Time To Catch Up
Blair had been right about the view from the deck. Ava sat at a table overlooking the marbled waters of Candlebark Creek and jotted a gluten-free slice idea on the list Blair had slipped across the table with coffee, toast and a cheeky grin.
Clouds scudded across the cobalt-blue sky, the same easterly wind whipping up the water’s surface and ruffling the leaves of creek-side trees to encourage a chorus of birdsong. Other guests drifted across the deck dreamily, padding barefooted back and forth between the four lodge rooms, all with water views and spread over the two wings, with the communal kitchen at the centre. Beyond the deck, on the other side of the pampered, well-watered lawns, thirsty paddocks stretched out to meet the horizon. A family of four was preparing for a property tour, the young female guide in the distinctive turquoise T-shirt as bright-eyed and eager as the children bouncing excitedly on a hay bale in the back of the ute.
*
When it was time to head over to Ivy-May, Ava gathered her courage, along with her cardigan from the adjacent chair. Blair appeared and sat in the chair where the cardigan had been moments earlier. He placed his mobile phone on the table.
‘Listen, Ava, I have to apologise.’ His finger played with the device, twirling it in a circle. ‘I got a bit carried away earlier. I’m not usually so forward with my guests. It wasn’t right to ask for help with menu planning.’
‘Good heavens.’ Ava rested a hand on top of his, imagining it was John’s. ‘I don’t mind at all. The hardest thing about retirement is keeping the brain employed. I’m more than happy to share what I’ve learned over the years, especially with a young person who is eager to listen and learn.’
‘Then I guess that would make you a baker and a gluten for punishment.’
Blair was looking quite cocky, unaware Ava had kept an arsenal of jokes locked away for years. She surprised herself when she returned fire, straight-faced. ‘Would that make me a mutton for punishment?’
Blair hooted. ‘That’s a good one. You’re quick.’
‘I’ve been feeling older than I am lately, so I’ll take that as a compliment. I’m also finding young people willing to sit still for any length of time to listen to me are few and far between, including my son. It’s all go, go, go with Tony, whereas you and this lovely establishment are a welcome breath of fresh air and exactly what I need at the moment. There’s a gentleness to the country, as if time is letting us all catch up.’
‘Things can get hectic around here when we have a full house and a full yard of cattle to work, but I’d miss the mayhem. That’s why I chose to live here, rather than the city.’
‘It’s rare for someone so young to come home to the country.’
‘Thanks, but I’m really not so young. I’m thirty now and I was out of here almost straight from school, thanks to Mum, who’s never short on advice. “Get the wanderlust out of your system early, Blair,” she’d told me. “Make up your mind what you want to do and make it happen.” So I did. I put those early years to good use and travelled a lot, partied hard and tested the boundaries, as kids do. You know how it goes.’
‘I gave those boundaries a bit of a thrashing myself.’
‘Ha! I bet you did.’ Blair seemed to relax. ‘To be honest, I think I surprised Mum when I came back to take on the farmstay.’
‘What made you decide it was the life for you?’
‘Do you believe in Fate, Ava?’ Without waiting for a response, he added, ‘As in right time, right place? I guess you can say the place needed saving and my timing was perfect.’
‘Saving from what?’
‘As usual, Mum was trying to be everything to everyone and spreading herself thin. She’s pretty driven. After my grandparents died years ago, we hired workers, but with killer costs and the beef industry getting more challenging, I either took over or Mum let the place go. Years later she still thinks she can tell me what to do. I’ve taken a few risks, which she was dead-set against, but everything is starting to come together. I want to prove myself by making it work. The wedding-reception enquiries are good and I reckon the tour-bus business will be a good money spinner if I can get it going.’
‘Catering can be very profitable when you have the balance right,’ Ava said. ‘We can swap food stories while I’m here. I’ve racked up a few frequent-flyer points in my time and visited a few too many ports, more than I expected and some several times over. In the eight years my partner Martin and I were together we did far too many P&O cruises. If I ever see another deserted island I’ll scream.’ She felt her smile wane. ‘Poor Martin was wonderful, but he and I were poles apart in so many ways.’ Ava blinked away the tears that the memory of his death could still prompt.
‘You mean compatibility score zero?’ Blair asked.
‘More like minus forty at times.’ They laughed. ‘But there were good times.’
‘Sounds like my wife and I,’ he said.
‘I was wondering if you had someone special.’
‘I have an ex-wife and a son – Tyson. He’s ten. Sadly he and his mother are tucked away in another bloke’s life, in a high-rise apartment on the Gold Coast.’
‘Oh, what a shame.’
‘Funny thing is, apart from not seeing Tyson every day, things are not so bad. Veronica and I get on much better now we’re apart. We both knew we’d made a mistake getting together and, rather than stay miserable, we did something about it.’
‘No sense trying to stick at a relationship when the love’s not there,’ Ava said.
Blair nodded. ‘A relatively isolated existence out here isn’t for everyone and it was never going to be enough for Veronica. I get that now, but I can be a bit slow when it comes to women.’
Ava chortled. ‘I doubt that. Besides, how could anyone not love it here?’
‘Oh, she loved the idea of being a big landowner in a small town, until she discovered the place was a lot less impressive because Grandpa O’Brien had sold off parts without telling anyone. Mum discovered the truth by accident. We lost some good grazing paddocks, which is why Ivy-May shares the beef side of the business now, and I’m trying to grow the retreat and function side. In the meantime the banks and I pretty much play a one-step-forward-two-steps-back kind of game.’
Ava tried not to sound too interested, but it was difficult. She knew how desperate the Tates had been to amalgamate both family properties to reinstate Ivy-May as the biggest and most historically significant landholding in the region.
‘Dad’s helped me out with a loan, and by the end of the year, with all the wedding-reception bookings, and if I can add the afternoon tea idea to the business plan and keep the customers happy, I’ll be on target to start paying him back. One loan down.’
‘Well, I for one am a very happy customer. It will be lovely not to drive too far after sitting for your father. That place in town really is called the Moo-tel? That’s not the result of a sign writer having a bad day?’
Blair’s laugh startled a small mob of kangaroos in the distance and they gave up the smorgasbord of green in favour of sanctuary among a small forest of native gums and shrubs lining the waterway. ‘I gather you didn’t notice the butchery named Let’s Meat Later and the hairdresser’s called Cowlick Crusaders? Council decided branding the town was a good idea.’ Blair made to stand, pausing. ‘Ava, I confess having a solo traveller to chat to is a rare pleasure for me. We get mostly lovey-dovey couples and families, and I don’t like to intrude on either. In fact, some couples I never see from check-in to check-out.’
‘Well, good luck to them!’ Ava grabbed her handbag from the floor and Blair moved her chair out of the way after she had stood up.
‘Then there’s the occasional corporate team-bonding group, and no one’s interested in long conversations with the bloke who runs the place. Just put another log on the fire and keep the beer flowing.’
‘Perhaps they don’t want to distract you from your work,’ Ava said.
‘Delightful distractions I can handle. In fact, I’m quite envious my father will get to spend the day with you.’
‘Of course, not mentioning to your father that the stalker woman is now a guest may be wise.’ She was pleased and reassured when Blair laughed and delivered John’s collaborative wink again.
‘You might have a point.’ He collected the empty plates and cutlery, juggling the lot along one strong forearm. ‘You’ll have to forgive Dad. Hospitality was his passion once, and a B-and-B business his vision for Ivy-May. Together, he and Mum had big dreams. Nowadays the old man’s wary of strangers and he’s always been a reluctant celebrity, which means he can come across as a bit negative and difficult.’
‘People are naturally curious, especially when it comes to things they don’t understand. Rest assured, Blair, the reason I sought out your father for my portrait has nothing to do with his celebrity or his situation. I promise you.’
‘Can I ask why then?’ A son’s protectiveness shone through.
‘Well, I did read an article about his acquired-savant syndrome and, coincidentally, I also stayed in Candlebark Creek many years ago.’ She chose her words carefully. ‘I guess you could say my decision to come here for the portrait was part nostalgia, part convenience, and part Fate.’
Blair’s eyes narrowed, his smile widening. ‘Fate and nostalgia I can understand, but I wouldn’t have thought a drive from the Sunshine Coast to here too convenient.’
‘Convenient in so much as I was keen to do a little reminiscing and I thought I could do that between sittings.’ For a person who prided herself on honesty, Ava was surprised at how easily her lies had formed. For the first time in her life she felt manipulative and decided to blame Marjorie Tate for teaching her how. ‘The older one gets, Blair, the more one focuses on the time one has left. Understandable, I suppose, but I’d rather focus on the life I’ve lived, and Candlebark Creek is a small part of that.’
‘Did you live in town for long?’
Ava didn’t want to delve into her history or lie to Blair any more than she had to. ‘Briefly. I worked at the local hotel and then I left. I was, after all, only passing through on my way to France.’ She sent a smile Blair’s way, draped the cardigan around her shoulders and checked her handbag for the car keys.
‘From Candlebark Creek pub to Le Cordon Bleu and back again, Ava? You’re quickly becoming the most intriguing woman I’ve ever met.’
‘I’ll take that as another compliment. Now, jot down any menu ideas, and dare I say let’s meat later to talk cakes, sliders and finger sandwiches?’ She glanced at her watch. ‘I need to collect my bag from the Moo-tel, so I’d better get going.’
‘Never worry about being late around my dad. Once he starts painting he loses all concept of time – and didn’t that drive my mother crazy! We’ll catch up later for sure, Ava. And good luck.’