her hand. Kathleen reached for it and their fingertips grazed each other before the train gathered speed and separated mother and daughter.
Chapter 20
Amanda raised her eyebrows at the formal invitation she had just received in the mail. Adrian and his bloody dinner parties! Putting it aside she opened the bills one by one, then she got out her cheque book and checked through the stubs. It confirmed what she already knew. She had already written cheques for all of these bills, yet she was receiving overdue notices. She couldn’t work it out. She could even remember putting them in the roadside mail box for collection.
A call to Malcolm Mackay confirmed that none of her cheques had been presented, so she shrugged her shoulders at the strangeness of it all, cancelled them and sat down to rewrite new ones.
Amanda was almost done when she heard Mingus stir from his place at her feet, walk to the kitchen and bark. She looked out the window and saw Adrian’s car coming up the drive. She smiled. It had been a few days since she’d seen him and she was looking forward to intelligent conversation and a few drinks over dinner with him tonight.
She thought ruefully of the glitch in their relationship, when Adrian had suggested she have babies and leave the running of the farm to the menfolk, but once he realised that wouldn’t happen, he’d backed down and declared himself happy with the way things were. ‘After all,’ he’d said, ‘I’d much rather spend time with you than not. When you’re ready to advance our relationship, let me know.’
Well, Amanda had been pondering that for a while and she thought tonight might be the night.
She put down her pen and jumped up to go and meet him.
They sat on the verandah and gazed across the paddocks that were just beginning to turn golden with the approaching summer’s heat. The sheep grazed quietly in the front paddock and Amanda could see Jasmine her special stud ewe with her triplets near the house.
The lambs had grown quickly and, even though all three were ewes, she knew that would be a great addition to her flock,genetically speaking.The thumping growth rate had impressed her and she was sure that they would be great mothers and milkers when the time came, and the ram she’d been hoping for would come next time, she was sure of it.
Mingus sat at Amanda’s feet and both Adrian and Amanda held chilled glasses of wine – she was beginning to develop a taste for it.
Amanda glanced at Adrian out of the corner of her eye. She could see the beginnings of grey streaks in his sandy hair, which reminded her that he was some years older than her. But his face was smooth, with no indication that he’d worked hard in the sun. That was because he hadn’t. He’d grown up on a wealthy property which employed others to do the manual labour.
When she was by herself, it was easy to imagine the two of them together, but as soon as he arrived, all those feelings flew out the window. She suddenly felt she owed him for the time he had put into helping her. And deep down, she knew that wasn’t a good basis for a relationship.
‘Have the hay contractors finished making your hay yet?’ she asked, suddenly uncomfortable with the silence.
‘They’ll be two more days, as long as the weather holds out. The bureau is forecasting a weak cold front to come through in the next three days. Hopefully they’ve got the timing right and we’ll finish. I don’t want to lose the quality of the hay now.’
He was interrupted by the ringing of the phone.
‘Be back in a sec.’ Amanda raced into the house to answer it.
‘Mandy! How are you?’
‘Hannah! Where are you? What’s all that noise in the background?’
‘Just on my way into the city for some drinks with the girls. What about you, what are you up to?’
‘I’m having drinks on the front verandah with Ade.’
‘Oh, sorry, should I call back later on?’
‘No! Talk to me, tell me how everything’s going.’
Amanda
Chapter 20
Amanda raised her eyebrows at the formal invitation she had just received in the mail. Adrian and his bloody dinner parties! Putting it aside she opened the bills one by one, then she got out her cheque book and checked through the stubs. It confirmed what she already knew. She had already written cheques for all of these bills, yet she was receiving overdue notices. She couldn’t work it out. She could even remember putting them in the roadside mail box for collection.
A call to Malcolm Mackay confirmed that none of her cheques had been presented, so she shrugged her shoulders at the strangeness of it all, cancelled them and sat down to rewrite new ones.
Amanda was almost done when she heard Mingus stir from his place at her feet, walk to the kitchen and bark. She looked out the window and saw Adrian’s car coming up the drive. She smiled. It had been a few days since she’d seen him and she was looking forward to intelligent conversation and a few drinks over dinner with him tonight.
She thought ruefully of the glitch in their relationship, when Adrian had suggested she have babies and leave the running of the farm to the menfolk, but once he realised that wouldn’t happen, he’d backed down and declared himself happy with the way things were. ‘After all,’ he’d said, ‘I’d much rather spend time with you than not. When you’re ready to advance our relationship, let me know.’
Well, Amanda had been pondering that for a while and she thought tonight might be the night.
She put down her pen and jumped up to go and meet him.
They sat on the verandah and gazed across the paddocks that were just beginning to turn golden with the approaching summer’s heat. The sheep grazed quietly in the front paddock and Amanda could see Jasmine her special stud ewe with her triplets near the house.
The lambs had grown quickly and, even though all three were ewes, she knew that would be a great addition to her flock,genetically speaking.The thumping growth rate had impressed her and she was sure that they would be great mothers and milkers when the time came, and the ram she’d been hoping for would come next time, she was sure of it.
Mingus sat at Amanda’s feet and both Adrian and Amanda held chilled glasses of wine – she was beginning to develop a taste for it.
Amanda glanced at Adrian out of the corner of her eye. She could see the beginnings of grey streaks in his sandy hair, which reminded her that he was some years older than her. But his face was smooth, with no indication that he’d worked hard in the sun. That was because he hadn’t. He’d grown up on a wealthy property which employed others to do the manual labour.
When she was by herself, it was easy to imagine the two of them together, but as soon as he arrived, all those feelings flew out the window. She suddenly felt she owed him for the time he had put into helping her. And deep down, she knew that wasn’t a good basis for a relationship.
‘Have the hay contractors finished making your hay yet?’ she asked, suddenly uncomfortable with the silence.
‘They’ll be two more days, as long as the weather holds out. The bureau is forecasting a weak cold front to come through in the next three days. Hopefully they’ve got the timing right and we’ll finish. I don’t want to lose the quality of the hay now.’
He was interrupted by the ringing of the phone.
‘Be back in a sec.’ Amanda raced into the house to answer it.
‘Mandy! How are you?’
‘Hannah! Where are you? What’s all that noise in the background?’
‘Just on my way into the city for some drinks with the girls. What about you, what are you up to?’
‘I’m having drinks on the front verandah with Ade.’
‘Oh, sorry, should I call back later on?’
‘No! Talk to me, tell me how everything’s going.’
Amanda
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