Outback Blaze (24 page)

They looked at each other in surprise, but Ruby grinned. If they were already copying each other's words, they were meant to be together. ‘I'll see you guys later.'

‘Sure,' they replied as one again.

Ruby continued, thankful that at least the people she thought to be her friends weren't listening to the rumours. As she turned at the end of the aisle, she narrowly avoided crashing headlong into someone else. Her heart jolted for a second as she braced for an irate response but it was only Adam and his expression was one of concern not anger.

‘So sorry, Ruby,' he said, grabbing out to steady her trolley. He held a red plastic basket in his other hand. ‘I hate shopping. Am always trying to rush. Slow learner too, this isn't the first time I've crashed into someone. Thank God it wasn't Mrs Brady again.'

He visibly shuddered and she couldn't help laughing. ‘What is it with men and shopping?'

He shrugged. ‘Dunno, but it can't be all of us, I just saw Ryan and he appeared to be in his element.'

Ruby stifled a smile. She didn't think shopping was responsible for Ryan's good mood. ‘Have you got a list?' she asked.

‘Nah.' He screwed up his face. ‘Lists are for sissies.'

She laughed. ‘That may be but lists also make shopping incredibly faster and eliminate the possibility of forgetting something and having to come back.'

His eyes widened as he nodded slowly. ‘You know you might have something there. Maybe I should pay you to do my shopping as well as my cleaning.'

‘If only people would pay me to shop, I'd be a rich and happy woman.'

‘Speaking of cleaning, I've had another couple shorten their stay at the cottage. These two were a bit loopy but they reckoned they heard noises like Faith's mate Kat did.'

Ruby frowned. Kat had visited about a month ago for Faith's charity ball and stayed at Adam's cottage. The city chick had freaked being left all alone in an old house in the middle of nowhere. She'd called Faith in a panic, thinking someone was about to break in and murder her in her sleep but when Faith had gone over to placate her, she'd neither seen nor heard any sign of an intruder.

‘Oh dear.' The success of the cottage meant a lot to Adam.

He shrugged. ‘Just one of those things. I've got another booking this weekend. We've gotta get lucky with some normal guests sooner or later but do you mind coming over and cleaning again before Friday?'

‘Sure, not a problem. How about tomorrow morning.'

‘That'd be great, thanks.' Adam patted Ruby on the side of the arm and then scooted off to finish his super-quick shop.

Ruby's day went from bad to worse. When her second horse-riding student of the afternoon was a no-show, she decided to call the mother of the third student.

Sherrilee Edwards sounded surprised and a little uncomfortable. ‘Oh hello, Ruby. How can I help you?'

‘I wanted to let you know that you could bring Abbey for her lesson earlier if you like. I've got a free slot now.'

Her statement was met with a few moments of silence, then, ‘Actually, Ruby, Abbey won't be coming to today's lesson or anymore. We can't afford it at the moment. Thank you.'

Before Ruby could reply, the line went dead. She blinked and stared at her mobile. ‘That was strange,' she said to herself. ‘Or maybe not.' She kicked the fence – something she'd never done before – as she joined two and two together and came up with the reason she suddenly had no students. It was hard to imagine all of them cancelling on her due to salacious town gossip, but losing three students in one day wasn't good.

How dare they make assumptions and judgments about her parents! For years the Joneses had been offering farmers bulk discounts and other perks. No woman ever had to carry large items out to her car. How could anyone possibly believe such ridiculous ideas? As if sensing her mood Riley and Roxie trotted over to the fence to join her. She looked up at their big, gorgeous faces and couldn't hold back the tears.

Within moments their capacious muzzles were each nudging one side of her. Sniffing, she lifted her arms and drew them into a group hug. She could never understand how some people didn't like animals – in her experience, they were often much better company and more attuned to a person's emotions than people.

‘We'll be okay,' she told them as she finally stepped back. She spent a little more time in their calming company, ensured their water troughs were full and gave them each a carrot before returning to the house to start on dinner. Once again her parents were locked away in their bedroom. She was seriously beginning to worry about their state of mind.

She went up the hallway to their room and knocked on the door. ‘Mum? Dad?' she called.

‘Hang on a moment,' came her father's voice. There was whispering on the other side, what sounded like the shifting of something heavy and then a few moments later he opened the door and smiled at her. ‘Hello, love. What can I do for you?'

Her mum sat perched on the edge of the bed like a kid trying to hide treats behind her back. Ruby couldn't help but frown. She had the bad feeling they were hiding something else from her. ‘Are you guys okay?'

‘Sure. Why wouldn't we be?' her mum laughed. ‘How were your horse-riding lessons?'

‘Fine,' Ruby lied, not wanting to tell her parents what the town was saying about them. ‘I'm about to start dinner and wondered if either of you had any special requests. Would you like me to make that beef and pumpkin pie you like, Dad?'

‘Aw.' He smiled and rubbed his stomach. ‘If it's not too much trouble.'

‘Nothing's too much trouble for you, Dad.' She turned to walk away and their door shut immediately behind her. She was certain they were plotting something.

While Ruby threw her weight against the pastry as she kneaded it to a perfect consistency, she found her mind drifting once again to Drew Noble. Was it wrong he made her smile when in essence he was the one responsible for making the town think badly of her parents?

He's only doing his job
.

And she couldn't be angry at him when he'd made it more than clear he believed her parents innocent. If only he could prove it.

‘That's smelling good already, honey.'

She turned to laugh at her father because she'd only just started cooking the meat and onions for the inside of the pie. ‘You say that when I'm making toast.'

He shrugged, went to the fridge and took out a beer. ‘Want one?'

‘No.' She shook her head, but spotted a bottle of white wine just as he was shutting the door. ‘But I think I'll have a glass of that. Shall I pour one for Mum as well?'

‘I'll do it.' Putting his bottle on the table, Robert went into the living room to get two glasses from the crystal display cabinet. He returned a few moments later with his wife in tow.

Ruby couldn't recall the last time her parents had sat at the kitchen table and chatted with her while she made dinner. She often did so on the odd occasion her mum cooked, but her parents were always so busy, they didn't have time to sit and relax. This was nice…if she forgot about the reasons that made it possible.

‘How's the Undies Run planning going?' her mum asked now.

Taking a quick sip of her wine, Ruby stirred her beef mixture as she replied. ‘We're kind of in a lull period now. Simone has been spreading the posters far and wide. I'll show you them after dinner.'

Lyn grinned. ‘Did all those men really get their gear off?'

‘I'm not sure I want to see these posters,' Robert protested, but he laughed anyway.

‘They're not naked,' Ruby replied, blushing a little. ‘Well, only from the waist up.'

‘I'm sure they're very tasteful.' Lyn gave her husband a glare. ‘That Simone is a very talented photographer and Ryan Forrester and Adam Burton would have made particularly good material. I'm happy you seem to be making friends again.'

Ready to roll out her pastry, Ruby paused and nodded for a moment. ‘Yes, Simone, Frankie, Ryan and Adam have all kind of taken me under their wing. They're a great bunch of people.'

‘No love interests yet?'

Ruby almost dropped the rolling pin.

Lyn laughed. ‘I just wondered. Ryan and Adam are good-looking eligible bachelors…'

‘And just friends,' Ruby interrupted before her mum could get carried away. ‘I'm not ready for another relationship yet.' So why couldn't she stop thinking about Drew?

‘Lyn.' It was her father's turn to give her mother a look. ‘Ruby is an intelligent, capable and independent woman, she doesn't need a man to be happy.'

‘Thanks Dad.' Ruby focused on rolling out the pastry.

‘
Needs
are different to
wants
, honey,' Lyn argued. ‘I'm just looking out for her wellbeing.'

‘Leave the poor girl alone,' Robert said. ‘She's got enough on her plate with her horse-riding business and this Undies thing.'

And that would be the perfect opening to tell her parents what had happened that day – starting with her no show students – but she just couldn't bring herself to break this relaxed and happy mood. Besides, she didn't want them worrying about the town's treatment of her on top of everything else. She'd tell them soon, before they decided to go anywhere.

‘And the cleaning at the Burtons' farm,' Lyn added, drawing her back into the conversation. ‘Is that going well?'

‘Yes, I'm going there again tomorrow. Poor Adam had another lot of guests leave early on him.'

The easy conversation continued while Ruby finished the pie, mashed some potatoes and cut up veggies. While dinner cooked they migrated into the living room to watch the news. More wine was drunk and her mum and dad smiled more than she'd seen them do since the fire.

‘I think this is the best pie you've ever made,' said Robert later as he finished swallowing his first forkful. ‘You're a good girl, you know that, petal?'

‘Thanks Dad.' If only her goodness could fix things.

Once the meal was over, her parents insisted she sit down with yet another glass of wine while they did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. Hearing their low, chattering voices in the other room, Ruby rested her head on the back of the couch and almost dozed off. Forcing herself up, she took her glass into the kitchen and put it on the bench ready for washing.

‘Thanks for cleaning up,' she said, ‘but I hope you don't mind me piking now. I think the last couple of weeks are catching up with me. Do you mind if I head to bed?'

‘Of course not, darling.' Lyn yanked her hands out of the washing-up water and dried them on the tea towel Robert had been using. Then, surprising Ruby because it had been a long time since they'd hugged and kissed each other good night, she stepped up to her daughter and wrapped her thin arms around her.

‘I love you, sweetheart,' she whispered into Ruby's hair. ‘Never forget that.'

At the sound of her mum's shaky voice, Ruby's eyes welled up. She wanted all the uncertainty of the fire over so they could get on with enjoying the last years they had together. Robert's arms closed around them both and Ruby found herself sandwiched between her parents. It felt like the safest, warmest place in the world.

Her family unit was strong and no matter what the fickle people in this town thought or said they would get through this because they loved each other. And they were innocent.

‘Mum? Dad?'

Panic crept into Ruby's bones as she ran through the house calling for her parents. They'd still been in bed when she'd left to clean the Burtons' cottage at about ten o'clock that morning and she'd been out longer than she'd planned due to Adam asking her to have lunch with him and his parents. It had been a lovely lunch – Esther was such a sweet soul and Ruby liked to think visiting her might help her come out of that shell Adam and his father so desperately wanted to pry her from. But she'd been worrying about someone else's mother when she should have been concerned about hers.

Last night over dinner her parents hadn't mentioned going out today but the house was eerily silent. What if they'd ventured into town? Oh, why hadn't she just told them what everyone was saying? In trying to protect them she might have just sent them out to the piranhas. Her heart hurt at the thought of her mother being snubbed by someone she considered an old friend.

Arriving at their closed bedroom door, she called again, ‘Mum? Dad?'

Her voice was met with silence. Frowning, she knocked and when there was still no reply, she let herself in. She froze in the doorway of a room that wasn't just empty – it looked deserted.

‘No. I must be hallucinating.'

Lyn was a proud housekeeper and a tidy room, made bed and drawn curtains didn't mean anything. Realising she hadn't taken a breath for about a minute, Ruby refilled her lungs with oxygen and walked back through the house.

‘It doesn't mean anything,' she told herself, swallowing the lump in her throat. ‘Just the fact that you are talking to yourself doesn't mean you've gone insane.'

She checked the driveway and, sure enough, her dad's van was sitting in its usual spot, confirming the fact they must have gone out for a walk.

And that would be a good thing – fresh air was exactly what the doctor ordered. Besides, it would be better if they'd gone somewhere on foot because it meant they were less likely to have headed into town. And when they returned from a stroll along the beach or in the national park not far from the back of their property, she would tell them what to expect when they
did
next go to town.

Determined to stop being an irrational worry-wart, Ruby sat down and tried to read the book she'd borrowed from the library before the fire. It was overdue and she'd only read ten pages but despite being written by one of her favourite romance authors, she couldn't settle. Finally giving up, she closed the book and tapped her fingers along the thick spine. She returned to the kitchen and picked up the cordless phone from its spot on the wall, then dialled her dad's mobile number. Just for peace of mind.