The mayor and Bruno went into a huddle after the meeting came to an end. Marigold kept herself very low key, other than to ask people to use her form to nominate themselves to any roles that she and Tom had cooked up, and Tom ran the meeting in a no-nonsense manner that had Hannah reflecting on how little he ever talked about his old job.
Her moment came when he sat down next to her, a beer in his hand, with the air of a man who’d done enough for one day and just wanted to sit and chat.
Suited her. Chatting was a totally date-like thing to do.
‘How did Bruno react to seeing all you’ve done here at the pub?’
Tom grinned. ‘Dad’s not one to mess about with fulsome praise. I don’t think he hated it, put it that way.’
‘He must love having you here to take on these jobs. He doesn’t look up to it, does he?’
‘He’s not up to it, but he’s not of a mind to let go, either. Don’t think for a minute he wasn’t micromanaging this pub reno. There’s nothing wrong with his mind, it’s just his energy that’s failed him.’
‘Oh. I thought he’d maybe handed it over.’
‘Nope. You know the Krauss family has a lot of real estate, right?’
‘Sure. Everyone in Hanrahan knows you own half the town.’
‘Yeah, but here’s the thing about family empires. I don’t own half the town, my dad does. And he likes me to remember that.’
‘Because he’s a control freak?’
‘I think it’s more than that. You know his parents were immigrants?’
‘I don’t think I did know that, no.’
‘Germans. Came here after the war for a new life because their home was destroyed. They kept to themselves, as you can imagine. Anti-German sentiment must have run strong in the 1950s … I mean, you’ve seen the cenotaph in the park. There wouldn’t be a farming family in the area who hadn’t lost a son or brother in the war. Bruno was born on the ship coming out. I think being an immigrant drove his need to start a legacy here in Australia because his parents had to leave theirs behind.’
‘He’s certainly created one.’
‘It’s not the buildings he cares about, though. It’s the breeding he’s done. The stockhorses. Ironbark Station is the legacy he cares about most.’
‘You’re sounding very “past tense” in this conversation, Tom. Are you worried about your dad?’
‘You’ve seen him. He’s in trouble.’
‘Yeah. Multiple sclerosis is a tough sentence.’
‘And the rest. Emphysema is his biggest worry. He’s on oxygen bottles pretty much every day now.’
‘I’m sorry, Tom. That’s rough.’ She rested her hand on his for a moment, but wondered if she’d overstepped the non-dating rules when he shifted away.
‘Bruno’s legacy means a lot to him. He’s always been a proud man, but he’s also a hard man. Like his pride and anger are all wrapped up together, and if he lets go of it, he’ll be back to being an ordinary bloke, not legend of Ironbark Bruno Krauss. He’s also shitty about me not wanting to take over the stockhorse business. But we’ve reached a sort of armistice where I look after the property holdings and he trains up his head ringer, Lynette, to take on the sales part of the horse business as well as the training. He’s not the man he was and Mrs LaBrooy is getting pretty long in the tooth herself; too old to be minding Dad, at any rate. So, if I’m going to stay here in Hanrahan—’
‘Tom! Have you decided? Are you going to make Hanrahan your home?’
He shrugged. ‘If I do, I need to find my own way.’ He took a sip of his beer. ‘I haven’t told anyone else that, so keep it quiet, will you?’
‘You can trust me.’
‘I do trust you.’
Hmm. Well, that was very nice to hear. Perhaps there was something to Kylie’s method after all. Bring on Sunday … she was starting to get the hang of this non-dating palaver.
CHAPTER
27
