Cowboy Town (11 page)

“Well, they’ll be here soon, so I better get this food cooking.  Are you okay with this?”  Jackson’s concerned voice pulls me from thoughts.

“Uh, yeah sure.  I’m sure it will be fine,” I give what I hope is a reassuring smile.  “What can I do to help?”

He gives me a relived smile.  “First, I’ll get you a drink.  Beer?  Wine?  What would you like?”

“I’ll have a beer, please,” I reply and then we set about finishing up the preparation of the massive feast.

Twenty minutes later, the front door bursts open and a mini version of Jackson and Jeremy storms through before skidding to a halt.

I take a deep breath in the hopes of dissipating my nerves.

“Oscar, you need to slow down and wait me for me, and I told you on the way over here that Uncle Jack had company so it was important for us to
knock,
remember?”  Jeremy chastises.

“Uncle Jack.  J-A-C-K,” he spells out his uncle’s name.

“Hey, buddy,” Jackson walks over and ruffles his nephews head affectionately.  “I’d like you meet a friend of mine,” he leads Oscar toward me and says, “This is Ace-,”

“Uh, actually, my name is Edie, Oscar.  It’s so good to finally meet you – your uncle has told me so much about you,” I cut Jackson off.

“Ace.  How does Oscar spell Ace, Dad?”

Jeremy looks uncomfortable for a minute, then he smirks and replies, “A-C-E, mate.”

“A-C-E, A-C-E, A-C-E,” Oscar chants.

“Oscar’s name is Oscar.  O-S-C-A-R.  You like Thomas?” Oscar asks.

“Um, yeah I gue-,”

“Thomas is a train.  T-H-O-M-A- S.” He runs off singing the Thomas the Tank Engine theme song.

I look at Jackson and then at Jeremy.  “He’s certainly full of energy.”

“Yeah, Oscar has Autism so don’t take it personally if he gets upset with something you say, or if he cuts you off like he just did.  He also has a short attention span – unless it’s something to do with Thomas the Tank Engine, then you can’t get him shut up,” Jeremy explains.

“Oh, okay,” I’d never known anyone with Autism before, but Oscar was super cute and even though I’d only known him fifteen minutes, I already had a soft spot for him.

“Gramps.  Gramps is here.  Gramps is here,” we hear being yelled from somewhere in the house.  Oscar comes tearing down the hallway and throws open the front door.  “Gramps. G-R-A-M-P-S.”

“G’day, buddy. How’s my boy?”  Where Oscar is the mini version of the brothers, their father is clearly the older version.  The Henley men obviously have strong genes because it’s evident Mrs. Henley and Oscar’s mother didn’t get a look in.  Speaking of which, I wonder who and where Oscar’s mum is.

“Come and see Thomas, Gramps,”

“In a minute, mate.  I think Gramps better go over and meet-,”

“Uncle Jack got new friend.  Ace.  A-C-E.  Ace tell Oscar she like Thomas.  Gramps come watch Thomas with Oscar now?”

“What about poor old Ma?  Doesn’t Ma get a hug from her favorite grandson?”  A beautifully put together lady walks in and shakes her head in mock forlornness.

“
Ma
!” Oscar yells.  “Want to watch Thomas with Oscar?”

“In a minute, sweetie.  You go on ahead and get it started.”  Oscar runs off back down the hallway as Mr. and Mrs. Henley make their way over to Jackson, Jeremy and I.

“Mum, Dad, I’d like you to meet-,”

“Eden Cross,” I cut Jackson off before he can introduce me to his parents as ‘Ace’.

I catch his smirk out of the corner of my eye, before I take his parents’ hands in turn and give them a firm shake.  “Eden, it’s lovely to finally meet you.  I’m Margaret Henley – you can call me Maggie.”

“Nice to meet you, Eden.  I’m Scott.”

“Please, call me Edie.  It’s so lovely to meet you both.”

With the pleasantries out of the way, we all sit down to the amazing meal Jackson prepared – roasted lamb with potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, beans, peas, corn on the cob and to top it off, there was gravy
and
mint sauce.  It was delicious.  Over dinner Maggie and Scott filled us in on their travels.  Apparently, they’d just gotten back from travelling down the Great Ocean Road in Victoria and they’d also spent four weeks travelling through Tasmania.  From the corner of my eye, I noticed Jackson’s head shoot up when I gush about how I’d love to travel to Tasmania and see Cradle Mountain.  Maggie tells me all about their Tasmanian adventure, while the boys talk amongst themselves (about farming, I think), but every now and then, I look up to find Jackson’s eyes trained on me.

“So, tell me a bit about yourself, Ace,” Jackson asks.  We’ve not long waved off his parents, brother and Oscar and now we’re sitting on his comfy lounge relaxing from the delicious dinner.

“Why don’t we play ‘question for question’?” I suggest.

“Right-o.  I’ll go first, what brought you to Pine Creek?”

“My car,” I deadpan.

“You’re so funny,” he pokes me in the ribs, eliciting a shriek from me.  “Answer the question.”

“Okay, okay.  I will, just stop poking me.  Well, I didn’t plan on coming here.  I didn’t really know where I was going.  I didn’t have a plan at all, to be honest.  I left Sydney in a rush after I caught my boyfriend cheating on me.  I had to get away.” I admit softly.

“Moron,” Jackson mutters.

“Pardon?”

“He’s a moron.  Any man who cheats on a woman is a scumbag, but a man who cheats on a woman who looks like you, well, he’s a fucking moron.  His loss is my gain though – you know, one man’s trash is another man treasure.”

“Uh, Jackson, I’m not sure I’m okay with you referring to me as trash,” I say giving him a chance to take it back or correct himself.

“Ace,
I
don’t think your trash, he’s a moron and didn’t look after his woman.  Now that woman is sitting in my lounge room, with me, on my lounge, playing ‘question for question’ and I’m thinking I’m pretty fuckin’ grateful for his moronic behavior because now, I get the treasure that he tossed out.”

“Oh,” I mouth.  Well, when he puts it like that…

“Your turn,” he looks at me expectantly.

“Hmm, tell me about the Station,” I say and then immediately, I regret it.  I should have asked him about Dannika – especially with the reply he gave just now about cheating men being scumbags and morons. 
Damn it.

“Well, I take care of the cropping side of things and Jeremy takes care of the cattle.  We’ve got a bunch of people who work for us, some permanent; others are backpackers looking for casual work.  We run Braham’s – they’re a breed of cattle with a large hump on their back,” he elaborates when he sees my confusion, “on Jeremy’s side and he uses helicopters to muster them.  Over this side with the cropping, we sow wheat, oats, barley and lucerne crops.  Some we make into hay to sell, some we leave for feed and some we harvest and sell to Corporations who make stock feed or human feed, such as your cereal or bread,” he finishes proudly.

“Wow, that’s awesome.  Maybe one day you’ll show me around,”

“We’ll talk about that later.  My turn: What’s your real name?”

“You already know the answer to that.  If you hadn’t heard it before, you certainly heard it when I told your parents.”

“Yeah, but I told you, I want you to tell me.”

“Eden Cross.  If you’re nice, I’ll let you call me Edie.  Speaking of names, you told me only you could me Ace, yet you let Oscar call me Ace.”

“Oscar is the exception to the rule.  Always.”

“I can see how that would be so.  Where’s his mum?”

“She took off when he was born.  Claire is her name.  Jeremy dated her for about a year, I guess.  They broke up amicably, and a couple of weeks later she found out she was pregnant.  She didn’t want the baby – wanted to give it up for adoption.  Jeremy said no way and anyways long story short, there were lawyers involved and contracts were exchanged.  Jeremy gave her the option of being in his life if she wanted to, she declined.  Left when Oscar was two days old – the same day Jeremy brought him home from hospital.  Haven’t heard from her since.”

“Oh my god,” I whisper.  “I thought you were going to tell me she was at their place sick in bed or something.  I didn’t expect that.”

“Yeah, it’s fucked up on her behalf but he’s a champion kid.  He loves the farm life and Jeremy spends most of his time helping him develop more social skills.  He’s come a long way in the last two years – before that, you couldn’t even look at him, even if he knew you.  Except for me, Jeremy and Dad, no one else could touch him, or talk to him without him initiating the conversation.  Jeremy does a great job with him.”

“I agree.  He’s such a beautiful kid.  A mini Jackson and Jeremy Henley; he’s going to be a heart breaker for sure,” I laugh

“You sayin’ I’m beautiful, Ace?  That I’m a heart breaker?” He grins his sexy, cheeky grin.

“No,” I scoff.

“My turn again,”

“What? Wait, I didn’t have my question.”  I want to ask him about Dannika.

“Yeah, you did.  You asked about Oscar’s mum.”

God fucking damn it!
I did, too.

We spend the next couple of hours asking questions back and forth and getting to know each other better.  We ask silly questions such as favorite color, as well as more serious questions.  I find out that Jackson’s favorite chocolate is Snickers, his favorite color is blue, and the station has been in his family for over a hundred years; it was passed onto him and Jeremy by his parents when they retired.  He built this house five years ago, while Jeremy and Oscar live a few kilometers away in the house the boys grew up in.  I still haven’t got around to asking about Dannika.

“So, I’ve been thinking about your earlier question,” Jackson murmurs.  Somehow, during our conversation, we’ve inched close to each other and now, our thighs our touching lightly and there a dull current of electricity running up and down my leg making it hard for me to concentrate.

“Oh?  What question?”

“You wanting to see more of the property.  I was thinking, you stay the night, I’ll take you out and about tomorrow, maybe even take you up in one the choppers, if you want.”

“Uh,” I baulk.  I’m not sure about staying overnight.  I mean, of course I would love to.  I never want to leave this place.  But something is stopping me.  I close my eyes and hear Jules’ voice in my head,

You know it deep down, Edie, but you’re too scared to admit it.  Jackson is the type of guy you could fall in love with.  My best friend a couple of years ago would have jumped right in feet first, knowing that even if the ride turned to shit, she still enjoyed it with no regrets.  You miss that ride, sweetie, you’re going to have regrets.  It might turn bad, it might not, you’ll never know unless you try and from what I seen last night and from what you’ve told me, he’s got it just as bad for you.  The only difference is, he isn’t afraid to admit it.

She’s so right.  She knows me better than I know myself.  I can’t remember exactly when it was that I lost myself, or if there was a defining moment, but I can’t deny it.  I did lose myself.  The person I was is not the person I am today.  The good thing is I can feel some of her starting to come back.  Edie a few years ago would never have baulked at being asked by Jackson to spend the night. 

“I need to know about Dannika,” I say meeting his eyes.

“Whatever you want to know,” he states immediately.

Well, I wasn’t expecting
that
reaction.  “Uh, are you two together?  That first night I met you, she seemed to think you were cheating on her …” I trail off.

“Dannika and I were together for about a year.  She spent that time accusing me of cheating on her – something I
never
did, or would do.  I’m not a cheater and never have been.  I spent that time reassuring her that I was not and
would
not cheat on her.  I got sick of constantly explaining where I’d been, what I’d been doing and who I was doing it with.  I also got fed up with being accused of something I wouldn’t do, but despite how many times I told her, she still didn’t believe me.  The other week when she came storming into the pub, we weren’t together.  We’d discussed getting back together, she promised she’d changed, she begged me for a second chance so I said I’d think about it.  I didn’t want to get back with her because I didn’t believe she’d changed and to be honest, our relationship was not based on love -
from either side
.  For me, it was convenience, and I know that sounds harsh but it’s true. For her, I have no idea, but I have a feeling she wanted to be a farmer’s wife and live a life of luxury.    With that stunt she pulled, she proved me right; she hadn’t changed.  I took her outside, we sat and talked and I told her that I’d never get back with her because, among other things I’d found out where her insecurities come from.  See, she constantly accused me of cheating so that I wouldn’t cotton on to the fact that
she
was actually cheating on
me
for the entirety of our relationship.”

“I had you pegged wrong from the beginning,” I murmur, stunned.

“Is that so?” He chuckles.

“Yeah, I thought you’d be a player.  I told myself to stay right away from you,” I admit sheepishly.

“So are you going to answer my question?”