Outback Dreams (21 page)

‘Will do.' Ryan doffed an imaginary hat and all but swaggered out of the house.

Faith continued boxing up her cakes and slices, keeping one ear on the ABC news her father was watching in the other room. She piled all the plastic containers into a big cardboard box and took it out to the spare freezer on the back verandah. Returning to the house, she peeped into the lounge room and saw her dad, leaning back in his armchair, his feet on the coffee table and a travel brochure in his hands.

She watched him for a few moments, wishing the television was off so she could see his expression reflected in the glass. He'd been so sad, so angry, so different since her mother had died. She hoped he'd find something in those mags to snag his interest.

When she could hold back no longer, she tiptoed into the room and slid onto the couch, glancing surreptitiously at the brochure in his hands. Tibet looked to be the country of choice.

His voice seemed to come from nowhere. ‘I suppose these are yours.' He didn't even bother to look at her.

Undeterred, she forced a smile. ‘I got them for you actually, Dad. You and Mum used to talk about travelling one day. Anything there spark your interest?'

In reply he hurled the brochure across the room, missing the waste paper bin and knocking an ornament off the mantelpiece. The statue—an ugly ceramic emu given to Ryan by one of his many admirers—smashed on the floor. Silence filled the room.

‘You might have time to waltz around the countryside organising fancy fundraisers, going away with your friends and travelling the world, but some of us are too busy for that.' He huffed and folded his arms. ‘Some of us have to earn the money to put bread on the table.'

She stared at the broken pieces on the floor, her jaw locking in place. She couldn't stand it anymore. Couldn't stand him.

‘And whose fault is that,
Daddy?
If you would just let me help around here, maybe you wouldn't have to work so hard,' she shouted. Then, in much the same manner as he'd hurled the brochure across the room, she stood and hurled herself out of it.

So much for things improving between them.

She stormed into her bedroom, slammed the door and had only just collapsed onto the bed when her phone started ringing. Thinking it was probably Monty wondering where she was, she checked the caller ID.

Jenni Montgomery.

Part of her longed to talk to her friend, but she also worried that Monty's mum would hear the sadness and anger in her voice and would then wheedle things out of her that she didn't want to share.

After taking a deep breath, Faith cleared her throat and pressed answer. ‘Hi, Jenni.'

‘Hello, love. Sorry to bother you tonight, are you already in town? It's so exciting, isn't it? My boy, finally buying his own place. You must be looking forward to a big night.'

‘No.' Faith adjusted the pillows behind her and tried to find comfort under her doona. ‘I gave it a miss.'

‘Are you not well?' Concern radiated from Jenni's voice.

‘I'm fine.' Faith rushed to allay the other woman's worries. ‘I'm simply exhausted with everything that's been happening lately and swamped with organisation for the ball.'

‘Ah, that's why I'm calling,' Jenni said. ‘I've got some friends heading up with us for the weekend, and we're all incredibly excited. But I've also been thinking about what I can do to help from down here.'

‘You don't have to do anything. Coming, and bringing extras is more than enough.'

‘But I want to. I know you are doing this for Will as much as for yourself and I appreciate the tribute. I'd like to help raise some money, and I wondered how you'd feel about me setting up a flower essence stall?'

‘Um…' Faith wondered if anyone up here would even know what flower essences were. She knew a little about flower material used in natural remedies, but only because whenever Jenni discovered a new passion, she tended to be so excited that everyone around her heard about it too.

Jenni laughed. ‘Lots of people are very interested in the benefits of essences, you know. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. I thought I could donate all the money raised to the ball. And I've got a couple of friends who would be happy to donate their services too. Between us we can do essences, tea leaf reading, palm reading and fortune telling by the cards. Please say yes.'

Faith hesitated another moment, but then thought, why not? Who was she to turn down any extra ways of raising funds?

‘How could I not? It actually sounds like a great idea.' After a few drinks, people would likely be flocking to have their fortunes told.

‘Fabulous. Well, I'll let you get to bed, but promise you'll call if there's any other way I can help.'

‘I will. And speaking of Will, how is he?'

‘Ah, he's great.' Faith could hear the smile in Jenni's voice. ‘He's loving his new job, and this lady friend is becoming quite a feature in his life too. He wants to bring her to the ball.'

‘That's the best news I've heard in ages.'

‘Isn't it just? And give that other boy of a mine a hug for me next time you see him. I don't think we'll get up there before the Barking Ball now.'

‘Sure,' Faith lied. The truth was, she could barely handle being in Monty's company right now and she definitely couldn't trust herself to hug him.

Taking another sip of his beer, Monty turned his head at the sound of the door opening. When the silhouette of a burly farm worker solidified into a man he'd worked alongside a few times, a claw of disappointment wrapped itself around his heart. This was supposed to be a happy night, but getting in the celebratory mood was hard without Faith's smiling face to cheer him on. She'd been there for every other momentous occasion in his life. Why couldn't she just move on like he was trying so damn hard to do?

He glanced at his watch and took another slug as Ruby returned from the ladies'. Swallowing, he forced a smile onto his face, not wanting his foul mood to sour his time with Ruby. ‘Can I get you another drink?' he asked as she sat on the seat beside him.

‘Thanks. A white wine, please.'

Downing the last drops of his beer, he stood and headed for the bar. While waiting to place an order, he glanced back to the table where Ruby sat with Adam, a few of his other mates and Ryan Forrester. Ryan arriving and announcing Faith had a headache and couldn't make it had been a real kick to the balls, but he hoped no one had noticed his disappointment.

Over the next few weeks the town of Bunyip Bay was in full swing, seeding mode. Except for Faith and her small committee, who were busy with the Barking Ball, precious little else was on anyone's mind. For once she didn't mind not being allowed to help with the seeding at Forrester's Rock. In fact, she didn't know how she would have fit it in.

Rain fell hard and fast from the sky, which meant farmers remained at work on their properties and their wives and girlfriends ventured into town only rarely to top up with supplies. Hard-working Monty was a sought-after commodity, and Faith had seen little of him. He'd popped into one committee meeting and updated them on his progress organising transport to and from Geraldton, but other than that, he'd been glued to a tractor.

According to Ruby, who sat across the table from Faith now as they waited for Simone to join them, she'd seen very little of him either. Faith found some satisfaction in this fact.

Frankie, the café owner, who also happened to be Simone's sister, brought over a hot chocolate for Faith, a green tea for Ruby and the latte they'd ordered for Simone. ‘Sure I can't get you a slice of something as well?' she asked, glancing at the cakes sitting on the front bench. ‘I'm going to have to throw them out if they don't get eaten today. Such a waste.'

Throughout seeding and harvest, Bunyip Bay was like a ghost town, and local businesses always suffered. No one seemed to remember that if the farmers had a good season, townie businesses would boom for the rest of the year. The way Faith saw it, this awesome wet start to the season meant that hopefully the farmers—most of whom had already booked their tickets for the ball—would be happy post-seeding and generous with their donations on the night.

‘Oh, go on.' Faith pointed at the caramel mud cake. ‘You twisted my arm.' Although she still had a freezer overflowing with sweet treats at home, food had been one of her few solaces lately, and Lord knew it always tasted better when somebody else was doing the cooking.

‘Shall I get a slice for you as well?' Frankie looked to Ruby.

‘No thanks,' she replied.

Faith noticed a contented glow in Ruby's face that hadn't been there last time she'd seen her. Was Monty responsible for it? Her heart clenched at the thought.

As Frankie turned to fetch the cake, Faith tried not to look obvious about scrutinising Ruby's face for signs. She'd said she'd barely seen Monty, but that indicated that she had seen
some
of him.

Logic told her that if Ruby and Monty had been officially seeing each other since that night in Geraldton, they'd more than likely have slept together by now. Suddenly she didn't think she could eat a mouthful of cake, no matter how good it might taste.

The café door opened and Simone rushed in looking frenzied.

‘Kids. Don't have them,' she announced as she dumped her oversized handbag on the floor and slumped into a chair. ‘Sorry I'm late. Harriet decided she didn't want to go to school, and she's such a conniving little thing I almost gave in, but then Grace said she didn't want to go either. They are both perfectly well, so no way was I going to have them squabbling around me all day.' She spied the latte and grinned as she lifted it to her lips. She took a sip, sighed, then added, ‘Thanks for this. You gals are the best. Now what did I miss?'

‘Nothing yet,' Faith answered, trying to banish the image of Ruby and Monty in bed from her mind. The jealousy was eating her up. Every time Faith looked at Ruby, she thought about admitting what she and Monty had gotten up to down south. It wasn't guilt that made Faith want to confess, but rather the hope that doing so would cause an irreparable rift between the lovebirds.

That night with Monty had meant everything to her, and his ability to simply dismiss it and continue seeing Ruby was breaking her heart.

‘Oh, good.' Simone took another long, satisfied sip, and then dug into her handbag for a notebook and pen.

That was Faith's signal to stop obsessing over Ruby. She opened her clipboard and glanced down at the spreadsheet timeline that had become their bible. If anyone found it, they could be forgiven for thinking it was trash, so prolific were the annotations, red pen lines and highlighted sections. But it held the key to everything that would make their fundraiser the best.

‘Okay, let's go through the checklist,' Faith said. ‘Then you can both fill me in on where you're at.'

‘You go first.' Simone glanced at Ruby, who'd taken control of sourcing quotes from caterers. ‘I need another coffee before I'm ready.'

‘Okay.' Ruby smiled and switched on the iPad, where she kept all her notes and a calendar that looked far more organised than Faith's paper one. ‘I've received quotes from two catering companies in Perth and one from Geraldton. Frankie decided against putting in a proposal as she wants to attend the ball.'

‘Sorry, Faith,' Frankie piped up from behind the counter, ‘but I'm desperate for a good night out.'

‘You're just desperate,' Simone retorted.

Frankie poked out her tongue. ‘Don't come crawling to me next time you need babysitting.'

‘Lucky my girls think they're too old for babysitters now.'

‘Anyway,' Ruby said, loud enough to draw everyone's attention back to the task at hand. She pulled two sheets of paper from a cardboard folder and handed one each to Faith and Simone. ‘I think we should go with this company. They suggest a buffet, which means guests will have a greater choice. And they also happen to be ten per cent cheaper.'

As food and beverages would be their biggest expense, any kind of discount appealed. ‘Do we know if they're any good?' Faith asked.

‘They've provided references from five other functions they've recently catered of a similar size and tone to ours.' Ruby took another piece of paper from her folder. ‘But even better is the option for us to head into Geraldton and have a taste test.'

‘I'm in.' Simone grinned. ‘"Never turn down free food” is one of my mottos to live by.'

‘Mine too. You've made amazing progress, Ruby,' Faith admitted reluctantly. ‘Thank you.'

‘My pleasure. I've also spoken to Louis at the liquor store. You're going to love this.' She paused for effect, which only irritated Faith more. ‘He's willing to supply all the alcohol at cost price.'

‘What the? How the hell did you manage that?' Simone voiced Faith's thoughts.

Ruby smiled. ‘It was easy. When I told him it was to help Faith raise money for her alumnae contest, he couldn't offer a discount fast enough. I think you've got quite a fan there, Faith.'

‘Rumour was Louis had a thing for my mum before she married Dad. He's always been sweet to me but I never thought he'd be that generous.'

‘Man.' Simone wriggled her eyebrows in excitement. ‘This is going to put us way ahead of budget.'

‘I know.' Faith felt her heart warm a smidgen towards Ruby. ‘I don't know how I can thank you enough.'

‘Don't be silly. It's all for a good cause.'

She crossed “catering update” off her meeting checklist, and then looked to Simone. ‘So, how are you going with the PR?'

‘Fabulously. I've had an awesome response from the press release.' She opened her notebook in the middle and angled it towards Faith. ‘I've got three radio interviews lined up for you and five journalists who want to write a story. All promised to run their articles before our ticket deadline.'