Down Outback Roads by Alissa Callen

lights gave him time to collect himself. Time he hadn’t had that afternoon when he’d looked up to see her standing under the pergola gazing at him. He’d only hoped she was too far away to read anything in his unguarded expression. After the way his body responded to her in town, he didn’t need Kreeto sense his emotions were just as responsive. He also didn’t need Tish to guess how much their guest affected him. She’d only worry he’d have his heart broken. ‘Hey,’ he said.
    ‘Hey,’ Kree answered, her curious eyes sweeping through the shed, leaving nothing unstudied. ‘Tish suggested I come and see an Aussie man-cave. So this is what it looks like?’
    He laughed. ‘Like paradise.’
    Kree smiled, shook her head, and bent to pat Whiskey, who’d swooned against her legs. ‘You boys with your toys.’
    ‘Seth would appreciate it.’
    ‘That goes without saying. He’s still trying to talk me into letting him buy a ute.’
    She gave Whiskey a final pat, straightened and walked over to the airseeder. ‘So, is this the thing that has caused you all the grief?’
    ‘Yes, and I’m glad to say it’s finally sorted.’
    She touched a hose that delivered seeds to the holes in the soil dug by the metal tines. ‘It looks quite complicated.’
    ‘I guess so, but after the drought and money being tight there isn’t anything I can’t fix.’
    She flashed him a sweet but cheeky grin. ‘Except pressure pumps.’
    He chuckled. ‘True, but in my defence the Tylers’ pump is a dinosaur. Travis did take a look, in case I’d missed anything, but he agreed its pumping days were over.’
    ‘He’s a good guy.’
    ‘The best.’ Ewan resumed packing away the last of his tools by hanging spanners on the chipboard attached to the side wall. The boys had helped him trace the spanner shapes in order of size and even now, the wobbly black silhouettes made him smile. He and the boys loved the man-cave.
    ‘Did you and Travis grow up together?’ Kree asked as she stopped in front of the chipboard and examined the rows upon rows of spanners.
    ‘We knocked about as little fellas, but then I went away to a Sydney boarding school. We then both did agricultural science at Sydney University.’ Ewan paused as he watched Kree trace the outline of a missing spanner with her forefinger. ‘He went away for a few years to earn some serious money and has only been back for a couple of months. He’s actually bought the farm where I was born.’
    She stared out the wide shed door towards the old homestead sprawling in the shadows. ‘So you haven’t always lived here?’
    ‘No, and to be honest, sometimes I wish I didn’t now.’ He tried and failed to keep the bleakness from his voice.
    Kree’s wide-eyed gaze held his. ‘If you don’t mind me asking, why? The homestead is magnificent and Tish has created a lovely garden.’
    ‘Marellen may look impressive, but sometimes it feels like the house doesn’t want us here. My father was a hard worker and a good farmer and made a lot of money. When this property came on the market for the first time in the district’s history, he moved us here. He basically didn’t make any money again. Even in good seasons, crops failed or were frosted by a late cold snap. We couldn’t get a break. The house was built as a family home but the original couple only had one child, the mother died at the birth. The child either died or moved away but whatever the reason, the father became a lonely old recluse.’
    Ewan reopened the steel toolbox and fossicked through the various tools. There was a small spanner missing and Braye had last had it when he’d come to help yesterday.
    ‘The family it was built for mightn’t have filled Marellen with life, but your family does. And I’m sure the original family would want you here. Your luck will change.’
    ‘Maybe,’ he said, forcing his tone to lighten. He didn’t want to elaborate on his certainty it wouldn’t. The greatest price the