He turned to see Hannah standing in the doorway, buried in bright orange polka dot pyjamas that he didn’t think his retinas could deal with before coffee.
‘Lost pup drama. It’s all sorted now.’
‘Good. Because I was counting on at least another hour’s sleep.’
‘You and me both. I was up half the night delivering a calf out past Crackenback.’
Hannah grinned. ‘God, I love having a junior partner.’
‘Remind me to smirk next time you’re on call and have to spend the night in a freezing ditch.’
His sister laughed. ‘It’s a deal. Whose calf was it?’
‘The Lyndon place. Hobby farmers, so they were a little anxious about letting their pet cow go into labour without a vet on hand.’
‘Hobby farmers,’ snorted Hannah.
‘Now now, we didn’t all have the luxury of growing up in gumboots.’
‘Yeah yeah. Maybe I should send them a bill this morning while they’re still feeling like proud hobby parents.’
He grinned, and took his time checking on the pups and refreshing their bedding before leaving them to snooze in the sleepover room and following his sister to the office. He’d take middle-of-the-night calvings over doing the bills any day of the week. By the time he got there, Hannah was rifling through files in a way guaranteed to raise the ire of their receptionist.
‘I’m ducking out for a coffee, Han. You want one?’
‘I’d love one. You want to take those lost dog flyers with you? They’re cluttering up the printer and you know I can’t deal with mess.’
‘Excuse me? You’re the messiest person I know.’
‘True. Okay, I can’t deal with other people’s mess. I have a system; it just looks like chaos to the uninitiated.’
He took the pile of flyers Hannah handed him and the photo of Jane Doe stared up at him. Maybe he should pick her up a bone from the butcher while he was out. Take her for a walk down to the lake later, so she could sniff at tree bark and chase ducks … have herself a well-earned mumma-dog break.
He patted his pocket and the jingle of a pile of coins rewarded him. ‘My budget would stretch to a sausage roll or a lamington. You hungry?’
Hannah groaned. ‘Don’t tempt me with naughty stuff. I’m revving myself up into a health binge.’
No problem. He’d be sure to dust the crumbs from his shirt before he returned.
The old timber door closed behind him and he dragged in a breath of country air. The first day of spring had come and gone, and the promise of warmth hung in the breeze. God he’d missed this place—the perfect peace of early mornings in the shadow of the mountains. Gossip be damned, he’d made the right choice coming home. He just hoped like hell it was the right choice for Poppy too.
‘Joshua Preston Cody, bless my heart, it really is you.’
He looked up, met the inquisitive gaze of a tiny little woman wearing a pink and white flowery dress, and groaned inwardly. Trust him to time his outing to run into Mrs LaBrooy, who was the undisputed Hanrahan gossip queen despite the fact she lived a forty-minute drive out of town. She was also one of his favourite people in all the world.
‘Mrs LaBrooy, you’ve not aged a day.’
She let him kiss her cheek then held him close while she gave him the once-over. ‘Still charming the ladies, Josh. There were hearts aplenty broken when you left Hanrahan.’
He patted her hand. ‘One of them mine, Mrs LaBrooy. I never forgot you.’
She chuckled. ‘Or my apple pie, I’ll be thinking. You come visit when you’re settled, I know Tom’ll be itching to see you. Bring that sister of yours with you. I miss her since she quit visiting the stables.’
He took a step back when Mrs LaBrooy paused, and zeroed in on her face. ‘Hannah used to visit Ironbark Station? I didn’t know she was looking after the stock horses.’ He certainly hadn’t seen their files. Or, now he thought about it, any plump cheques being deposited from the deep coffers of the Krauss family. He cocked his head. ‘Is there something going on I don’t know about?’
‘Oh, pet, just forget I said that, will you? Tell me about yourself. Where’s that precious little babe of yours?’
Fine. He’d grill Hannah later. If she wanted her junior partner to keep doing the daily coffee run for her, she could tell him what was going on between her and the up-country station where Mrs LaBrooy was housekeeper.