Chapter 12

Evie had forgotten how much fun it was meeting new people. She hadn’t traveled anywhere for weeks and Frieda and “the boys”—as Frieda liked to call them—were an interesting trio, not to mention Webbo whose tales of trekking the outback had everyone enthralled.

After helping Adam to change the tire, the twins moved their truck and caravan to the side and pulled down the caravan’s awning, setting out a table and chairs under the shade. Frieda had offered to make everyone a bacon sandwich in Webbo’s honor and insisted Evie and Adam stay too. Evie suspected Adam wanted to move on, but at the mention of food he’d been easily persuaded.

“Sit on this.” Frieda handed Adam a brown mat that she’d pulled out from somewhere. There weren’t enough chairs to go around, so Evie sat with Adam on the ground.

As Evie understood it, Frieda, Bill and Terry were from Melbourne. They’d had children, worked, bought a house, but when the children grew up and pension time came, they found tenants for their house and bought the caravan. They’d been on the road for three years now, spending their winters in the Kimberleys and the Top End and their summers in Melbourne with their children and grandchildren.

While Daisy, on a long rope tethered to the caravan, roamed the bushes and Frieda was inside the trailer cooking, Webbo and the twins were deep in conversation about the state of Australia’s healthcare system.

Evie tapped Adam’s shoulder and whispered in his ear. “Which twin do you think is Frieda’s partner?”

Adam raised his head toward the two men and between his sunglasses and his cap, which he’d pulled down low, she could just about see his brow etched with curiosity. So Adam wasn’t sure either. She leaned into him and whispered, “I’d ask but I fear the answer might make everything awkward.”

“Don’t you dare jeopardize my breakfast,” he growled.

Evie giggled. No doubt the luscious aroma coming from the caravan was making his mouth water as much as hers and when Frieda announced that the bacon sandwiches were ready, Evie jumped up to help her.

“This is so kind of you, Frieda.” Evie took the plate of sandwiches from her, placed them on the table and everyone helped themselves as Frieda brought out a tray of glasses filled with lemon water, each containing a precious cube of ice.

Adam who took a bite of his sandwich and groaned in ecstasy, thanking Frieda as if she were a gift from the gods. Which indeed she was.

“Happy now?” Evie asked Adam as she sat next to him on the mat. He took bite number two and his reply came back as a muffled uh-huh.

A man of few words, but despite thinking Adam as a dull gym bunny yesterday when they’d driven out of Broome, he was intriguing her again. How much would getting to know Adam become part of her Kimberley adventure?

“So, you’ve been here all night?” Frieda said, standing between the twins with her hands on their shoulders.

Evie swallowed her mouthful, trying not to stare at the way Terry’s hand came up to pat Frieda’s, or the way Frieda brushed something gently away from Bill’s ear. Her mind boggled. “We moved the truck out of sight,” she told them.

“Good thing too,” Frieda said. “Though we don’t have much trouble out here—not that we hear about anyways.”

“But you can’t be too careful this time of year,” Terry added. “Always someone going troppo.”

“Troppo?” Adam asked.

“A little crazy with the heat,” Webbo chipped in, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.

“I heard forty percent of the population in the Northern Territory has a warrant out for their arrest,” Evie said, speaking around another hearty mouthful. “Is that true?”

Frieda chuckled. “Who knows, doll. But I suspect if it is, most of them are for parking fines and speeding tickets.”

“No one’s gonna chase you through the outback for that,” Bill said. “You planning on doing the Gibb?”

“Yes, we are.” Evie grinned at Adam and the way his lips kicked up into a smile aimed right back at her did annoyingly girlish things to her stomach.

“It’ll be stinking hot out there,” Terry said.

“Not everyone minds the heat, Ter.” Frieda swatted his shoulder gently.

“But there’s heat and then there’s heat.”

“And then there’s Kimberley heat,” Bill cut in. “How long you planning to take?”

“About ten to twelve days on the Gibb River Road, then some time around Katherine, and Kununurra. Four weeks in total—if Adam can put up with me for that long.”

“We’ll see.” Adam popped the last of sandwich into his mouth.

“If you can afford it and you’ve got the time, do it,” Bill told them. “Do it before the kids come along and you’ve got a mortgage. Do it before you get tied down.”

“Oh, we’re not—”

“Two kids in love, just take the chance while you have it,” Frieda added.

“Adam and I aren’t—”

“And if you can stay together after this, you can stay together through anything.”

Evie looked helplessly at Adam, but he didn’t look at all bothered that he’d been mistaken as her boyfriend.

“How difficult is it to drive through the Kimberleys at this time of year?” he asked.

“They’ll be corrugations in most places, some a meter deep,” Webbo said. “But your truck should be able to get through it no problem.”

Bill talked about tire pressure and vehicle handling. “It’s wild and harsh out there but it’s not as inaccessible as people think. You’ve just gotta use your noodle, don’t take risks and you’ll have a great time. Plenty of people do it each year.”

“Accidents happen when people drive too fast,” Terry said. “People think they’re invincible but nature and physics always win. Especially out here.”

“And if it looks like rain’s coming,” Webbo said, “don’t camp up next to a river. Banks can burst and before you know it, your access road’s been cut off. Again, it’s just common sense.”

“Check your fuel too,” Bill said. “I heard a guy the other month paid over ten thousand bucks for a tow back to Derby because he’d used contaminated fuel.”

Ten thousand dollars for a tow? “Yikes!” Evie gasped. “How could that have happened?”

Bill shrugged. “Probably bought it cheap off the back of a lorry. I guess you don’t have to worry about things like that, do you, Webbo?”

“Nope. Just sore feet and blisters.”

“Where do you sleep?” Adam asked. “Do you just choose a good place at sundown?”

“Pretty much. It’s illegal to rough camp but I asked permission beforehand. I stick to cattle stations and avoid Aboriginal land unless I’ve asked the owners first.”

Evie was fascinated by this man’s courage, his sheer staying power and ambition. “Don’t you get nervous? What’s it like out here at night all by yourself?”

“Evie’s afraid of the dark.”

Evie turned to Adam. Had he figured that out after just one night? She thought she’d covered up her fear pretty well. “I’m not afraid exactly . . .”

“Well, it happens at the end of every day so not much you can do about it.” Webbo chuckled. “But if you’re asking because you think all the reptiles and spiders are gonna come at you, forget it. They don’t wanna know you.”

“But what about people?” Evie said, well aware she was sounding like a wimp. “Are you worried that someone will pop out of a bush and scare the life out of you?”

As she’d hoped, everyone laughed. Their amusement confirmed her fears to be unfounded, which was a relief. She was desperate to experience the outback, but such isolation, especially at night, had the tendency to freak her out. She recalled that feeling of insignificance last night when she’d confronted Adam about the knives and drugs and assumed that sense of alone-ness would only get greater the more remote they got.

Would quiet-guy Adam be enough company for her?

“People will be few and far between,” Webbo said.

Terry concurred. “Unless you’re doing a hike not too far from the beaten track, like Tunnel Creek or Windjana—they’re always popular spots—it’ll mostly be just you and the desert.”

“You’ve got your big strong man to protect you, anyway.” Frieda smiled. She’d told Evie earlier that she had three grown sons and was grinning at Adam now like he were one of them. “They’ll have to get through him first.”

“He’s not—”

“Don’t worry, Evie,” Adam interrupted. “I’ll keep the bogeyman away from you.”

She fluttered her eyelashes and flashed him a little-woman-at-home smile. “Why, thank you, Adam.”

“That’s sweet.” Frieda cooed. “Adam and Eve.”

“And let the Kimberleys be your Garden of Eden,” Bill said. “In most places, I reckon you’ll be the only man and woman out there.”

“If you don’t wanna kill each other by the end of it—”

“Or die of boredom—”

“Invite us to the wedding.”

It was Webbo who broke up the party a few minutes later, announcing that he’d better get back on the road if he were to reach his distance target for the day. He made his way round the group, shaking everyone’s hand and thanking them for their support. Evie, who wanted to take a photo of them all on the side of the highway in front of the gray nomads’ trailer, was searching for somewhere high enough to position her camera.

Adam held out his hand to her. “I’ll take it. Other than Daisy, I’m the highest thing out here, and I don’t think she’d do as good a job as me.”

“But don’t you want to be in it?”

He told her he didn’t mind and took the photos of the group, thankful that in the flurry of packing up the gray nomads’ trailer, and Webbo getting Daisy ready for the road again, no one asked for any more to be taken.

Webbo set off and Evie had her notebook out writing down the gray nomads’ recommendations for garages and camping supplies in Derby. Adam jogged after him, and when he and Webbo were a little distance away, got his phone out and shot his own walking video. He then wished Webbo the best of luck, shook his hand and jogged back to Evie and the gray nomads, who were waiting to say goodbye.

Ignoring Evie’s questioning gaze, Adam shook hands with Bill, Terry and Frieda, thanking them again for breakfast and their help with the tire.

When it was just the two of them on the highway again, Evie turned to him with a wide smile on her face. “Wasn’t that just the best and most unexpected fun ever? And we got fed, too.” She clasped her hands together and held them under her chin as if contemplating a mystery of the world. “So. Terry or Bill? Who do you think is Frieda’s other half?”

“My money’s on Bill.”

“See, I thought Terry.” Her mouth dropped open and mischief danced in her eyes again. “Do you think—”

“No way.” Adam held up a hand. “I’m not going there.”

Two men—brothers—sharing one woman? He watched the back of the gray nomads’ truck disappear into the heat haze. No offense to them—they seemed like perfectly nice people—but he found the idea of a threesome repulsive. And he didn’t care if that made him sound like a total prude.

Evie laughed, no doubt having noticed the horror playing out on his face. “Your gym cougars have nothing on these gray nomads. Come on,” she nudged his arm. “Let’s get to Derby. We’ve got a lot to get done today.”