Coming Home (7 page)

"Just you keep
your hands off of our Kate," Essie snapped. "That girl has her head
on straight and is too good to join the ranks of the skanky girls that follow
you around."

"Are you serious?
Listen to yourself. You aren't her damned mother and if I want to ask her out I
will."

"I've looked out
for that girl since she first came to work for your father. Don't go giving her
a hard time or you'll have me to deal with." Essie waved her rolling pin
in his direction and he glanced at Russ for help, worried she would hit him
with it for his remarks.

"I really don't think
she’s your type. Kate is too down to earth for you from what I've seen clinging
to your arm on the news. She’s a country girl and not used to someone like
you." He walked over to the fridge, opened it and took out a beer.
"Want to join me on the front veranda for a cold drink?"

"Sure, why
not?" Cade winked at Essie who still frowned in his direction and followed
Russ out through the hallway to the front veranda. He hobbled over to a large
wicker chair and leaned down into it. Dropping his crutches on the wooden
floor, he reached up and took the cold beer offered to him.

His mind went back to
the swaying hips encased in tight blue denim. Young Kate had certainly grown
up. It was hard to keep the smile from his face as he let his imagination run
wild picturing her in his bed.

"Cade, are you
listening? I said we need to talk about the funeral tomorrow."

Russ sat in the chair beside
him and screwed the top from his bottle before taking a long drink. "So,
what are the plans after tomorrow?"

Cade looked out over
the front lawn and shrugged his shoulders. "No idea."

"I've got an
appointment at the hospital the day after the funeral to meet the NUM—Nurse
Unit Manager—to get a guided tour before I start. Should be interesting. Make a
change from Sydney that's for sure."

"You will die a
slow, boring death here, Russ. I can't believe the old man did this to
us." He shook his head and lifted his bottle for another drink, halting as
it reached his lips. "I wonder if there is any way we can fight it?"

Russ looked at his
brother and wondered how they had come from the same parents. Why Cade couldn't
take things as they were never ceased to amaze him. Always the one to rock the
cart, he had to change everything to suit himself.

"I'm pretty sure
Dad would have considered every angle of doing what he did, and Tory is pretty
switched on, you know that. You wouldn't get him to look over your contracts if
he wasn't."

"Yeah, well it was
worth a thought. I don't know how I can make it work for me though. I need to
be in the city. Training isn't something I do when I feel like it. We have a
routine, you know."

"Look, Tory
already said you don't have to be here every day. You could work it out if you
really wanted to." He crossed his ankles and leaned back against the
cushions feeling relaxed for the first time in months. "You don't have to
be back in the city for...six weeks or so…to see the doctor about your
knee?"

"Yeah, about
that…look, I don't want to discuss it today." Bitterness crept into his
voice and Russ glanced his way.

"Well you have
that long to relax and make up your mind. Just remember there is more to
consider than yourself in this situation. Rooney might be ready to come home
and she deserves a chance to make up her own mind."

"We'll see."

They sat on the veranda
talking off and on for the next couple of hours, watching the sun dip in the
sky. Russ was almost asleep when the sharp tattoo of boots on the wooden
veranda startled him.

"I told you to
move your car, Cade. Give me the keys or do it yourself, but do it now or I'll
hook it up to the tractor and pull it out." She stood over him, her jaw
set in a hard line.

"Aw come on,
Katie. Don't be like that." Cade smiled at her, trying to work his usual
magic but she was immune to his charms.

"Keys." She
held out her hand.

"No one drives my
baby, no one." He leaned down and grabbed his crutches. "I fail to
see why you should have the shed anyway. I believe I own this place along with
my brother and sister. Shouldn't that mean something?"

"No, not to me. I
live here too and the sheds have always been for farming equipment. Not that
you would know that since your life is no longer here. If you want your car out
of the weather, park it in the barn." She turned on her heel and walked
away. "I'm hooking up the tractor in 10-9-8-7…" her voice faded away
as she rounded the back of the house.

Russ chuckled, loving
the way she got under Cade’s skin and rattled him. "She’s not going to act
like your other groupie girlfriends, not by a long shot."

"How the hell do
you know what my girlfriends act like? It's not like you've met any of
them." Cade stood and headed inside.

"No," Russ
said softly to himself. "We were never invited into your circle to mix
with them." When Cade had become one of the popular boys in the local
league club, he’d changed, and slowly but surely stepped away from his old
friends to hang out with the popular kids. That had always stuck in Russ's
throat.

"So tell me,
Rooney, apart from seeing Stevie again and having to explain why you didn't
tell him about his daughter, what's stopping you from moving back home?"

She looked across the table
at him as he shovelled spaghetti in his mouth. While she’d cooked dinner,
Rooney had run through her excuses in her head, arguing and changing her mind
more times than she could count. "Seeing Stevie again is going to hurt. I
trusted him and he let me down. "She put down her fork on the edge of the
plate and crossed her arms. "Look, I think it could be a good move for us,
but things have been happening in the city. Pete came to see me the other day
and gave me some devastating news. Julie has Alzheimer's."

"Oh God, I'm so
sorry. I know how much you love those two." He sighed and shook his head.

"Yeah, it was
pretty tough. Anyway, you know I was saving up for a deposit to buy the
business?" She took a deep breath. "Well, someone offered Pete good
money to walk away and he has."

"Shit."

"Yeah."
Rooney rubbed her hands over her face. "Not that I blame him in the
slightest, you understand. The thought of having my own business has kept me
going. I'm not sure I want to work for someone else after having free rein for
the last year or so."

"I can lend you
the money to buy your own practice, Rooney, you know that." He smiled at
her and dropped his gaze back to his plate.

"And you know the
answer too, Tory. I want to do this on my own, same as raising my daughter. I
don't want to have to lean on anyone. Please don't take it personally."
She chewed her bottom lip. "You were the only one who did understand. I
haven't changed."

"Yeah, I know. But
the offer is there any time you decide differently."

Tory wiped his mouth
with a napkin and met her gaze, a smile lifting the corners of his mouth.

"What?" She
leaned forward, grabbing his arm across the table. "Tell me."

"Do you remember
old man Skillings, the vet out on Putty Road?"

"Uh uh, he was the
grumpy guy, if I recall. Hated doing house calls, didn't he?"

"That's the one.
Well, he retired recently and because of the terrible state of his practice,
it’s still on the market." Tory watched her let the words set in.

"What do you mean
by the terrible state of his practice? What's wrong with it?" A buzz raced
under her skin and her brain worked, already sensing an alternative prospect.

"He should have
retired long ago, Rooney. His health hasn't been good for quite a while, and
that impacted on how he treated customers. I hear he was pretty bitter towards
the end and lost most of his customers to the other vets in Rutherford."
Tory took a sip of the red wine he’d brought home for dinner. Placing his glass
down, he spoke again. "The place is dirty and needs some tender loving care.
As far as I know all the equipment is still there, although I don't know how
good it will be after all this time."

"That's not a bad
idea. It could be just what I need. Let's face it…it’s probably all I can
afford anyway." She met his gaze and felt a moment of panic. Tory wore his
heart in his eyes and she’d been too wrapped up in her own problems to notice.
Some friend she’d turned out to be. "I'll call the agent first thing in
the morning. I might be able to have a look early, that way I can talk to my
brothers with some idea of what I'm going to do."

"It will be good
for Tamara to come back to family, Rooney."

"Yes, I know that.
I worry sometimes that it's my fault she’s missing out on having a family
around."

"It doesn't have
to be that way."

"What do you
mean?"

"You could marry
me, Rooney." He held up his hand when she opened her mouth to speak.
"Just hear me out here. We get on great, always have. I know we could be
happy together. I have my practice set up and doing well. You wouldn't want for
anything—either of you."

He gazed into her eyes
and took her hand across the table. "We could make it work, Rooney."

"I would want for
love, Tory."

"No, you wouldn't.
I love you. I always have." His gaze turned pleading and she looked down
at their hands, not loving how this conversation was going.

"I love you too,
Tory but not like that. I'm sorry, I didn't realise you felt that way about me.
I always thought of you as my best friend, not a boyfriend."

"Yeah well, silly
me for not pushing you then. I figured you would fall for me eventually if I
gave you time to get over Stevie." He squeezed her fingers before letting
go of her hands and reached for his wine. "I'm always here for you, don't
forget that."

"I know and I
appreciate it more than I can say. I don't want to lose you as my best
friend." A wave of sadness washed over her and she worried things would
change.

"Not likely. I'll
live in hope you change your mind and realise I'm the man for you."

Rooney stood and picked
up his empty plate. He grabbed her arm before she could walk away. "Forget
I said anything, okay?"

"Sure, no
problem." Things would never be the same again as far as she was
concerned. Each time she reached for a friend to lean on, she would see the
pleading look on his face as he lay his heart in front of her, only to be
brushed aside.

There was no point
pretending to feel something for him she couldn't. Rooney was honest even if it
seemed harsh at times. Tory knew that and he would just have to deal with it.

"Do you want me to
take you to the funeral tomorrow?" He walked up behind her and grabbed the
tea towel to dry the dishes as she washed.

"That would be
great. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle everything." She passed him a
dripping plate. "Are you sure you want to do that? I don't want you to
feel you have to do everything for me."

"Things aren't
going to change, Rooney. I'll still be there for you. You just won't see my
bleeding heart. I'm not the type to put it on show, if you get me."

"Thanks
."
How the hell is this going to work now? Every time I look at Tory, I’ll see him
professing his love for me. This could be the death of our friendship and I
don't want to lose him like this.

Kate stood under the
large fig tree tapping her boot, making patterns in the dust when Cade hobbled
around the corner, a sexy smile on his face. The guy knew he was drop dead
gorgeous. It pissed her off he was trying to use his charms to get what he
wanted so soon after arriving back home, as though nothing had changed. He
stopped in front of her and lifted a hand, brushing back the blond locks
falling over his eyes.

The aching in her
stomach returned with a punch, knocking the wind out of her with a soft groan.
She pushed down the sound as best she could with a cough but she was too late.
Mortification rolled in her stomach and Kate cursed the heat racing up her
cheeks. The light in Cade’s eyes showed he’d heard and thought he’d made
another conquest.

"Well now, little
Kate. You didn't have to go all growl and bossy to get a moment alone with me.
You could have just asked nicely." He smiled, tilting his head to one side
and watching her.

"Get over
yourself, Cade. If I wanted you—which I don't and make no bones about it—I
wouldn't be shy about it. All I want is for you to move that damned car before
I'm forced to do it myself." She narrowed her eyes and curled her lip.
"Don't expect me to act like a soppy little girl tripping around after
you, begging for a moment of your time, sport. That finished when I grew up and
you walked away from your family to further your…" she held her fingers up
and wiggle them, "…own career."