Page 30 of The Vet from Snowy River
‘Poppy,’ the girl said as she dried her hands on the handtowel.
‘Uh-huh. You live here?’
‘No freaking way.’
‘Oh! Are you lost? A runaway? A time traveller from another dimension?’ She watched the girl’s face as she plucked a waxed paper square from the pile stacking up on the bench. The girl was neat, fast, and totally adept at snipping. ‘Only, I’m just wondering why you were crying in the alley.’
Poppy’s fingers slipped on the roll of paper. ‘I wasn’t crying.’
Denial. Okay, that was a defence she recognised. ‘Good to know. Only, I’m new in town. If you’re having a full-on teenage crisis, I don’t know who to call. Your mum?’
‘She’s in Sydney.’
‘Dad?’
‘Like he’d care.’
Aha. She must have had a fight with her dad. ‘Sisters? Brothers? A cool unmarried auntie who drives a moped and wears men’s clothes?’
The girl’s voice was quieter than it had been before. ‘I’m new in town, too, sort of, but don’t worry because I amnotstaying. Six hours in Hanrahan has been six hours too long. And get this … everyone here seems to think they know more about me than I do myself. And they don’t! They haven’t even met me before! And I do have an auntie here who’s kinda cool, but she works with my dad.’
Vera sealed off a box then reached for the last few meringues on the baking tray. Okay, that was hopeful; the girl had family in Hanrahan. Maybe Poppy just needed to cool off some, then she’d be happy to go home. A little like her meringues. She picked one up, offered it to Poppy. ‘Want to try one?’
‘I guess. I’ve made a few meringues myself, you know, back in Sydney, where everything used to be great until Dad wrecked my life.’
Vera popped one in her own mouth as she studied the girl. She dodged the wrecked-life comment and focused on the other bit. ‘Oh, you bake too? No wonder you’re such an expert with food storage.’
Her guest gave a little snicker, which encouraged her to think Poppy was feeling a little less blue. ‘Anyone can cut paper.’
Vera smiled. ‘Maybe. You know, Poppy, as fun as this is, we can’t stay here all night. I bet your dad’s missing you and wondering where you are.’
Poppy sighed. ‘Can you keep a secret?’
She frowned. Sure she could, but she was out of her depth here in teenager land. What if the girl told her something that shouldn’t be kept secret?
‘I can, yes,’ she said. ‘Except if it’s a personal safety issue. Then, sorry, I’ll have to blab it to someone who can help.’
The girl frowned. ‘Ew. It’s nothing like that. Okay, the reason I was in that dumb lane was I got mad with some dumb kid called Braydon. Like that’s even a name.’
‘Why? What happened?’
‘I’m surprised you didn’t hear it from here.’
‘Hear what?’
‘The yelling. Dad’s business is just across the park. He was trying to be all friendly and cute and “you’ll love it here, Pops”, but really he just wanted me to do some dumb chores, but then this woman with big hair and her kid got all up in my face and it all went bad.Epicallybad.’
‘And there was yelling? Your father shouted at you?’
‘What, at me? No way! Dad’s the best.’
Oh, this was so confusing. ‘I thought your dad had wrecked, um, your life and everything.’
‘Well sure, he has, but … whatever. It’s complicated.’
‘Poppy, maybe I’ve eaten too many meringues and my brain’s clogged up with sugar, but I still don’t understand.’
‘It all happened when I was looking at the guinea pig and the Braydon kid asked me if it was true what he’d read in the paper and what everyone was saying about my mum.’
