Page 55 of Cinderella and the Outback Billionaire

‘Are you coming back tomorrow?’ Piper asked.

‘No.’

Agitated arm swinging ensued. How did a person keep a child they adored at arm’s length? ‘But I’ll be back.’

‘Will you be you again?’

What a question. ‘I might be a little bit new. But people always change. You’ll have changed a lot by the time you grow up, and even after that. We all do.’

‘But I can still love you, even when you’re new,’ the little princess said. ‘You don’t have to teach me how to drive, you know. We can do other things together that are fun.’

‘You’re right.’

‘I can read to you.’ She shuffled from one foot to another, her anxiety spiking his. ‘If you like.’

He hated the very thought. ‘I’d like that.’ There he went again, lying to a loved one. ‘And I’m learning to sing. You could have lessons too.’

Shoot him. Shoot him now. ‘I could.’

‘Do you want to take Fluffy-Wuffy home with you for company?’

He’d found his line in the sand. ‘No!’ Hell, no! ‘Thanks, Pip, but no. He’d miss you too much.’

‘Not if he had you.’

How he got out of that house without crumbling in a heap, he never knew.

‘Take me to the eco lodges at site six,’ he said to Judah’s new helicopter pilot who’d been brought on six months ago after it had been made clear to all that Reid’s days of being a flying taxi service had come to an abrupt end. The man was more than competent and, beyond a nod and a gruff, ‘sure thing’ didn’t feel the need to fill the air with conversation.

So what if Reid didn’t have his hand on the joystick of the helicopter as it ate up the ground between Jeddah Creek and Cooper’s Crossing? He could still appreciate a blue sky all around him and the feeling of going somewhere. He had red dirt below him and a work site to inspect and a part of him relished having something concrete to be responsible for. He wasn’t completely useless. If all else failed, he could while away the hours by torturing his nearest and dearest with his singing. Maybe he really did just need to re-examine his priorities in the face of this latest health setback and set a new course and get on with it. Maybe Bridie had managed to pillow-slap a little sense into him after all.

He was even looking forward to being in Ari’s garden space. It wasn’t as if she would be there. He’d checked with Bridie, who said Ari was hundreds of kilometres east, working on another job.

He’d texted Ari in reply to her missed message and said he was inspecting site six today and expected to sign off on it later this evening. She’d sent him a single line in reply.

Thank you for the opportunity to shine.

An hour or so later, the pilot set the little aircraft down a short distance from the new landscaping, and they waited until all was still before getting out and securing the blades.

‘Not sure how long I’ll be,’ said Reid.

‘I brought some paperwork with me.’

‘Use one of the cabins if you like. I’ll find you.’

They set off together towards the trio of buildings. Of all the sites where the lodges had been built, site six was by far his favourite. It had been built on the curve of a permanent water channel and huge river redgums dominated the landscape to the southwest. Even with his limited eyesight, he could appreciate the pale glow of the tree trunks and branches when the late afternoon sun hit them just right. Tendrils of the mighty Diamantina river cut the floodplains to the west, bringing birds and wildlife close.

Before Ari, a couple of waddi trees and random mounds of saltbush had dotted the area between the three cabins, and basic walking tracks had been stomped into place between one cabin and the next. The cabins had provided refuge from the heat of the day or the winds that whipped dust into every crevice and there had been little reason for anyone to gather outside, but now...

While the pilot headed for the nearest cabin, Reid turned left and followed the circular dirt track surrounding all the buildings—its edges now defined by scrubby acacia trees and flowering understory plants he’d only ever seen during a big wet.

Ari had ringed the entire garden area with thick Corten steel posts planted close enough together to let small creatures in and the hungriest herbivores out.

He turned inwards and crossed a narrow walking bridge over a shy, trickling stream filled with rocks and grasses and alive with the sound of frogs and other insects. Snakes and lizards too, he’d bet, although he didn’t see any.

Ari’s answer to that had been that there would always be snakes in paradise and that the balance of nature demanded it. She’d assured him she’d made every effort to keep people on the walking tracks and had made the outdoor gathering areas as uncluttered as possible, with no spots for creatures to hide without being seen.

She’d kept the waddi trees and the circle theme and added paving and places to sit, and curved shelters, half wall half roof, that provided various levels of shade. There was a sunken fire pit. A viewing deck with a curved back wall and not one but two porcelain bathtubs open to the sky and sunset views, with a rustic wooden table sitting between them.

---