Outback Ghost (16 page)

There was only one thing for it.

Stella rushed into her bedroom, grabbed the suitcase out from under the bed and threw it on top. She and Heidi hadn't brought a lot of stuff. It wouldn't take a long time to pack. If she worked quickly, they could be gone within an hour. She threw open the wooden wardrobe doors and began tearing out her clothes and throwing them, hangers and all, into the case.

‘Mummy. What about book?' Her arms full of underwear, Stella looked up to see Heidi standing in the bedroom doorway holding up her picture book. She frowned at her mum when she noticed the suitcase. ‘What you doing?'

Stella couldn't find any words. She dumped the bras and knickers on top of the suitcase and knelt down next to Heidi. ‘I thought maybe we should go home for Christmas,' she said eventually.

Heidi's frown turned to a scowl. ‘No!'

‘No?' Stella's head went back at the uncharacteristic display of protest from her little girl.

‘Yes. No.' She threw the book on the floor and crossed her arms over her chest.

‘But we forgot our Christmas tree.'

Heidi thought about this a moment. ‘We come back?'

Stella shook her head, a pain stabbing her chest at the thought of not seeing Adam again.

‘Not going.' Heidi sat down in the doorway as if planting her bottom on the floor would seal the deal. ‘Don't need tree.'

What about presents? Stella thought. If she played the I-forgot-the-presents card would Heidi succumb? But even as she thought this she realised how absolutely ridiculous she was being. Heidi loved it here – she loved the cottage, the farm, the people she'd met, everything. And so did she. They'd spent more time outdoors in the fresh air in the past week than she had in the past year. Wasn't that why Stella had scrimped and saved? To give her daughter the experience of living in the country.

Not wanting to upset Heidi, she fought the urge to let her aching head fall into her hands, instead taking a deep breath. ‘Okay, darling, if that's what you want, we'll stay. But let's go into the café and get some lunch.'

Although Stella planned to follow through on her promise to Heidi, a few hours away from the cottage was necessary for her sanity right now.

‘Deal.' Heidi held out her hand for a handshake and Stella couldn't help but laugh as she took it.

‘If it isn't my new favourite people.' Frankie beamed as Stella and Heidi approached the café's counter and leaned over to hug them. ‘I'm glad you two turned up, I was about to send out a search party.'

Heidi giggled and Stella smiled. ‘It's only been a few days.'

‘Days schmays.' Frankie waved a hand in front of her face. ‘I don't have much excitement in my life.'

A week ago Stella would have said the same about herself but since landing in Bunyip Bay there'd been a few surprising twists. ‘Well, we're here now,' she said. ‘If you've got time for a break, we'd love you to sit with us.' Secretly she hoped she could ask Frankie a few Burton-family questions without raising her suspicions as to why she was so curious. Frankie would assume Stella's interest was down to feelings for Adam and no doubt be excited by the fact. Stella didn't need that kind of encouragement.

Frankie wiped her hands against her apron and winked. ‘Let me fill your order and it's a deal. What can I get you?'

‘Chips, please.' Heidi bounced on the spot excitedly. ‘And milkshake too.'

‘My kind of girl.' Frankie winked, her eyes sparkling. ‘What flavour?'

‘Chocolate.'

‘Of course.' Frankie scribbled on her pad, then looked to Stella. ‘And you?'

‘I'm torn,' she admitted as she gazed at the array of gourmet delights staring back at her from the display cabinet. ‘I loved the quiche I had last time but if all your dishes are that good I want to taste them all.'

‘Let me surprise you,' Frankie suggested.

‘Okay. Why not?' She paid for their lunch and then found a table in the corner. As was Heidi's habit, she dug into Stella's bag, retrieved her crayons and colouring-in book and got busy straightaway. The young waiter brought over Heidi's chips and their drinks almost immediately and after about five minutes Frankie put some sort of gourmet burger in front of Stella.

‘You won't get a better BLAT than that anywhere,' she promised.

‘Blat?' Stella asked, her tastebuds already offering up their babies for a bite of what looked to be bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato toasted between thick, crusty bread.

Frankie confirmed her suspicions but before Stella could utter a word of thanks, she'd turned on her heels and whirled back to the kitchen. Her energy rivalled that of a sugar-hyped child. Stella stole one of Heidi's chips and then got stuck into her BLAT, thinking about what she and Heidi should do next. If she kept her busy for the afternoon, maybe she'd forget the tea party she'd been having and Stella could get through the evening without suffering another case of the heebie-jeebies.

The scraping of the chair beside her jolted her out of her thoughts. Frankie sat down with a coffee and two mammoth plastic containers. Stella frowned at them while finishing her mouthful.

‘Can you take these over to Adam when you head back?' she asked, tapping the side of the top container.

Stella swallowed. Just the thought of approaching Adam after the way they'd left things the other night made her palms sweat. She put down her food and wiped her hands against her shorts. ‘Um…'

Seemingly unaware of Stella's discomfort, Frankie explained, ‘You've no doubt heard the pickle he's in and I'm scared he'll forget or not bother to feed himself and run himself into the ground. Even if Auntie Esther does make the effort, her cooking is so horrid she'll probably poison the poor guy.'

‘Has something happened? I haven't seen Adam since the barbecue.' Not strictly true but close enough.

Frankie sighed. ‘His workers' dad fell ill and now Adam's been left to finish the harvest all on his own. It's not that he's not capable but it's a massive job for one person and he'll waste half the days going back and forth to the CBH bins when he should be harvesting more grain.'

Could that be why he hadn't come to see her? He'd been running himself ragged with work instead. She bit her lip as a smile threatened to burst on her face. ‘That's terrible,' she managed. Because it was. She hated the idea of lovely, gorgeous Adam working so hard he didn't have time to eat.

‘I know.' Frankie nodded, leaned forward and lowered her voice. ‘Between you and me, I think that Uncle Dave is having some sort of crisis. I suppose he thinks it's his turn after Esther's been in meltdown for twenty years, but it's not fair on Adam. I worry about him. He needs a good woman to look after him.'

Stella took a big bite of her BLAT to stop from volunteering for the role. Such a task would go nicely with the other fantasies she'd been indulging in over the last couple of days. Yet, as she chewed, a thought struck her. She might not be able to help long term but…

She finished her mouthful, then, ‘What exactly do his workers do?'

‘Oh bits and bobs. Drive the header and chaser bins, help cart the grain to the bins. Why?'

‘Do they use the farm truck or have one of their own?'

‘Adam's truck as far as I know.' Frankie's eyes narrowed with suspicion. ‘Why? What are you thinking?'

‘I've got a bus licence,' Stella said, ‘and it covers me for trucks up to a certain size. If it's the truck I'm thinking of, I could drive it. I could help him.' Thinking about spending all that time with Adam made her a little light-headed but that was no reason not to help the man, right?

‘Why do
you
have a bus licence?'

Stella laughed at the expression on Frankie's face. ‘Heidi and I belong to a group of parents with Down syndrome children who support each other through tough times. We also go on excursions together. One year the person who drives the bus wasn't going to be available for a couple of months, so I decided to get my licence.'

‘Well, I never.' Frankie bit her lip through a grin. ‘And you'd seriously help? What about Heidi?'

‘If Adam is happy with the arrangement, Heidi could spend some time with me in the truck and some in the header. She's great in the car and…'

‘If she gets bored, we'll send Simone's girls over to look after her.' Frankie formed her hand into a fist and punched the air. ‘I'm so happy I could kiss you.'

Again Stella had to bite her tongue. If grateful kissing was on the agenda, she'd rather Adam did the honours. ‘We'll have fun, won't we, chicken?' she said, tweaking Heidi's pigtail and trying not to think about kissing anyone.

Adam had just finished loading the truck for the second time that day when he looked up to see Stella and Heidi approaching on foot. She was carrying some kind of container. He sucked in a breath at the sight of her in denim shorts, a black singlet and… Blundies? He shook his head, thinking he must be fantasising about her wearing farm boots. It would be all too easy to get lost in a fantasy of Stella becoming more to him than a guest on their farm. If he allowed himself to entertain the idea of getting married like his friends were starting to do, Stella would be perfect. Not only did she look hot in work boots, but she seemed to fit so well out here – the fact that the cottage hadn't freaked her out like everyone else so far proved this. Maybe that's because she'd grown up in the country. Mutton, who'd also noticed their approach, barked excitedly from the passenger seat.

Ignoring the dog, Adam summoned a smile and a wave as they got closer. He hoped she couldn't hear his heart thudding. It wasn't like him to get so nervous around a woman because usually there wasn't anything at stake, but he couldn't get past the way they'd left things the other night. Did she want to kiss him? Or was she glad it hadn't eventuated?

‘Hi,' he managed, cringing at the way he sounded like a besotted schoolboy but happy he didn't blurt out the questions that were in his head.

‘Hi.' She smiled, stopping a metre or so in front of him as their eyes met in an agonising moment of awareness. He had no doubt Stella's thoughts were almost identical to his and if it weren't for Heidi, he'd likely not be able to resist pulling her into his arms and finishing what they'd started the other night.

‘Hello Adam.' Heidi's enthusiastic greeting jolted his head and thoughts in her direction.

‘Hey Heidi, what have you been up to today?'

‘Had lunch at café and now riding your truck.' She jumped up and down on the spot.

Laughing at her excitement, he looked to Stella. ‘My truck?'

She took a breath and then thrust two containers towards him. ‘Yes. These are from Frankie. Cakes or something. She mentioned your workers had to go away and well… I can drive a truck and I'd be happy to help.'

Tucking the containers under his arm, he frowned at her, thinking he must have heard wrong. She was so small and compact he couldn't imagine her driving a four-wheel drive, never mind something bigger. ‘You have a truck licence?'

She shook her head. ‘No. Well, yes. I got an MR licence so I could drive a bus for our Downs support group and it also means I can drive trucks up to a certain size. I'm pretty sure yours is included.'

He nodded, flummoxed. ‘It is. That's all Patrick has, but…' How the hell would he control his feelings – or rather his sex drive – if they were working so closely for the next few days? Granted he'd be in the tractor and Stella in the truck but there'd be moments.

He didn't need any more moments.

‘I couldn't ask you to do that,' he said after too long a pause. ‘You've come away for a holiday and what about Heidi?'

‘Heidi can hang with me in the truck for some of the time or if you're comfortable with it, I'm sure she'd love another ride or ten with you. I'll ask Simone if her girls want to earn some babysitting money and come over and play with her for a while. She'll love it. And if you feel really bad about it, you can waive a week's rent of the cottage.'

He snorted. ‘If you do this for me, I'll waive the rest of your stay. But are you sure?'

‘Yep.' She thrust out her hand. ‘Do we have a deal?'

He swallowed. He didn't trust himself with the touching required to shake her hand but he'd look like a dick and make her feel awkward if he didn't. ‘We do.' As he slipped his hand into hers to seal the deal, he felt a physical jolt in his chest. It shot right down into his groin and he hoped like hell she didn't glance in that direction.

‘I won't be able to work as long hours as you, but hopefully whatever I can do will help.'

‘It will.'

‘Great.' She smiled and nodded towards the truck. ‘And you might need to give me a quick lesson on where I'll have to go and what I'll have to do each trip, but I'm a quick learner.'

He blinked, wondering what she was talking about. ‘Oh, right, sure. I'm just about to head into town to the bins now. Can you come or did you want to wait until tomorrow to start?'

‘Today will be fine,' she said, ‘but you might need to let go of my hand first.'

He glanced down and realised his hand still gripped hers. Forcing himself to let go, he shoved said hand in his pocket for safety reasons. ‘Sorry,' he said, offering her a sheepish grin. ‘You've just caught me by surprise.'

‘It's fine.'

Their eyes met, and although he knew his grin was goofier than the Disney dog himself, he couldn't help it. His heart felt light at the prospect of working alongside Stella. The only way he'd survive the experience was to think of her in the same way he thought of Patrick and Connor. Yes, that was the trick – instead of those lovely, shapely legs, he'd imagine she had thick, hairy stumps like his workers. And instead of her teasing smile and kiss-me-now lips, he'd think of Patrick's stubbly chin and weather-roughened skin. No risk of attraction there.