘Silky.'

‘That's it. Frankie longed to have blonde, frizzy hair like her.'

‘I guess we always want what we can't have,' Logan said, ‘but I reckon the colour you and Frankie have is just perfect.'

‘Are you blind or something? This hair is the bane of my existence.'

For a moment every muscle in his body froze. If only she knew, but he couldn't bring himself to go there yet. It was hard to summon the smile that Simone's joke required, but he did his best. ‘We used to pretend this was the Enchanted Forest.'

Unaware of his discomfort, she glanced around. ‘Frankie would have loved that. She was never without a book as a kid.' Simone was quiet a moment and then turned to look at him, an earnest expression on his face. ‘Hey, do you think we could convince Angus to come to the wedding too? As Frankie's date?'

His own woes forgotten, he smothered a snort. ‘Good luck with that. I'd have more luck convincing him to look into this renewable energy project, and you know how I'm going with that.'

She sighed, leaned over and picked up a leaf, which she proceeded to rip into pieces. ‘I just don't want Frankie to be by herself. As glad as I am you're coming with me, I feel bad about leaving her to go solo.'

‘She hasn't been in a relationship for a while then?'

Simone shook her head. ‘A few years ago she was burned by a guy in Perth—it cut her pretty deep.'

‘What happened?' he asked, then quickly followed with, ‘You don't have to say. Not my business.'

‘She was working at a café and got friendly with one of the local businessmen who came in. They started dating and for a while Frankie was so happy. Then the night they were going to take the next step, he booked a room at a city hotel and arranged to meet her there. He never turned up. She found out later it was because he'd been with his wife … in hospital … while she was having his baby.'

Logan clenched his free hand into a fist. ‘What a bastard.'

‘Yep. Better she found out sooner rather than later, but that experience really fucked her up. She came home to Bunyip Bay, bought the café and threw her heart and soul into that to try to erase the pain. As far as I know—and I would know because she tells me everything—there's been no-one else since.'

Logan couldn't understand why some smart guy hadn't snapped Frankie up. He'd only met her the two times, but those brief interactions were enough to tell him that if she were emotionally available, anyone would be crazy to pass her by. He racked his brain for a mate who might be happy to accompany a pretty girl to a wedding but came up blank; all his good friends were currently coupled up.

‘I'll ask Angus,' he said, surprising himself. ‘But no promises.'

‘Thank you.' Simone squeezed his hand again and beamed at him. He smiled back.

Her face was mere inches from his and they were in the middle of nowhere, with no audience. Perfect opportunity to kiss her. Uncharacteristic nerves tumbled in his gut, but he took a quick breath, leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers.

* * *

‘Nope. Nope. Nope.' Frankie sighed, took another sip of her Milo and continued scrolling through the list of potential dates on
RuralMatchmakers.com.au
. A number of men had sent her virtual flowers and indicated they'd like to connect, but she'd managed to find something unsatisfactory about each and every one: their hair looked creepy or their religious or political views didn't match hers. One said his favourite movie was
Magic Mike
and although he had a handsome face and the rest of his profile seemed promising, she just couldn't get excited about a man who liked watching other men get their gear off.

She was about to give up and go read on the couch when she heard a key turn in her front door. Every muscle in her body tightened. Simone was the only person who had a spare key and it didn't take a genius to guess why she'd decided to drop by. Psyching herself up to be a supportive and excited sister, Frankie rolled back her chair, stood and went out to meet her. Fred and George—who'd been sleeping on either side of her computer—roused, leaped off the desk and followed her out of the study.

She met Simone in the hallway. One look at the expression on her face told Frankie that the excursion to Logan's farm had been a success.

‘Want a drink?' she asked. A post-mortem of Simone's day might require something stronger than malted milk.

‘Love one.' Simone smiled as she bent down and scooped up the cats, one in each arm, and cuddled them against her. ‘Hello, cuties. How you doing today?'

The two felines meowed and struggled to escape.

‘It's like that, is it?' Simone laughed as she deposited them back on the floor. Fred and George scuttled off to the kitchen and Frankie followed, her thoughts already on the bottle of white wine in her fridge.

‘I'm guessing you had a good day?' she asked as she entered the kitchen and collected the bottle and two glasses.

Simone nodded, then sank down into a chair at the tiny kitchen table. ‘It was fabulous. But I'm exhausted now.'

‘And the girls?' Frankie asked. ‘Did they have a good day too?'

‘Grace had a blast. Logan took her out on the quad bike for over an hour. She was in heaven. Of course Harriet whined and carried on about being there because it meant she missed spending the day with loverboy.' Simone rolled her eyes. ‘She's on the phone with him now. I ordered Grace to call me if she takes so much as one step out of the house.'

Frankie laughed as she plonked a glass of chardonnay down in front of her sister, then leaned back against the bench and took a much-needed gulp of her own. ‘So Logan got along okay with the girls then?'

‘Oh yeah, he's great with them. Especially Grace. At one stage, I thought she was going to spend more time with him than I was.'

‘But that wasn't the case?'

Simone shook her head. ‘We had a lovely lunch, then he took Grace for a ride, Harriet sulked in front of the TV and I hung out with Angus.'