Outback Ghost (15 page)

Stella lifted her hand to wave goodbye but couldn't manage to say more than, ‘See ya.' She rubbed her lips together imagining what it would have felt like to be kissed by him, unsure whether to be grateful Heidi had woken up or disappointed. She pulled the little girl close to her and banished that last thought. Her daughter was her first priority, her only priority, and she'd pay to remember that next time she almost kissed someone she'd known barely a week.

Shame on you,
she silently scolded herself.

‘Come on, beautiful.' Stella stood, lifting Heidi with her and taking comfort from the tiny arms wrapped around her neck. The door of Adam's ute slammed and the love seat swung in the breeze as she took a step towards the front door.

Heidi loosened her grip, lifted her head and looked towards the love seat. ‘Goodnight, Lily-Blue.'

A shiver scuttled down Stella's spine at Heidi's words. Although she told herself the wind had made the seat sway, given what Adam had told her tonight, it was getting harder and harder not to believe in ghosts.

Adam tossed and turned half the night and then finally fell into a restless slumber in the early hours of the morning, only to be jolted awake by the piercing alarm on his mobile phone. His first thoughts were of Stella. He silenced the phone then flopped back onto his pillow and groaned. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a morning hard-on like the one he had now and he didn't know what the hell to do about it. Okay, that wasn't exactly true, a cold shower would no doubt do the trick but it was more the cause that bothered him.

Last night had been the best night he'd had in a long time, which was saying something considering their topics of conversation. He didn't generally tell strangers about Lily-Blue but Stella didn't feel like a stranger. Sitting with her under the stars, drinking wine and chatting easily, felt like something they'd done a hundred times before. And he'd had a crazy thought that he would like to do it again. And again. They'd spent most of the time discussing Heidi and he hadn't once been bored. Anything but. When he'd done the
Cleo
photoshoot a few years back, he'd met some pretty interesting and inspiring people but no one had awed him as much as Stella. She was young, beautiful, intelligent, had drive and aspirations, but surprisingly the most attractive thing about her was her fierce love and devotion to her daughter.

And that didn't make sense. Surely, the way he felt about having children, a woman like Stella should be the last woman on earth who affected him. With a deep sigh, he threw back the bed sheets and headed for the shower. He didn't bother with the hot tap because despite the way his stomach churned when he tried to get his head around his feelings for Stella, his body didn't care for reason.

She was hot and her lips had looked wet, warm and inviting in the moonlight. Those two facts weren't up for debate. He turned up the pressure on the cold tap even more as he thought about how close he'd been to tasting her last night. The heat between them rivalled a mid-February day and he had no doubt that, had Heidi not interrupted them, what began as a chaste kiss could have quickly turned to something a lot more. His erection flared again at the thought and he cursed under the water.

There was only one thing for it. He was halfway through taking care of the issue when he heard his mobile phone ringing.
Stella?
The mere possibility had him almost tearing the shower curtain off and slipping on the wet tiles in his haste to exit the bathroom and get to the phone on his bedside table.

‘Hello?' he panted into the receiver without glancing at the caller ID as he stood naked, dripping on the carpet.

‘Good morning, son. It's Dad.'

His heart sank and his problem shrunk.
Why the hell did you think it would be Stella?
he chided himself silently.
You think she was so affected by your near kiss she'd be calling first thing to schedule another shot?

Recovering from his disappointment and stupidity, he said, ‘Hi Dad. How are you?'

‘Splendid, splendid, son.' Dave's chirpiness grated on Adam's already fractious mood. ‘I'm at Fremantle Harbour ready to board the ship. Just thought I'd check in with you first. How's harvest?'

Adam racked his mind to think if they'd ever spoken about anything apart from farming. ‘Not bad.' Truth was he'd been distracted from that task since Stella had arrived. ‘Reckon we'll definitely be finished by Christmas.'

‘Only a couple of weeks, son,' Dave said, like some annoying Christmas elf. Then, before Adam could reply, he added, ‘How's your mother?'

She's fine, no thanks to you. Not that it's any of your business anymore
. This was what he wanted to say but there was no point taking out his unsettled emotions on his father. And he didn't begrudge his dad this decision. ‘She's actually not bad. Frankie, Simone and our cottage guests went round to the house for a barbecue yesterday and she seemed genuinely happy.'

‘Good Lord. Maybe it was me? Maybe I should have left years ago.'

‘No.' Adam rushed to placate his father. ‘I don't think there's any rhyme or reason to Mum's mental state. And I'm not getting my hopes up about this little bout of sociability either. It's only a tiny step.'

It crossed his mind that maybe there was something in his dad's words – maybe his parents could handle their own grief but having to deal with the other person's as well had eaten at their relationship until nothing remained. Maybe this separation would help them both finally move on.

‘Hmm,' Dave said noncommittally. ‘I'll be able to email from the ship but I'm not sure how good the phone lines are so if I don't speak to you before Christmas, you have a good one. Tell your mother I said the same if you think it'll help.'

‘I will.' Although secretly he hoped they might just let Christmas slip by. He'd get his dose of festive cheer at the Bunyip Bay Christmas tree, in which he'd somehow agreed to fill Monty's shoes and play Santa Claus, but he couldn't see the point in making a fuss at home. Simone and Frankie were heading to Perth to spend a few days with their folks, so they wouldn't be around to fill the solemn silences at the homestead. ‘See ya, Dad.'

‘Bye, son.'

Huffing out a breath, Adam threw his phone into the middle of his bed and scrounged around in his wardrobe for clean clothes. He tugged on jocks, socks, a pair of work shorts and pulled an already buttoned RB Stellars shirt over his fuzzy head. If he were tired due to a night between Stella's sheets that would be one thing but none of the tension inside him had been eased from their near-miss last night. As much as logic told him it would be better to keep his distance from the cottage guests, every bone in his body wanted to go and see Stella now. He wanted to see her and talk to her but couldn't work out whether he should be apologising for over-stepping boundaries or asking if she'd be up for a holiday fling.

‘Geez, listen to yourself.' Adam's thought repulsed even himself. Stella had a child to think about. It wasn't just a case of two consenting adults scratching an itch. And maybe he was getting carried away anyway. He'd been the one to instigate the not-quite kiss. If Heidi hadn't interrupted, Stella might have pushed him away. Maybe he should just pretend it had never happened. Because it hadn't. Not really.

He retrieved his phone and was halfway to the kitchen to sort breakfast when it started ringing again. Stupid hope sparked in his heart as he glanced at the caller ID, but it was extinguished when he saw the number belonged to one of his workers. No doubt Patrick was already in the paddock and wondering why the hell Adam hadn't started work yet.

‘Hi Patrick,' he said upon answering, ‘sorry I'm running late. Just gonna have some toast, then I'll be there.'

‘Adam,' Patrick's voice was firm. ‘That's not why I'm calling. I'm in Perth.'

‘Huh?'

‘Yeah, I'm really sorry but our dad had a heart attack late last night and the docs aren't sure whether he's going to pull through or not. Connor and I are waiting for a flight home.'

‘Shit.' Adam leaned back against the wall. ‘I'm sorry, mate.'

‘Thanks.' Patrick sounded as if he were only just managing to hold it all together. ‘I hate to leave you in the lurch but we won't be able to finish harvest. Mum needs us back home.'

‘It's fine,' Adam lied. ‘I'll cope and you need to be with your family. I hope your dad pulls through.'

‘Thanks boss.'

Adam had barely disconnected the call before a four-letter word spurted from his lips. His fists bunched at his side and he felt an uncharacteristic urge to hurl them into the wall behind him. So much for telling his dad he'd be finished harvesting by Christmas. If he had to stop harvesting each time he had a load to take to the bins, he'd either have to cope on even less sleep than he currently was or he'd be going till New Year. If his head had been sore five minutes ago, it positively throbbed now.

He could do a ring around and see if anyone knew of a worker still in need of a job – even one man would be better than none – but he didn't like his chances of finding help at this late stage of the task. If only his dad wasn't just about to step onto a ship, he could ring him and beg, but even if he were willing, Adam didn't think bringing him back to the farm when he'd only just left was a good idea.

Maybe the only solution was for him to stop feeling sorry for himself. This wasn't the end of the world. So what if he took longer to harvest the crop than planned? At least this way he'd be too busy working to worry about the Stella issue. He'd barely have time to shower and change his jocks, never mind make visits he wasn't sure he should be making.

With that thought Adam headed into the kitchen to make himself the kind of mammoth breakfast that would hopefully last him most of the day.

Stella couldn't believe it had been two days since her near-kiss with Adam. One the one hand it seemed like so much longer, but at the same time the memory of his lips so close to hers was already so ingrained in her mind and on constant replay that it made her feel like it had only just happened. Her lips were dry from licking them, from torturing herself with fantasies of what could have happened if the kiss had been allowed to go ahead. She'd lost her appetite and even found herself doodling his name while she'd been on the phone to her friend Joanna last night.

Pathetic
. She was almost twenty-seven, not seventeen.

And the worst of it was she'd hung around the farm, staying close to the cottage in the stupid hope he'd come see her again. He hadn't and she hated not knowing whether he was avoiding her on purpose. She'd achieved exactly stuff-all on her edits during this time and Heidi had spent her days playing tea parties with Lily-Blue.

No matter how much Stella told herself that her daughter's companion was merely a figment of her imagination, she couldn't relax about the ‘friendship'.

‘Sweetheart.' She stood in the doorway to the lounge room, waiting for Heidi to look up. Her favourite tea set was laid out on the rug and the stray cat sat purring beside her. Heidi didn't stir, instead she pretended to pour something from a pink plastic teapot into a pink plastic cup and put it down across from her.

‘Drink, Lily-Blue,' she ordered, staring at the vacant spot across the rug. The skin on the back of Stella's neck tingled.

‘Heidi,' she tried again. ‘Come outside with me and get some fresh air while we decide what to do today. I've brought your favourite book to read.'

‘Okay, Mummy,' Heidi said in the kind of tone that sounded like she were merely humouring her mother.

When they got onto the veranda, Stella sat in the love seat and patted the spot beside her. Heidi climbed up to join her and Stella breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't said Lily-Blue was already sitting there or something. She smiled at Heidi, drew her into her side and then opened
My Cat, The Silliest Cat In The World
.

Stella began, barely having to look at the pages she'd read so many times before. Heidi laughed in all the usual places and Stella smiled, reminding herself that this was why they'd come away – so they had more time to enjoy simple pleasures together. Halfway through the story her perfect little bubble popped. Her hand froze in the action of turning a page as music started inside the house. She tightened her arm around Heidi, her breath catching in her throat as she listened to someone banging on the piano keys.

‘Lily-Blue practising scales,' Heidi said, jolting Stella's thoughts.

What the hell?
Heidi had never had a music lesson in her life. How the heck did she know about scales? Something snapped inside of Stella as the piano notes continued to sound.

‘Stay there!' she ordered and then leapt to her feet, dropping the book on the decking in her haste. Running into the house, she almost tripped on the slight step at the front door but didn't let that halt her mission. She charged into the lounge room, her heart thundering as she glared towards the piano. The music had stopped but Whiskers sat preening himself on the music stool. Had she been imagining the pattern of notes?

She narrowed her eyes at the cat. ‘Were you playing Kitten on the Keys?'

Whiskers turned away from Stella, lifted her other paw and went back to cleaning her face. Trying to catch her breath, Stella smiled in relief at the simple explanation. But, even as she did so, she felt a slight shift of air and a bitter cold swept over her. She felt as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice right over her head. For someone who didn't believe in ghosts, she couldn't deny this cottage had her spooked.

How was she supposed to have a relaxing holiday and get her edits done at night when she was so freaked out? And if there was a ghost, who was to say it didn't have sinister plans for Heidi?