‘You shouldn’t call him Riley. His name’s Mr Jackson.’
‘He said I could call him Riley. He’s my friend. I think we should stay with him for longer.’
‘So do I,’ Jenna admitted sadly, abandoning mature as being just plain impossible. She and Karli seemed of an age. They surely thought the same. ‘But some things just aren’t going to happen.’
Karli slept, but there was little sleep for Jenna that night. She lay awake, staring out at the stars in the outback sky, trying to make sense of how she was feeling-of what she’d done. Of how she’d face the future.
There were questions everywhere. There were no answers.
The next day they woke to silence. They threw themselves into more work, fixing the bedrooms up, rigging a device so they could scrub higher than the original dust mark.
It wasn’t so much fun without Riley.
In the early afternoon they went outside and saw the far-off sight of the silver train they’d abandoned four days ago. They watched it slow to a stop at the siding to let the other train go through. They watched it leave.
Maybe they should have gone on the train regardless, Jenna thought. Maybe she shouldn’t trust Riley to do what he said he’d do.
But she did trust him. He was totally dependable, she knew. Totally dependable, but totally isolated.
He was breaking her heart.
At four she and Karli called it quits. The joyous enthusiasm with which they’d tackled their work over the last three days was completely gone and Jenna was bone-tired. It was as much as she could do to manage the pump.
There was no light-hearted singing of sea shanties.
They washed and they waited.
At five the Land Rover appeared from the south and Riley walked into the house looking worse than Jenna had ever seen him. She might be tired, but he looked exhausted to the point of collapse.
‘Riley,’ she whispered as he walked in the back door, but his look held her back. It stopped her saying anything else.
‘I’ve finished doing what needs doing,’ he told them, his voice drained of emotion. ‘Can you be ready to leave in fifteen minutes?’
‘We’re packed already,’ Karli told him, casting a dubious look from Riley to Jenna and back again.
‘That’s good,’ Riley said and smiled at her.
He didn’t smile at Jenna.
The plane bumped down the makeshift runway and rose into the sky, then banked and turned so they were facing south. Riley’s face was grim and he stayed silent. Karli was hugging her rock as if she needed its security.
Jenna put her face against the window and stared down at the receding dot that was Barinya Downs.
It was a dump.
She’d fallen in love with it.
She’d fallen in love with Riley.
They should talk, she thought dully. She should be talking to Karli. They should pretend this was exciting. They were flying in a tiny plane over a place as strange as she’d ever been in. They should be acting as if this were an adventure.
It wasn’t. Even Karli’s face was tight with strain.
Even Karli knew what they were losing, she thought bleakly.
The further they flew south, the greener the country grew and a little over half an hour’s flight saw them descend to a place that, after Barinya Downs, looked almost like paradise.
Munyering.
She couldn’t believe it. As the plane came in to land she cast a doubtful look across at Riley, but his face was still set and grim. Karli was gazing down with her mouth wide open and Jenna felt like doing the same.
Okay, she did do the same.
It was still dry country-there were no lush, closely fenced fields like home-but this was no dust bowl. The paddocks were dotted with dams, each much larger than the one they’d swum in at Barinya Downs, and most of them ringed by trees. The soil looked rich and red, and there were low blue mountain ranges in the far distance. The paddocks were wide swathes of green pasture. Crops? Even from this height Jenna could see flocks of cockatoos wheeling and squawking about the trees, and there were cattle resting in the shade.
And the house. It was a sprawling white weatherboard farmhouse, surrounded by outbuildings that looked substantial and well cared for. The house was ringed by a wide veranda and a lush garden. Some sort of vine covered the veranda with great looping clouds of purple blossom.
And there was a swimming pool. The pool was a magic blue teardrop nestled into the garden and from the air it looked like someone’s version of paradise.
‘It’s really pretty,’ Karli breathed, and Jenna could only agree. She glanced across at Riley and looked away again. His face was a rigid mask. He was fighting with himself, she thought.
‘Hey, lighten up,’ she told him, fighting her own misery to try and reach him. ‘How can you look miserable when you’re coming home to this? I know you’ll miss your dust, but this is ridiculous.’
He managed a smile, but only just.
‘I need to concentrate on landing,’ he said, and Jenna bit her lip.
‘Of course you do,’ she said cordially. ‘You need to concentrate on anything that isn’t us.’
Riley’s silence was made up for by Maggie. As the aeroplane rolled to a halt the lady was waiting and Jenna guessed at once who she was. She looked like a Maggie. A little, dumpy woman in her late fifties or early sixties, she had deep black, wild, frizzy hair, tugged into a knot on top of her head, but with curls escaping every which way. She was wearing a bright red skirt, a bright yellow blouse and a stripey pinafore that was liberally sprinkled with something that looked like flour.
She beamed a welcome as Riley climbed from the plane, but her eyes were already on Jenna and Karli.
‘It’s true,’ she breathed as Riley hauled open the passenger door so they could climb out after him. ‘The radio’s been full of gossip about these two. You have them safe.’ She smiled at both of them and her smile was a caress all on its own. ‘Oh, you poor lambs. The fuss… And Riley found you in that heat. Riley, you should have brought them home straight away.’
‘I couldn’t,’ he said shortly. ‘The cattle were dying.’
Maggie looked at him then-really looked at him-and Jenna saw her shock as she registered the exhaustion and the strain and the fierce containment. The woman drew in her breath, made to say something-and then seemed to change her mind. She gave him a long, searching look and then turned back to the visitors.
‘Come into the house,’ she told Jenna. She smiled down at Karli. ‘You must be Karli. You know there hasn’t been a little girl here for a very long time. You’re very welcome.’
‘Would you like to see my rock?’ Karli asked, and Maggie beamed.
‘Of course I would.’
‘Is Max free to take these two straight on to Adelaide?’ Riley’s question was brusque, and Jenna froze. She looked across at Riley.
‘I thought…’
‘Aren’t you taking us?’ Karli asked.
‘I have work to do,’ he told her. ‘Max is my overseer-he’s Maggie’s husband. He has his pilot’s licence.’ Then, as Karli looked dubious, he smiled at her. ‘You’ll like Max. He likes kids and I bet he’ll like your rock.’
But Maggie was staring at him, seemingly astounded. Seemingly confused.
‘Riley, what are you talking about? Max isn’t taking anyone to Adelaide tonight.’
‘Why not? He can stay overnight and come back tomorrow.’
‘He can’t.’
‘Maggie-’
‘There’s not enough light,’ she said flatly. ‘You know he hates flying blind.’
‘Oh, come on, Maggie. It’s a great night. A full moon and no clouds.’
