Page 47 of The Knitting Club at Wagtail Ridge

‘Yes. She’s in the kitchen.’

Vicki set off for the back of the hall and Matt made a quick decision. He wanted to see Bree. He had things to say to her. But they needed to be said in private.

‘I can’t stay today,’ he told Rose. ‘But I should be back before the session is over. If not, Lou will take Vicki.’

‘Don’t you worry about your girl. The Wagtail Ridge Knitters look after their own.’

He was gone before either Vicki or Bree emerged from the kitchen.

The property he was adding to his list was medium sized and well kept. The price the owners were asking was reasonable for the market and Matt was hopeful he’d be able to find a buyer for it. A sale like this was just what he needed to put himself on a stronger footing for the next year.

‘I want to thank you for thinking of me, rather than one of the big firms,’ he said as the owners gathered their paperwork together.

‘Oh, we always try to support local businesses if we can.’

‘I appreciate that. Now, if you’re happy, I’ll get a few photos before I leave. For the website and the display window.’

‘Of course.’

Matt started inside the house, then took shots of the outbuildings. After making his farewells, he drove back to the road, stopping for more photos of the paddocks. He put the phone into his jacket and got into the car. As he started driving towards the Ridge, Matt’s mind turned to Sally and the phone she’d tried to give Vicki. He wasn’t against his daughter having a phone when she was ready. And he could understand parents who liked to have that contact with their kids, especially in the bigger towns and cities; places like Newcastle, where Sally and Brian lived. But here in the Ridge, it really wasn’t necessary. Not yet. And when Matt felt it was, Vicki could have a simple phone, with no unsupervised connection to the internet. Matt would give it to her.

His anger started to rise again. And with it, a degree of despair.

I don’t know what to do, Kim. I understand how hard it has been for her. I don’t want to drive her away. But I have to protect Vicki.

As always, he was answered only by silence echoing out of the deep well of grief that was now a permanent part of his world.

As he turned onto the next road, he realised his route home would take him past the gates of The Gums. He really should explain to her that she didn’t have to go to the dance with him. That although they could be friends, he wasn’t ready to start dating again. He liked Bree. Liked her a lot. If there was to be someone else for him to love, it might be her. But he had to tell her he still loved Kim. And he could do it with just the two of them there. A rare opportunity indeed.

When he reached The Gums’ wooden gateway, he braked and turned into the gravel drive.

***

Bree had only just arrived home after knitting club. The afternoon had been a great success and the women of Wagtail Ridge had dived right in, knitting projects well underway. Much tea and cake had been consumed and stories—dare she say gossip—had been exchanged. When Vicki was distracted by something else, a couple of the women had talked to Bree about Matt, saying what a good man he was and how sad it was that he was alone now. And what a lovely little girl Vicki was and wasn’t it sad that she didn’t have a mother? Matt was doing a wonderful job, but a strong female figure in the girl’s life would be such a good thing. It seemed certain that almost forcing Matt to invite her to the upcoming dance was just the beginning of the townsfolks’ matchmaking.

Bree wasn’t sure how she felt about the matchmaking, but she knew exactly how she felt about going to the dance with Matt.

She was distributing the evening feeds when she heard the car approaching. She didn’t get a lot of unexpected visitors and the shearers weren’t due until the day after tomorrow, so she waited to see who it was.

She felt a little twinge of anticipation as she recognised the car pulling to a stop outside her house. Matt had never dropped in unannounced before and she was surprisingly pleased that he had—and without the excuse of bringing Vicki to see the alpacas. Maybe the matchmaking was working.

Her boys were waiting for their dinner, so she carried it over to the fence, waiting there for Matt to join her.

‘This is a pleasant surprise.’

‘Hi, Bree. Is that the one who was hurt?’

‘Yep. This is Digby. He’s fine now.’

Matt nodded, his eyes firmly fixed on the alpaca—almost as if he was avoiding looking at her.

‘Is something wrong? Vicki?’

‘No. No. She’s fine. There’s nothing wrong. Well, not really wrong.’

For someone with nothing wrong to speak of, Matt looked very tense and she thought she knew why.

‘I know Deb more or less forced you into asking me to go to the dance with you,’ she said. ‘But it’s all right. You don’t have to.’

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