Page 59 of Wings Above the Mallee

Heath gave her a reassuring smile. ‘Don’t panic. I’m sure we’ll be able to work around the issues. You know Roni Krueger, don’t you?’

‘You mean Roni who Amelia had a fight with at the RAG meeting?’ Charlee said.

Heath flinched and Amelia realised that he didn’t know Charlee was teasing nor that she was okay with it.

‘It wasn’t an argument, but an adult airing of differing views,’ she corrected Charlee primly. ‘Yes,’ she added to Heath. ‘Her husband, Matt, is the local vet. They’ve been my go-to for Karmaa and Kismet.’

‘And mine,’ Charlee said, eager not to be left out. ‘Matt filled me in on how to start weaning the sheep, because it looked like Amelia was going to bottle-feed them forever.’

‘I didn’t hear them complaining about it.’ Charlee was right, there was a good chance she would have continued to bottle-feed them if she hadn’t been ill. Cutting out that last bottle was going to be hard; she loved the lambs’ eagerness to suckle, the frothy milk bubbles dribbling down their velvet chins as they gazed deep into her eyes. They were her babies.

‘Okay,’ Heath said, sounding relieved. ‘Well, as I understand it, Roni runs a rescue of some kind. Is that right?’

Amelia nodded as she tried to work out where he was going.

‘I’m thinking perhaps there could be some kind of cooperation between the two ventures.’

Charlee shook her head. ‘How? Doesn’t she have kennels? We’re not doing dogs and cats.’ She sounded sulky, as though she didn’t want to risk sharing any of the animals they’d not yet purchased.

‘Hang on, Charlee,’ Amelia said. ‘Your dad’s onto something. Actually, Roni has a whole menagerie of animals, though most are older. And, from what I saw, she’s on pretty decent acreage.’ She turned back to Heath. ‘What exactly are you thinking?’

‘Spitballing, not thinking. You ladies have only just landed this on me, remember? It’s just that I see some similarities between your ventures. You have a mobile petting zoo full of farmyard animals and Roni has a farmyard full of non-mobile animals.’

From the corner of her eye, Amelia caught Charlee sit up straighter, her eagerness reignited by her father’s apparent acceptance of the scheme.

‘So you think she’d potentially take our older animals?’ Amelia said doubtfully. ‘But she’s really set up as a rescue—it doesn’t seem right to dump ours on her. I mean, it’s not like we don’twantthem. And it doesn’t sort out the problem of them needing constant affection and attention either.’

Charlee leaned forward, curling one leg under herself on the chair. ‘Unless the mobile petting zoo was part of a farm visit kind of program. Do you know what I mean? Customers have the option of us coming to them or they could come to us. “Us” would include Roni. Like, there could be entire school groups come out to see the older animals at her farm.’

Amelia hated to dash Charlee’s enthusiasm, but someone needed to rein her in. ‘I don’t think that would work. Matt and Roni are fabulous, but they’re already flat out. With the vet practice, the rescue, the farm and … kids.’ Damn, she hated it when the longing stuck in her chest and choked her ability to speak. ‘And I’m not sure they’d want people traipsing all over their property.’

‘I don’t see why not. It’s a great business model,’ Charlee said petulantly, subsiding back onto her chair.

‘Don’t give up yet, kiddo,’ Heath said. ‘That thought was simply a starting point. You could be on to something with your farm visit idea, you just have to nut out the details. Come up with ideas, then list the pros and cons.’

Amelia caught his eye, noticing the slight crinkle as he hid a smile, and realised that he’d known all along that pairing their venture with Roni’s wouldn’t work. He had used the idea to totally play Charlee—and, to a lesser extent, her. Instead of immediately giving in to his daughter’s scheme or taking the opposite approach and quashing her enthusiasm with a heavy-handed dose of reality, he was encouraging her to think bigger, to dream more and to work out how to action the plan. Within minutes of her mentioning how important she felt it was to encourage Charlee to become invested in something, Heath was not only onboard, but had already worked out exactly how to do that. Evidently, the current prickly relationship between father and daughter hadn’t always been the status quo; Heath not only loved his daughter, but he understood her. If the tragedy of Sophie’s death had driven a wedge between them, it was obvious that Heath was determined to chip away at it.

And now Amelia didn’t only want the petting zoo for herself, or even for Charlee. Instead, she wanted to help Heath and Charlee heal. And, maybe, help herself. For thefirst time in such a long time, it seemed there was a spark of promise in her life, a glimmer of light at the end of the longest night.

Charlee picked up her phone as it flashed alongside her plate. ‘Ethan’s almost here. He said to grab him a coffee if we’re not done.’

Heath looked at his watch. ‘Lucky he can get time off in the middle of aworkday,’ he muttered.

It was fortunate his gaze remained on his watch, because the utter contempt that crossed Charlee’s face would have crippled him. ‘He’s picking me up because we have a meeting at four. You know, a meeting like Daideó’s meeting. Becausesomeof us try to handle our own issues instead of constantly piling crap on others.’

Amelia’s phone also flashed. Normally at the table she’d politely ignore it, but there was nothing she could say to retrieve the situation, so becoming suddenly invested in an email from Kmart or a reminder from her dentist seemed the best option. Why was Heath incapable of allowing Charlee some leeway? No matter how much he loved her, his expectations of the teen were unrealistically high. Even without the trauma of her mother’s death, Charlee needed to be allowed to grow and find her own way, without constant judgement.

Hannah (Gav)appeared on the phone screen. Amelia’s heart stuttered. Why would Gavin’s wife text?

She knew why. The only possible reason.

And she also knew that she should never have become invested, should never have allowed herself to care, because it was always going to come to this: Gavin’s last days.

‘Are you okay?’ Heath reached across the table as though he’d cover her hand, but then stopped.

She shook her head. ‘My friend. Gavin. He’s—’ She forced herself to thumb open the message. ‘No!’ Blood thunderedin her ears, the pressure building. Her vision wavered and she blinked furiously, her brain searching frantically for a way to deny the words on the screen. She must still be sick, hallucinating.

‘He’s worse?’ Heath’s voice was gentle, coming from far away.

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