Page 12 of No Strings
“It’ll be all right.”
And it will be. She’s in rural Western Australia; we’re hours away from civilisation. Plus, I don’t think it’s hate. It’s more we love to annoy each other. Well, she might hate me.
Shane doesn’t look convinced, he is about to reply but that’s when Beau and Davis decide to join us.
Beau and Davis live here normally, but when I got the call from Shane, I knew it would be for the best if they moved into one of the other houses on the property. They understood but also promised they would be here every morning to steal the coffee.
Davis lights up a smoke; the cherry glows in the morning light. Beau is kicking around loose rocks. Shane just looks out of place, while we wait for Morgan to show up.
I’m telling the guys we have to start moving the cattle around and set up some portable yards, as well as maintenance on the helicopter and buggies, when Morgan exits the house. She’s wearing a skintight shirt with a flanno tied around her waist. I try to pay her no mind, but the missing pocket on the flanno has me pausing. I roam over the arms of the shirt tied at her waist. My eyes settle on the cigarette burn on the cuff.My flanno? Who the fuck gave her that?
I look over to see Beau smirking at me, and I found my culprit. I glare at him and announce he is on cattle check duty. He mutters afuckand takes off to one of the buggies. It’s a boring job, because it’s just driving. Davis is on servicing duty. Shane and I are checking the pregnant heifers.
“And me?” Morgan asks.
Turning to face her, I tell her, “I thought you could help Dani around the caravan park.”
“Then why the fuck am I in boots if I’m just kicking around here?” She gestures to her feet.
“Because this is still the outback, and snakes are very much present. Ants the size of grapes and random nails, glass and who knows what on the ground. Do you want me to go on?”
She flips me off andwalks off.
“I’m going to get a phone call from her telling me she’s killed you, aren’t I?” Sighs Shane.
“Probably.” Because yeah, probably.
Brent comes over and informs me that there’s a few trucks coming in about a month’s time, so we need to push the sale cattle up closer.
Fuck, this shit with Morgan couldn’t have come at a worse time. And as soon as I think that, I immediately mentally berate myself. Fuck, I’m an asshole. And after this morning—something I did or said triggered a panic attack. I thought it was going to be a funny way to start the day, tricking her with water, teasing her with that stupid nickname.
Ever since she made us watch Little Mermaid Two, I have called her Morgana, after the sea witch. She hated it and I loved how she reacted to it every time. I’ve been calling her that for years, so that can’t be what triggered the panic attack. Or maybe it is. It’s been six years.
We are completely different people now.
Since Shane and I will be out all day, I stop past the kitchen and pack up some food, and we’re off.
I immediately start in, “So how is it back home? Still shagging Kerry-Anne?”
He groans, “Chief Cooper is getting in deeper with the MC. The cult is growing, and everyone seems to be turning a blind eye. And Kerry-Anne stopped being a bed warmer fucking ages ago.”
Kerry-Ann Woods was meant to be a rebound after Charlotte left. She was married, but that didn’t seem to stop her pursuing Shane. He thought why the fuck not. But she kept coming back. Another thing that whole fucking town knew about but didn’t dare bring up.
“Maybe your dick is magic?” He chuckles but the subject of Kerry-Anne gets dropped. “So, anyone new then? Charlotte is?—“
“I don’t want to hear it.” Charlotte is another subject we don’t talk about. Well, he doesn’t, I do. We were all close growing up. So, when Charlotte and Shane got together, no one was shocked. What did shock everyone was her sudden disappearance. Shane went mad trying to get answers, but her parents also left not long after, and that’s when he lost hope.
“Okay, so no Charlotte, how about the Hughes?” They used to be a part of my life when I lived in Barrenridge. Feel a little guilty about losing touch. When I was still there, Nash was the basketball town's basketball hero.
“Yeah, they’re good.”
Thank you, Shane, you fountain of information. I hum in response but leave it.
The rest of the day goes by in a blur. We have seven new calves, and I think twelve more ready to drop any day. We’re on our way to check the yards I got Beau and Davis to set up yesterday when the crackle of the radio comes in, “Just got the forecast for this weekend. Thunderstorms.”
“Righto.”
We get cyclones up here, so a thunderstorm is nothing in comparison, but we still have to take precautions and that can take a couple days. Downside to working on a station thislarge: anything can take a couple days, because of the sheer magnitude of the land.
