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CHAPTER 12
Felicity bent forward and read the words on the plaque:“Sam the dog—who faithfully waited at this spot for his master to return after the fires of 1961.”
The little bronze dog stared balefully back at her below a rusty sign that read “Welcome to Two Gums”.
She zoomed her phone to take a shot of the little guy, then straightened up. “I guess this place never really got back on its feet after the fires.”
Oliver was squinting into the middle distance over the top of his sunglasses, one hand in his pocket, the other flicking away the flies that were carrying on their daily business of annoying stray humans right up until sundown.
It had been her idea, after they’d turned the rattly old air-conditioner on to cool the room, to explore the “town” before they sat down to a grand meal of pot noodles and red wine.
Not that you could really call Two Gums a town, Felicity conceded. They seemed to have landed in the least picturesque spot on the road south, with nothing but dry summer paddocks populated with a few bedraggled sheep and a handful of fibro houses lining the highway, most of which were empty and boarded up. The only one that looked lived in, Oliver commented, probably belonged to Len and Sue. In the distance a range of low mountains rose out of the flat plain, blue and hazy and probably rather beautiful, if you could actually get to them.
Maybe they would have been camping there tonight if they had a roadworthy vehicle.
Well, bully for you Felicity!
Nope, no self-blame, she chided herself. She was going to focus on the positives. Every place had a story to tell, however tired and dusty and neglected it might look. You just had to dig around to find it.
Like dear little doggy Sam here, still patiently waiting…
Oliver turned and smiled at her. “Want to see some kangaroos?”
Did she what! With a squeal of excitement, Felicity’s gaze followed his. There, in one of the paddocks, what she’d mistaken for more sheep were actually kangaroos. At least twenty of them, grazing away happily.
“Oh my, look at them all. I have to get a video. Evie and Felix will not believe how many there are.” Hurrying across the wide empty road, Felicity flicked her phone to video mode and began filming. For several minutes she zoomed in and Oliver, to his credit, stood patiently waiting, then something must have alerted the biggest of the roos—she guessed it was ahe,because he stood way taller and bigger than the others, ears flicking before he made off in loping bounds across the paddock on his powerful back legs. That started a chain reaction and soon there was a whole paddock full of jumping roos. Completely engrossed in filming, Felicity didn’t notice the deep rumbling sound getting closer until Oliver said, “Stand well back, there’s a truck approaching.”
The truck was bearing down fast along the dusty road and that’s when she spotted the kangaroo on the other side, a little joey poking its head out of her pouch.
The truck got closer. The mother roo hesitated, then hopped onto the road, disoriented. The little Joey popped its head back into her pouch as if to sayNo mummy, don’t!
Oh, this could not be happening, she couldn’t let a mother and her baby be flattened. The growl was now a roar. Lights were bearing down on them.
A horn, loud, angry, the screech of brakes, and she couldn’t bear it, she teetered, and suddenly strong arms grabbed her, pulled her away. With a little cry, she turned and hid her face in his chest.
The truck thundered past, the blast knocking them both. She could feel Oliver brace his thighs and then it was whistling away into the distance. And she couldn’t look, couldn’t bear to see the terrible carnage.
Which meant she just stayed there, her hands sandwiched between them, her head buried into the apex of his shirt. She could feel the powerful thud of his heartbeat and his body pressed hard all down the length of hers, and the pressure of his leg against her scar made little pins and needles dance around the sensitive tissue.
She sensed him raise his head, heard him draw in a breath.
In a small voice, she asked, “They’re dead, aren’t they?”
“No.”
“Fatally injured then.”
“No, she must have headed back into the bush.” His voice was thick with relief and Felicity realised she was shaking, limp as a rag doll against him. Her hands now splayed against his shirt, the heat of his body under her palms.
And still neither of them moved. For long, long moments. Somewhere nearby, a rowdy bunch of birds got ready to settle in for the night in a nearby tree.
Whispered words, “It’s okay, it’s okay,” stirred the hair at her ear, and she kind of nodded and maybenestled… a… little… closer.
And next came this prickly awareness that maybe there was more thanjusthis thighs against hers, but something else, firming up against her belly that she was sure hadn’t been there a moment ago. The possibility sent a stealthy liquid heat spreading between her legs, and her nipples tightened against the inside of her bra. So now how could she move? Because if she did, it might look like she was rubbing herself against that part of him that had almost definitelynotbeen there a moment ago…
Ohgod!
And then Oliver solved the problem. Abruptly, he let her go.
