Lonely in Longreach Read online

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  EVA comes from a family of storytellers and has been writing her own stories since she could hold a pencil. Growing up in a multicultural neighbourhood in Melbourne, Eva developed her wanderlust and a passion for culture and language. She travelled the world, living in Britain before coming home to Australia to study Anthropology. Wanderlust got the better of her again, so Eva packed up and headed to Papua New Guinea to live and work where she was completely in her element. Eva’s passion for the Australian country is born of her large extended family, which is spread out across the land. She volunteers at the local primary schools, teaching writing and working with children to incite a love of books and reading. Eva’s books explore relationships, culture, our roles in changing society, love and loss. She loves finding connections with readers over shared experiences.

  Lonely in Longreach

  Eva Scott

  www.romance.com.au

  In loving memory of Nora.

  CONTENTS

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Acknowledgments

  CHAPTER ONE

  The dry grass crackled like cellophane underfoot as Sam Costello and his son Levi made their way across what passed for the lawn of the Longreach Remembrance Garden. The lively yellow daisies Sam carried seemed to wilt during the short walk from the car. Michelle had loved daisies. She always said their sunny vibe made her feel as if everything would work out okay, even when it became clear it wouldn’t.

  The trees near the entrance to the cemetery huddled together as if for comfort, drooping in the relentless sun, their leaves limp and lifeless in the still air. The sky arced overhead in a vault of deepest blue without a cloud in sight giving Sam the impression he lived in one of those snow globes, one where someone had swapped out the snow for dust.

  Brown, rocky patches made up most of the grounds, testimony to the lack of rain. Drought made water a precious commodity, not to be wasted on keeping the cemetery green. It wasn’t as if the people buried there noticed one way or another.

  They picked their way across the barren soil, skirting remembrance plaques and gravestones of the people who had braved this hard, wild country before them. Had their lives been as challenging as his? Had they buried wives, watched their stock die and tried to raise grumpy teenage boys alone? Had they been as clueless as him?

  Sam took off his akubra hat and wiped away the bead of sweat heading south on his forehead with the back of his hand. His shirt stuck to his back and he no longer noticed the flies pestering him, automatically waving them away with one hand. The relentless heat made him weary, adding weight to every one of his thirty-eight years.

  Levi, at fifteen, seemed impervious to the weather. He wore a t-shirt, frayed at the seams, and a baseball cap that had seen better days. Sam had wanted him to change into something more suitable for the visit to his mother’s grave. The fight had proved more than it’s worth and Sam had given in, grateful Levi had agreed to come at all.

  Levi kicked at what was left of the grass as he slouched across towards the headstone, his hands shoved deep in his pockets and his eyes down. His reluctance oozed out of the pores of his skin, creating the miasma of defiance he’d carried with him all morning.

  Sam knew his days having Levi by his side were numbered. Hanging out with your old man got downright embarrassing at about this age, if he remembered right. That’s how Sam had felt about his father. No reason to think it would be any different with his son.

  Sam sighed and turned down the row where Michelle was buried.

  The last seven years had taken their toll, not only on Sam but on the tombstones around them. Weeds pushed their way up through graves once well-tended, loved ones having moved on or simply stopped coming. The relentless sun, wind and rain had worn away the inscriptions on the older stones, the ones dating back to the nineteenth century when people had first come to Longreach to farm.

  Michelle’s grave at least looked like someone cared. A modest slab of marble with the inscription outlined in gold, the best he could afford at the time. He made sure to keep it neat, bringing fresh flowers as often as he could. Even so, he came less and less. Time had a way of warping the best of intentions.

  He didn’t know if Levi came at all—he was afraid to ask. He bent down and removed the dead flowers, the remains of his last offerings. He stepped back, holding the dead in one hand and the living in the other. They stood side by side in silence, father and son, both staring at Michelle’s headstone, as if anything had changed since their last visit. A breeze moved across the lawn setting the leaves of a eucalypt tree rustling like a whisper on the wind.

  Michelle Marie Costello.

  Beloved wife and mother. Sorely missed and never forgotten.

  Survived by her husband Sam and son Levi.

  1981–2012

  Survived was a strong word.

  No matter how many times Sam read the inscription it still had the power to deliver a jolt to his heart. An unnecessary reminder that she was gone. He managed to get through some days without thinking of her at all until the evening when it would be just him and Levi. Then he noticed her absence, as he watched their son, head bent over his homework at the kitchen table. In the way Levi had of flicking his fringe back off his face with a toss of his head, a mirror image of Michelle. Or in those moments when he realised Levi had outgrown his current crop of clothes—things his mother would have noticed long before a trip to the shops became a necessity.

  Sam passed the fresh flowers he carried to Levi, who took them without a word. What he would give to know what went on in that boy’s head. Levi stepped forward, all gangly arms and legs like a newborn colt, and placed the flowers on his mother’s grave without ceremony.

  He took off his hat and swept his long, sandy-coloured fringe back with one hand. Sam couldn’t be sure if the gesture was one of respect or a simple response to the heat. The boy needed a haircut. Why hadn’t he noticed that before now? He made a mental note to take him to the barber in town.

  The afternoon filled with the seasonal song of cicadas giving it everything they had like tiny rock gods performing a final encore.

  ‘You know, Dad … I don’t think I remember Mum like I used to.’ Levi spoke matter-of-factly, his eyes on his mother’s gravestone, while daggers plunged into Sam’s heart at every word.

  Sam swallowed hard, pushing down the lump in his throat so he could speak.

  ‘How do you mean?’ He already knew the answer. He had the same problem, although he preferred not to look at it head on.

  Beside him Levi shrugged. ‘Dunno. When I think of her it’s kind of blurry, like I can’t see her face properly or something.’

  Sam nodded slowly, weighing up his response. There’d been a time when he thought Michelle’s face was indelible, carved into his memory so he’d never forget even the tiniest detail. Seven years on, he relied on the photo beside his bed to keep her in f
ocus.

  He sighed. ‘Time does that to memories.’

  He sounded lame and cliched. What else could he say? He wanted to beg Levi to try harder, to not let his mother fade away, to keep her vibrant and alive forever. Sam knew he asked the impossible, especially as Levi had only been eight when she passed.

  ‘Yeah, that’s what Maddie says too.’ Levi kicked at a stone and sent it scuttling off, scaring a small lizard sunning itself two headstones down the row.

  Sam smiled. Maddie had become the font of all knowledge lately. The kids had been best friends since kindergarten, growing even closer when Michelle died as Levi sought comfort and stability. He wondered if Levi’s interest in the dirt-bike riding tom-boy would shift as adolescence took hold.

  ‘In this case, she’s right,’ he said.

  ‘She also said it’s about time you started dating again.’ Seemingly emboldened by Sam’s agreement, Levi turned the conversation in a direction he hadn’t seen coming.

  ‘Oh, she did now?’ Where the hell was this going?

  ‘Yeah, like it’s been way too long and you’re not getting any younger.’

  ‘Gee, thanks.’ Nothing like a teenage kid to put it all in perspective for you.

  ‘Well, you’re not that old but if you wait much longer you might find it hard. Competition and all. We do live in a small town a million miles from nowhere. I mean, you don’t even have a dog anymore.’

  ‘I’ll take that on board.’ Sam brushed a fly away and crossed his arms, hoping to signal an end to the conversation. His son made him sound a bit pathetic, especially with the jab about the dog. Kevin, their much-loved black and tan kelpie, had passed on two years ago and Sam hadn’t found the heart to replace him. There was only so much loss a man could take.

  ‘I won’t be around forever, you know,’ Levi persisted as he placed his hat back on his head. ‘I hate the idea of you rattling around in that house on your own.’

  ‘You thinking of moving out?’ Sam turned to face Levi, eyebrows raised.

  ‘Not right away. When I finish school me and Maddie will go to university and then what will you do?’ Levi squinted up at the tree above them as if looking for something in its branches. The little boy he’d been shimmered for a moment in the bright sunshine before fading as if he’d never been.

  Flashes of Levi’s first day of school, Levi catching his first fish in the Thomson River, learning to ride his first dirt bike, a thing so dinky it looked like it could fit on Sam’s key chain, ran through Sam’s mind. All gone in a flash, to be replaced by this man-child that, on some days, Sam didn’t recognise.

  ‘So, a bit of forward planning is what you’re advocating here?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Levi, the relief in his voice evident. Sam repressed the urge to chuckle, reminded of his frustration with his own father at that age. Finally, the old man got it. This kid could carve up his heart one minute and have him in hysterics the next.

  ‘All I’m saying is you should consider it.’

  ‘The moving out bit?’ Sam wanted to make him work for it.

  ‘No,’ Levi sighed, ‘the dating thing.’

  ‘Okay,’ Sam conceded. ‘I promise to consider the dating thing on one condition.’

  ‘What’s that?’ Levi returned his gaze to Sam, his wariness showing in the way he frowned, drawing his brows together until a furrow formed between them. In that moment, he reminded Sam so much of Michelle, he couldn’t draw breath.

  ‘That you clean your room and do a load of laundry when we get home.’

  ‘Dad,’ Levi groaned, ‘you’re not taking this seriously. Maddie says single men don’t live as long as married men. You’re shortening your life, even as we speak.’

  Sam reached out and knocked Levi’s cap off his head in a playful move, designed to break the tension. He knew what was really going on here.

  ‘Far be it for me to doubt the wisdom of Miss Maddison McRae. I will think about it, okay? Either way, I’m sure I will live a long life, with or without a girlfriend.’

  ‘Okay,’ muttered Levi, bending to pick up his hat.

  ‘Come on.’ Sam put his arm around his son’s shoulders. ‘Let’s go home and get something to eat.’

  ‘Can I go over to Maddie’s? I said I’d go dirt-bike riding with her this afternoon.’

  Once upon a time they’d have visited Michelle and then eaten a special lunch together before spending the afternoon on the couch watching movies. Levi had outgrown the tradition it would seem. Sam’s heart weighed heavy in his chest. If only he could keep Levi suspended in time. Not forever, only for a little bit longer.

  ‘Okay,’ he said, giving in. ‘Only after you’ve tidied your room and put your laundry on to wash.’

  ‘Come on, Dad. That’s eating into valuable riding time. Can’t I do it later?’

  ‘What did I just say?’

  They continued to argue all the way to the car, their banter tried and tested. Sam had the sense he’d not only left Michelle behind today, but that a part of Levi’s childhood had separated and would remain with her, gone forever.

  Maddie lay on her bed with her legs stretched up the wall, pondering her poster of Liam Newson, the handsomest actor on her favourite soap, Getaway Bay, as she waited for Levi to arrive.

  She twirled a long strand of hair and chewed absently on the end as she stared into the greenest eyes God ever gave a man. The way his t-shirt clung to his muscular shoulders—and those arms—gave her fluttery feelings she didn’t have a name for. Like Liam generated his own magnetic field and she’d become caught up in it, powerless against his charm.

  The relentless dry heat caused the poster to curl up at the edges, robbing the putty adhesive of its grip. The paper had crinkled and the print worn where Maddie had smoothed it flat time and again. She needed another poster, one to sit on the opposite wall so she could see Liam from anywhere in the room.

  She’d read a passage in one of her mother’s motivational books that you should meditate on your goal for a part of every day. Maddie set the timer on her phone for fifteen minutes and spent them staring as hard as she could at Liam’s image, summoning him into her life.

  The fact he’d grown up in Longreach only added to her certainty. He’d graduated high school the year before Maddie had started, so they’d never got to meet. If they had, things would be easier. He’d know, as well as she did, that they were made for each other.

  They were destined to be together, she’d known that from the very first time she’d seen him walk on in an episode of Getaway Bay. Her heart had literally stopped in her chest and she’d died, right there on the couch, although no one in her family was savvy enough to notice the gargantuan event taking place right before their eyes. What could you expect, right? Her parents, too old for love, were only concerned with boring town gossip. As if anything ever went on in this place.

  No way was she growing up to be them. As soon as she could, she’d apply for university in Sydney. Didn’t matter what she studied. Maybe marketing or public relations. Whatever. The point was to get as close to Liam as possible. If a boy from Longreach could make his dreams come true, then so could she.

  She’d move to Bondi Beach because that’s where he lived. Fate would take care of the details. All she knew was that she had to get to Sydney and let Fate guide her to Liam. He would take one look at her and get struck by lightning too. That’s how Fate worked. She imagined Fate as a cool chick with long red hair, wearing a black leather jacket.

  According to her mother’s book, to make her dreams a reality she had to visualise every detail. Of course, Levi would be with her and they could work to afford the rent while they studied. She could get a job making coffee or something. Levi would love Bondi. Neither of them had ever seen the sea and, as they’d done everything together all their lives, it seemed appropriate they’d have this adventure together too.

  The easiest way to get to meet Liam might be through his sister, Alexis, who was in her final year at Maddie’s school. The
year twelve formal was her in with Alexis, if only Maddie could swing an invite. Then later, when Maddie moved to Sydney, Alexis could introduce her to Liam. The plan could work. She just had to get herself to Sydney.

  Her thoughts wandered to Levi and his dad. Levi agreed in principle to Maddie’s plan for them, happy to apply for university in Sydney when they reached year twelve, though she was pretty sure he didn’t know about her main motivation. There was one giant snag: his reluctance to leave his dad all on his own. He knew he couldn’t stay in Longreach forever yet he got all vague about anything more than what university he might apply to in the future. At that point, he’d change the subject. He might think he was being clever, but Maddie had his number. She knew what was going on.

  Poor Mr C had lost the love of his life. She knew how he must feel. Imagine if she finally won Liam’s heart, only to lose him! Mr C did okay but you could see the damage on him. He needed a girlfriend, someone to distract him and help him get over Mrs C. Someone to make it alright for Levi to leave him and start a life of his own.

  The timer on her phone buzzed.

  Maddie slipped her ear buds on, selecting her favourite playlist on her iPhone. She did her best thinking when listening to music. She needed to think now, find some way of matching Mr C with the right woman. If there’d been anyone in town suitable he would have found them by now. Fate would have brought them together. Maddie would have to act as Fate’s handmaiden, a role she relished.

  Wasn’t it she who brought together Mr Ozzie, the PE teacher, and Miss Carmichael, the art teacher, last year? A skilful pairing if she did say so herself. It had been super obvious they’d be a good match. She’d dropped a few hints, engineered a few accidental meetings. Hadn’t been that hard. And look where they were today—happy and in love. All down to her.

  Of course, her triumphs had to include the matches she’d made among her friends. Six successful hook-ups so far. She had a talent for this stuff. Mr C might prove to be her biggest challenge, only because he wasn’t interested in anyone. No sparks flying anywhere. Which meant she’d have to be clever and think outside of the box. Without Levi there was no way she could afford to live in Bondi, so her whole future happiness with the man of her dreams depended on Levi coming with her.