‘That’s gonna cost you.’
‘Chocolate? Money? One of my kidneys?’
Poppy grinned. ‘You take me to visit Maximus while I’m here.’
‘You drive a hard bargain.’ And a totally sweet one! Max was from Jane Doe’s litter and he’d gone to live with a young family on a farm on the outskirts of Cooma. ‘I accept. Make it that “Feeling Good” one.’
By the time the first line about birds and sun and feelings was oozing out of the speaker, she had Tom’s arm under her hand. ‘Dance?’ she said.
Sandy, who had been talking to Tom, took one look at Hannah’s face and melted away.
‘Um … I’m not really a—’
‘Don’t bullshit me, Krauss. I know you can dance, and this one is slow and waltzy.’
It was bloodwarming and hot as, too, she thought, as he quit arguing and put his hand in the small of her back.
‘A new life,’ she said.
He leant his head down a little closer. ‘Excuse me?’
‘I was quoting the lyrics,’ she said. ‘Feeling good, a new life … it’s making me think.’
His hand tightened momentarily around hers as they weaved their way past Kev and Marigold, who were sliding a few spins and fancy turns into their dance routine.
‘Show-offs.’
She felt more than heard Tom’s laugh. ‘Marigold was probably a dance instructor in a former life. You know, somewhere in between the yoga and the florist shop and the celebrant and the town busybody.’
‘They’re an unlikely couple, aren’t they?’ she said.
‘How do you mean?’
‘Well, Marigold is like a power station, all noise and energy, whereas Kev is more of a quiet thinker.’
‘I guess.’
‘What would you say—’ she took a breath ‘—if we decided to become a couple?’
The music hadn’t stopped but Tom’s feet had.
‘Well?’ she said. She could hear an insistent buzz, like one of the speakers had a wire loose.
‘We talked about this. I told you I wasn’t interested in a relationship.’
‘But that was before, when I was hung up on a baby, and I hadn’t understood what I was feeling …’ she tapped her chest, ‘… in here.’
‘This was a mistake,’ he said.
‘No, you don’t mean that. You—’ Shoot, that wasn’t a wire loose. It was her phone, buzzing away via the watch she wore on her wrist. As much as she didn’t want to check the words flashing on the screen, she couldn’t not check.
‘It’s the clinic’s after hours number,’ she said. ‘I have to take this.’
The calf didn’t make it.
No fault of the farmer. Breeding out of season happened, bad births happened and sometimes the calf just wasn’t strong enough, no matter how much Hannah hoped they would be. No matter how many hours the mother cow laboured and bellowed and pushed.
She covered the small animal with a hessian sack and returned her attention to the cow. ‘I know, darling one, it’s awful for you. All that time growing your little one and now you have nothing. I’m sorry.’
