Water pipes vibrate inside the wall near my room. It’s how I know someone is taking a shower. I get dressed and head out to the kitchen not sure who I’ll find.
Dad looks up from reading the paper at the table. A dirty frying pan sits on the stove. “Morning, love. I didn’t hear you come in last night.”
“Hey.” I lean over and kiss him on the top of his head. “I changed my mind. Decided not to go out.”
He gives me a pointed look as though he knows something’s up. He’s recognised the signs since I was a little girl.
“You sound chirpy. So, I’m guessing last night went well.”
He winks at me, and I don’t want to think about it further.
“I was thinking maybe Bernadette might like to stay tonight as well,” I say, thinking about Chance’s message. I’ve taken the worst risk by opening my heart to trust Reef, so not much else can scare me. A road trip should be a piece of cake.
“We only planned one night. Taking it slow and all. But we really hit it off, and slow is for you young folk because time isn’t on our side. Guess there’s no harm in asking her.”
“Well, if not, it’s fine. I was trying to be spontaneous. And since you’re always telling me to go out, I had an idea. Remember the road trip with Chance Bateman I was telling you about?”
“Vaguely.”
“It’s today. He sent me a message earlier this morning. I thought it might be a good chance for me to get away for a weekend. One night only. But if you don’t want me to go—”
“Go pack your stuff.” Dad takes my hand from his shoulder and squeezes it. “Even if she weren’t here, I’d tell you to go. You don’t have to worry so much now I’m off the beer.”
“Are you sure?” I slide into the chair next to him to gauge if he’s sincere.
“Yes. I’m happy you’re agreeing to do this. Go… have some fun. And don’t worry about whoever put the sad look in your eyes.”
I stand and want to tell him there’s no-one to worry about, but I know better than to lie to him. “I’ll do my best,” I say and head to my room.
“Where’s the furthest you’ve travelled inland?” Chance asks me.
We’re two hours into the road trip, and I’m loving the rolling green hills of farms dotted with windmills and the fields painted yellow with canola in flower.
“Not far. I mean as a young girl, we travelled around since my dad drove trucks, but I barely remember and haven’t travelled much since I was a teenager.”
“You haven’t seen Uluru?” Adele asks.
“Nope.”
“An hour’s drive from here, and the landscape changes reminding you of central Australia. Red dirt, scattered saltbush, and kangaroos.”
I’m sitting in the middle seat in the back. Leaning forward, I place my arm on the back of Adele’s seat, so I can talk to them better. “What are you planning when you arrive in Broken Hill?”
“We’re staying at Zane’s, or we might camp out tonight. He has everything under control. But we’ll head out to Silverton tomorrow. There’s an artist I want to see, and I thought you’d like to meet some of the locals.”
Adele rolls her eyes at Chance. “Don’t get excited,” she says to me. “Mad Max was filmed there and for good reason.”
“Oh, okay. I don’t care what we do. I’m happy to be here and visit somewhere new.”
Chance catches my eye in the review mirror. “I’ve brought an extra case because I hope to pick up some art supplies to take back with me.”
“Art supplies? Why there?”
Adele laughs. “Because he’s weird. I call it a pile of junk he collects to make his so-called sculptures. I’ll get Silverton up on my phone, so you can see some of the local artists and what they do. Then you won’t be so surprised when we take you tomorrow.”
Two more hours pass, and I’m shocked by the vast nothingness. The road barely bends—one straight line heading to nowhere. The times when I checked my phone came up with SOS only. Perfect. Somewhere far away from Reef and with a guy who makes me smile with his voracious enthusiasm for life.
Out of the vast nowhere are rocky hills leading us around blind bends, and Adele points out goats too close to the road.
“Damn, they’re cute,” Chance says. I smile at his reflection in the rear-view mirror at the way his dimples deepen when he’s amused.
“Yeah, but not as much as bunnies,” I add.
“Nope. I’d love one of these.” He points to a kid following the mother and father on the edge munching the grass. Through the sunny haze, buildings hover in the distance, out in the middle of nowhere.
“Why here?” Looking out both windows, I’m failing to see the appeal with all the red dirt.
Chance shrugs. “As kids, Dad took us camping to different places. We met Zane out on a station one year when they opened up for families to camp and experience life on an outback farm. Zane, Kristen, and Steele made the experience far more fun than I think it would have been otherwise for kids our age. The station was owned by a family friend of Zane’s. What was that guy’s name?”
“Luke,” Adele says. “And the station was Whitehaven.”
“Yep. We saw him a couple of times before he went to boarding school in Adelaide. We met up with Zane on several occasions when his family visited Melbourne on holidays. Another camping trip, and then when we left school, we made the trip back here to the town and stayed with his family. We’d drifted over the years until sis, here, decided to play pen pals with him.”
“Zane and I never drifted,” Adele tells him. “We wrote letters until I was allowed a phone. Unlike you, I was never too busy for friends.”
“I’m glad you said friends.” He glances at her momentarily before looking back to the road where speed signs indicate to slow down before entering the town.
Adele glances over her shoulder to me and rolls her eyes. She frowns after a few seconds. “Hey. Don’t be put off by what you see. The people are the friendliest here than anywhere I’ve been. You won’t feel awkward at all.”
I give a nervous laugh. She seems to have the same intuition as her brother. I settle back in my seat and ignore thoughts of being out of my depth.
We pull up outside an expansive brown brick house. It’s different than the corrugated iron and tin roof houses surrounding it. He beeps the horn, and seconds later, Zane emerges through the wooden front door with Kristen and Steele.
“What took you?” Zane shouts out.
With overnight bags over our shoulders, we step onto a gravel path. I stand back while Zane and Chance hug with a standard three slaps on the back. When Chance moves in to hug Kristen, Zane gives Adele a peck on the cheek and hugs her a few seconds longer than he did his mate.
“Macy,” he says, sounding genuinely pleased to see me, which lifts my spirit. “Glad you could make the trip. Be ready to be charmed.”
“By charmed, he means by him and not by the town,” Kristen says as in warning.
“She’s taken,” Chance pipes up. “She’s seeing our boy, Reef.”