Christmas at Coorah Creek (Choc Lit) Read online

  ‘I’d figured that out too.’

  Scott was pleased to see the girl had produced a hat from somewhere and was now wearing it. The brim wasn’t broad enough to give her face much protection, but it was better than nothing.

  ‘So what do I do now?’ she asked.

  ‘You’re heading to Coorah Creek?’

  ‘How did you know?’

  ‘That’s where this road goes,’ he told her. ‘After the Creek, there’s just Birdsville.’

  ‘And after that?’

  ‘The desert. You really don’t want to go there – and especially not with this.’ He patted the old Holden affectionately.

  She smiled at that, and Scott caught a glimpse of the girl behind the stranded tourist. Now that her eyes were no longer wide with distress, they were a lovely shade of blue-grey. Her face was a bit red from the sun, but she was a very pretty girl. About his own age, he thought. And as for that accent – that was just a cuteness bonanza. He couldn’t help but wonder what on earth a girl like this was doing heading for the Creek.

  ‘So?’

  Acutely aware that he had been caught staring, Scott tried to look efficient. ‘I guess I’d better get you into town.’

  ‘Can’t I call the … whatever you call the Automobile Association out here?’

  Scott smiled. ‘No, actually.’

  ‘Oh. No phone service.’

  He nodded.

  ‘Well, there must be a garage at Coorah Creek. Have they got a tow truck? You could send them back for me.’

  The words froze Scott in his tracks, his face closing down. It wasn’t the girl’s fault. She didn’t know what memories her words had just unleashed to strike him with an almost physical force. She had just turned an impulse into a stark reality. His return to Coorah Creek was no longer something in his future. It was here and now and he wasn’t really ready for it. That wasn’t a good sign. He struggled for a few seconds to regain an appearance of normality.

  ‘No truck,’ he said. ‘I’ve got a rope in my car. I’ll tow you in.’

  ‘But I don’t know …’ The girl’s voice trailed off, and Scott saw the apprehension in her eyes. You and me both, he thought.

  ‘Perhaps it would help if I introduced myself. I’m Scott Collins,’ he said. ‘And I promise you I am not an axe murderer or even a car thief.’

  That almost wiped the tension from her face. Her lips twitched in the start of a smile. ‘Hi Scott. I’m Katie Brooks.’

  She held out her hand and he took it briefly. Like Katie herself, it was small and looked far too delicate for life in the outback.

  ‘I’ll get the rope.’

  Chapter Three

  Ed Collins didn’t recognise either of the approaching cars. He squinted against the glare outside his workshop. He’d been Coorah Creek’s only garage and mechanic for more than thirty years. There wasn’t a car within 200 kilometres he hadn’t worked on or filled with petrol. These must be tourists, passing through on their way to Birdsville. He studied the blue car. It was getting on in years. It wasn’t surprising that it was being towed. He hoped the driver wasn’t planning to take it into the desert. People died doing stupid things like that.

  The car towing it was interesting. It looked like one of those hybrids. He’d read about them. Never seen one though. The Creek wasn’t a place for flash environmentally friendly cars. Workhorses. That’s what the cars out here were. It was too much to hope he’d get his hands on the car, but it would be nice to have a look under the bonnet. If the driver seemed a good bloke and was going to be around for a day or two, maybe he’d get a chance.

  Ed picked up an old rag and began wiping his hands. The owner of a car like that wasn’t going to want greasy handprints on his shiny new paint. As he tossed the rag aside, Ed looked at his hands. The dirt never really seemed to come off. Not that it mattered. There was no one he wanted to impress. He was a mechanic. Always had been and always would be. Mechanics had dirty hands. People just had to accept that.

  The lead car angled off the road towards the garage and began to slow. Ed could see the person being towed wasn’t paying attention. He knew what was going to happen next. The Commodore clipped the back of the hybrid, shunting it forward. Both drivers hit the brakes and the cars came to a halt about a metre apart.

  A girl jumped out of the Commodore. She was young and blonde and pretty. And very distraught.

  ‘Oh my God. I am so sorry!’ As upset as she was, her English accent was still very pronounced. She bent over to examine the damage to the back of the hybrid.

  ‘I wasn’t paying attention. It’s all my fault. I’ll pay to get it fixed.’

  So, maybe he would get to work on the hybrid after all. Ed stepped towards the open door, but stopped in shock as the driver of the hybrid got out of his car.

  Eight years is a long time. In eight years, regret can eat at a man’s soul leaving him empty and lonely. In eight years a boy becomes a man. But even after eight years, a father knows his own son.

  Shocked to his core, Ed took half a step backward to remain hidden in the dim interior of his workshop.

  His son … Scott … wasn’t paying any attention to the girl. He was studying the outside of the garage. He wouldn’t find anything changed, Ed thought. At least, not the building.

  ‘I feel just so bad about this,’ the girl was still apologising. ‘After you rescued me when I was in trouble.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it.’

  His voice was the same. So too was the shock of brown wavy hair. Just like Ed’s when he was young. And the way he stood, straight and sure of himself. As a teenager, Scott had always been unwilling to back down or give an inch. It didn’t look like that had changed.

  But something must have changed, because he was here – in the place he had left, vowing never to return.

  Ed’s hands were shaking. He jammed them deep into the pockets of his dirty overalls. He had to do something. He couldn’t just stand in the shadows looking at his son. But he wasn’t ready to face him yet. He just needed another minute.

  ‘I can’t say how sorry I am, or how grateful.’

  The girl was still talking. Ed wondered who she was. It sounded like she was a stranger Scott had found on the side of the road.

  ‘Anyone would have done the same.’ Scott finally turned his attention back to the girl. He dropped to the ground and reached under the Commodore to untie the tow rope.

  Now was the time, Ed knew. He should go and speak to them. He wished the girl wasn’t there. He would much rather have been alone when he faced his son for the first time after so many years. There was a lot they had to say to each other. Things that couldn’t be said in front of a stranger. In front of anyone. But it looked like he wasn’t going to get any choice.

  He took a step forward.

  Outside, he saw Scott stiffen, staring in Ed’s direction. Had his son seen him?

  ‘You’ll be fine now,’ Scott said to the girl, without taking his eyes from the door of the garage. Then he turned, quickly got back behind the wheel of his car. Within a few seconds he was gone.

  His son didn’t want to see him. Ed’s heart was pounding. He wasn’t sure what he felt. Relief at having more time to prepare for their meeting. Fear that Scott might leave town without ever talking to him. He wanted to know what had brought him back after so long. And most of all, he desperately needed to know if Scott had ever found what he was searching for.

  Outside, the girl was still waiting.

  Ed took a deep breath and walked out into the bright sunlight.

  ‘G’day.’

  ‘Hello. I’m afraid my car has broken down. Radiator, I think.’

  ‘I’ll take a look.’

  Working on cars had always been Ed’s great joy. Even at the worst of times, he could lose himself in his work and put his troubles to one side. Not so today. He took a cursory glance.

  ‘Yeah. Radiator. It’ll need replacing. I can get one in for you. Take a couple of days though.’
r />   ‘That’s all right. I’m here to stay. I’m going to be working at the hospital. My name is Katie. Katie Brooks.’

  ‘Ed.’ There was no need to tell her more than that. ‘Lucky for you that bloke was able to tow you in. Is he a friend of yours?’

  ‘No. He found me on the side of the road. Good thing too. I was out of water and starting to worry.’

  ‘A good bloke then?’

  ‘Oh yes. He was just great!’

  Ed looked at her face as she spoke. There was a shine in her eyes that told him his son had impressed this girl. Clearly she was hoping to see him again. Ed knew that look. A woman had once looked at him like that. A long time ago. It hadn’t lasted long, but how sweet it had been. It had given him a son, but that relationship too had soured.

  Ed felt just a small flare of hope deep inside. Maybe he was about to get a second chance.

  Chapter Four

  Scott felt bad about leaving the poor girl so abruptly. He wasn’t normally that rude. She seemed rather nice. She was also very pretty and just a little bit lost. It must be tough for someone so very English to find themselves all the way out here, beyond the black stump. He was normally more than happy to help a lady – especially one with blonde hair and blue eyes, but he’d had to get out of there. He did not want to face the man he’d seen moving in the shadows inside the garage.

  He turned the corner and parked outside the pub. He switched his engine off and looked up at the two storey building. It hadn’t changed. The paint looked fairly new. It hadn’t faded or developed that faint powdery look caused by long exposure to the harsh outback sun. But it was the same colour he remembered. The lovely wrought iron railings still edged the balcony on the top floor, twisting in intricate lacework. He had always loved this old building. So beautiful and elegant. So different from the garage and the shabby house behind it.

  Scott slowly got out of the car and turned to look about him. The pub might not have changed, but the rest of the town certainly had.

  He remembered the general store, but it was larger now. Had it been extended? The feed store was still the same, but what was that across the road? A ladies’ hair salon? That was new. So were the clothing store and the houses that he could see in the distance, either side of the town’s other main road – the one that led north to Mount Isa. When he’d last seen Coorah Creek, the Goongalla Uranium Mine was just a topic of conversation and a hope for the future. Obviously the mine had prospered and the town along with it.

  He was glad about that.

  He turned around and walked the few steps back towards the T-intersection that was the heart of the town. He could see the garage now. Any prosperity brought by the mine hadn’t touched that. It was still shabby and dirty. Even more so than he remembered. It occupied the corner opposite the pub. From this angle, he could see the workshop and the petrol bowsers. Eight years had passed since he’d last seen it and to his eyes it looked exactly the same. Nothing had changed. It didn’t even appear to have benefited from a new coat of paint in all that time. Over the top of the rusting tin workshop roof, he could see gum trees reaching skywards. That would be the garden around the house. He remembered those trees, but they had been a lot smaller back then.

  Katie’s car was still sitting outside the workshop. The bonnet was up, but he could see no sign of either its driver or the man who was fixing it. She would be all right, he thought. The old man was honest and would easily repair her radiator. And he’d charge a fair price for the work. No-one had ever accused the old man of doing wrong by a customer. His family though …

  Scott went back to his car. At some point he was going to have to enquire about a room at the pub, but not right now. Since he had driven past the town sign, memories had been flooding back. Among those memories was the publican’s wife – a garrulous woman with a real taste for gossip. If he checked into the hotel now, the whole town would know he was here in just five minutes.

  He wasn’t ready for that yet.

  He slid back behind the wheel of his car and pulled away from the pub. He’d drive around for a while, just to have a look at the town.

  It didn’t take long. The town might have grown a lot in eight years, but it still wasn’t very big. The houses on the north side all looked fairly new. They must have come with the mine, he thought. The old police station was still there, but it was now part of some kind of town square. The school was bigger than in his day. And it had a swimming pool! Now that was an improvement. Curious, he drove towards the southern side of town where he knew the mine must be. He wouldn’t mind taking a look at it. A couple of miles out of town, a good quality bitumen road led off to the left. He turned down it and sure enough, there were the gates to the mine. He drove straight past, following the chain link fence until he came to … an airport? Things certainly had changed.

  But now he had run out of excuses. Reluctantly he executed a three point turn on the narrow road and drove back in the direction of town.

  There she was again. Standing in the middle of the road. What was with this girl?

  Scott pulled up next to her.

  ‘Katie? Is everything all right?’ Surely nothing had happened at the garage to send her running away?

  ‘Oh, hello Scott.’ The girl seemed pleased to see him. ‘I’m heading for the hospital, which I’m told is just down this road.’

  ‘The hospital?’ Scott’s first thought was since when had Coorah Creek boasted a hospital? His second was – why was she looking for a doctor? Surely the old man …

  ‘Are you all right?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes,’ she said. A small frown creased her forehead, and then faded as she suddenly grinned. ‘No. No. I’m fine. I’m going to work there.’

  ‘Of course, you said you were a nurse.’

  ‘That’s right. One who should have known enough about heat stroke and dehydration to carry water.’ As she spoke, she raised her hand. There was a new, large and almost full bottle of water in it. ‘Anyway Ed, I think that was his name … the man at the garage … said it was a short walk down here to the hospital. I’m expected. So I thought I would walk.’

  Scott felt a small surge of relief. If she couldn’t remember the mechanic’s name, then she had definitely not made the connection between them. But no doubt she would in the not too distant future.

  ‘I passed what I think may be the hospital just back there a bit,’ Scott said. ‘I’ll give you a lift. It’s far too hot to walk.’

  He felt her hesitation. She was feeling a bit lost. A long way from home. He understood how that felt.

  ‘Get in,’ he said. ‘I’ve already towed you in from the highway, what does another half a mile matter?’

  Her smile was very appealing. Slightly crooked, but it lit her blue eyes as well.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said as she slid into the passenger’s seat. ‘You’re right. It is far too hot to walk. I’ve had more than enough sun for one day.’

  He cast a sideways glance at her. Her fair skin was already looking far too pink. He hoped she would be careful. The outback sun would be tough on her. And maybe just not the sun …

  ‘So why Coorah Creek?’ he asked as he turned the car again.

  ‘I came to Australia for a working holiday,’ she said. ‘I was so sick of the cold weather and the rain. This was the first job I found.’

  ‘You won’t have any problem with cold wet weather here,’ Scott said as he slipped the car back into gear.

  Katie had to agree with him. She had never been so hot in all her life. Not even on that holiday in Spain. She was drenched with sweat just from walking a short distance from the garage where her car was being worked on by the shabby mechanic. Her feet hurt, because open-toed sandals were just not the right footwear for a place like this. Her skin felt flushed and burnt, and she was about to meet her new boss. Or at least, that was what she was expecting to do. She had e-mailed him to let him know to expect her this afternoon. But so far very little of this trip had turned out the way she pla
nned it.

  She hadn’t seen much of Coorah Creek, but what she had seen wasn’t quite what she’d had in mind. It was so small! And very quiet. Dry as well as hot. Most of the houses she’d seen were very old and shabby and rather than the red brick of her homeland, they were made of wood. The centre of the town, if that was what it could be called, was tiny, with just a handful of shops. It was such a long long way from Oxford Street and there were certainly no Christmas lights to be seen. The shops did look a bit more prosperous than the garage. That made her hope that her first impressions might be wrong.

  Scott, however, had been a pleasant surprise. She cast a quick sideways glance at him. He looked to be in his mid-twenties. About the same age as her. He had a kind face. Not exactly handsome, but not unattractive. His hair was non-descript brown. His eyes were non-descript brown. His skin was tanned, and the hands gripping the steering wheel looked strong and competent. She liked that. The way he had dashed off after dropping her at the garage was a bit disconcerting. He must have had a reason. Some secret perhaps that he didn’t want to share. There was nothing wrong with that, of course. Everyone had secrets. She certainly did.

  Scott had been there when she needed help and he seemed really nice. She wasn’t entirely comfortable alone in the car with a stranger, but she did feel a little bad about lying to him just now. Adventure had very little to do with her reasons for being here. But two accidental meetings weren’t enough to encourage the exchange of her secrets either.

  Katie’s heart shrank a little when Scott turned into a driveway next to a painted wooden sign that identified the Coorah Creek Hospital. The building ahead of them didn’t look like any hospital she had ever seen. For a start, it was built of wood. No brick or stone edifice of the type she was used to back in England, this hospital was a long low building built on wooden stumps and surrounded by a deep veranda. She had expected it to be small – but it looked barely big enough to accommodate a handful of patients.

  As Scott pulled up near the broad front stairs, a young couple emerged. The girl was carrying a toddler in her arms. She looked far too young to be its mother. Katie smiled at them as she got out of the car.