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Piper swallowed hard. ‘I’ve never been in a storm like the one last night. We’ll clean it up.’

People milled around them, crying out as they took in the scene, but the Christmas spirit still hung in the air. An ambulance pulled up on the road and Emmett and Stef helped Harry to it.

Mayor Briggs grabbed a random milk crate and stood on it, clapping his hands to draw everyone’s attention. ‘Right, people, Christmas is on hold until we make our beloved Rush Creek safe. We need chainsaws and trailers. Someone call Billy and get the gates to the dump open. Grab some gloves, people!’

A box of gloves was thrown from the back of the ambulance and passed around. Piper pulled out a pair, snapping them onto her hands as Maddie shook out a garbage bag.

‘Let’s get to it,’ Maddie said, and Piper crouched down to grab a candle, snapped in two and covered in mud.

‘One down,’ she said, dumping it into the bag. ‘A million more to go.’

‘How many bags do you reckon we can fill in the next hour?’

Piper raised a brow. ‘A Christmas clean-up competition? I love it. I’m betting five.’

‘Gee, not a lot of faith in our rate of productivity at four thirty in the morning. I’m going with seven.’

‘We’re aiming for seven too!’ Reggie called, her twins by her side and Noah again strapped to her chest.

‘We can beat that,’ Anita added. Her children were all holding bags as well. ‘We’re going all out for ten!’

One by one, people teamed up and shouted out their goal. Piper’s heart fluttered with the warmth of belonging to something bigger than her.

Maddie’s grin grew so big it almost fell off her face. ‘On your marks … get set … clean up!’

Laughter rang out among them as they dived for the debris on the ground.

When the Rush Creek community came together, it really came together. With everyone racing to fill their bags, the area around the community hall was clearing quickly. Once the ambulance had left, Emmett and Barry climbed onto the roof to get the broken chairs down. Piper sighed and forced herself to focus on the shattered glass she was sweeping up. The more things she picked up, the stronger her feeling of belonging became. She loved Rush Creek. It felt like home, something she’d craved since they’d left Euronga all those years ago. She’d chat to Cara tomorrow about the chance of her contract becoming permanent, but she needed to do something about her living arrangement. Living with a man she’d been in love with since they were children, with whom she now didn’t know where she stood, wasn’t sustainable. What did that kiss even mean? Was it just an in-the-moment thing or something more? Putting distance between her and Emmett might be the best thing until they could figure it out. The first day Tobias opened his real estate office after Christmas, she’d sign a lease for any house he had available.

Chapter 15

Once Barry had his feet back on the ground, Emmett folded the ladder that was leaning up against the giant gum tree. He was holding the ladder in a fireman’s grip and heading for Barry’s ute to stack it on the racks when the CWA’s Muriel Edwards pulled up in her LandCruiser with a five-burner barbecue in the back.

‘Emmett Coleman, put that ladder down and help me get this hot plate out so we can feed these hungry volunteers,’ she said as she slid from the driver’s seat. Muriel wasn’t known for her height and Emmett tried to glance through the driver’s door to catch sight of the rumoured pillow, but she shut it too quickly.

Finding his reserve tanks of energy, he jogged the ladder over to Barry’s ute before returning to help Muriel with the set-up, moving on autopilot mode to get things done.

By the time the smell of bacon crackled through the air, the sun was higher in the sky and his dying phone told him it’d just turned eight. The area around the hall was restored and the rest of the town didn’t look too bad either. But the smiles on the faces of his community warmed Emmett the most. And there was one smile he couldn’t help but seek out.

Piper. She was towards the back of the group, chatting with Reggie and cuddling Noah while the twins played in a puddle nearby. It was Christmas, and after what they’d just been through, no one cared about a bit of mud if little kids were having fun.

Two breakfast burgers wrapped in napkins were thrust in his face.

‘I have a feeling neither of you are going to feel like cooking when you get home,’ Maddie said as he accepted them. ‘And given people are dining and dashing, you might want to think about making tracks.’

He caught her wink before she turned on her heel. ‘Thanks,’ he called after her.

Covering the short distance to Piper, he held out the burger and she handed Noah back to his mum. ‘You ready to head home?’

‘More than.’ She smiled at him, but he could see the fatigue in it.

They farewelled Reggie and walked in silence to his remarkably undamaged ute. Piper was quiet, chewing her breakfast as he scoffed his before the drive home.

On the way, she stared out the passenger window. No talking, no music, not one single glance his way. Was she too tired? Or was it something more?

By the time he pulled into the driveway, Emmett couldn’t take the silence anymore.

‘Piper, we need to talk about—’ The words died in his throat when he saw the windows at the front of the house were open. ‘Oh no.’