The Sunburnt Country Read online

  His deep hazel eyes came back to her, almost drinking her in. Jonny found it embarrassing but exhilarating at the same time. ‘Nope, you sure aren’t. Anyway . . .’ Jonny tilted her head and glanced at her car.

  ‘Yeah, I’d better let you go. It was really nice meeting you, Jonelle. I can’t thank you enough for your help. I hope I run into you again.’ He held out his hand and she took it without hesitation. Yep, there are those tingles, she thought.

  ‘No worries, Daniel. I’d best be off – I’ve got ice-cream in the car. Nice meeting you,’ she said honestly. A pang in her chest at her departure. They were just two cars passing on the road. She turned and headed back to her car.

  Jonny watched Daniel in her rear-view mirror as he stood beside his car, front door open, watching her roar off down the road. Whether it was to catch a last glimpse of her or to listen to her V8, she wasn’t sure. As she sped off, she couldn’t help but wonder where he was headed and whether their paths might ever cross again.

  Chapter 2

  JONELLE’S thoughts were still lingering on Daniel’s musky scent, his sexy smile and the shape of his lean body when she turned down Cooper Road, two minutes from Ryan’s farm, Mallee Plains. It was a sheep and mixed-cropping farm, but you couldn’t see any sheep and there were definitely no crops this year. Barren, sandy soils were the crop favourite.

  As Jonny turned the corner to pull into Ryan’s driveway, her heart lurched. It always upset her coming out to visit Ryan, to see him so broken, and to be reminded of all that he had endured.

  Her fingers drummed on the steering wheel as two brown rabbits darted across the gravel, their white tails bobbing as they ran. The road led all the way up to the sheds and the old farmhouse where Ryan used to live. As soon as they’d married, Alana had wanted a better house. More like demanded a better house. Now Ryan lived alone in a massive empty cream house enclosed within a matching Colorbond fence.

  Alana had first come to town as a teacher. Teachers were one of the few sources of new females, along with barmaids, although barmaids never stuck around long enough to get attached. Besides Renae, the barmaids were mostly overseas backpackers passing through. Alana and Jonny had never really got along. It wasn’t that Jonny didn’t like her, more that they ran in different circles. Jonny was out fixing cars and helping with fire and rescue, while Alana started a book club and travelled back to the city a lot. Jonny had to admit that it had irked her when Ryan fell so hard and fast for Alana. She’d lost one of her best mates and her oldest friend in the process, and it didn’t help that Alana had tried to shut Jonny out of his life. But that was all in the past . . .

  Jonny pulled up out the front and took a deep breath. ‘Let it go, Jonny. She’s gone for good.’ But that just made her feel worse, because her joy was Ryan’s pain. Yes, she’d got her friend back, but he was damaged goods, and she’d do anything to have the old Ryan.

  Carrying the shopping from the car, she went through the side gate along the paved pathway. There was a huge patch of sand where the turf had been laid a few years back. Spindly rose bushes and dead sticks were scattered throughout the depressing garden beds. Expensive trees and plants were now lost to the endless dry. Keeping plants alive simply for decoration was the least of Ryan’s worries.

  Jonny got to the back door and yelled out, ‘Coop, can you get the door for me?’ There was no reply. Tilting her head towards the sheds, she picked up the distant rumble of a machine. She should have figured he wasn’t here, given that Missy, his brown kelpie, wasn’t licking Jonny’s legs to death. With a sigh, she juggled her bags and the esky in one hand and let herself in.

  A chill ran through her as she entered Ryan’s house. Since the divorce, Ryan spent all his daylight hours working so he didn’t have to face the empty house. And Jonny could understand why. She didn’t like the place much – far too big and cold. When Alana had left, she’d taken everything that wasn’t bolted down, leaving just a hollow shell to remind Ryan he was alone. Every now and then, Jonny would bring a picture to put up on one of his empty walls, a scenic photo Renae had taken or one of them all together having fun. Zac, her older brother, had framed them with some jarrah he’d been pulling up from the floor of the old house on their farm. Ryan would complain, ‘You’re filling my house with junk, Jonny. I only gotta look out my window to see where that photo was taken,’ but later on she always scored an extra-tight hug from him and a murmur of thanks.

  Jonny put the ice-cream in the freezer and unpacked the rest of the food. She glanced around the large kitchen with its fancy white cupboards and granite benchtops. It didn’t look its best with all the dirty dishes piled up. Normally Jonny wasn’t one to clean up after someone else, having had years of cleaning up after her brothers, but Ryan wasn’t coping. Jonny set about washing his dishes. After an hour she had the benchtops sparkling and was about to start on dinner when she spied Ryan driving down to the house from the sheds. She headed out to the back verandah with two cold beers. His strong shoulders hunched as he came striding towards her, backlit by the setting sun. Everything glowed yellow, as if there was coloured cellophane over her eyes. The dead grass was pale yellow, the dirt deep red and the sunset every shade in between.

  ‘Heya, Jonny.’ Ryan smiled as he took off his cap and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his arm. His shaggy brown hair held the shape of his cap. Ryan was so different from that city guy she’d met earlier but she loved his rugged, hardworking appearance. It was who Ryan was, and besides, he’d look like a total knob dressed like Daniel.

  ‘Hi, Coop. Had enough for today?’ She handed him his beer as he leant over and kissed her cheek. The scent of sweat, grease and dust was his cologne, a respected fragrance in the country.

  ‘Yep, sure have.’ He took a swig of his beer and squinted at her. ‘You look a bit different today. My guess is Nae?’

  ‘Uh-huh. Apparently this meets her approval for dinner. You know, some days I feel like her own life-size Barbie doll.’

  ‘Well, you do have the blonde hair and the nice rack.’

  Jonny hit him in the arm.

  ‘Ah, Jonny, come on. The dress is cute, but you know I still love ya in those old work overalls you wear. I like how you don’t go for all that girly stuff.’ He smiled before turning his blue eyes out over his land. She knew that he was thinking of Alana, who was always wearing dresses and had a shoe collection to rival Imelda Marcos’. Jonny also bet Alana wasn’t using the same containers of make-up her mother had bought her for her sixteenth birthday.

  ‘Besides,’ Ryan said, turning back with his cheekiest grin, ‘you’re much easier to talk to when you don’t look like a girl.’

  She shoved him playfully.

  It was starting to cool off as the sun dropped, so they made themselves comfortable on the edge of the verandah. Missy came up and almost drowned Jonny in dog slobber.

  ‘Missy, no! Go and sit on your spot,’ Ryan growled. Missy obeyed, sitting by the back door, her ears drooping a little.

  ‘So how’s things? Still got any sheep?’ she asked.

  Ryan’s shrug was hardly noticeable under his blue cotton work shirt, which was dusty and marked with sweat. This was how Jonny saw all hardworking men. When she was a kid she used to roll around in the dirt just so that she could look like her dad and brothers.

  ‘Some of them. Mainly the stud ewes and a few rams.’ He sighed heavily. ‘Gotta buy more feed or else I’ll have to sell them or agist them. I can’t figure out what to do.’

  ‘Have you asked your dad? Does he have any suggestions?’

  Ryan brushed some dust from his wayward brown hair. Alana always kept it short on him, but Jonny was glad to see him back to his scruffy old self. He looked more mischievous this way.

  ‘Nah. I’m trying not to bother him with it, Jonny. Dad retired so that I could take over the farm, and it’s what I wanted. So many of my mates still have their dads interfering and refusing to give up the reins. I know how lucky I am. Besides, I’m not going to
ruin their retirement.’

  ‘Coop, I really don’t think your dad will mind. He’s probably dying to come back and do something. People do get sick of fishing, you know.’

  ‘Yeah, I guess,’ he said before changing the subject to her brothers. ‘So I hear Zac lost his Pommy barmaid?’

  ‘Ha ha, yeah. Don’t worry – he’ll have another one at the pub to pester soon.’

  The conversation flowed between them like it always did. They skirted around the hard stuff, cracked jokes and teased each other instead. Jonny knew Ryan craved the familiar peace between them, and she enjoyed being the one to make him laugh. He had such a deep, infectious laugh.

  When the sun finally dipped below the horizon, they collected their empty beer bottles and headed inside for dinner. Missy raised her head, watching them pass, hoping for a last-minute pat.

  ‘Wow, I have benchtops again.’ He squeezed her shoulders gently. ‘Thanks, Jonny, but you don’t have to clean up after me. I know how much you hate picking up after yourself,’ he joked.

  ‘Well, I had to. I needed most of those dishes to make dinner.’

  Ryan got out two glasses and started pouring them each a Scotch. ‘So, what are you burning for us tonight?’ he asked, before adding an extra nip in his glass. ‘I’d better numb my tastebuds,’ he joked.

  She whacked his bum with the wooden spatula she’d just pulled from the second drawer. ‘No ice-cream for you.’

  He jumped away from Jonny, his eyes growing wide. ‘You didn’t?’

  She raised an eyebrow as he checked the freezer.

  ‘You rippa.’ Ryan threw an arm around her shoulders, then pulled away when he saw her screwing up her nose. ‘I might go take a shower, yeah?’

  ‘Yeah, you do that. You stink like last week’s socks. I’ll get started on dinner.’

  Ryan downed his glass as if it was water before heading to the shower. That worried her. But like most folks around here, nobody discussed the hard questions, and even if they did, they never got the truth.

  Ten minutes later Ryan reappeared in blue shorts and a clean white singlet. His wet hair flopped on his head and beads of moisture clung to his stubble. Jonny had just mixed the pasta into the cream sauce. ‘It’s nearly ready,’ she said, as she watched him pour more Scotch. ‘Oh hell. Guess I’m not driving home tonight,’ she said, shooting him an exasperated look.

  Ryan grinned. ‘As if you would anyway. You never go home at night when you bring the Torrie.’ He put on a high-pitched voice, trying to imitate her. ‘I can’t hit a roo in my car. I bet you look after that car better than your men, Jonelle.’

  Jonny cringed at her full name and rolled her eyes. ‘What men?’

  ‘Come on. You gotta have someone. There are plenty of guys around.’

  ‘Yeah, but I know all of them,’ she said with an eye roll. She served up their plates and sat down at the table. ‘Besides, unless they were holding a set of extractors for a 308, I wouldn’t even notice them.’

  Ryan laughed. ‘So true. Hey, thanks for tea,’ he said, twirling the pasta onto his fork then eating a mouthful. ‘It’s actually delicious,’ he said. ‘Another recipe from your mum?’

  ‘No, I made this one up myself. Oh, and while we’re on the topic, Mum wants you out for dinner one day, too. She’s nagging me cause she’s worried about you and thinks you’re getting too thin.’

  ‘Your mother thinks everyone is underfed unless they’ve got cheeks on them like a baboon. Maybe later. I’m pretty busy.’

  ‘Ryan, it’s been six months since Alana left, and six months before that you knew it was coming. It’s time you moved on, got back out and about.’

  ‘Harsh.’ He picked up his glass and emptied it. Jonny raised her eyebrows and he frowned back at her. ‘Don’t go getting all motherly on me. I already have one mother,’ he growled.

  ‘Are you sure you’re all right, ’cos, you know, I’m here if you need to —’

  ‘Damn, Jonny. I don’t need a shrink, either.’ His pushed his half-empty plate away and sat back. Jonny chased her pasta around her plate, feeling uneasy about his outburst. A moment of silence passed and Jonny eventually looked up.

  Ryan slowly cracked a smile. ‘I just need a mate. You have always been that for me, Jonny. I love ya heaps, you know that.’ He waited until she nodded.

  ‘And I love you too. That’s why I worry about you. I’d be a shit mate if I didn’t.’

  ‘Fair enough,’ he replied, as they both grinned.

  Jonny was relieved. She didn’t like things being funny between them.

  ‘Hey, want to watch a movie? We could dig out the old Star Wars. Remember how many times we watched that growing up?’

  ‘What do you mean?’ she teased. ‘You’re still growing up.’

  She had let Ryan change the subject and move on so as not to ruin the night. He knew how to shut her out if he wanted to, like the time she’d tried to warn him about Alana. He hadn’t answered any of her calls and had avoided her for a week, he was that cross. She didn’t think now was a good time for him to shut anyone out of his life.

  ‘I’m still older than you, okay? Don’t you forget it,’ he said. ‘Leave the dishes. Let’s go into the lounge.’

  Jonny stacked the dishes in the sink and joined Ryan on the couch. They put their feet on the worn wooden coffee table as Ryan started the movie. Her shoulder squished against his and it felt nice to be back on familiar ground. She watched him carefully. If only he would open up to her. She wanted to help him, and she could see he was holding something back.

  ‘Ryan . . . ?’ She couldn’t think of how to tell him just how concerned she was, but he knew what she was thinking, he always did.

  Ryan smiled at her. ‘Ah, Jonny, there’s nothing to worry about. It’s back to the way it was. Just you and me, kid.’ He put his arm around her and she snuggled against his chest, which rose and fell with each breath while his heart beat on in the background. He smelt like Ryan, no colognes or fancy stuff, just the deodorant he always used. And she was comfortable with him, just like she was with her own brothers. Back in high school she’d given dating Ryan a go, but only because everyone expected it as they spent so much time together. But it never worked out – it all felt so wrong and bland. Daniel, the random stranger on the road, had evoked more feeling in that one touch than Ryan ever could. But Ryan had her heart in a different way.

  ‘Can you go grab the ice-cream, Jonny?’

  Jonny pushed him away and laughed. ‘No. I cooked, so it’s your turn to dish up dessert.’

  Ryan flicked Jonny’s legs off the coffee table as he headed to the kitchen. She had always joked that she had four brothers, not three, and sometimes Ryan was a big pain in the arse just like the rest of them.

  Chapter 3

  DANIEL had never needed anyone. He grew up through his late teens more or less on his own, without family help. No mother, no brother, just his dad, who was hardly home and not involved in his life unless trying to direct him in his career.

  So he felt quite odd being at the mercy of a beautiful girl. Jonelle certainly was something of a contradiction: dressed like a well-kept woman but so at home doing the dirty work. And the Torana! She must have one of those muscle-man boyfriends – buff arms, tattoos and black boots – who let her drive his pride and joy. Daniel pictured her boyfriend as he drove up a slow rise in the road towards his destination.

  At the top the view opened up before him and all he could think was Why me? The dusty little town of Bundara lay ahead, its welcome sign rusted and drooping to one side. Bundara, best little bush spot, estimated population 580. The paint was peeling, and if the sign was any indication of what the town would be like, then he was in for a stellar couple of months.

  Bundara looked like a dust bowl. The town was a huddled speck surrounded by acres and acres of bare dirt, with the odd dead tussock or spindly bush. A wasteland. But the sapphire sky that encompassed everything was magnificent. He’d never seen anything like it. So much cle
ar sky, like a blue blanket thrown over the earth. And the sun was bearing down on this tiny town like it was beating it into submission. For a moment, the contrast of the beautiful sky against the red, dry landscape took him by surprise. It was like a postcard.

  Daniel turned his focus back to the small speck of a town. He saw the rusty tin-roof homes. Heat shimmered off the main road and dust swirled along the gravel edges. Daniel slowed down as he approached for fear he’d miss the whole town.

  ‘Oh wow,’ he said when he spotted the tiny shop on the main street, just before the local Sovereign Bank, his new place of work. The bank was an old rendered brick building with high cream walls and its opening hours taped up in the centre of the large glass door. There was no ATM out the front and no indication that this was a bank, except for the little bank logo by the door. The concrete footpath was uneven with giant cracks caused by the roots of the great lilac tree alongside it. The tree cast a huge circle of shade and was the only enticing thing he’d found on the street so far.

  It was nearly six o’clock. Everything was shut except the pub. He knew that would be open because he was supposed to be staying there for the night. Tomorrow the removal truck would arrive with the furnishings for the bank manager’s house – his house.

  The pub wasn’t hard to find in a small town like this, perched on the corner of the main road and the street that led to the town hall. It was a two-storey rustic red-brick construction, with a balcony on the top floor and a bright-red roof. The balcony rails and the trimmings around the leadlight windows of the grand entranceway were all painted the same heritage red.

  Daniel pulled his car around the back, where a few utes were already parked on the gravel. Outside the car, the heat took his breath away and again he noticed the dust and eucalyptus in the air, so strange and so different from the city. Sweat began to gather on his back, and he hurried inside to check in. The decor made him smile: out-dated, patterned, red and black carpet, worn black lino around the edge of the bar and stools that had supported their fair share of backsides. It had the customary dartboard in one corner, pool table in the other, and dining tables with plastic chairs opposite the bar. Ahead he could see a set of French doors that led into a front bar and a small bottle shop.