Page 30 of Where the Heart Is

He didn’t need her approval, but it went some way to easing his defensiveness. He knew he should be over his feelings of inadequacy by now, that he’d proved to himself rather than the narrow-minded judgemental fools in this town that he was better than what they thought, but perhaps old habits die hard.

The thing was, if one brief encounter with Shazza raised his hackles, imagine how he’d feel if he ran into any other old ‘acquaintances’ while in town?

Stupid, to be bothered by opinions after all this time, but this town and its inhabitants had made his life hell—even if he’d never let them know it—and he’d be damn sure to stride down Main Street without a care in the world shortly.

‘I better get going,’ he said. ‘Nice seeing you again.’

‘Yeah, right.’ Shazza winked. ‘So you’re staying a few nights?’

‘At this stage, yes.’

‘Don’t hesitate to holler if you need anything.’

‘Thanks.’

He’d almost made it to his car when Shazza called out, ‘From the view back here, I can see why Simone risked getting grounded for a month.’

Embarrassed that she’d been checking out his arse, he raised his hand in a wave without looking back and slammed the door on her loud cackling.

He made it to the bakery in under two minutes and, thankfully, didn’t recognise the young women working behind the counter.After ordering a latte and the Big Breakfast, he took a seat at the table furthest from the window and got out his mobile to peruse the pesky subdivision clause on Mila’s land. Having access to records was a major perk in his job and was coming in mighty handy today.

However, after demolishing his fried eggs on sourdough, bacon, hashbrowns, mushrooms, and spinach, he realised coming up with a workaround to the clause would take more time, and he wouldn’t be able to present Mila with a solution today.

Meaning he was back to square one.

Though all wasn’t lost, and as he contemplated a last-resort solution to Mila’s problem, he knew that following through with this plan might cost him her friendship.

CHAPTER

18

After finishing her peppermint tea, Adelaide told Mila she needed to take a walk, the first excuse she came up with to escape her granddaughter’s all-seeing stare.

Hearing the hurt in Mila’s voice, seeing the pain in her eyes when she’d asked why Adelaide had stayed away so long … it broke her heart. She had to get out of that kitchen before she blurted the truth. Because even though many years had passed and her granddaughter was now a capable thirty-two-year-old, Mila didn’t deserve to bear the burden of Adelaide’s secrets.

Besides, her granddaughter had enough to contend with. The thought of how much stress Mila must be under to consider marrying Phil Baxter for his money … For the first time since she’d left, Adelaide wished she hadn’t been so carefree and had saved more than a small rainy-day nest egg, because she’d gift the lot to Mila in a heartbeat if she could.

She wanted to tell Jack but couldn’t betray Mila’s confidence when she’d specifically asked her not to, especially after discovering the depth of her granddaughter’s hurt by her abandonment. She’d give it a couple of days and try discussing it with Mila again. Hopefully, with her granddaughter’s permission, she could tell Jack and he’d save the day.

Considering he’d sold the farm and built a moderately sized cottage he’d have a lot of cash stashed away and Adelaide had little doubt he’d help Mila if her granddaughter asked. It would be convincing Mila to ask that would be the problem.

She strolled along a rough-hewn path, trying to ignore the many times she’d followed this same route decades ago. Jack had been an early riser and his clomping around usually woke her too. She was a night owl and liked to read or sketch until midnight—the only time she had any peace was after Mila, Will, and Jack went to bed—so being woken before dawn never sat well with her. Functioning on five hours sleep made her grumpy but she sucked it up, like many other aspects of her life that had made her unhappy.

The only bright side to waking earlier than she’d like had been walking this path as dawn broke, after she’d shared a cup of coffee with Jack—albeit in silence—and he’d headed off to tend the crops.She’d loved watching the sky lighten, streaked with gold and honey and mauve, listening to the magpies waking up, savouring the cool that came before another scorcher.

Now, like then, she inhaled and exhaled slowly, filling her lungs with pure country air, allowing calmness to infuse her. She’d been practising meditation for thirteen years, taking it up about a year after she settled in Tally Bay. For the first twelve months after she’d left Ashe Ridge, she’d been untethered, reluctant to start anything because a small part of her expected Jack to show up on her doorstep and convince her to come back.

When that didn’t happen, she finally put down roots and immersed herself in all Tally Bay had to offer. Dawn power walks on the beach with a club, meditation, yoga, even moonlight dancing on the beach with a women’s empowerment group. That’s when she’d applied for a job at the juice bar after she became friends with Raven through the walking club and when she’d signed a long-term lease on her tiny studio. In her mind, once she’d hit that twelve-month milestone in Tally Bay with no sign of Jack, she allowed herself the luxury of feeling like she’d finally come home.

But here, now, with the familiar sights and smells and terrain, she knew deep down she’d always consider this place home.

Her parents hadn’t spoken to her since she left their mansion for the farm, and she wouldn’t be surprised if they’d disowned her. Both in their late nineties now, she assumed they’d leave their fortune to the local dog shelter when they died. She’d tried reaching out to them once, a few years after she’d settled in Tally Bay, but it had been a waste of time. Her father had hung up on her and when she’d called the next day, her mother had done the same. It saddened her to think Cam, Mila, and Will were her only family these days, and she rarely spoke to or saw any of them.

As she rounded a bend and caught sight of a new cottage and two others being built, with a yawning vista behind them, she knew why this place had the power to make her feel insignificant. Something about the sheer size of Hills Homestead, the strangeness of farming the land, the uncertainty of it, intimidated her. It always had, from the first time an excited Jack brought her here for a grand tour.

She’d been terrified by the magnitude of the place but hadn’t wanted to burst his bubble as he outlined the grand plans he had for the farm. Expanding legume crops. Building a bigger storage facility. Adding more silos. Besides, she’d been so smitten, so head over heels in love, he could’ve told her he was building a rocket to the moon and she would’ve stuck by his side.

Only later, when Cam had been born and she grew increasingly isolated on the farm from friends in town and her husband, who continued to withdraw with every passing day, did she resent being stuck here. That’s when she’d suggested Jack build her dream cottage and he’d practically laughed at her. He was barely making ends meet and she wanted him to invest in expensive sandstone? She could tolerate many things but being laughed at like she was an idiot for even suggesting it didn’t sit well with her.

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