15 HEATH

15 Heath

‘There’s going to be a good spread tonight, all righty,’ Dave Jaensch said from the head of the conference table. Since the first RAG meeting, he’d claimed the chair as his right, based on the fact he was on local council. He rubbed his belly and nodded happily. ‘The little ladies have been taking care of their side of the affair.’

The guy’s permanently single status probably had nothing to do with the lack of available women, Heath thought as he pushed his chair back. With people still filtering in, there was no need for him to keep Dave company.

Amelia flicked him a smile as he escaped to the main office. Her hands moved quickly, almost nervously, across the scored desktop, tapping sheafs of papers together, turning a couple of pens in a mug, shifting her keyboard, tilting her monitor. When Sean mentioned that he’d had lunch with Amelia, Heath had barely acknowledged him, yet he’d felt an odd jolt of … jealousy? After two years of near-solitude, Dad’s company was starting to wear a bit thin. Amelia was the only person in the town who didn’t radiate either curiosity or unwanted sympathy—though that was probably only in Heath’s mind, given that no one knew his story.

‘How’s the family?’

Sliding manila folders into the open bottom drawer of her desk, Amelia froze. Her lips trembled and she mashed them together.

He cursed silently. Dad could have given him a heads-up. ‘The sheep?’ Or the magpie? He’d never seen a bird as tame as Dusty, who had flown to Amelia’s shoulder as though protecting her when he delivered the second lamb.

Amelia slowly straightened. ‘The sheep?’

‘I thought something happened to the animals. Your reaction …’

‘Oh.’ She indicated the overloaded drawer as she closed it with her knee. ‘No, sorry, that was my preoccupied look. The animals are fine. Though if you happen to have a black-market supplier of rose petals, Biggles would be all over it.’

‘Biggles. The fictitious aviator, right?’

‘And very real possum.’

‘He flies everywhere with you?’

‘She.’ Amelia looked past him as a couple entered on a drift of cold air. ‘Hi all. The RAG meeting is in the community room.’ She turned back to him. ‘When she was first orphaned, she was with me twenty-four-seven, so she accrued a few frequent flyer points back then.’

‘You don’t take her up with Gavin now?’ Quick irritation flared in Heath. Hadn’t he just thought to himself how much he valued people who minded their own business? Yet here he was, chatty enough to make Sean proud. And proving that he knew too much of what was going on in Amelia’s life.

Fine lines radiated around her eyes. She wore little makeup, at least nothing he could pick—although a couple of years back, Charlee would have told him that was the whole point—and the lack of disguise suited her. ‘She’s big enough to stay home alone, now. Well, not so much alone, thanks to the lambs.’

‘You must be Snow White or something, with all these animals flocking to you.’ Was Snow White the right character? He should have paid more attention when Sophie read to Charlee. The thought of his dead wife and his destroyed daughter, both evidence of his myriad failures, immediately soured Heath’s humour.

‘I’m beginning to wonder if there’s a way to make a living out of it.’ Amelia looked beyond him. ‘Sean not with you?’

The flash of jealousy speared through him again. ‘Dropped me off, but he’s an apology.’ Dad had been coming until minutes before the meeting, then had begged off. And the minute his father was odd, Heath mentally checked what alcohol they had in the house. He should get a safe, lock away everything that could hurt Sean or Charlee. Of course, he’d need one big enough to shove himself into, then. ‘I’ll get a lift back with Charlee.’

‘I forgot you can’t drive.’

‘Not can’t. Don’t.’ If he was behind the wheel, the temptation to run into a tree or a bridge or a rock, to inflict on himself the pain Sophie had experienced, might become too great.

Amelia glanced at her watch and he spoke quickly, not quite ready to let her go.

‘So how do you make a living out of being Snow White?’

‘I was thinking that a travelling farm might do all right, even out here.’

‘Like kids’ birthdays and events?’ He’d seen similar in shopping centres.

‘Maybe. It was a passing thought, totally inspired by Facebook.’

He raised one eyebrow in question and Amelia twisted her mouth guiltily. Her eyes danced with shades of molten honey.

‘Home of appallingly time-wasting cute animal videos. Don’t tell Faelie.’

‘I’ve checked out of socials. Keyboard warriors have an inability to keep their opinions to themselves.’ He winced as he realised that it sounded like he was judging Amelia for being on the platforms, rather than explaining why he wouldn’t be friend-requesting her.

‘I don’t think the opinionated exist only on there.’ She nodded toward the conference room. ‘And without Taylor and Sean, we’re a few people down.’

‘Lot of new faces, though.’

‘I mean we’re a few people down on our side.’

It was disconcerting how much he suddenly liked the inclusivity. ‘I left Dave in there cultivating new acolytes. Probably wasn’t smart.’

‘I suspect you’re right,’ Amelia said.

‘But the company out here is better.’

Amelia looked uncertain how to take his words. Which was fine, because he wasn’t entirely sure how he’d meant them. Compliment? Yeah, sure. Flirtation? He hadn’t flirted in more than twenty years and had no reason to start now.

‘Hey, Taylor.’ Amelia sounded relieved. ‘I thought you were an apology?’

The doctor unslung a fat leather briefcase from her shoulder and set it down on one of the office chairs. She looked exhausted. ‘Semi-apology. I’ve got house calls, but I thought I’d pop in to make sure you’ve got a quorum.’ She lifted her chin toward the crowd that had overflowed the conference room and were chatting in groups in the passageway. ‘Are you running a free chook raffle or something? I reckon you’ve more people in here than Ant’s got down the pub.’

‘There’s an idea. If we held the meeting in the pub, we’d have the whole town involved,’ Amelia said as they moved toward the conference room.

‘Tay, I was beginning to think you’d forgotten,’ Roni Krueger called.

‘Just slammed,’ Taylor replied. ‘Hey, Matt. Luke said to tell you he was going to catch up, but he’s home with the baby.’

‘Tracey’s got our two so that Matt and I could both come,’ Roni said. ‘I don’t know how we’d manage without her.’

‘Well, I probably would have starved back in the day,’ Matt said. ‘Man cannot live on bread alone.’

‘You said you loved my bread!’ Roni protested.

‘I was kind of keen on you.’

‘And now?’ Roni put her hands on her hips.

‘And now I adore both you and your food.’

Heath felt old, such easy banter a very distant memory. He couldn’t recall his life ever being as carefree as the couples in this group seemed.

Roni leaned back against her husband. ‘When I moved here a few years ago, I couldn’t even cook a packet mix cake,’ she confessed. ‘Tracey saved me.’

‘And me,’ Matt added in a heartfelt tone.

‘I’d appreciate if you kept your tales of kitchen miracles well away from poor Luke,’ Taylor said. ‘Because there are those of us who just can’t be saved.’

‘You tell my cuz he’s quite capable of rustling up a feed himself,’ Matt said. ‘You’ve enough on your plate. Any word on getting another doctor in the practice?’

Taylor zipped a gold crucifix along her necklace. ‘Seems I have about as much chance of finding someone as you’ve got of getting a second pair of hands at the vet clinic.’

Amelia’s face creased in apparent concern for her friend. ‘Didn’t you say your mum lives nearby?’

‘Unfortunately, not near enough. And she’s full-on with her counselling and yoga stuff.’

‘Shame. I read a while back that a town in Western Australia resorted to offering a house and a million-dollar salary to get a GP out there.’

Matt snorted. ‘Even in a good year, we’re not going to be able to magic that up.’

‘I guess we have to hope that the new college-led training for GPs will help with workforce allocation,’ Heath said.

Taylor held up her hand, her fingers tightly crossed. ‘Hopefully that’ll create an interest in rural positions. But it’ll be a few years before there’s any flow-on effect. So, until then—’ she sighed, the wave of exhaustion that emanated from her practically palpable ‘—I guess we keep on keeping on.’

Matt’s forehead furrowed. ‘You’ve got to pace yourself, Tay. We can’t afford to have you burn out.’

Taylor snorted. ‘You can talk. You’re wearing enough hats for half the town.’

Roni interlaced her fingers with her husband’s. ‘Matt’s right, Tay. If neither Luke’s mum nor yours could babysit, you should have left Anna with Tracey. Then you could have come to the pub with us after for mocktails.’

‘I think three kids is probably a bit much for Tracey,’ Taylor said.

Heath had met Tracey several times and, while she was vivacious, she had to be in her seventies. He agreed with Taylor’s reservation, but kept his opinion to himself. Although the residents of Settlers Bridge had proved welcoming over the last couple of months, it would be a long time before he was considered a local.

‘Are you trying to say my two are a handful?’ Roni said with a fond laugh.

Taylor smiled. ‘As Anna is teething and clingy, we’d need a maternal octopus to wrangle all our kids.’ The forced humour quickly evaporated. ‘You realise childcare is another basic service we’re lacking? I don’t want to take Anna all the way to Murray Bridge to stay with some stranger, but what other option is there?’

The words were an echo of Sophie’s sentiment from the moment Charlee was born. His wife had intended to return to her job in the physio practice after six months’ leave, but love at first sight had taken care of that notion. Equally infatuated with the baby, he’d encouraged Sophie’s decision to take on what was, in hindsight, probably a far harder role as a stay-at-home mum. By the time Charlee started high school, Sophie had lost her career drive, and the prospect of going back to work took on nightmarish significance. Having worked forty-eight weeks a year for decades, Heath had been unable to comprehend her fear; now he regretted wasting a single breath on that argument.

Roni held up a finger, commanding the group’s attention. ‘Maybe we should look into getting Tara and Chloe to babysit on a more official basis? Something regular,’ she suggested. ‘With my kids, Taylor’s and Lucie’s, we could set it up so the girls have permanent hours.’

‘Is Tara the girl from the diner?’ Amelia demanded. ‘You can’t let some kid without qualifications look after your babies.’

‘Tara’s known the children all their lives,’ Roni said. ‘She babysits for me all the time.’

Heath sensed the locals shift slightly away from him and Amelia, as though grouping against them, the newcomers.

Amelia evidently didn’t care. ‘You can’t trust just anyone to look after children.’

Roni snorted. ‘Oh, believe me, I know that.’

Heath noticed the glance that passed between Roni and the doctor, but Amelia’s sudden intensity was fascinating and she had all his attention. ‘Do these girls have their clearances?’ she demanded. ‘Adequate training? First aid certification? Do you honestly think a kid knows what to do in an emergency?’

Taylor took Amelia’s arm, her thumbnail whitening as she squeezed gently. ‘Of course, you’re right. But like we said, there’s not much choice here.’

‘You can’t let that factor into it,’ Amelia said through clenched teeth.

‘If we’re going to do something more official, we’ll make sure anyone we employ has all the right clearances.’ Taylor’s tone was soothing and—God knows, he’d seen enough counsellors over the last couple of years to pick it—professional.

‘It’s not only about clearances, though,’ Amelia insisted. ‘It’s experience. It’s both intuitive and learned knowledge. It’s about having the maturity to know how to react to situations. Knowing to call for help instead of being so worried you’ll lose your job that you freeze and do nothing, just hope that everything will turn out all right. It’s about having the gut instinct of a mother.’

Heath reached toward her, but checked his movement. What was he missing? For someone who doted on animals, Amelia was mighty fired up about what constituted adequate childcare.

Conversation across the room had died down in favour of a breath-holding interest, all attention focused their way.

‘Hey, Amelia.’

A voice Heath barely remembered broke through the intense silence: Charlee, interested. In tune. Aware. Involved. He hadn’t noticed his daughter and her … partner enter the room.

‘I’ve saved you a seat. Sean mentioned you’re into fauna rescue, so when this lot get boring—’ Charlee cast a derisive look around ‘—I want to pick your brains about which organisation is worth joining.’

Heath had never loved his daughter more than he did in that moment.