Page 57 of Wings Above the Mallee

He coughed to hide his sudden awkwardness. ‘So, a hint at least. Does it have anything to do with this fundraiser Charlee’s roped me in for?’

‘Oh. You’re in?’ Her blush deepened. ‘No, that’s not it, although I kind of have to take responsibility for that. I encouraged Charlee to get involved—though it was Sean’s idea,’ she added hastily.

‘Food is on the way,’ Charlee announced as she reached the table. She tossed his credit card toward him. ‘And I got garlic bread, too. Because … garlic bread.’

‘Bread with sandwiches, huh? Remember Gio’s?’ he said with a rush of nostalgia. ‘We always had to get an extra garlic bread with the pizza, just for you.’

‘I remember you always stole the end pieces, though, so it wasn’t really just for me.’

‘I’ll make up for it by letting you have them today.’

‘Sorry to burst your bubble, Brennans,’ Amelia said. ‘But I know from experience that the garlic bread comes as fat slices of house-made sourdough. No end pieces.’

‘We’ll deal,’ Charlee said, lifting her glass of wine.

When he’d reached the bar, Heath had had an irrational moment of wanting to order her a traffic light, the tricoloured,non-alcoholic drink she’d loved as a kid. But Charlee was an adult and he had no right to refuse her a glass of wine. Besides, considering Amelia’s revelation regarding addictions, who was he to point fingers or make judgements?

‘Anyway,’ Charlee continued, ‘you two look weird. What’s going on?’

‘I was avoiding telling Heath about our fledgling idea,’ Amelia said.

‘I really wanted Daideó to hear about it, too. But I can’t sit on it anymore.’ Charlee turned to him, her eager expression disguising the marks of years of self-abuse. ‘So, you know how Amelia is our local crazy animal lady?’

‘I wouldn’t have said that,’ he lied politely.

Charlee shot him a cynical look. ‘Yeah. Well. Anyway, she was saying that maybe we should take her brand of crazy and make it more official.’

‘The travelling farmyard?’

‘You remember that?’ Amelia said.

‘It was only a couple of months ago we talked about it.’ Besides, thinking about it—her—had given him a tiny respite from that endless night she’d identified. ‘I take it this is more than a fledgling idea now?’

Amelia waited as a waitress slid a plate onto the table. ‘Thanks, Chloe.’

As she’d said, the toasted bread came in great, thick slices, deep craters holding pools of butter. Amelia pulled the crust off her bread, paused, then held it out to Charlee with a grin.

‘Yep!’ Charlee exulted, snatching it.

Amelia tore the remainder of the slice into pieces, dropping them onto her plate. ‘It seems Ethan and Charlee share a passion for research and something of a can-do attitude.’

God, if she’d known Charlee two years ago …

‘She’s been taking advantage of me being tied to the bed—’

Heath coughed his way out of an involuntary splutter at the mental image.

‘—and done a deep dive into public liability insurance, portable fencing, transport, advertising … what else, Charlee?’

‘Everything,’ Charlee said, in her usual self-assured fashion. ‘There’s absolutely no competition out this way. No kind of mobile petting zoo. And you would not believe how may hundreds of schools, childcare centres—’ she winced and Heath was relieved to note that she wasn’t oblivious to Amelia’s pain ‘—libraries and stuff like that there are in regional areas. And Amelia’s right. Even though the big places like Murray Bridge are technically “country”, there are gazillions of kids who don’t have access to farm animals. Particularly the cute little baby ones. So think kids’ birthday parties, bar mitzvahs, whatever.’

‘Bar mitzvahs?’ He chuckled. ‘Hope that’s not the basis of your business model.’

‘Don’t be so pedantic, Dad. You don’t always need a plan, you know. Sometimes it pays to jump in the deep end.’ She stared meaningfully at him.

‘Finances?’ he said to cover his discomfiture. Money wouldn’t be a problem—he’d fund whatever it took to keep Charlee this happy.

‘I’ve got that covered,’ Amelia said.

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