‘You’ll need to go and have a shower,’ said Sam as he rifled in the cutlery drawer for the correct number of knives and forks. He had a casserole Veronica had made for the occasion in the oven. Something with a French name. It smelled delicious. She’d given him strict instructions on cooking temperature and timing. All he had to do was follow them.
‘Why?’ Levi stood at the kitchen bench; his shoulders looked too broad for him, or else his t-shirt had gotten too small. ‘I can shower after dinner like normal.’
Sam dumped the cutlery on the table and began opening drawers looking for the placemats they only used on special occasions. Not having had a special event since Michelle died, he had no idea where they might be.
‘You’ve got too many knives and forks out,’ Levi pointed out in a tone that told Sam his son thought he might be going senile.
‘I have the perfect number, thank you.’ He wrenched open a drawer with a little too much force and it came flying off its runners, the contents spilling onto the floor. The elusive placemats lay in a crumpled heap at his feet. ‘We have a guest coming for dinner.’
He pushed down the surge of annoyance which threatened to derail his calm and slid the drawer back where it belonged. ‘Hence your need for a shower before dinner.’
Sam picked up the placemats, squares of green cloth with flowers embroidered in one corner, and smoothed them out on the bench. The damage didn’t look too bad. Kylie wouldn’t notice the wrinkles once he put a plate of food on them.
‘A guest?’ Levi screwed up his nose as if Sam had announced he’d invited a crocodile to dinner. ‘Who?’
‘Miss Kempton.’ Sam didn’t bother to look at the expression on his son’s face, he knew what he’d see.
‘You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding.’
‘No, I am not,’ Sam assured him. ‘I need you to clear the dining-room table so we can eat there.’
‘I’m doing my assignment.’ Levi’s tone had changed from contempt, to outrage, to whiny in the space of a two-minute conversation.
Sam shrugged. ‘You can move it all back when we’re done.’
‘I cannot believe you’re subjecting me to this kind of humiliation,’ Levi said as he slouched to the table and began stacking his books by slamming them on top of each other.
‘I’m not asking you to come to dinner naked so what’s the big deal?’ He had no intention of putting up with bad behaviour tonight.
‘She’s my teacher, Dad, in case you hadn’t noticed. I mean, who dates their kid’s teacher? Isn’t there a rule about that or something?’
‘Let me think about that for a minute.’ Sam looked up at the ceiling, stroking his chin in a thoughtful manner. ‘There’s a rule about teachers dating students. I don’t think we need to worry about that one in this situation. Nothing about parents dating teachers that I know of.’
‘Very funny.’ Levi picked up his books, staggering under the pile as they slipped about, while shooting Sam a dark look. ‘At the very least this constitutes a conflict of interest. You could date some other teacher who doesn’t teach me directly.’
‘None of them are as pretty as Miss Kempton.’
‘Oh, God! You’re not going to have sex, are you? Not here in the house while I’m in the other room.’ The blood drained out of Levi’s face and Sam nearly laughed.
‘I have no intention of having sex with Miss Kempton tonight,’ he said as he struggled to keep a straight face. ‘I hope that puts your mind at rest.’
‘You are totally gross, Dad.’ Levi stalked from the room with his nose in the air as if the conversation was beneath him.
‘Shower,’ Sam called after him.
A knock sounded on the door. He checked his watch. She was early.
He swung open the front door, letting the still warm air of the day into the cool house.
‘Hello,’ he said, wishing he possessed a snappier comeback.
‘Hello, I hope I’m not too early. I didn’t know how long it would take to drive out here.’ She held a handbag in front of her like he imagined she carried folders at school. Dressed in jeans and a shirt patterned with flowers, she looked younger than he remembered. Or he was feeling older these days.
‘Not at all.’ He stepped aside. ‘Please come in.’ He sensed the warmth radiating off her body as she brushed past him, causing him to wonder for the first time if he was out of his depth.
‘Dinner smells delicious.’ Kylie turned and gave him a dazzling smile. The knot in his stomach relaxed a little. ‘You’re cooking?’
‘I put it in the oven if that counts.’
She laughed and put her handbag on the table. Shield down. She might need it again when Levi re-emerged. He could hear the shower running. The boy had already exceeded the four-minute shower limit. Drought conditions demanded showers be kept short. He got the sense he was being punished. They’d have to buy in more water before the end of the month.
‘Would you like something to drink?’ he asked. ‘I have red or white.’
‘White please.’ She stood awkwardly, as if she didn’t know what to do with herself.
‘Have a seat,’ he said with a nod to the partially set table. She did as asked while he poured the crisp, cold sauvignon blanc into two of their best crystal glasses.
‘Coming up the road to your house is … amazing,’ she said as she accepted her wine. He pulled out a seat and sat opposite her. ‘I had no idea what to expect of a solar farm. Rows and rows of panels all reflecting the sunset is breathtaking.’
Sam smiled. ‘Sure beats looking at half-starved sheep. Here’s to solar energy.’ He raised his glass.
‘Here’s to solar-energy farmers,’ she replied as she raised her glass in return.
‘We are certainly a rare breed.’ He circumnavigated the flirtation, not comfortable to engage in banter with Levi’s brooding presence in the background. The shower had stopped which meant he’d be making an appearance soon.
‘Did you give up sheep altogether?’ Kylie asked.
‘Nah, there are still a few head out the back,’ said Sam. ‘The difference is I can pay for additional feed with what I make from the solar.’ He shrugged. ‘Makes life a little easier.’
Kylie nodded. ‘I had no idea what a drought looked like until I came here.’ She laughed. ‘I’m such a city girl.’
‘I’m used to it now. I’m not sure how I’d handle it if it all greened up. We’ve spent half Levi’s life without proper rain. Hard to imagine it now.’
‘And yet you stay,’ Kylie said softly, leaving him with the sense it was a question.
‘Three generations of Costellos can’t be wrong,’ he joked. ‘Where else would a man like me go? I’m not cut out for the city and I’d be lost in the suburban sprawl. What would I do? Farming sheep and sunshine is all I know.’
‘The people out here are special,’ she said. ‘They’re sort of open and reserved at the same time. Friendly and warm, yet blunt and practical. I’m not sure I’m entirely used to it yet.’
‘Michelle, my wife, used to say real life was lived out here in the bush.’
‘Interesting idea,’ Kylie said. ‘Is that her?’ She stood and moved towards the wall where Michelle’s photo hung.
‘Yes,’ he said, at a loss as to how to talk about his wife to someone who never knew her.
‘She was beautiful.’ Kylie turned and smiled at Sam. Her use of the past tense rankled him, and he didn’t know why.
‘Thank you,’ he said, as if he had anything to do with Michelle’s innate beauty. ‘How’s things at school?’ He chose the most obvious change of subject as a haven from more conversation about his wife.
Kylie sighed. ‘It’s okay.’ She resumed her seat opposite him. ‘Most days are good, although the isolation gets to me from time to time. Don’t get me wrong,’ she held up a hand to ward off sympathy, ‘the people of Longreach have been welcoming.’
‘It doesn’t take the place of your family and friends back home,’ he finished for her.
‘No, it doesn’t.’ She twirled her glass around, intent on watching the liquid move sinuously inside. ‘Compounded by the fact my dad is ill.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ He knew the pain of having a loved one suffer when there was nothing you could do about it.
‘He had a massive heart attack about a year ago and we thought he’d recovered but then he had a stroke and, well …’ she took in a shuddery breath, ‘… he’s not doing so great now.’
Sam reached across the table and took Kylie’s hand in his. ‘If there is anything I can do,’ he said, wondering what that could possibly be even as the words left his lips.
She offered him a wobbly smile. ‘Actually there is something you could help me with, I mean, if it’s not too much bother.’
He squeezed her hand. Such a sweet girl who deserved happiness, and he knew in that moment he wasn’t the man who could give it to her. ‘If I can, I will. Just name it.’
‘I’m taking compassionate leave for the rest of the term.’
‘You’ll be gone for the rest of the year?’ Kylie was fun, a bright spark in his world. He’d miss her.
She nodded. ‘I need to be home in case … you know.’
‘Sure, I understand,’ he said. ‘You’d regret it if you didn’t go. I know I would. Do you need a lift to the airport?’
‘You read my mind.’ She smiled, her spark back, at least temporarily. ‘I’m leaving next Saturday.’
‘No need to tell me the time. It’s one flight in and one flight out per day.’
‘That’s what I like about the outback, you know exactly where you stand.’ She raised her glass. ‘To the outback.’
‘To the outback.’ He raised his in return.
‘Hello, Levi.’ Kylie’s expression shifted to what he guessed was her professional teacher mask as she looked over Sam’s shoulder and he knew his boy would be loitering in the doorway, possibly scowling.
‘Come in, Levi, and pull up a seat,’ he said without turning around.
‘Dinner far off?’ Levi slumped into the room, his hair still wet from his shower.
‘You might like to greet our guest first.’ Sam tried his best to sound lighthearted, fighting his parental instinct to pull Levi into line. Kylie didn’t come here tonight to see him haul Levi over the coals.
‘Hi, Miss.’ Levi raised his chin in Kylie’s direction. He didn’t usually behave like this so Sam knew Levi intended to send a message. He didn’t want Sam dating Kylie.
‘Levi,’ she acknowledged him. ‘Good to see you outside school.’
‘When’s dinner?’ Levi returned to his question.
‘Why? Are you starving or something?’ Sam’s annoyance bubbled to the surface.
‘I wanna call Maddie before we eat. Got something important to discuss with her. That’s all.’
Sam could only imagine. ‘Okay, you’ve got five minutes, make it snappy.’
Levi skulked out of the room. Sam watched him go before turning to Kylie.
‘I have no idea how you manage to spend six hours a day with teenagers. Were we ever that bad?’
‘I’m sure I was, and they’re not so bad. He’s miffed because his history teacher is sitting at the dining-room table with his dad for non-school reasons. I get it.’
Sam grunted. ‘I get it too but I’d never tell him that. You hungry?’
‘I could eat a horse.’
‘Then I guess it’s time to dish up.’ Sam rose and headed for the open-plan kitchen.
‘Can I give you a hand?’ she asked.
‘Nope. You can watch with genuine amazement while I serve you dinner with my questionable hospitality skills.’ He got out three plates and placed them on the counter as the oven timer rang shrill announcing that the casserole had been heated through. ‘It promises to be dinner and a show.’
‘I can’t talk for long,’ Levi whispered down the phone. He loitered inside his bedroom door.
‘Are you sick or something? You sound weird.’ He imagined Maddie flopped back on her bed, crossing her long legs at the ankles and settling in for a chat. Probably in the middle of watching season five hundred and ninety-seven of The Kardashians.
‘No, I’m fine. I’m whispering.’
‘Like, why would you do that?’
Levi sighed with exasperation. ‘Because I’m hiding in my room while Dad makes cow eyes at Miss Kempton. He’s making her dinner.’
‘What the? You’ve got to be kidding. Having her over for dinner is serious.’ Her tone of voice told him she’d sat up against her collection of kitten-princess cushions, all attention.
‘I know, that’s why I’m calling you.’
‘Usually the home-cooked meal thing doesn’t happen until much later in the relationship. It’s only been a week since their first date.’ He could practically hear her brain whirling in frantic overtime. Miss Kempton could derail all her plans.
‘We’ve got to do something. This is getting out of hand.’ Levi slouched against the doorframe, out of sight of his dad.
‘Do you want me to come over?’
She’d be great at running interference. Not hard. When her parents fought about money or whatever, she’d be the one to sidle up to them, using all her charm to distract them by asking advice about school or some other dumb subject they cared about. She always said adults could not resist giving guidance using examples from their own sad lives. Worked every time.
‘Nice idea but won’t it look a bit suss if you suddenly show up? And Dad knows I’m calling you. He thinks it’s about some assignment. God, I’m getting a stress headache.’
‘Can I do anything else to help?’
‘Nah, I can handle tonight by myself. What we need to do is make a plan so this never happens again.’
‘And you’ve got to keep this quiet. What would happen if word got out your dad was getting down and dirty with Miss K?’ Maddie dropped her voice to a whisper too. ‘This information getting out is the last thing we need and Ariel can be counted on to spread the news far and wide given half a chance.’
‘I can’t even think about that right now,’ Levi groaned. Maddie’s little sister, Ariel, had an unerring instinct for drama. ‘It’s like Dad hates me or something.’
‘We’ve got to ramp up project Lonely in Longreach. We have no choice. I’ll think of something, I promise.’
‘Great, but what are we supposed to do when this Sarah person actually gets here?’ This was the part of the plan that worried him most. Levi reckoned Maddie’s pride stopped her from agreeing he had a point. It was one thing to lure Sarah Lewis out to Longreach, it was another to get her face-to-face with his dad.
‘Don’t worry about that, it’s all part of the master plan,’ said Maddie confidently, the level of her voice returning to normal.
‘That’s what I’m worried about,’ Levi groaned.
‘I bet you’re more worried that Miss K could end up your new bonus mum.’
A bolt of genuine fear pierced him as he watched life as he knew it implode.
‘Okay, I trust you. Be nice to know what you’re planning though.’ He gave in. What else could he do in the circumstances? The reality of his dad and Miss K as a couple would kill his social life, although no doubt Maddie had been hoping for a bit more rise out of him.
‘She’s a journalist, right? And she’s doing a piece on love in the outback, so we make sure we’re as helpful as possible in finding her people to speak to. We’re with her and your dad, like, all the time. We can smooth out any speedbumps until they’ve hit it off for real.’
‘People? I don’t know any people. My life is in your hands and this was what you came up with?’
‘But I do. I’m sufficiently connected. Leave it with me. I’ll make sure we know where Sarah is staying and we’ll make sure we catch up with her as soon as possible. This is totally going to work. I promise.’ Maddie sounded convincing and Levi almost believed her. ‘Besides,’ she said, ‘what else are you going to do?’
‘Good point,’ he sighed and felt the fight go out of him with it. ‘Okay, I’m in. Anything is better than what’s happening in my dining room right now.’ The oven buzzer sounded in the background, signalling dinner and time for Levi to end this conversation. ‘Do what you’ve got to do,’ he said. ‘Make this work.’
Maddie hung up her phone and threw it on the pale pink bedcover. She lay back on her pile of pillows and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. She had to get this right. Despite sounding confident, she felt far from it. Only, she couldn’t let Levi know that. He was counting on her to come through for him and she’d do anything not to let him down.
She stared up at her ceiling where the traces of a cobweb hung in the corner, unnoticed during the weekly clean. It hung on by a thread, its owner having disappeared. She watched it waft in the breeze generated by the ceiling fan while she thought.
The situation might work if she could get to Sarah first and lead her to Mr C, find a way to introduce them. Then the trick would be keeping them busy and monitor them while they got to know each other. Sarah would know far more about Mr C than he’d know about her. Potential problem.
Maddie closed her eyes. Yes, this project constituted the biggest, most daring one of her life and she had the creativity and the confidence to pull it off. Mr C couldn’t help but adore Sarah once he met her. She couldn’t put her finger on what, but something about that woman seemed right for Levi’s dad.
Once Mr C fell in love with Sarah, Levi would stop worrying and commit to leaving Longreach with her to go and live in Sydney. It had to be Sydney, more specifically, Bondi Beach. She’d never seen the ocean and if she could, she’d make sure the first time she did would be at the most glamorous beach in Australia.
One thing she knew, lying around thinking about her dreams would not make them happen. She needed action.
An hour later, Maddie sat with one leg folded up beneath her, wearing her favourite shorts and a t-shirt of Levi’s, one he’d left behind last time they’d gone dirt-bike riding. She’d closed her bedroom door and hung a do not disturb sign on the handle. Privacy and peace were essential to come up with a plot strong enough to make her dreams come true.
She snapped the lid back on her coloured felt pen. Pushing her hair back behind her ears, she surveyed her handiwork. An elaborate map filled a large piece of white card spread out across her bed. Lines traced their way from one thought bubble to the next. There were a lot of moving parts, even by her standards. She sighed. Could she pull this off?
She’d never done anything quite this grand before. She tapped the purple box marked Step One. This part seemed easy enough; she needed to find a way to introduce herself to Sarah. She’d talk to her history and social science teacher, who happened to be Miss Kempton, and ask if she could invite Sarah to speak on the importance of journalism in society. What teacher didn’t love student initiative and this subject sat right in Miss Kempton’s wheelhouse.
Step Two, written in fluoro orange, appeared much harder. She uncapped her pen and drew a little flower next to it as if to soften the challenge. In this step, she’d have to engineer a meeting between Mr C and Sarah. So much could go wrong. Her brain spun in circles like a spin cycle on a washing machine. Every idea that sprung up got cut down again with the sharp blades of logic. Perhaps Levi’s gloomy pessimism wasn’t as unfounded as she’d like to think.
She took a deep breath, she could do this. Her track record spoke for itself. Half her friends owed their personal happiness to her brilliant matchmaking skills. Slumping back against her pillows, she stared unseeing at Step Two.
Think, think …
Reaching for her iPod, she plugged into her favourite playlist, the one that always inspired her breakthroughs. As the music surged through her earphones she closed her eyes and let the music carry her thoughts on eddies of fantasy.
She could arrange for Mr C to be at Sarah’s talk. She could introduce them and they wouldn’t want to talk about their connection in front of high school students and Miss Kempton. How would she get Mr C to attend the talk before he’d even met Sarah without raising suspicion? Not plausible. Scrap heap for this idea.
Okay, what next …
Maybe she could get Mr C to pick Sarah up from the airport? On the basis of helping out the school and all that. He’d be up for it. No, too risky. It would be obvious Mr C didn’t have a clue who Sarah was. She needed a situation with more people around to distract him from asking too many personal questions straight up, questions he should technically know the answers to.
Her iPod shifted track and she hummed along, letting her thoughts drift once more.
Could they bump into each other at the pub? She could get Levi to go to dinner there with his dad and she could talk her parents into taking Sarah out for a welcome meal. Mr C could fall in love over a lamb roast and with all the extra people around, Sarah was bound to keep quiet about the whole internet dating thing. Wasn’t she?
Maddie sat bolt upright. She had it. Once she got Miss Kempton to agree to having Sarah at the school, then it would be easy to get Mr C to come to a welcome dinner. Fate would take care of the spark between them.
Then what?
She studied her plan. Step Three, in hot pink, required a situation where Sarah and Mr C got to see each other in the best light. Preferably at their sexiest. Much harder. She tapped the pen against her teeth in time with the music.
This was the bit where she got them all to go to the Isisford Races. Only the biggest reason to dress up all year. Levi had already broached the subject with Mr C, laying the groundwork. If she invited Sarah to come then it would be an easy thing to get them all there together, looking their finest. Even Mr C wouldn’t object to making an effort, especially after he’d met Sarah. And, this was the kicker, Sarah could find people to interview for her series on finding love in the outback. Double bonus!
Her mind raced at a million miles an hour as she processed her plan, looking for flaws, of which there were many. Not that she intended on a few hazy details getting in the way. Too many people’s happiness rode on her ability to pull this off. Mr C’s broken heart would mend. Sarah would find the love she was looking for. Levi could happily go to university and she would get to be with the man of her dreams.
She sighed happily.
Convincing Levi would be her biggest challenge. He wobbled a bit from time to time. Every time she saw him she expected him to pull out of the plan. If he did that, then she might never get to go to Sydney. The thought of living in Bondi and attending university by herself terrified her. She wasn’t brave enough to go through with it, even if she could afford it. If she didn’t do her part she’d be stuck in Longreach for the rest of her life. Probably as some lame farmer’s wife, complaining about the endless drought and worrying about the kids. She wanted more than that. She wanted a life.
Fired up, Maddie picked up her laptop from where it sat on the floor next to her bed. Opening the cover, she began to type a rough draft of what she’d say to Miss Kempton to get her to agree to have Sarah come and talk at the school. Wouldn’t be hard and Maddie wasn’t star of the junior debating team for nothing.
As she typed, her fingers whizzing across the keyboard as if with a life of their own, a sensation of rightness settled over her. The only person she felt a little bad for was Miss Kempton. Having said that, anyone could see Miss Kempton was way too young for Mr C. He needed someone a little more worldly, not someone who worked at the school. Plus Miss Kempton would head back to wherever she came from once her country service finished and that’s the last they’d see of her. It could be said Maddie might be saving Mr C from a potential broken heart.
Emboldened, Maddie finished her notes and began a rough draft of a message to Sarah. She’d be writing as herself so she had to be careful to make sure nothing even hinted at the fact she was also Lonely in Longreach. Sarah couldn’t guess. It would blow the whole deal. Why would she suspect? Maddie shrugged and ploughed on, crafting what she believed to be an elegant invitation from a keen high school student. Once she got permission from school, she’d send it.
This was going to be so good.
From: Lonely_In_Longreach
To: Solitary_In_Sydney
Subject: Love in the outback
Dear Sarah,
A fact-finding mission sounds great. I’m sure I can help you find some people to talk to. There’s a lot of interesting stories out here and most people are happy to tell them.
As to what to drink with the pork crackling pizza, I’m thinking beer. Maybe we should try and make a pizza when you come visit? Might be fun.
And let me just say, I’ve got a good feeling about you too, Sarah.
Cheers,
Sam