The Bush Telegraph, page 13
Then she blinked, straightened her back away from the counter and her smile disappeared. She frowned at Maddy. ‘Had me goin’ for a while there. Don’t remember you as a fanciful girl.’ She shook her head. ‘Too many whimsies can make you unsettled. You be careful, girl.’
The shop bell rang as someone came in and Mrs Cook turned away with relief. Maddy scooped up her bananas and walked out of the shop, all kinds of possibilities running through her mind.
Chapter Twenty-two
Phyllis
Phyllis heard the rapid approach of her new boss creaking the boards on the verandah just before the pint-sized powerhouse skated in. Not really skated. But damn if she didn’t move like she had wheels on her shoes.
Phyllis plastered a smile on her face to emulate Rita’s warm welcome, but it was hard to be a grinner when you were about to join the homeless. She doubted she’d fool the Boss Baby, anyway.
Maddy had been watching her since Friday morning when the true implications had sunk into Phyllis’s head that she shouldn’t have sent her daughter all of her last paycheque. Again.
That’s how she’d got into this predicament in the first place. Selling the house on the outskirts of Brisbane and lending the money for a succession of failed business ventures. Until she’d had no more to lend. Now, it wasn’t only her daughter who was bankrupt, it was Phyllis, who technically, irrevocably, would be homeless. Homeless with a job. But she didn’t want to work until she dropped.
Friday’s crisis had sideswiped her, with her daughter crying on the phone, Phyllis’s paycheque just coming through, that knee-jerk, disastrous response she just couldn’t help. It had been a reflex reaction and almost as soon as the lump sum had left her account she’d realised what she’d done.
The long-term nest egg she used to have had been swallowed over the last year with crisis after crisis for Lexi. She hadn’t even told Rita yet and had stewed over it all weekend. Rita would hit the roof.
Phyllis was actually considering hitching a ride to a place where at least she didn’t know anybody so she could sleep on a park bench in peace. Rita would be happy enough here with Maddy.
The door opened and Uncle Bob, one of the elders from the local Indigenous community, ambled in for his daily leg dressing. He liked Rita to do it, had told Phyllis the blonde did it more gentle-like, and, far from being upset, Phyllis had gladly handed him over. Rita could have him.
Phyllis’s mouth pulled down as she watched Rita bustle off into the treatment room with him. A few minutes later, she heard her call Maddy when the dressing was removed so the three of them could decide if the current treatment was working as well as it should.
Phyllis had to admit that things were more proactive around here since the Boss Baby had arrived. Maddy had started this discussion thing at the end of the day, going over cases and treatment, and even had Rita booked into a dressing seminar on the computer this afternoon. Which had left Phyllis back at the stupid e-learning this morning and that made her want to push the computer screen off the desk.
Rapid footsteps approached and her nemesis settled down beside her. ‘How’s it going?’
‘Slow.’
‘Phyllis.’ Phyllis dragged her eyes away from the safety of the screen. ‘You look worried. Since Friday morning. Has something happened? Is there something bothering you?’
Too bloody observant. ‘Nope.’ Phyllis stabbed the keyboard until she found the right key.
‘I’d like to help.’ Her boss’s voice was very quiet. Discreet. ‘If there’s something I can do?’
Phyllis stabbed the ‘enter’ button one more time. It made a satisfying click.
Beside her Maddy laughed. Laughed! She held up her hand. ‘Sorry. It looks like you’re squashing ants on the keyboard with your unique typing skills.’
Phyllis blinked. Okay. That was funny, but she refused to smile. Pushing her chair back with a screech, she faced the woman who just didn’t understand. Phyllis didn’t need her help, she needed her head read. It was Phyllis’s own fault that she was in this position. She’d always been too soft on her daughter.
‘No, Miss Fix-It. You can’t help.’
Maddy raised her brows at the tone but didn’t look deterred. That was the problem with this woman. She was like a bloody steamroller in a small packet. Well, she couldn’t help. ‘Can you put a roof over my head? I’ve blown my pay and it only came in Thursday night. Rent’s due Friday and I don’t ever borrow money. So? Can you fix my housing problem just like that?’ Phyllis wanted to slap her forehead. Why on earth had she told her boss that? Because she’d been at her wits’ end, maybe?
Maddy frowned. ‘I thought you and Rita lived in a house in town?’
‘It’s a boarding house. Rundown and ratty and will probably shut soon anyway as Rita and I are the only ones left. But we rent our own rooms and try to make it home. Or I did until I spent my money,’ on someone, ‘and now I’m homeless.’
Homeless. The word rang with a horrible finality. Phyllis remembered the article she’d read in that glossy women’s magazine about ordinary, nice women becoming homeless. She injected a lighter tone into her voice, which rang false even to her own ears. ‘I hear everyone my age is doing it and thought I’d give it a try.’
Maddy drew her brows together at Phyllis’s tone without comment. Phyllis was already feeling guilty enough that she’d told her and almost wished Maddy had called her on being rude.
Instead she said, ‘When do you move out?’
‘Friday.’
‘Then move in with Bridget and me until you find somewhere. Or stay. It’s a four-bedroom house.’
Phyllis’s mouth dropped open with the shock of the offer. The Boss Baby she had been an absolute bitch to did not just say that! Why on earth would she make such an offer? Phyllis had never been anything except sour towards this woman.
‘Yeah, right!’ Phyllis laughed, but the sound wasn’t amused. ‘An old lady in with you and your daughter. That would be fun.’
‘I get it rent-free so don’t see why you can’t share the benefits. We have two lounge rooms. Rita could come too if she wanted.’ Maddy stood up and gave a shrug. ‘We’re used to older ladies. Many years ago, an older lady gave me a home without anything in return. The offer is there.’ She paused as she was turning to leave. ‘Just until you find somewhere else or your finances come good. Or if we all get along, then stay. And as I said, Rita’s welcome too. It’s a big house. But I have to ask.’ Maddy glanced sideways at her. ‘Are you a gambler, Phyllis? Is that where the money went?’
This time Phyllis’s snort was more genuine. ‘Only on people. I might tell you one day. Or I might not.’
‘Oh.’ The lines on Maddy’s forehead smoothed out. ‘That’s fine.’
Phyllis thought about the offer, and the unexpected faith the BB had that she wasn’t a gambler, but most about the relief of Friday night’s lodging being secured. About not having to slip away in the night with the shame of it all and the subsequent abandonment of Rita. About not having to leave town and lose her good job, which had kept the roof over her head until now.
She couldn’t believe this morning had been hopeless and now there was a definite flicker of hope. ‘If you’re sure? You just might have blown your chance to get rid of the cranky dinosaur in the workplace.’
Maddy’s face contorted as she tried not to laugh and then gave up. She snorted and Phyllis joined her as they both grinned at each other.
‘I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it. And we can’t lose you, you do the best cardiac massage I’ve seen.’
‘Yeah. Everything else is just a little rusty.’
‘Nothing a once-over won’t fix, and you both need to use the new equipment more than you do. But we’ll dig out the instruction manuals and get them up and running.’
Oh, goody. Phyllis nodded, feeling the load on her shoulders slide, and for the first time in three days she could pull in a deep breath without the anxious tightness in her chest that seemed to have taken up permanent residence there.
‘Just till the next pay comes in. I mean that! Then I’m out again if it doesn’t work out.’
‘That’s up to you,’ Maddy said over her shoulder.
Phyllis watched Maddy walk away. She couldn’t believe this young woman had invited her into her home. Into her and her daughter’s lives, because living there she’d be in their faces. She wondered what Rita would say.
Would Rita even like to come? That would be the way to go. Maddy had said they were both welcome. It had sounded like she meant it. And it wouldn’t be for long. Just a temporary arrangement. But the idea of moving out of the grungy flat she was in now held a lot of promise. Which was why she didn’t want to leave Rita there.
The treatment-room door opened and light from the side windows on the building spilled into the hallway. Uncle Bob limped out, a little more tenderly than when he’d gone in, but his mouth had kicked up. He enjoyed teasing Rita.
‘See you Wednesday,’ he said.
‘Mind you keep it dry,’ Rita replied. ‘No letting the dogs jump up on you.’
‘They don’t mean no harm,’ Uncle Bill countered.
Rita waved him away as she opened the door for him. ‘Mischief and mayhem, that’s you.’ She turned back with an indulgent smile, but her heavily pencilled brows creased as she looked at Phyllis. ‘What are you looking so serious about, Phil?’ Rita turned her head sideways, unconsciously moving her better ear towards the answer.
Phyllis shrugged. ‘Did something stupid.’ She could say that now. Now that she had an answer to the question she knew Rita would follow with.
Rita’s face creased into that dawning look of sadness she hated. Yep. Even giving so little information, Rita knew what she’d done.
Rita’s thin hand went to her throat. ‘You sent your paycheque again. Didn’t you?’
‘Did it before I thought.’
‘All of it?’ She saw the answer on Phyllis’s face. ‘Oh, Phil. How are you going to pay the rent? You know he said that was your last chance.’ Phyllis watched Rita’s face as the full implications sank in. ‘That’s the thing, isn’t it? Why you’ve been quiet since Friday. Why you didn’t want to go to the pub last night for dinner like we usually do on pay week. What were you thinking?’
Phyllis felt the sadness from her friend like a blow to the chest. She had been stupid. And her daughter would never know what it cost her to send as much as she did. ‘I was thinking’—her voice dropped with the shame of it—‘of slipping out of town.’ Phyllis looked down at her scuffed nurse’s shoes. No matter how much she polished them, she couldn’t return colour to the places it had worn off. She waved away Rita’s ‘oh’ of distress. ‘It’s all right. I’m not going anywhere. The Boss Baby’s offered a room in her house and I’ve actually said yes.’
Rita’s jaw dropped so low she could easily have caught a fly. ‘You watch something doesn’t land in your mouth. It’s just until next payday.’
Rita snapped her teeth shut, but her round eyes gave clear indication of her continued shock. The hand to the throat worked again in another tell.
Rita moistened her lips. ‘I don’t know what to say, Phil.’
‘Don’t say anything. I’ve got to finish this online learning before it does my head in.’ She turned away and blew out a breath her friend didn’t see. At least she’d come clean. ‘She said you could move in, too, if you want. Maybe we could both save up the rent and buy a place of our own one day.’
On Thursday night, Phyllis shifted her few possessions into Maddy’s house. Most important was her precious case of kitchen spices that she’d always carried with her.
Phyllis loved to cook and Maddy had surprised her by suggesting she go right ahead on the first night. She’d used vegetables that Maddy had in her freezer, and, goodness, she could have a ball with what was in the cupboards already, let alone a full freezer.
Phyllis watched the young one sit back and rub her stomach. ‘It tastes just like the best Thai takeaway.’ Evidently for Bridget, Thai takeaway ranked first on the three options at Lord Howe Island.
‘You’ve made a fast friend, Phyllis.’ Maddy nodded at her daughter.
‘A food friend, more likely,’ Phyllis said, but she felt the pleasure in her chest. It was nice to cook for someone who appreciated it again.
Bridget’s chin went up and down. Phyllis thought she looked a bit like one of those nodding dogs they used to have in the back of cars.
The girl said, ‘I’ll wash up any time Miss Phil wants to make Thai.’ They’d settled on Miss Phil, not that Phyllis cared, but apparently neither Maddy nor Bridget had felt comfortable for a child to address her by the first name. It felt odd, but Phyllis quite liked it.
Maddy had laughed at the rapport that had sprung between the two unlikely housemates and already Phyllis was feeling better about imposing. She’d cook. She loved to. Which seemingly was the one thing the Boss Baby wasn’t good at. Hallelujah, she’d found something. And found one way to repay the other woman’s kindness.
‘Rita loves Thai.’ Phyllis kept her voice light, but she suspected Maddy saw the worry behind the forced gaiety. She hated to think of Rita alone in the decrepit boarding house.
‘You know you can invite Rita to join us for meals any time you like. Or the offer is still there for Rita to move in if she wants to.’
Phyllis really would love that. And so would Rita. She looked at Bridget. ‘Rita makes great Mexican.’
‘I’ve never had Mexican.’ Bridget studied her mother’s raised eyebrows and smiled beguilingly. Phyllis felt the hope rise. Yes, the Boss Baby was a bloody good woman, annoying, and damned persistent, and no doubt they’d have their run-ins, but Phyllis vowed she’d do everything in her power to back the little tornado in her crazy endeavours. And if anyone said a bad word about her, then they’d have to take it up with Phyllis.
Chapter Twenty-three
Connor
On the following Wednesday Connor drove into town, noted the half-a-dozen cars outside the pub and more outside the clinic and raised his brows at the unexpected busyness. He watched a mother and two children walk down the steps from the clinic and all three were laughing. A smile tugged at his own lips.
Was it his imagination, or was the town already happier since Maddy had arrived? He rolled his eyes at himself in the rear-view mirror. Right, you idiot. As if.
Wednesday meant the flying doctor came in, so that’s what it would be, he redirected his thoughts, though the team would have flown out by now. Still, it was likely a busy day for Maddy with all the extras as well as the normal flowthrough.
Connor parked opposite the school and went over to Mrs Cook’s to buy groceries. He wanted extras in case Friday-night visitors came, not that he had high hopes, but he needed to be prepared, and he had time before school finished.
When he was done and packing the groceries into the cool box in the back of the ute, he leaned against the side of the truck as he thought about the week just passed. Things had changed. Jayden hadn’t been over to Kyle’s place. Maybe something had happened at Kyle’s that Jayden wasn’t telling his father about. As for Kyle, his brother seemed more stable this week. Had even discussed fixing the fence at the front of his place now that Connor was here to lend a hand.
Spending more time with his brother would help Connor figure out what was going on and clarify the worries he’d started to feel for Belle. Living with his brother when he was so labile would be stressful for any woman, let alone one advanced in pregnancy. Belle had said she liked Maddy, so maybe he could offer a lift into town more often.
With Jayden, things had improved since he’d begun to share tasks around the farm whenever the boy wasn’t at school. And his son hadn’t complained yet. In fact, they were having real conversations now and Connor acknowledged he’d let the distance between them grow while he’d mourned his mother. Jayden had been left for too long to his own devices, which just wasn’t good parenting.
Last week had been much less combative, he mused as he waited for the bell, a small sign that his relationship with his son was returning to the way it used to be.
Driving into town today for Jayden had been an impulse, sweetened by the chance that he might get a glimpse of a certain nurse. And the shopping, of course.
He heard the bell and Jayden appeared at the head of the line, as always. Some things didn’t change . . . only this time, at his side was Bridget, waving her hand around as she explained something. They looked pretty relaxed together.
He wondered what Maddy thought about that. Both children saw him at the same time and Bridget smiled. A movement to his right caught his attention as Maddy crossed the road. He straightened from where he’d been lounging.
The sun glinted red in her hair, and her flash of smile as she looked at her daughter made his heart squeeze. He wondered if there was much chance she’d look at him like that one day, then slapped himself down because of that enormous elephant in the room between them. His reputation still had to be discussed. It was funny – not – how quickly that had become a priority.
Then she saw him. And while her friendly acknowledgement wasn’t as bright as the sunbeam she’d sent her daughter, her mouth did flick up at the corners, and he felt the warmth in his chest as she smiled his way.
Jayden had shifted down to a slow walk as he dragged out his arrival and Maddy changed direction towards Connor.
‘Connor.’ She inclined her head. ‘Do you always come to town as often as you seem to?’ She looked him up and down and he wondered what she saw. His shirt was clean, but his jeans and his boots were old. He’d shaved, though. To pick up his son from school. Maybe he should have brought out some of his flashy city clothes, which his mother had laughed at.
