Page 6 of Outback Hearts

‘Please don’t start, Sophie. You will really love it,’ Jill said, pulling a face.

Alex chipped in from the back. ‘It’s well worth seeing,’ he said.

‘I’d love to work there one day,’ Jill added wistfully.

‘Speaking of work,’ the English girl said, ‘do you know if there’s much work here in town? We need to stock up our travel fund. We might stay for a few days if any jobs are going.’

Sassy’s eyes lit up. ‘Have you got any experience in a grocery store?’

‘I have.’ The girl nodded. ‘My mum manages the grocery store in our village. I worked in it every afternoon after school and every weekend before I came away.’

Sassy made a snap decision. ‘You’re hired.’

Sophie’s eyes widened. ‘Hired? I’ve got a job?’

‘Yes! My regular staff member just gave me her notice. I’m by myself today. You couldn’t start tomorrow, could you?’

The girls looked at each other and grinned.

‘How about we go out and find the camping spot, get set up, and I’ll be back first thing in the morning?’ Sophie said. She turned to her friends. ‘This is Jill, our driver—’ she indicated the Australian girl with the warm brown eyes ‘—and this is Amelia.’ The English girl lifted her hand in a wave.

Jill was sun-bronzed and athletic and exuded confidence. Sophie, the Scottish girl, was shorter and curvier, with wild red curls escaping from under a slouchy beanie, freckles across her nose, and an infectious grin. Amelia was slim and elegant, her long dark hair pulled back in a practical ponytail, dressed neatly in hiking trousers and a fitted T-shirt.

Sassy had no hesitation hiring Sophie. ‘I’m Sassy.’ She extended her hand. ‘Welcome to Garnet Creek. And thank you—you’ve saved my sanity.’

###

Twenty minutes later, the three girls were loading their shopping into Vera in the shade of the only tree on the main street.

‘I still can’t believe I got a job,’ Sophie said, handing Amelia a bag of groceries. ‘We literally just arrived.’

‘That’s the outback for you,’ Jill said with a grin, stacking tins of beans into one of the plastic storage crates they’d secured to the floor of the van. ‘Besides, we need the money if we’re going to make it to Winton. I couldn’t believe the entry price when I looked it up last night.’

Amelia climbed into the van, carefully stepping over the foam mattresses they’d laid out in the back. ‘Do you think Vera will make it as far as Winton?’ she asked, patting the interior wall with affection mixed with concern. ‘I looked at Google Maps. It’s a long way from here. She’s been making some interesting noises over the past few days.’

‘Course she will,’ Jill said confidently. ‘Dylan knows his mechanics. He rebuilt half this engine himself, and he went over every inch of it before I left Brisbane. This old girl’s got plenty of life left in her.’

Sophie hoisted herself up into the back. ‘Your brother’s a legend, Jill. Seriously. If this thing broke down out here, we’d be completely stuffed.’

‘He made sure that won’t happen,’ Jill assured her. ‘Besides, he gave me his number for emergencies, and he’d drive out here himself if we needed him.’

A flush crept up Amelia’s neck at the mention of Dylan. She busied herself arranging the groceries, hoping the others wouldn’t notice. Jill had Face-Timed her brother a couple of times, getting him to walk them through maintenance checks. Amelia had been in frame for most of those calls, and Dylan had been patient and funny, explaining everything clearly, teasing Jill mercilessly, and smiling at Amelia in a way that made her stomach flip. Even through a phone screen, he was absolutely gorgeous. And she’d been utterly tongue-tied the entire time, managing mostly nods and the occasional squeaky ‘right, okay.’

‘Earth to Amelia,’ Sophie teased. ‘You’ve been staring at that tin of tomatoes for a full minute.’

‘I was um... making sure it was in the crate properly,’ Amelia said quickly.

Jill raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment, slamming the back doors shut. ‘Right, let’s go find this free camp.’

They piled into the front, Jill in the driver’s seat, Sophie riding shotgun, and Amelia wedged in the middle on the engine cover that served as a third seat. Vera roared to life with a satisfying rumble, and they headed back through town.

Garnet Creek was a cluster of buildings situated on the flat, red earth. The bitumen ended abruptly at the edge of town, giving way to red dirt roads that stretched out into the endless flat landscape. Beyond that, scrub and sky and the kind of space that made you feel pretty insignificant.

The population sign said 200. It looked like it might have said 400 once and had been crossed out.

‘There.’ Amelia pointed past the buildings. ‘That must be it.’

The building rose up against the fading afternoon sky like something out of a fever dream. The old Royal Hotel was a two-storey structure that had once been grand but now stood in various states of decay. The weatherboard walls were painted in faded pastels—pale yellow and mint green—though the paint was peeling away in long strips. The corrugated iron roof was a patchwork of rust, red-brown and orange in the slanting afternoon sunlight. A wide verandah wrapped around both levels, the railings listing at precarious angles, some balusters missing entirely.