‘She said she was waiting for her dad.’
‘Oh.’ Okay. ‘Was she nice to talk to?’
Sam shrugged. A whole body shrug. The kind of shrug where it looked like his bones had dissolved. ‘For a girl. I guess.’ He took another crunch of apple and asked her, ‘Why are you listening to your music anyway?’
‘I might have sold my first house. I’m waiting to hear.’
‘Oh.’ Sam leaned on the bathroom wall. ‘Is that all? I thought something really good must have happened.’
Ella stopped scrubbing and turned to face Sam.
‘What would be good enough to make me break out the Bee Gees, do you think?’
Sam bent his knee to rest the sole of his foot flat against the bathroom wall. ‘I thought maybe Erik was coming or something.’
‘Oh, Sammy.’ Ella’s mood drained as fast as the bleach bubbles curling into the depths of the sink. ‘Not this weekend. We’re going out to Jake’s place tomorrow for a barbecue, remember? He said there’ll be another boy there, same age as you. And we’ll see Percy. That’ll be fun.’
The look on Sam’s face suggested it wouldn’t be fun at all.
‘You used to dance with me, when you were little.’ Ella moved her attention to the scrubbing brush and the toilet. She’d pretty much cleaned the ensuite within an inch of its life, but she’d empty a mud bucket all over the floor and start again if it kept Sam talking. ‘You remember that? Bee Gees were your favourite.’
Sam stared at the tiles. ‘Kind of.’
Ella busted out a few lines from I Love The Night Life. ‘And that one. You loved that song when you were three.’
Sam ducked his chin. ‘Come off it, Mum. Did not.’
‘You did so.’
Ella’s mobile phone ringtone blared from the kitchen and she dropped the scrubbing brush into the toilet bowl, thinking Henry, like a shriek in her mind. She ripped off the gloves and dropped them in the basin, moving one hundred miles an hour.
‘Wish me luck, Sammy. This could be it. My first sale.’
Sam got out of the way like she was a hurricane coming through and Ella ran for the kitchen and her phone.
As conversations went, this one was quick. Henry was about to scan an offer on Helen Nillson’s house through to Ella’s email. Ella assured him she’d go into the office to print it off, and she’d go to see Helen Nillson that afternoon and get back to him.
Ella hung up the call and gave herself a fist-pump, and that’s what Sam saw when he found her, standing in the kitchen.
‘So you sold it?’ he said.
‘Maybe. I got the first part of it.’ She began dialling Helen Nillson’s number, praying she was home.
‘What are we having for dinner?’
Ella stopped mid-dial. ‘Sammy, I’m sorry, mate. I’ve got to go do this now, okay? I’ll pick up some takeaway on the way home. How about Chinese?’
‘But I’m starving. I can’t wait.’
‘You can’t be starving. You just had an apple.’ Lord give me strength. ‘I’ll be quick as I can.’
‘Can I make two-minute noodles? Do we at least have those or did you forget to buy them, again?’
‘I bought them, but you can’t make them when I’m not around, you know that. It’s boiling water, using the stove. Just wait, please, Sam. I won’t be long at Helen’s. I’ll make you something when I get back. There’s a whole bag of apples. There are mandarins. Make a piece of toast.’
‘You’re so mean,’ Sam said.
‘I’m not mean. I’m just busy.’
‘You’re always busy.’
Ella grabbed her keys off the kitchen counter. She’d call Helen from the car because she had to get out of the house because she didn’t want to spend her day yelling at Sam. It was no good telling herself, He’s only ten, he’s only ten, I can’t expect more.
She did expect more. He was her son. She expected him to be a good citizen and a good kid. She’d like it if he could be encouraging of what she was trying to do for both of them.
He’d had a lot to adapt to in the last six months, she knew that. Her separation from Erik. The move to Chalk Hill. A new school.
She had to be more patient, and she would be. She also had to sell this house.
* * *
The phone rang at eight on Saturday night and Jake had come out of the shower after a helluva day on the farm, drafting sheep and shifting last year’s lambs into the holding paddock nearer the house. He’d done two days’ work in one because he wanted tomorrow free for Ella.
Speak of the devil. Ella’s name on the screen made him forget his aching back.
‘Hey,’ he said.
Music beat loud in the background. He knew the song. Hot Stuff.
‘Hi yourself,’ she said. ‘How’s it going?’
Jake smiled. She made him feel good, and the disco music had his foot tapping.
‘I’m tired,’ he said. ‘Looking forward to tomorrow. I want to see you. How ’bout you?’
‘I made my first sale. I sold a house!’
‘Which house? Not mine obviously.’
‘I hope you don’t mind,’ she apologised. ‘I went to see Helen Nillson next door to your nan’s. The contract is on her place. I mean, it’s not a done deal till it settles, but it’s close.’
‘Let me guess. Henry Graham’s your buyer.’
‘I’m not sure I’m supposed to confirm that, but it’s not a bad guess. I hope you don’t mind? I know Henry wouldn’t have gone higher for your nan’s place—’
‘I’m really pleased for you, Ella,’ he interrupted her apology. There was no need for her to apologise to him. ‘And I’m really proud. Who else have you told?’
‘You. I rang Gina from work. Harvey knows. I’m gonna get off the phone and call Erik.’
She called him before she called Erik. ‘Well, maybe turn the music down or they won’t hear a word you say, okay?’
‘Turn the music down? You’ve got to be kidding. I’m
