Chapter Five

Steam from the ancient dishwasher filled the kitchen in the milk bar. Isabella pushed her hair back from her eyes and muttered as she pulled out the still-hot dishes. Her hair had bunched up into tight ringlets and perspiration trickled down her neck. Shirley, the woman who usually helped Dad out over the busy lunchtime rush—um, what lunchtime rush?—had rushed to the local school because her son had fallen from the playground equipment. When her father had gone to call in a casual waitress, Isabella had shaken her head.

“No, Dad. I can help you out. Goodness knows, I’ve done it all before.”

And it would keep the mind-numbing boredom at bay. The town had changed since she and Mum had left eight years ago. Businesses had closed, and the facades of some of the shops looked neglected. Paint peeled around the once shiny display windows that were now papered over with old newspapers. Tubs with shrivelled brown plants leaned drunkenly against some of the verandah posts. It was sad to see, but it seemed self-perpetuating; as stores and businesses closed, even more shops closed when fewer people came into town to shop. She’d tried to raise the viability of the milk bar with Dad last night. Each time she’d wandered down from the apartment upstairs through the day—there were only so many hours a day you could browse restaurants and menus on the web—the milk bar had been empty. A couple of older women had bought a takeaway coffee the first time she’d come down, and when she’d ventured back down at the end of school hours, expecting to see the milk bar full of kids for an after-school drink, the shop had been completely empty.

As had the main street.

After she washed the dishes, Isabella counted the customers that came into the milk bar for the next hour as she wiped down the benches and tidied the refrigerators. She hated sitting still and not having anything to do. Dad sat at a table reading magazines. She didn’t know how he put up with this, day in, day out.

“Do most people go into Narrabri to shop now?” she asked later that afternoon as Dad stood at the refrigerator in the small kitchenette in the apartment. Isabella looked around; the apartment looked smaller than when she had lived here, and the general neglect of the main street seemed to have crept in here as well.

Then again, maybe it was the lack of a feminine touch.

Dad shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t ask them, Bella. I’m just happy when they come in.”

“There weren’t many customers today.”

He waved his hand around in a very Italian gesture. “Enough to keep me busy.”

She very much doubted that.

“But now that you’re home, it will all be good.”

And how did he come to that conclusion?

“Dad?”

“Yes, Bella?”

“What would you say if I suggested you went back to Italy for a while?”

“Now why would I want to do that? Now that you’re home?”

“I’m only here six weeks.”

His face fell. “I thought once you came home you might change your mind?”

Isabella shook her head emphatically. “I told you I have a new job in England.”

“So you’ll go and I’ll be all alone again.” His voice was resigned.

“Dad, I’m all grown up now. With a life of my own. Why don’t you go and visit Mum?” She took a deep breath for courage. “She’d love to see you. She misses you, you know. Very much.”

“If she missed me so much, she wouldn’t be over there.” The rigid straightness of Dad’s back warned her that his volcanic temper was simmering, so she changed the subject very quickly.

“Anyway, let me tell you all about my new job.”

Once his temper had subsided, Isabella knew it wasn’t worth raising the subject again. It was obvious Dad was unhappy here by himself. In fact, in a few of their phone conversations over the past few months, she had even worried that he was suffering from depression.

She had six weeks to work on him, and she was determined to convince him it was time to leave Spring Downs.

I can do it. Of that she had no doubt, but it was going to take some talking.

As they were about to start preparing dinner, there was a tap on the door that led out to the alleyway next to the milk bar.

Her father frowned. “Are you expecting anyone?”

“No.” Isabella shook her head. “You?”

“I never get visitors.” The loneliness in Dad’s voice almost brought tears to her eyes.

“Well then.” She stood and headed across to the stairs. “It looks like someone’s come to visit.”

…

Late in the afternoon when they’d been working together in the shed, Liam had asked Sebastian if he’d go into town and pick up some hay.

“The produce store stays open late on Friday nights. Till six.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll go now.”

“Great farmer you’ll make, wonder boy.” Liam stood there with a grin on his face as Sebastian felt in his back pocket for his wallet and crossed the shed to pick up his helmet.

“What?” Sebastian frowned. Maybe he’d visit Isabella while he was in town, see if she wanted to go out for a spin on the bike. He knew a pretty waterhole just west of town where there was a brilliant view of the sun going down through the willows. He’d grab his camera, too.

“Hay?” Liam shook his head as Sebastian stood there with a frown on his face. “Mate, you’ll need to take Pop’s ute. I don’t think you’ll get even one hay bale on your bike.” He burst out laughing. “Sorry, you should see the expression on your face.”

Sebastian laughed sheepishly. “I’m going to have to get my own ute. That old rattle trap of Pop’s is disgusting.”

“Serves the purpose.” Liam was still smiling. “Did you have other plans while you were in town?”

“Maybe. I might call into the club for a drink. See if any of my old mates are still in town.” He put his helmet back on the bench at the back of the shed. “I might go and see how Isabella’s settled in while I’m there, too.”

The smirk on Liam’s face had reminded him of when they’d been at high school, and Sebastian had been the junior tagging along behind Liam and his friends.

He took Pop’s ute into town, loaded the hay at the produce store, and when he’d finished there he drove past the RSL club, but the car park was deserted.

Not a lot happening there yet. It was probably still too early for the Friday night drinks. He parked the car in the deserted main street outside Con’s Milk Bar.

Sebastian knocked on the side door and waited. Disappointment filled him when there was no answer. He tipped his head to the side. He was sure he’d heard voices upstairs. He raised his hand to knock again just as the door opened and Isabella peeked around.

“Hello.” The smile that lit up her face sent warmth spiralling through him.

It was great to see her again. For the last three days since he’d been home, he kept telling himself that he had to stop thinking about her. She’d only be here a few weeks, and then she’d be heading off to England.

“Sebastian,” she said. “Come on in. Dad was just saying he doesn’t get many visitors.”

He followed her, appreciating the cute bottom that was at eye level as she preceded him up the stairs. Or the tanned legs in the cute little pink shorts.

“Dad, do you remember Sebastian?”

“Of course I do. It’s only been three days since he dropped you off. You think I’m losing the plot? Is that why you’ve come home?”

He held his hand out to Con as Isabella shook her head. “Good to see you again, Con.” He couldn’t think of him as Leonardo.

“Coffee, Sebastian? We were just about to have one. Bella makes the best brew, don’t you, cara mia?”

“That’d be great, thank you.”

He followed Con as the older man gestured towards the sofa. “You sit there and Bella can sit beside you after she makes our coffee.” Con took the single chair in front of the old television set. “Now tell me all about your plans. I hear you’ve come back to Prickle Creek Farm to stay.”

“I have. Time to give Liam a bit of a break and help him out.”

“Harry will be pleased to have his two grandsons home. And his granddaughters.” Con turned and bellowed in the direction of the kitchen. “You hear that, Bella. Sebastian has come home to stay.”

“I’m very pleased for him.” Isabella came in juggling a tray with three cups, a coffee pot, a milk jug, and a sugar basin. Sebastian jumped up and took the tray from her.

“Thank you.”

“Where would you like me to put it?”

“On the coffee table, please.” As she bent and cleared away a stack of newspapers, a couple of pens, and an old TV guide, he tried to avoid looking at the neat little curves beneath her snug T-shirt. As he turned away he intercepted a look, and a satisfied smile, from Con.

A calculating, crafty look. The sort of look that Lucy got on her face when she decided to meddle in someone’s life.

Con stood and waved his hand. “No coffee for me, Bella. I just remembered that I promised I’d play darts in the competition at the RSL club tonight. They were one short.” He smoothed his hands over his sparse hair and winked at Sebastian. “Don’t wait up for me. I’ll be late.”

“What about dinner?” Isabella’s mouth dropped open as she stared at her father’s back.

The door closed behind him, and Sebastian snuck a glance at Isabella. Her fair cheeks had twin spots of colour high on each side.

“I always seem to be putting you in embarrassing situations, don’t I?” She shook her head with a smile. “The old rogue!”

“What’s he up to?” Sebastian had a fair idea.

“You’ve come home to stay, and you came to visit, so he immediately conjures up a romance that will make me stay in town with him. I’m sorry.”

He laughed. “Nothing to be sorry about.”

“Oh yes.” Even though she looked cross, she laughed with him. “You don’t know my father. He’ll have me married with six bambinos running around before you can take a breath. He’s stubborn and determined, and when he makes up his mind about something he won’t leave it alone until he gets what he wants.” She flopped onto the sofa beside Sebastian. “Believe me, I understand how his mind works because I’m exactly the same.” Her laugh was pretty and soft. “He taught me everything I know about no compromising. So it’s game on.” She looked up at him as she picked up the coffee pot. “Now back to business. Why did you call in?”

After Con’s reaction and Isabella’s response, he thought carefully about his reply. “I was in town and I thought I’d swing by and see how you were settling in.”

She flopped back on the sofa beside him and tipped her head back. “You want the truth. I honestly don’t know how I’m going to see it through. I’m going to do my best to make Dad see reason and close up shop. As soon as I can, maybe even get him to fly to Europe with me. I’ll leave a bit earlier and go to Italy with him. It’s so quiet here. He hardly had any customers today.”

Sebastian frowned. “That’s a shame. And it’s Friday, too.”

“What’s Friday got to do with it?” As she leaned forward, her pretty lemony fragrance drifted around him, reminding him of a trip he’d taken to the Amalfi coast for a photo shoot last month.

“Everyone comes to town on Fridays. That’s what the old farmers do. They come to town to pay their bills, go to the bank, the wives do the groceries, and then they go to the club for dinner.”

She shook her head. “Maybe when you were a kid. But I can swear there were very few people in town today. Besides, there’s no bank anymore. I noticed a sign on the door saying it had shut down a couple of weeks ago.”

“Damn, that’s a shame. The town really is dying. It’s a fair drive to Narrabri or Dubbo to get to a bank.” Sebastian wondered how long the town would survive at the rate that businesses were closing. What would be next? The school? The hospital?

“Anyway, things are okay with me. The time will fly, even if I am here for six weeks.” Isabella’s voice broke into his thoughts. “I’ve had a couple of long chats to Dad already, and it’s great to see him again. It’s been a couple of years since I last saw him. He met me in Bali for a holiday.”

“So you haven’t been back to town since you left?”

She shook her head. “You?”

“Just a handful of visits.” He finished his coffee and looked at her. “How about we go out for a drink? See some of the sights of town.”

She chuckled. “That’d be quick. Where to?”

“Is there a choice?” he said with a smile.

“Okay, I guess the RSL club it is. Maybe we can cheer Dad on at darts.” She stood and looked down at him. “Have another coffee while I get changed.”

Sebastian looked around the small apartment as he poured another coffee. It was a bland room with only basic furniture, and he imagined how boring it would be to be stuck in here all day. At least at Gran’s house, he had plenty of room and a large-screen television. He grinned to himself. Even if he did have to put up with all of her ornaments and crocheted doilies and the overpowering smell of moth balls each time he opened the cupboard for a fresh towel.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out, glancing curiously at the screen. It was Liam.

“What’s up, mate. I’ve got the hay, and the produce store is shut now so it’s too late to get anything else you’ve thought of.”

“No. Something else has come up. I came home to an upset Angie, and then Jemima.”

Sebastian sat up straight and frowned. “Everyone okay? Are the kids all right?”

“Yeah, yeah. Everyone’s fine. I was hoping you had caught up with Isabella.”

“I have. We’re about to go to the club for a drink. Maybe dinner.”

He didn’t know if Isabella would fancy a bistro meal.

“Would you mind if we came in and joined you?” Liam asked.

“You and Angie?”

“And Ned and Jemmy and the kids.”

Sebastian nodded. “That’s fine. The more the merrier. What about Lucy and Garth?”

“This is a wedding problem. But I’ll give them a call. I’m sure Lucy would love to catch up with Isabella.”

“Okay. We’ll grab a big table.”

“See you in an hour or so. Thanks, Seb. And I hope we’re not cramping your style too much, lover boy.”

Sebastian shook his head as he put the phone back into his pocket. Lover boy! He should be so lucky.

He stood as Isabella came back into the small living room. He was pleased she hadn’t overdressed because he’d only changed into a clean pair of black jeans and a clean T-shirt before he’d driven into town. Her jeans were dark like his, and she had a short-sleeved T-shirt with I Love Roma on the front, inside a big pink heart.

“Me, too,” he said with a grin.

She glanced down at the heart and his eyes followed hers.

“The food is to die for there. Lots of quirky little restaurants in alleyways, and you never know what celebrity you’re going to run into.”

“Hmm. I hope the local bistro measures up food-wise, but I can’t promise you a celebrity.”

Her laugh tinkled around him, but he stood still as she walked closer and put her hand on the front of his shirt. “You know what, Sebastian?”

He loved the way her accent lilted on his name. “What should I know?”

She lifted her other hand and cupped his cheek. “You worry too much. It will be fine.”

He ignored the zing that rushed through him as her hand touched his face. “I hope so.” He smiled as he held her gaze, and the look they shared sent another zing through him.

Slow down, boy.

“Liam rang when you were getting changed. It’s turned into a party. The whole family’s coming into town for dinner.”

“Lucy, too?”

He nodded.

“Oh, that’s great.” Her smile was wide, and he held out his hand.

“Come on, we’ll go and fight with the crowds at the local rissole.”