"Yeah, yeah."
Russ sat in the chair beside him and screwed the top from his bottle before taking a long drink. "So, what are the plans after tomorrow?"
Cade looked out over the front lawn and shrugged his shoulders. "No idea."
"I've got an appointment at the hospital the day after the funeral to meet the NUM—Nurse Unit Manager—to get a guided tour before I start. Should be interesting. Make a change from Sydney that's for sure."
"You will die a slow, boring death here, Russ. I can't believe the old man did this to us." He shook his head and lifted his bottle for another drink, halting as it reached his lips. "I wonder if there is any way we can fight it?"
Russ looked at his brother and wondered how they had come from the same parents. Why Cade couldn't take things as they were never ceased to amaze him. Always the one to rock the cart, he had to change everything to suit himself.
"I'm pretty sure Dad would have considered every angle of doing what he did, and Tory is pretty switched on, you know that. You wouldn't get him to look over your contracts if he wasn't."
"Yeah, well it was worth a thought. I don't know how I can make it work for me though. I need to be in the city. Training isn't something I do when I feel like it. We have a routine, you know."
"Look, Tory already said you don't have to be here every day. You could work it out if you really wanted to." He crossed his ankles and leaned back against the cushions feeling relaxed for the first time in months. "You don't have to be back in the city for...six weeks or so…to see the doctor about your knee?"
"Yeah, about that…look, I don't want to discuss it today." Bitterness crept into his voice and Russ glanced his way.
"Well you have that long to relax and make up your mind. Just remember there is more to consider than yourself in this situation. Rooney might be ready to come home and she deserves a chance to make up her own mind."
"We'll see."
They sat on the veranda talking off and on for the next couple of hours, watching the sun dip in the sky. Russ was almost asleep when the sharp tattoo of boots on the wooden veranda startled him.
"I told you to move your car, Cade. Give me the keys or do it yourself, but do it now or I'll hook it up to the tractor and pull it out." She stood over him, her jaw set in a hard line.
"Aw come on, Katie. Don't be like that." Cade smiled at her, trying to work his usual magic but she was immune to his charms.
"Keys." She held out her hand.
"No one drives my baby, no one." He leaned down and grabbed his crutches. "I fail to see why you should have the shed anyway. I believe I own this place along with my brother and sister. Shouldn't that mean something?"
"No, not to me. I live here too and the sheds have always been for farming equipment. Not that you would know that since your life is no longer here. If you want your car out of the weather, park it in the barn." She turned on her heel and walked away. "I'm hooking up the tractor in 10-9-8-7…" her voice faded away as she rounded the back of the house.
Russ chuckled, loving the way she got under Cade’s skin and rattled him. "She’s not going to act like your other groupie girlfriends, not by a long shot."
"How the hell do you know what my girlfriends act like? It's not like you've met any of them." Cade stood and headed inside.
"No," Russ said softly to himself. "We were never invited into your circle to mix with them." When Cade had become one of the popular boys in the local league club, he’d changed, and slowly but surely stepped away from his old friends to hang out with the popular kids. That had always stuck in Russ's throat.
Chapter 7
"So tell me, Rooney, apart from seeing Stevie again and having to explain why you didn't tell him about his daughter, what's stopping you from moving back home?"
She looked across the table at him as he shovelled spaghetti in his mouth. While she’d cooked dinner, Rooney had run through her excuses in her head, arguing and changing her mind more times than she could count. "Seeing Stevie again is going to hurt. I trusted him and he let me down. "She put down her fork on the edge of the plate and crossed her arms. "Look, I think it could be a good move for us, but things have been happening in the city. Pete came to see me the other day and gave me some devastating news. Julie has Alzheimer's."
"Oh God, I'm so sorry. I know how much you love those two." He sighed and shook his head.
"Yeah, it was pretty tough. Anyway, you know I was saving up for a deposit to buy the business?" She took a deep breath. "Well, someone offered Pete good money to walk away and he has."
"Shit."
"Yeah." Rooney rubbed her hands over her face. "Not that I blame him in the slightest, you understand. The thought of having my own business has kept me going. I'm not sure I want to work for someone else after having free rein for the last year or so."
"I can lend you the money to buy your own practice, Rooney, you know that." He smiled at her and dropped his gaze back to his plate.
"And you know the answer too, Tory. I want to do this on my own, same as raising my daughter. I don't want to have to lean on anyone. Please don't take it personally." She chewed her bottom lip. "You were the only one who did understand. I haven't changed."
"Yeah, I know. But the offer is there any time
