Page 109 of A Home Among the Snow Gums
‘Will you and Vera be blowing kisses at each other over the roast potatoes?’
‘I’ll try and restrain myself.’
A thought struck her: Josh wasn’t in the habit of treating her to anything fancier than a cold slice of leftover pizza. She cast her eye over him. Now she really looked, she could see he’d turned on the Cody charm that had led many a netballer to swish her skirt in his direction back in high school. Too much charm, darn it.
‘What do you know?’
He was wide-eyed like a baby owl. ‘Me? I know nothing.’
‘Don’t think I’m fooled by that face.’
He rolled his eyes. ‘Okay, Sandy said she saw you crying in the office yesterday.’
‘Maybe I stapled my finger by accident.’
‘And Graeme said you ate three donuts in one session.’
‘That dobber.’
‘Kev asked me why you had a long face. Barb Smart out at Crackenback nabbed me this morning when I was pulling a chunk of barbed wire out of a cow’s hind leg and said you’d called to ask her about her next litter of dalmations and could you have one.’
‘What of it? You have a dog, why can’t I have a dog?’
‘Adalmation? Come on, Han, we’re vets. We both know they’ve got zero brains and they’re only good for appearing in movies, looking cute with a hundred siblings.’
‘Brains aren’t everything.’
‘And about half an hour ago, Marigold cornered me when I was getting out of my ute to tell me that knitting pouches for injured wildlife was excellent therapy for crisis management, just in case I knew anyone who needed to come along and start knitting.’ His voice had a note of finality to it as though this was the clincher.
Hannah’s brain zeroed in on the one name he hadn’t mentioned. ‘You spoken to Tom lately?’
‘I was up at Ironbark Station yesterday. One of the breeding mares has a colic problem.’
‘Pepper? You’ve not had her on mineral oil, have you? She doesn’t respond to that.’
Josh smirked at her. ‘I’m the equine expert now, Hannah.’
Huh. Still, if Tom hadn’t blabbed about her latest humiliation, how did the whole town know about it?
‘So … you’re inviting me to dinner because you think I’m sad, right? Not because anyone’s said anything specific or Marigold’s having another of her dumb intervention sessions?’
‘Maybe Vera and I love your smiling, unsuspicious company while we eat.’
‘Funny. You should have been a comedian, Josh. I can’t make dinner tonight, as it happens. I have plans.’ Her decision to enlist Kylie’s help couldn’t have come at a better time.
‘What sort of plans?’
‘The sort that don’t need your permission or input, Dr Cody.’ Okay, that had come out a little snippy. He was being kind; why couldn’t she learn how to be kind back?
Josh didn’t appear to be wounded. ‘Fine with me, Dr Cranky-pants. Now I get to blow kisses at Vera over the roast potatoes to my heart’s content.’
She gave him a poke in his annoyingly firm gut. Considering the amount of gourmet food Vera shovelled down his neck, he ought to have a total dad bod by now. Just another example of the unfairness of life. ‘Since you asked so nicely, I guess I can share.’ A bit, anyway. ‘I’m setting up an online profile.’
‘For the clinic? We already have a website.’
‘No, dumbo. Forme.’
‘OMG. Wait—crying in the shower, dalmations and now online dating? I don’t know, Han. It’s a lot.’
