Page 55 of The Knitting Club at Wagtail Ridge

Before closing the door, she took out a beautiful hand-knitted shawl that would add that extra warmth, just in case.

She grabbed her little-used makeup bag out of the bathroom cupboard and began applying a little, just enough to make her feel special. She kept it subdued, like her plain silver earrings and the chain around her neck. The ring on her finger, though, was big and bold. Her favourite piece of costume jewellery.

Dressed at last, she made a final inspection in her large bedroom mirror. She looked good. Not over the top. But good.

She heard a door open as Rose stepped out of her room on the other side of the hallway. Bree cast a joyful eye over her grandmother.

‘You look great!’

Like Bree, Rose had bowed to convention for firm events and worn conservatively elegant dresses and pearls. Tonight, she had let her hair down—literally as well as figuratively. Her grey and pink curls bounced around her shoulders as she twirled in a girlish fashion to show off her brightly coloured kaftan trimmed with sequins around the neck. ‘I feel great too. It’s been a long time since I went dancing.’

‘And might you have someone in mind as your dance partner?’ ‘I have no idea what you mean, granddaughter.’

‘I heard Deb tell you the shearing crew knows about the dance. I don’t suppose you’re hoping a dashing lead shearer might be there?’

‘And if I am?’

‘Then we’d better not keep him waiting.’

‘And what about Matt?’

Bree glanced at her watch. ‘We agreed to meet there and if we leave now, we’ll be right on time.’

***

When they arrived at the hall, the dance was cranking up into full swing. The street was lined with cars, but not too many of them. Most of the townspeople had walked. The hall door was open, light pouring out to illuminate a man standing by the steps. Bree’s lips curved into a smile.

‘Hi, Matt,’ she said as she approached. ‘You didn’t have to wait outside, you know.’

‘I asked you to come with me and I’m old-fashioned enough to think that means I walk you through the door. And besides, you look amazing and I don’t want anyone else to whisk you away before we get a chance to say hello.’

Bree had received lengthier compliments and more erudite ones, but never one that felt better. She walked right up to him and kissed him on the cheek.

‘Thank you.’

Matt’s eyes held hers for a long moment, and suddenly her breathing was becoming a little irregular. He looked awfully good too in a crisply ironed green shirt that highlighted the colour of his eyes.

‘It’s nice to see you, Matt,’ Rose interrupted apologetically. ‘Shall we go inside?’

‘Yes. Um, of course. Vicki’s in there and she’s dying to see both of you.’

He stood back to let Rose and Bree enter the hall ahead of him.

The hall was awash with colour and movement and a band was playing on a stage at the end of the room. Couples strutted their stuff on the dance floor, and if the stuff they were strutting wasn’t exactly ballroom fare, no-one cared. Children of all ages were either dancing in their own distinct ways, or jumping up and down and clapping their hands almost in time to the music. Bree spotted Vicki’s laughing face among them.

On one side of the room, trestle tables groaned under the weight of food, while on the other, a couple of men were handing out drinks from bathtubs filled with ice. A big glass jar on the bar was half-full of money. And to cap off the gaiety of the scene, every decoration from every holiday season of the year dangled from the ceiling above, glistening with moving light.

‘That’s a disco ball!’ Bree was enchanted.

Jake and Lou were standing nearby, arm in arm. ‘Lou scavenged it from somewhere on one of the library runs. It was broken, but easy enough to fix.’

‘That takes me back,’ Rose said. ‘Bree, I fell in love with your grandfather by the light of one of those things.’

They were crossing the hall towards the bar when a tall figure suddenly appeared in front of them.

‘Mike.’ Rose sounded breathless.

‘Hello, again. You look wonderful.’

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