"I'm onto italready, thank you. I'm taking her to dinner on Saturday."
"Who is it? Anyonewe know?" She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder.
"No. From what Ican gather, she grew up in Sydney and trained there before getting thisposition."
"Good luck. Makesure you take her somewhere nice and, once you get to know her, you can bringher home for a meal. Essie would love that." She kissed his cheek. "Ineed to go to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a big day and Tam wakes up at thecrack of dawn." Rooney stood and stretched.
"Good, I'll get tomeet her before I go to work then." Russ stood up and followed her intothe house, saying goodnight to Essie before heading upstairs to his room.
Chapter Sixteen
"This place is afreaking dump." Cade used his crutch to push aside a bunch of dirty rags onthe floor, making sure nothing would came out to bite him.
"Mind your mouth,there is an impressionable child outside." Rooney walked past him andpeered into the treatment room, the disgust on her face obvious.
"Seemed prettyimpressed with the big brother this morning. Russ, look at me, Russ can Icome with you, Russ what time will you be home?"
Rooney glanced over athim with a huge grin on her face. "Not jealous are you?"
"Nah. She's anawesome little kid. I know she likes me and that's good enough." He leanedhis crutches against the wall and surveyed the room cringing at the filth. Thewindows were streaked with dark smears of God knows what. Dust and cockroachdroppings lined every window ledge and he fiddled with the latch to open thewindows.
"First thingsfirst. I'll sweep out and you can throw everything you can lay your hands oninto the skip bin outside. Don't touch anything in the treatment room though,please. I have to go through everything and see if I can salvage any of theinstruments."
Cade looked at Rooney."Are you serious? The whole place should be tipped and fumigated."
"You know I can'tafford that. What money I have will need to go into paying for board and startup money for this place."
"What do you mean,board? We own the place remember." A confused look crossed his face.
"Yeah, we do butthe money Dad left was to run the farm, not pay for our food. I spoke to Katethis morning before she headed out. We all need to put in for the food bill atleast. The farm can deal with the power and running costs of the house, but notfeeding us apparently."
"For fuck’s sake.This just gets better and better doesn't it? The old man must be laughing inhis grave. He gets to bring us all back and we have to damn well pay to livethere."
"Yeah well, dealwith it, Cade. Can we get on with this and discuss money later?" Shepulled on a pair of gloves and threw a set his way, grinning as he caught thepink rubber gloves. Rooney grabbed the broom and started sweeping years of neglectand filth out the door.
By the time Essiearrived with lunch and to help out, they had cleared all the rubbish, swept andmopped the place. The windows were still dirty but open to let in fresh air.Cade sat on a milk crate with his leg stretched out in front of him with Tam byhis side, amusing him with stories.
"Thank goodness,Essie. I'm dying of hunger and thirst here. Rooney is such a hard taskmaster,she won't let us relax for one single minute."
"Get away withyou. You can't pull one over me, Cade, any more than when you wereyounger." She brought in cooler bags of food before going back out formore cleaning supplies. When she came back in, Cade was already into the coldchicken sandwiches she’d made earlier.
"Can't you waitfor everyone else before you eat?"
Cade laughed, his mouthfull of food. He chewed and swallowed before answering. "You should knowme better than that. I'm starving and I couldn't wait any longer. Tam is hungrytoo, aren't you?"
"Yes." Shelooked up at Essie and gave a small smile.
"Help yourself,pet. I'll put the kettle on and make your mum a cup of coffee." Essie wentback outside and came in carrying a box with a spare kettle and the making forcoffee. She looked around for the kitchenette and filled the kettle. "Rooney,time for a lunch break."
"Yeah,coming," she replied from the treatment room. The sound of more rubbishhitting the bottom of the bin sounded before a subtle curse followed."Bloody hell." She walked out, shaking her head.
"What's up?"Cade held up the box of sandwiches toward her.
"I was hoping someof the equipment would be alright. Sadly the sterilizer is cactus. That’s goingto make a hole in my savings." She took a bite of the sandwich and sighed."Essie, I love you."
"I know, I know.Here, have a coffee to go with that." She walked out holding two mugs ofsteaming coffee, handed one to Rooney, and placed one on the floor beside Cade."Now what did you want me to do first?"
"Eat."
"I already have. Icame to help you clean and I don't have a lot of time. Windows?" Shelooked at the disgustingly dirty glass and back at Rooney.
"Yes please."Rooney took another bite of her sandwich and washed it down with the hotcoffee. "Looks like I'm going to have to spend more than I wanted. Theequipment is really bad."
"It'll work out,love. Have faith," Essie said as she pulled on rubber gloves and filled abucket to start on the windows.
After lunch, Cade andRooney got stuck in again, and by the time Essie was ready to go home andprepare dinner, the place looked much more presentable.
"Mum, Uncle Cadesaid I can ride home with him. Can I, please?" Tam clasped her handstogether and looked up at her mother with a toothless pleading smile.
Rooney brushed her handover her daughter’s glossy dark hair. "Only if he promises to stick to thespeed limit." She glanced over at her brother, giving him what she hopedwas a stern look. "Okay, Cade?"
"As if I would doanything to endanger the little squirt."
Tam jumped for joy andwrapped her arms
