Page 55 of Wings Above the Mallee

Amelia chuckled. ‘Probably best you don’t. I’ll make sure Karmaa and Kismet are sorted out while you scrounge through my clothes, Charlee.’

‘No, I’ll do it. Their bucket needs filling and you can’t be doing that.’

He hadn’t heard Charlee be so considerate … well, ever. His headstrong daughter had always been bold, brash, intelligent but not particularly compassionate. ‘I’ll do the grunt work if you point out what you want doing,’ he said, standing.

‘Your daughter is intent on babying me,’ Amelia said as she led him to the door at the rear of the house. ‘I’m going to go soft.’

‘I’m glad—’ He broke off as he spied a lamb standing on top of the barbecue, a metre off the ground. ‘What the heck?’

Amelia groaned. ‘Kismet! It’s always you.’ She moved across the verandah to stroke the lamb.

He chuckled. ‘I’m not sure that’s what “lamb on the barbie” generally conjures up.’

Amelia pressed a finger to her lips. ‘No meat jokes here.’ She shook her head at the sheep, which was bunching its muscles, ready to leap down. ‘Don’t, you’ll hurt yourself.’

‘Let me.’ He scooped the lamb up, safely depositing it on the ground. ‘Oof. This one weighs a ton. Reckon they’ve been in the good paddock.’

The lamb let out an ear-splitting bleat, eyeballed him insolently, then leapt back onto the barbecue. It strained forward to nuzzle into Amelia’s hair.

She blew out an exasperated breath. ‘I swear, they’re like teenagers: they give you that dumb insolent look when you’re telling them off and five minutes later, they’re smooching up to you, trying to get a cuddle.’

Heath chuckled. ‘Welcome to my life.’ He flinched. He hated when memories like that betrayed him, pointed out how broken he was, Charlee was; their life was now.‘Though I reckon Ethan’s the only one Charlee has time for nowadays. Can’t work out what the heck that relationship is about.’

Amelia looked at him squarely. ‘Does it matter? Maybe you should focus on the fact that she is alive and able to have a relationship, no matter what you think of him. And she’ll come round, Heath. She’s young, and hurting, and just needs some time to find her own way through the grief.’

Any other time he would have been angry at someone telling him how to manage his daughter; Sean copped his wrath often enough. But Amelia’s tone was a mixture of wishful and apologetic, and Heath got the sense that not only was she trying to console him, but that she was genuine. That perhaps she understood Charlee, had managed to reach his daughter in ways he couldn’t fathom.

Or perhaps he just desperately hoped that was the case, because it absolved him of his repeated failures.

They all piled into Sean’s car to get to the pub, which was only a couple of streets away.

‘Gonna love you and leave you here, I’m afraid,’ Sean said as they pulled up in front of the pub.

Heath fought down the surge of panic. Dad was leaving him to handle both Amelia and Charlee?

‘Got a hot date, Daideó?’ Charlee teased.

‘Got an AA meeting, young lady.’

Amelia froze, her hand on the car door. ‘You should have said. We’ll do lunch some other time.’ She sounded every bit as terrified as Heath felt, and somehow that reassured him.

‘Charlee’s just brought me up to speed with the cafe closing down and the second she said it, I desperately neededcoffee, if nothing else.’ Heath stepped from the car, bending to speak through the open door. ‘Dad, you got time for a coffee at least?’

‘All caffeined up, lad. I’ll take a raincheck. You said Ethan’s coming through this afternoon, Charlee? Maybe get him to pick you up and take you back to the farm.’

As Amelia alighted from the far side of the car, Sean gave Heath a slow wink and he realised he’d been set up: his father had organised a date for him. He shook his head, but Sean chuckled, putting the car into gear.

‘Well, I’m starving,’ Charlee said as they selected a table alongside a window that overlooked the bridge across the Murray. ‘Anyone got recommendations?’

‘I don’t know how you can possibly be hungry after all that cake,’ Amelia said. ‘The menu is up above the register.’

Heath had only just taken a seat, but stood again immediately. ‘I’m grabbing a drink. Ladies?’ He wasn’t ready to be alone at the table with Amelia while Charlee checked out the menu.

Charlee and Amelia were chatting, their heads close, when he returned from the bar, carrying three drinks. ‘Found something to fill the hole?’ he asked. Charlee’s new interest in food was a novelty, a miracle courtesy of Amelia and Ethan.

‘Haven’t even looked yet,’ Charlee said cheerfully. She seemed to vibrate with excitement, but it was a warm, happy feeling, not the agitated, over-stimulated high of drugs. ‘Amelia and I were scheming.’

‘Scheming?’

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