The Sunnyvale Girls (8 page)

She grinned. ‘You have my word. It stays between us.'

TONI
could hear the dogs barking and for a moment she thought she was dreaming. When she realised it was their dogs she jumped out of bed and collided with something, forgetting she was in the shearing quarters. Staggering outside she headed blindly through the night towards the headlights that shone by the house.

The dogs stopped barking the moment they saw her. She walked into the beams and yelled out, ‘Hello?'

Who would be calling so late at night? For a moment her heart raced as she thought of Flick and Jimmy in an accident. But her brain kicked in as she remembered them getting home at about ten. It was hard not to hear Jimmy settling in for the night. A herd of bloody elephants would be quieter.

‘Toni? Sorry to call in so late.'

A man started walking towards her, and she instantly recognised his lopsided walk and rattly voice. It was Morris, a farmer in his sixties from Warragil, a farm ten kilometres away. His wife, Jude, had often looked after Flick when she was little.

‘Hi, Morris. What's up?'

‘I've just come back from the pub and there's a mob of your sheep on the road.'

‘Oh, great.' She groaned. ‘You all right?'

‘Yeah, nah, I'm fine. But I did hit a few with the bullbar. Not a scratch on the ute but I think you'd better take the gun with you. Sorry. Sorry to wake you too. I thought it best to drop straight in.'

‘Don't worry, I'm just glad you're okay. I'll go check it out,' she said, hugging her body. She was just wearing her T-shirt and pyjama bottoms, and her feet were starting to go numb.

‘Righto. They're near Hendo's place along Kean Road.'

Toni thanked Morris again before he hobbled back to his ute. She was lucky it hadn't been worse and lucky that Morris was still half sober. Toni headed to the house, the outside sensor light blinking on.

It was eleven o'clock. She headed down the passageway to Flick's room and crouched by her bed. ‘Flick, get up, darling.' Toni gently shook her.

Flick groaned. ‘Is it morning already?'

‘No. A mob of sheep's out on the main road. We have to go move them before a truck comes through. Get up, sweetie,' she said, turning on the light.

Flick threw her arm over her eyes. ‘I don't want to,' she said, reverting back to her childhood voice. ‘Can't you take Jimmy?'

‘Aren't you the one who wants to be a farmer?'

Flick sighed and threw back her covers. ‘All right. Give me five.'

‘I'll go and get Jimmy too. If it's the mob I'm thinking of, we might need all the help we can get. Oh, and grab the torches on your way out too, please – and the gun.'

Toni heard Flick mumble, ‘Yes, sir', but let her be. At least she was getting up.

Toni didn't bother with a torch; there was moonlight, and besides, she knew how to get to the shearing quarters blindfolded. She'd had many a fun night there over the years, when she would get on the turps with the shearers at cut-out. Back before Flick came along.

Gypsy barked, realised it was Toni and greeted her with a wag of her tail. Toni got to Jimmy's door and was tempted to go inside to wake him like she'd woken Flick, but figured that was crossing some sort of line. Instead, she opted to bang on his door. ‘Jimmy,' she called. He was a lot more responsive than Flick. After a few seconds she heard his feet touch the floor and pad to the door.

‘Is everything okay?' he said, opening the door.

He stood there in just a pair of thin trackpants. The worn elastic hardly held them on his waist. The moon shone across his bare chest and Toni bit her lip so she wouldn't gasp out loud as her eyes drank him in. If his pants fell any lower, she'd know a lot more about Jimmy than she'd ever intended.

‘Sorry to wake you,' she croaked. ‘We have a mob out on Kean Road. Might need your help.'

He flicked on the light and they both stood there, blinking. Toni didn't like the way the light emphasised his toned physique, nor how it highlighted just how little the material of his pants hid. When she lifted her eyes she realised Jimmy had been staring at her. She crossed her arms automatically over the thin singlet stretched across her breasts. The cold night had probably made them more noticeable.

‘No probs, I'll just get dressed.' Jimmy reached for his shirt and tugged it on. It was about then that Toni realised she should probably have left, but it was too late. He dropped his dacks there and then. His lean legs went right up to where tight trunk boxers hugged his backside.

‘If you're just gonna stand there, at least help me find my socks,' he said with an edge of humour. He turned towards her but she focused on his face, those electric eyes that were teasing her in this odd moment. How could he find this funny after she'd so rudely awoken him from his sleep?

Toni was torn between actually helping him and running screaming in the opposite direction. ‘I'd better go get the torches sorted,' she said awkwardly, and he chuckled as she strode away. Quickly she ducked into the end room, which she'd occupied. She pulled on her work clothes then walked back to the ute by the house. Flick already had it started, trying to warm up the cab, and Fella was waiting on the back.

‘What's that look for?' Flick asked.

Toni hated how Flick saw everything. Even from a young age she'd had the ability to pick up on body language.

Toni shrugged as the sound of footsteps grew louder behind her. Her skin prickled in awareness. ‘Move over, I'll drive,' she said, gesturing Flick into the middle. There was no way was she going to be sitting next to Jimmy with her mind swimming with images of his body.

‘It's okay. You can drive back,' said Flick.

‘If you two are going to fight then maybe I should drive,' said Jimmy with a laugh. Gypsy was beside him until she saw Fella. With a big flying leap she joined Fella on the back of the ute.

Toni gave up fighting Flick and moved to the passenger side. Jimmy held the door for her while she scooted across to the middle. Then he got in beside her, his body pressed up against hers. And just as she knew it would, her body reacted. Tingles from head to toes.

‘Ma, how do you think they got out?' asked Flick as they began to drive towards the Houdini sheep.

But Toni was having trouble concentrating. Her mind was scattered like the pellets from a shotgun. Things were changing around Jimmy. She was sure he was doing things differently, but why now? His eyes were always swimming with a playfulness that bordered on flirting. Was all this starting to turn her into a lovesick loony? Had her body unconsciously been making this stuff into more than it was? Even now she was sure there was more room on Jimmy's other side, yet he felt plastered against her like double-sided sticky tape. It was all too much for her right now.

Jimmy gently touched her leg. ‘Toni?' She just about leapt through the roof.

‘You all right, Mum?'

‘Yeah, I was miles away and Jimmy scared the crap out of me.'

‘Sorry, I thought you might've nodded off,' said Jimmy.

He took ages to drag his hand back. Each finger left a scorch mark against her leg.
Drive faster, Flick
, she begged silently, and forced herself to answer her daughter's question. ‘I'd say that Brian has been out for a wander around his land and forgot to shut a gate.'

‘I feel sorry for him,' said Flick. ‘It must be hard living in town when he spent most of his life out here.'

‘I'd say so. Hopefully he'll sell it to us one day rather than just leasing it,' said Toni.

‘Not until he's dead,' said Jimmy. ‘He'll never see it sold while he's alive.'

Flick slowed down the ute to turn onto Kean Road. ‘I guess we should have a word with him about checking the gates. You know it's only going to get worse as he gets older and more forgetful.'

‘Well, that will be our problem. Brian will always be welcome around here, regardless of his memory. He's been in this district for years and he used to bounce me on his knee. Oh, there's some of the sheep,' said Toni leaning forward.

‘So, um . . .' Jimmy began tentatively. ‘How come you're sleeping in the quarters?'

Flick stopped the ute and glanced at her, opened-mouthed. ‘Mum? Are you?'

‘Just for a few nights.'

Jimmy opened the door. The interior light came on and Toni shot him her best pissed-off expression. After four years he knew it well.

He got out with a weary grimace, torch in hand. ‘I'll take the dogs and work this lot up.'

Toni felt the cold seep in and pulled the door shut, almost taking him out in the process.

‘Okay, we'll see how far up the road they've gone and push them back to the gate,' she said to Flick, expecting her to drive off. When she didn't, Toni glanced at her. Flick still looked stunned. ‘It's nothing. I just need time out.'

Flick shook her head but didn't say a word. Toni was relieved. Now was not the time for a lecture from her daughter.

A hundred metres up, Toni spotted something in the light. ‘Flick, let me out here. I can see the injured ones.' The road was marked with black rubber and some blood. Toni reached for the unloaded gun behind the seat and put some bullets in her pocket. ‘Once I'm done here I'll start pushing these back while you go search up further for any strays.'

‘Righto.'

‘Oh, and can you put the dead ones on the back of the ute on your way back? I don't want to leave them here.'

‘Yep,' said Flick before driving off, the sound of the ute getting quieter.

The road glistened in the moonlight. Toni checked the sheep: one was already dead and two were badly injured, so she put them to sleep with a precision bullet. She dragged them to the edge of the road for Flick's return.

The sheep in front of her were
baa
ing after the gunshots, which had sounded like thunder in the quiet, still night. The sky was filled with twinkling stars, and as Toni walked along the road, searching the bushes with a torch, she couldn't help but feel thankful. It was always sad losing sheep, but simple things like the massive night sky and the crisp, clear air made Toni appreciate this life.

Before long they had the mob rounded up and tucked away back in their paddock.

‘Gate's shut tight,' said Jimmy, giving it a rattle for good measure. He jumped in and Flick drove them home.

‘I'm so wide awake,' said Flick. ‘Anyone want a cuppa before bed?'

‘We don't want to wake Nan,' warned Toni. She didn't want to go back in the house.

‘We can have it at my place, under the stars. How does that sound? They're beautiful tonight,' Jimmy said.

‘Cool. May as well seeing as Mum is now living there too,' Flick said with a dig. She parked at the shearing quarters and they all headed towards the room with the kitchen, Jimmy leading the way.

‘I've got two cups in my bedroom,' Jimmy said to Toni, who was just walking past his door. ‘Can you grab them? I only have three in the quarters.'

‘Must get you some more,' she said before flicking the light on in his room. It was just a small one, big enough for a single bed and some drawers. There was a TV on a crate in the corner and some books by Jimmy's bed. It was more than Toni had in her room at the end; she'd just laid her swag on an old bed.

Toni picked up one of the books. Bill Bryson,
In a Sunburned Country
. And he had another one by Lee Child called
Running Blind
. She tried to picture Jimmy, lying on his bed reading after work. He probably didn't need glasses like she did.

Toni put the book back and spotted his trackpants, still on the floor where he'd dropped them. Her fingers itched to pick them up.
Cups
. She was here for cups. Two sat on the wooden bedside drawers and she grabbed them. He had a photo of his parents and his younger sister, Tracy. Tracy had two kids who were eight and ten and Toni knew Jimmy missed seeing them all. Any time he had off he travelled to the city to see them, but they didn't visit him often. Jimmy had said it was too hard on his dad to come back. Leaving his farm was the hardest thing he'd done but he'd had no choice. Looking at his room she realised Jimmy couldn't really bring the kids back to the farm either. It was just a normal bloke's room, probably tidier than most, but it was poky and small.

She reached out and felt the soft blue sheets he'd been sleeping in not that long ago. Did he ever bring women here? The thought shocked her and she left his room quickly. In the kitchen the other two were busy talking while the kettle boiled. They hadn't even realised she'd been gone a bit too long. She washed the cups but she was still shaken. Jimmy could do what he wanted; this was his space and he often had little parties with his mates out here, but Toni had never thought that maybe there were women here too.

An idea came to her as they headed outside to drink their coffees under the twinkling sky. ‘Hey, Jimmy, once Flick has the floors done in the old house she plans on moving in. One of those rooms is yours if you want it.'

‘For real?'

‘Yep. I think you need that place more than Flick does, but I know she won't part with it. And besides, you've done just as much work on it as she has. You can't keep living in this shithole,' she said, gesturing to the shearing quarters. ‘This is not good enough for you.'

‘Awesome,' Flick said. ‘Does that mean Jimmy can help me finish the floors and sort out the kitchen?'

‘He can do as much as he wants to do. It'll be handy having the place liveable again. Your sister might even bring her kids out for a visit, with somewhere nice to stay.'

‘Yeah, actually she might. Brilliant.' Jimmy grinned as if she'd just told him he'd won lotto, and pleasing him blasted shivers down her spine. ‘Thanks, Toni. I really appreciate that.'

‘Are you going to move in too?' asked Flick almost sarcastically.