Chapter 21

CHAPTER

21

It wasn’t her imagination. The dress was definitely a little tighter than before. Not uncomfortably tight. Just … a firmer fit. Bree turned side on to the mirror. She didn’t look like she’d gained any weight, but her body shape had changed in the weeks of living and working at The Gums. In Sydney, exercising at the gym had been aimed at specific parts of her body; keeping her stomach flat and her arms trim. That sort of thing. But lugging bags of stock feed and bales of hay, walking miles each day with and without alpacas in hand, mending fences and hefting fleeces was a different form of exercise altogether. She was probably fitter now than she had ever been. And stronger. She wasn’t as thin as she had been, but she looked far healthier. And if this dress was a bit tighter than she liked, that was fine. She didn’t really like the dress anyway. Its designer label and studied sexiness were all part of the Bree she had left behind. So why on earth was she wearing it?

She unzipped the dress and stepped out of it. She wasn’t that person any more. And it was certainly not the person she wanted the town to see. Or Matt.

She began hunting through her wardrobe again. She’d hung up everything she owned when she first moved in, but had pretty much worn overalls or jeans ever since. She had worn her favourite flouncy multicoloured skirt to dinner with Matt. But this was a dance. And while she was pretty sure there’d be more jeans and riding boots than designer labels, she still wanted to look nice. After weeks of mending fences and mucking out and picking mud and weeds out of alpaca fleece, she simply wanted to feel like a woman. An attractive woman. Not for any particular reason, of course. Or for any particular person. Although, as Matt had invited her, it would be ungracious not to look like she’d made an effort to look nice. Not a date-level effort, because this wasn’t a date, but some effort.

She found what she wanted right at the back of the wardrobe. She pulled it out and nodded, smiling. She’d bought this dress for a law firm Christmas party, but at the last minute had bowed to pressure from her mother to look more ‘like management’. This dress was certainly not managerial. A symphony in floral chiffon, it featured a lace-up back, a bare midriff and exactly the right number of frills. After her mother had banned it, Bree had put it to the back of the closet and never worn it. The tag was still hanging from the neckline. It was, she knew, a lot more expensive than anything anyone else would be wearing, but the boho design didn’t make it seem too over the top. She suddenly wanted to wear it more than anything else. There was still a slight chill in the air in the evenings, but not too much for chiffon and open-toed sandals, and it would be warm in the hall. It wasn’t as if she would be sneaking outside to make out behind the hall with anyone. Not that she wanted to. She wasn’t a teenager any more. And she was certain Matt wasn’t planning on anything like that either.

Before closing the door, she took out a beautiful hand-knitted shawl that would add that extra warmth, just in case.

She grabbed her little-used makeup bag out of the bathroom cupboard and began applying a little, just enough to make her feel special. She kept it subdued, like her plain silver earrings and the chain around her neck. The ring on her finger, though, was big and bold. Her favourite piece of costume jewellery.

Dressed at last, she made a final inspection in her large bedroom mirror. She looked good. Not over the top. But good.

She heard a door open as Rose stepped out of her room on the other side of the hallway. Bree cast a joyful eye over her grandmother.

‘You look great!’

Like Bree, Rose had bowed to convention for firm events and worn conservatively elegant dresses and pearls. Tonight, she had let her hair down—literally as well as figuratively. Her grey and pink curls bounced around her shoulders as she twirled in a girlish fashion to show off her brightly coloured kaftan trimmed with sequins around the neck. ‘I feel great too. It’s been a long time since I went dancing.’

‘And might you have someone in mind as your dance partner?’ ‘I have no idea what you mean, granddaughter.’

‘I heard Deb tell you the shearing crew knows about the dance. I don’t suppose you’re hoping a dashing lead shearer might be there?’

‘And if I am?’

‘Then we’d better not keep him waiting.’

‘And what about Matt?’

Bree glanced at her watch. ‘We agreed to meet there and if we leave now, we’ll be right on time.’

***

When they arrived at the hall, the dance was cranking up into full swing. The street was lined with cars, but not too many of them. Most of the townspeople had walked. The hall door was open, light pouring out to illuminate a man standing by the steps. Bree’s lips curved into a smile.

‘Hi, Matt,’ she said as she approached. ‘You didn’t have to wait outside, you know.’

‘I asked you to come with me and I’m old-fashioned enough to think that means I walk you through the door. And besides, you look amazing and I don’t want anyone else to whisk you away before we get a chance to say hello.’

Bree had received lengthier compliments and more erudite ones, but never one that felt better. She walked right up to him and kissed him on the cheek.

‘Thank you.’

Matt’s eyes held hers for a long moment, and suddenly her breathing was becoming a little irregular. He looked awfully good too in a crisply ironed green shirt that highlighted the colour of his eyes.

‘It’s nice to see you, Matt,’ Rose interrupted apologetically. ‘Shall we go inside?’

‘Yes. Um, of course. Vicki’s in there and she’s dying to see both of you.’

He stood back to let Rose and Bree enter the hall ahead of him.

The hall was awash with colour and movement and a band was playing on a stage at the end of the room. Couples strutted their stuff on the dance floor, and if the stuff they were strutting wasn’t exactly ballroom fare, no-one cared. Children of all ages were either dancing in their own distinct ways, or jumping up and down and clapping their hands almost in time to the music. Bree spotted Vicki’s laughing face among them.

On one side of the room, trestle tables groaned under the weight of food, while on the other, a couple of men were handing out drinks from bathtubs filled with ice. A big glass jar on the bar was half-full of money. And to cap off the gaiety of the scene, every decoration from every holiday season of the year dangled from the ceiling above, glistening with moving light.

‘That’s a disco ball!’ Bree was enchanted.

Jake and Lou were standing nearby, arm in arm. ‘Lou scavenged it from somewhere on one of the library runs. It was broken, but easy enough to fix.’

‘That takes me back,’ Rose said. ‘Bree, I fell in love with your grandfather by the light of one of those things.’

They were crossing the hall towards the bar when a tall figure suddenly appeared in front of them.

‘Mike.’ Rose sounded breathless.

‘Hello, again. You look wonderful.’

‘Thank you.’

The two of them stood looking at each other for a very long minute before Mike seemed to notice Rose’s companions. ‘Hi, Bree.’

‘Mike, this is Matt.’ As Bree spoke, there was a loud squeal and a gleeful little girl flung her arms around her waist. ‘And this is Matt’s daughter, Vicki.’

The men shook hands then Mike looked down at Vicki. ‘Gosh, if I hadn’t already promised Rose the first dance, I would love to dance with you, Vicki.’

The little girl blushed. ‘I always dance with my daddy.’

‘And rightly so.’ Mike nodded. ‘But if I was to ask you for a dance, would you dance with me?’ He crouched down and whispered very loudly, ‘And then your dad could dance with Bree, who looks very pretty tonight, don’t you think?’

Vicki nodded vigorously. ‘I think Daddy would like to dance with Bree.’

‘I think he would too. So you save me a dance later, okay?’

‘Okay.’

At that exact moment, the band struck up a seventies disco track. Mike held out his hand to Rose. She took it and was swept away, looking as happy as Bree had ever seen her.

‘Come on, Daddy.’ Vicki tugged at her father’s hand. ‘Dance with me.’

Matt looked at Bree. ‘But Bree has only just arrived. We don’t want to be rude and desert her so quickly.’

‘It’s fine. You two go and dance. I’ll see if I can find the bar.’

Bree bought a glass of wine, adding her money to the growing pile in the library fund jar. Anna Prentiss appeared at her side, also looking for a drink.

‘How’s our girl Sky?’ she asked.

‘She’s fine. Fingers crossed.’

‘I am starting to have a faint hope that she might beat the odds.’ Anna gently rubbed the scar on her face. ‘But I’m not going to get too invested in that. There’s a way to go yet.’ She took her glass of beer and wandered off.

Bree found a spot from which to watch the dance floor. It would be fair to say that the dancing skills of the Wagtail Ridge inhabitants were mixed. On the far side of the room, a space had opened around a middle-aged couple who had a sort of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers look as they whirled around in what might be a foxtrot. Orange-haired Val from the post office was dancing with a thin man Bree guessed was her husband. And Deb and Shane from the pub, their arms wrapped around each other, were swaying to some music only they could hear. Maggie was here too. She saw Bree and extracted an arm from her clinch with a nice-looking lad to wave. Bree lifted her hand in response.

It took Bree a few seconds to find her grandmother and Mike. They had their best ballroom skills on display and Bree’s eyebrows rose as Mike spun Nan under his arm, then, his hand firmly around her waist, bent her backwards. Nan looked elegant and happy and ten years younger. They danced away and were lost in the crowd.

Bree’s eyes found Matt and his daughter. The little girl was jumping up and down, waving her arms in a series of moves that bore very little resemblance to any dance Bree had ever seen, but the smile on her face outshone every other on the dance floor except perhaps one. Matt’s dance moves definitely came under the heading of Embarrassing Dad Dancing, but he obviously didn’t care. He was probably having the best time of anyone on that dance floor.

Bree was distracted by the arrival of a woman from the knitting club who wanted to introduce a friend who might want to join. Before she really had time to think about it, Bree found herself surrounded by the women from the club, making plans for the next meeting and perhaps an outing to the historic Nundle Woollen Mill. Now that she had Maggie to help her, Bree might have time to go with them.

While Matt danced a second round with his daughter, Bree helped at the food table and then carried used dishes to the kitchen. When she returned, she found Matt looking for her.

‘I feel a bit guilty, deserting you like that the minute we walked in the door.’

‘It’s fine. You and Vicki looked like you were having fun.’

‘We were, but she’s with some school friends now. Are you willing to risk a dance with me? I’ll do my best not to step on your toes.’

On the stage, the band launched into another, even louder song and Bree nodded. Matt took her hand and in a matter of moments, they were on the dance floor.

The next half an hour passed in a swirl of music and laughter. No toes were damaged, and Bree, Matt and Vicki were dancing as a threesome when the band called a break, citing a need for food and beer.

‘I could use the same,’ Matt said. ‘Then, Vicki, it will be time for you to go to Kelly’s place.’

This elicited a cheer from the small girl, who darted ahead in the direction of the food table.

‘All the kids are going to Kelly’s for a sleepover tonight,’ Matt explained. ‘Someone volunteers every year to allow the parents to stay on at the dance.’

‘That’s nice.’

‘This will be Vicki’s first year. Last year, she was still a bit afraid to be away from me overnight, so we went home together. But I’m glad I can stay tonight.’

‘So am I.’

That’s when Bree noticed Matt was still holding her hand from the last dance. She squeezed his ever so gently. ‘Shall we go and send Vicki on her way with her friends?’

He nodded.