All three women nodded, before Sally said, ‘It must be hard on your own.’
The conversation stopped and Ella realised they were all waiting for her to fill the next bit in. ‘Oh, well, I’ll be okay. I’m not lining up for welfare quite yet.’
‘Not like most young people today,’ Irene said, and the other women nodded.
‘It’s the Kiwis,’ Sally said. ‘They’ve got all the jobs.’
‘It can’t all be the Kiwis’ fault,’ Ella said, feeling sorry for all the Chalk Hill New Zealanders she hadn’t met. ‘They make great wine. We’ve got to give them that. I’d love to visit New Zealand one day.’
‘My son and his wife did a camping trip around the South Island last year,’ Loraine said, and that got them all talking about holidays and caravan trips, and Ella was glad it at least gave the New Zealanders a break.
‘We heard from Valerie Honeychurch the other day. They’re in northern New South Wales now, heading up towards Byron Bay. Said they’re having a great time, but she’d been feeling a bit tired with all the travel, poor thing. I think she was ready for a bit of a break.’
‘Is that Jake’s parents?’ Ella asked.
‘Yes, love,’ Rene said.
‘My husband Lester works at Honeychurch Hardware. He’s been there for years,’ Sally said, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the table, cupping her chin in her palms. ‘Now there’s someone who would be perfect for you, Ella.’
For a moment, Ella thought Sally was talking about Lester and she nearly coughed up her treacle teacake. Then she realised they were talking about Jake, and that was almost worse. These three old dears were trying to matchmake her with Jake. Could the old biddies read her mind? Was she that transparent?
‘You should’ve seen Jake’s dad in the old days,’ Irene said, widening her eyes. ‘Oh, the stories we could tell you.’
The other three ladies nodded.
‘At the town dances … he could waltz like nobody’s business. He was a wonderful dancer. Every girl there would be happy if Stan Honeychurch asked to take her home.’
‘Spun across the floor, spun out the door,’ Sally said.
They’d gone quite dreamy. It was very cute.
‘Not that we did go home with him, of course!’ Irene laughed. ‘And I was happy when I found Perry.’
‘And me with Les,’ said Sally.
‘And Val and Stan have had a wonderful life together, raising those three boys,’ said Loraine.
The ladies nodded again, and Ella sensed an opening. ‘What do you know about the other two boys? Jake’s brothers?’
‘Brix and Abe?’ Irene said, lines creasing her brow momentarily as she hunted through her memory for the names. ‘They’re good boys. That Abe was a bit of a problem child, but they’re good kids.’
‘They don’t work on the farm?’ Ella probed. ‘The farm got left to Jake? And the hardware shop?’
‘Abe was never interested in the shop,’ Sally said. ‘Or the farm. Not really. He owns all these restaurants now. That Tap Ass fancy stuff.’
‘Tapas, Sally,’ Loraine said.
‘Whatever.’ Sally waved her hand. ‘He’s done real well for himself.’
‘And Brix studied winemaking in South Australia. He works over Margaret River way these days,’ Irene added.
‘It’s an unusual name,’ Ella said.
‘Braxton, he was named, but it became Brax pretty quick,’ Loraine said. ‘Then it’s something to do with winemaking … I’m not sure, it was all way over my head.’
‘Brix is a measure of something in wine,’ Irene supplied. ‘Sugar or something. That’s how the nickname stuck. People round here have been calling him Brix for years.’
‘I get it,’ Ella said.
‘None of them married, far as I know,’ Sally said, glancing pointedly at Ella’s left hand.
Irene smiled, and all three of the ladies nodded.
Ella pulled her feet together, got them under herself and felt her own wry smile messing with her lips. ‘Thank you for morning tea, ladies. It’s been brilliant appraisal practice and most enlightening.’
‘Our pleasure,’ Irene said.
‘I’ll give some thought to your properties when I’m back at the office and I’ll write to you, okay? Now that I’ve been out here I might as well do the whole thing properly, even if you aren’t moving anywhere. Do you use email?’
‘We sure do. We did the course.’
Sally giggled. ‘The Hotmail course. Get it? H-O-T M-A-L-E.’
The ladies broke into more giggles, making Ella wonder whether they’d been sprinkling anything stronger than sugar into their tea. Irene walked her to the front door and, as Ella wished her goodbye, she was certain she heard the other two ladies comparing Jake’s dad in Fox Trot and Quick Step.
‘No one could trot like that fox,’ Irene called back over her shoulder towards the two women in her kitchen.
‘You ladies are terrible,’ Ella said, but it was impossible to hide her smile.
‘We try, love. We try,’ Irene said, clasping Ella’s hand in both of her warm plump palms before letting go. ‘Now you go sell a house so you earn some money, okay? We want you to stay, and Margaret Begg says Harvey’s been talking about opening up the old town pool so you can give the kids swimming lessons. I don’t care much about swimming but when they do this knee they said swimming would be perfect exercise so I’m all for you opening the pool.’
‘Couldn’t you just go jump in Sally’s pool?’ Ella asked.
‘Oh, love. She keeps the cover on it most of the time to stop the leaves blowing in. And Les reckons the only time he ever gets lucky—other than on his birthday—is when he offers to clean the pool.’
‘So if the cover was off the pool more, Les would be all for it?’
‘Poor bloke would have a heart attack. He couldn’t keep up with all that good fortune,’ Irene winked.
‘I heard that, Irene Loveday,’ Sally yelled from inside.
CHAPTER
21
‘Ella’s here to see you again, Jake,’ Jenny said, with a certain cheeky female emphasis on again, and Jake told her to send Ella on through and sat back in his office chair, closing
