Family Farm (19 page)

‘He told me he thinks of you as a son, so if he’s gonna accept help, it’s only gonna be from you. Besides, I don’t have a set of balls so that counts me out.’ Izzy laughed when she saw the look on Will’s face. ‘Hey, it’s the truth.’ She picked up the empty stubbies and put them in the bin. ‘Thanks for dinner, Will. I guess it will be my turn next.’

‘You betcha,’ he said, nudging her shoulder. ‘Should I put in my order now?’

Izzy picked up the tea towel and flicked it at him before moving over to the sink to wash the dishes. Will quickly stopped her. ‘Nah, leave them. I’ll do ’em later.’

‘Wow, domesticated too,’ she said, acting surprised.

They both settled back down at the table and chatted for a while until Izzy looked at her watch. ‘Well, I’d better get going. Gotta get up early. Can’t have the sheep starving on my watch. Cheers again for the feed, Will.’

‘Any time. Hey, give us a bell if you need a hand, all right?’ Will led the way back down the passageway and held open the flywire door for her.

Izzy wrung her hands, struggling with the thought of asking for help. ‘Umm … Actually I wouldn’t mind some help with the boundary fence if you’re not too busy. I was going to tackle it tomorrow morning. If you’re keen?’

Will raised his eyebrows.

She knew what he was thinking. ‘See … I can ask for help,’ Izzy pointed out.

‘Yeah, but it nearly killed you,’ he mocked.

She laughed gently. He knew her better than she thought. Turning, she watched Tom head for the ute, making sure she wouldn’t leave without him.

‘Oh, I almost forgot,’ Izzy said, running down the path. Reaching through the open window of her ute, she grabbed a small bundle, then carried it back into the light of the verandah.

‘Here. You nearly didn’t get it back – I was taking a shine to it.’ She handed his checked shirt over.

‘Thanks. See ya later,’ he called out as she headed to the ute. He watched Izzy drive off down the track for a moment, before turning to stroll inside. Raising the shirt to his cheek, he inhaled a sweet fragrance that clung to the material. ‘Hmm, Izzy,’ he muttered to himself.

IZZY loved running the farm without having to worry about her dad finding out. It was how she’d imagined it: the wind blowing in her face as she rode around on her motorbike, Tom running alongside her with his tongue hanging out as the land opened up before them. There was nothing but the big blue sky above and the dry crispy soil below. Just her and Tom, out feeding the sheep and checking dams and fences.

After an early start the next morning, she set off in the ute to the section of fencing that needed repairing. She climbed out and started to undo the sides of the tray. With a creak and screech of metal, the sides gave way and dropped down on their hinges, giving her better access to the tools and roll of fencing wire. Before unloading, she tied up her hair in a loose ponytail, placed her cap on her head, and took off her woollen jumper. Her short-sleeved cotton work shirt would protect her shoulders from the sun, which would be trying its best to burn her skin. Digging her hand into the back pocket of her pants, she pulled out some leather work gloves and slipped them on. As a last-minute thought she reached for her water bottle in the front of the ute, flipped the lid and had a good swig. It was a cool early morning but the forecast was for a hot one.

She put the water bottle on the ground where it would get shade from the tyre, then reached for the long steel pickets. Metal on metal screeched as she grabbed a couple and dragged them off the ute, carrying them a few metres before dropping them next to several old wooden posts that were rotten and broken. She was heading back to grab the wire-cutters out of the toolbox when she noticed Will’s ute heading down the fire break.

The sun by now had just cracked the horizon and it sent out a soft golden haze of morning light, which glistened off his ute as it headed towards her.

‘Morning, kiddo,’ Will said brightly, as he joined her. He was wearing his blue work shirt and shorts with their farm name, Tarramin, embroidered in yellow. He felt great this morning. It was amazing what a good night’s sleep could do.

‘Good morning to you too, William,’ Izzy replied. A faint smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

‘I took a punt that this job would be first on your list. Let’s get cracking, shall we?’ Will put on his gloves and held the fence as Izzy began to cut the last few strands of wire.

An hour later Will threw down the hammer, which hit the dirt with a thud.

‘We’re just hooning along,’ Izzy said, panting. ‘I don’t think I’ve seen a fence go up so fast before.’

‘I know,’ replied Will. ‘I’m busting my gut just to keep up with you.’ He wiped a line of sweat off his brow with the checked shirt he’d left hanging over the back of Izzy’s ute. ‘You’ve gotta admit we work bloody well together, though?’ Will looked at their progress in amazement.

‘Yeah, we make a good team … when you pull your weight, that is!’ Taking off her gloves, Izzy stuffed them in her back pocket and picked up her bottle for a swig of water. Sweat was running down her back and along her hairline.

Will unbuttoned his shirt and shook it to circulate the air over his moist body, revealing his hard chest, which had only the finest scattering of curly hairs on his tanned skin. He seemed oblivious to Izzy’s admiring gaze. She didn’t need super vision to know how taut he was. Will was an athletic guy and he did a lot of shearing – and it showed. Izzy gave her own shirt a shake to cool off too.

‘Are you all right?’ Will asked, pointing to the underside of her arm.

Izzy screwed up her face, wondering what he was on about. She rolled her arm over and saw a cut, which was now dried shut with blood. Four or five trails of blood had run down her arm to her wrist and were also dry. ‘Oh, I must have caught it on some barbed wire,’ she said, not bothered by it.

Will just shook his head – she was one tough cookie. ‘Hey, you’ll never guess who called last night.’

‘The Health Department, who found deadly bacteria living in your fridge?’

‘Ha ha. No, it was Bill. He rings quite a lot actually. I think he misses the place. He’s always on at me to call him at the hospital with any trivial thing.’

‘I see.’ She waved him on, trying not to let on how much this information hurt. ‘And?’

‘Oh, I just told him what you told me last night and he seemed happy. He’s missing the farm heaps and he warned me to check up on you, make sure you’re not doing anything stupid.’

‘Gee, he doesn’t trust me at all, does he?’ said Izzy, wiping the sweat off her brow yet again.

‘I wouldn’t either,’ Will joked.

Instinctively, Izzy threw her water bottle at him. Water spurted out the top and splashed down the front of his shirt, pasting it to his chest like a second skin.

He stood there for a split second and watched the water drip down his pants before a menacing look crossed his face.

Izzy saw it. With a nervous squeal she took off, Will hot on her heels. Her long legs moved quickly around the ute as a fearful chuckle erupted between gasps for air.

‘Arrgh,’ Will grunted and lunged out his arms, narrowly missing her waist. She could hear his puffing right behind her as she circled the ute again at full speed. Will threw himself forward a second time just as Izzy stumbled on a mound of dirt, which allowed him to catch onto her shirt and drag her towards him. Wrapping his arms around her, he heaved her up over his shoulder, like a rag doll.

‘Will, put me down now,’ she demanded breathlessly, her lungs crushed against his shoulder.

‘Not till I get you back,’ he said with glee. Will grabbed his water bottle off the ute, tipped it up and watched as the water ran down her back and splashed over her pants.

With her bum up in the air, Izzy kicked her legs about and pelted him on his backside.

‘Careful, I might be enjoying that,’ he laughed, carrying her around like a trophy.

‘Eew,’ she said as she wrestled with him until he put her back down. She pushed him in the chest with both hands. ‘That was just pure luck that I slipped, Will Timmins. You run like a girl and never would have caught me otherwise.’

Will bent down, picked Izzy’s gloves off the ground and threw them back at her. ‘Come on. Move your arse,’ he ordered, his full lips spreading into a gorgeous grin.

‘You move your skinny little butt, smart alec. You’re the one slowing us down.’

‘Watch it,’ he replied, but the games were over as they were already picking up with their work on the fence from where they had left off.

Will slid his hand into his leather glove. It was a simple task but he was finding it hard to concentrate. He couldn’t understand how quickly his body had reacted to her touch, even with her wearing her work gear covered in dust and sweat. This flirting had been so much fun and so completely different from when he used to muck about with Claire.

‘Come on, lazy arse,’ he said, unable to take his eyes off her.

They worked on in silence, trying to finish the last of the fence. Anyone watching would have been impressed with the smooth way they worked together, like well-oiled machinery. It was only when they were packing up that Izzy spoke again.

‘It’s James’s last day of work today before he heads back to college, so I’ve invited him over for a barbie lunch tomorrow. Would you like to come too?’

Will was moving about packing up their tools and the remaining wire. ‘I wouldn’t want to cramp your style now, would I?’

‘Come on, Will. He’s just a mate. I’m not going there. The last thing I need right now is a long-distance relationship. Especially with a bloke who’s at Muresk and attending plenty of parties with lots of single chicks. That isn’t something I want to get into. Anyway, it’s just nice to have someone to talk to, you know,’ she finished.

‘Not what you were after, hey,’ said Will, engrossed. ‘Are you looking for something more serious? Surely you don’t feel the biological clock ticking already?’ he teased, but still waited eagerly for her reply.

Izzy stopped and leaned against the tray of the ute. ‘Yeah, I s’pose I am. I’d like to get married one day and have some kids before I’m too old, preferably around thirtyish. I’m nearly twenty-two now, so I’ve got a bit of time up my sleeve. What about you? Plan on being a bachelor all your life?’ The back tailgate squealed as Will swung it back up on the tray and then joined Izzy around the side of the ute.

‘Hell no!’ he replied. ‘I wouldn’t mind my own brood running around and a nice Mrs Timmins at home cooking and cleaning,’ he finished with a smirk.

Izzy pulled a face. ‘Gee, that sounds romantic.’

‘Nah, I was only stirring. I don’t mind doing the household chores. I’m used to it now. I had a good mummy who taught me how to clean up after myself.’

‘And here I was thinking your poor mum had been keeping it all clean and tidy for you.’

‘Fair go! I’m not totally hopeless,’ said Will as he began packing away some stray tools.

‘So are you going to come tomorrow or not? It’s my turn to cook. And I was thinking we could go for a swim in the dam afterwards, so you might want to bring your swimming shorts, unless you wear budgie smugglers?’

‘You wish. Yeah, I guess I’ll be there. Anything for a free feed.’ He winked and threw a pair of pliers at her. ‘S’pose I’ll catch you tomorrow then, kiddo. I gotta head home now and shift those sheep for Dad. What time tomorrow?’

‘I told James around twelve.’

‘All right then. Catch ya,’ shouted Will, giving her a quick wave before heading towards his ute.

‘Yep, see ya, and thanks so much for your help,’ Izzy replied and returned the wave.

Izzy climbed into the Land Cruiser and both vehicles headed down the edge of the paddock, then veered off in opposite directions once they got past the gate. Izzy drove straight past the farmhouse and continued on down the driveway. She stopped by a small twenty-litre drum on four legs with ‘RMB 273’ painted in faded white paint across the top. Getting out, she reached into the rusty tin and pulled out a carton of milk and a handful of mail.

Putting the milk on the passenger seat, she flicked through the mail and came across the
Elders Weekly
magazine.

‘Lets see what’s in the bible this week, hey, Tom.’

Smiling, she shut the door and drove home, whistling along to the radio while Tom watched her with his head cocked to one side.

IZZY spent most of the next morning catching up on the housework. Then she made the caesar salad for the barbecue and put clingwrap over it, placing it into the fridge next to the potato salad she’d made the night before.

Izzy checked her watch – ten minutes to twelve. The boys can’t be far away, she thought. Grabbing a cloth out of the sink, she wiped over the bench where she’d been working. When it was spotless, she threw the cloth back into the sink, then got out some plates. A soft hum and a squeal of dusty brakes indicated that someone had just arrived – probably Will, judging by the sound of the ute.

Leaving the plates on the bench, she went out to welcome him. Her arms brushed the soft pink material of the short halter-neck dress she was wearing as she strolled out the back door towards the side gate. James was just pulling up as well.

She stood and watched the guys get out of their respective vehicles. ‘You timed it well. Come on in,’ she said, beckoning them.

James and Will were both wearing thongs and knee-length board-shorts, but James had on a white tank top, whereas Will was wearing a nice blue polo shirt.

‘Good to see you brought the necessities,’ said Izzy, nodding towards the small eskies that they both carried, which she knew would be full of beer.

‘Hey, Will. How’re you doing?’ said James, as they all came together and headed to the house.

‘Well, thanks, mate.’ Will slapped him gently on his shoulder.

‘You fellas can put your stubbies in the beer fridge. I’m just gonna go and get the meat out,’ she said, before shutting the flywire door and strolling back into the house.

Izzy had planned to cook the meat, but Will ended up taking over, which left her free to set the table inside. The flies were too bad to eat outdoors.