Berry Flavours Page 4

  No way!

  Her hurried side step didn’t go unnoticed. The desolation on his face changed in an instant, the glitter in his eyes spooky with madness. He reached for her arm.

  She lifted it out of his way. “I’ll leave right away,” she said. “I won’t hold you to my contract.” She backed up a pace, giving herself as much distance as she could from the intense glare. “You won’t want me hanging around without anything to do. I understand. It’s okay. No hard feelings.”

  Greg stared her down for a moment. “You’ll be leaving us right in the shit. I’m not having that.” He spun on his heels and left.

  Clancy puffed out a breath. Things had just gone very bad. And not just for her, that was obvious. She had to get out of the place before bad went to omigod-so-much worse.

  She checked her phone for signal, waving it around the room. Nothing. She jumped up on the bed to hold it closer to the ceiling, but then of course she couldn’t see it. Frustrated, panicky, she stepped outside and on the edge of the verandah it tipped three bars – she’d have enough to call Berry Lockett, now her only ally – even if he didn’t know it – and beg for help. If she could raise him.

  And she hoped like hell she could. To drag her luggage four kilometres to the gate was not a great thought. And then what – hitch a ride from passing traffic?

  Maybe she should try and get Mac to drive her back to the pub. But approaching him right now would not be a good idea. So far he hadn’t stopped bellowing about the place, venting his anguish.

  She pushed her hands into her pockets searching for Berry’s card. Nothing. Where the hell had she put it?

  In her jeans from yesterday, balled up in the backpack.

  She could hear more bellowing from down the hall, rage and hysteria. Clearly both men were not just a little unhinged. The only thing to do was to get out now. On foot. Somehow.

  She’d have to wait to call Berry somewhere on the track.

  After figuring a way to move all her stuff – backpack on back, wheelie bag dragging behind, laptop secured to wheelie bag, handbag strap over her head and slung across her body, arm socket ready for severe damage – she was just about ready to don her walkers and outfit herself with the bags when her email alert pinged.

  She rushed at the machine and there it was. Berry had answered.

  No problem. Let me know when & I’m there.

  She tapped out a harried reply, hoping against hope that he hadn’t sent an email and shut his machine off.

  Now. Please. I’m starting to walk towards the gate.

  An anxious minute or so and a reply came.

  Yr mobile no...?

  She keyed in her number, and typed –

  I will start walking now. Text me & thank you.

  She gathered her gear and set it at the top of the verandah steps. Taking a deep breath she went in search of Mac Thomas and found him at the kitchen table.

  “I’m very sorry, Mac. It’s a terrible blow.”

  He barely raised his head from the table. “What would you know?” His eyes looked like a bloodhound’s, his face had turned a shade of pale and sweat had popped on his forehead.

  “Are you feeling all right?”

  “Just bugger off out of it.”

  “Right.” There wasn’t anything much to say after that.

  He barely nodded.

  She let her breath out and winged it down the hallway. When she got to her room, Greg was sitting on the bed, staring out the open verandah door.

  Her blood froze.

  “Leaving right now?” He swung to look at her.

  “I just told your dad. And um, he doesn’t look very—”

  “Walking with all that stuff?” He pointed to her luggage outside.

  “I didn’t want to bother anyone.”

  “I’ll bring the car around. Drive you back.”

  She hesitated. Her phone pinged in her pocket. She checked. Berry.

  Meet u on their track.

  “Look, thanks, but I should be fine. I lug this stuff everywhere, all the time.” She moved past him and out onto the verandah. The heat coming off him was palpable. She couldn’t run without her stuff – though she felt like it. She couldn’t leave all her worldly possessions behind, not this time. She’d actually have nothing if she did that.

  “I said I’ll bring the car around.” He followed, stepped off the verandah and shouldered past her, striding around the corner of the house.

  Clancy tried to calm herself, strapped the laptop securely to the wheelie bag. Her hands shook but grabbing the backpack and shrugging into it gave her flight some strength. The handbag strap looped over her head and shoulder and the bag fitted snugly against her body. She clutched the wheelie bag handle and set off down the steps, wanting to get a little distance between her and the house.

  She had no clue how far away Berry would be. She just began marching resolutely down the track hoping he’d appear like she hadn’t hoped for anything in a very long time.

  She’d hardly gone a hundred metres. How the bloody hell she thought she was going to be able to drag all this stuff – her back already ached under the weight of the pack, the wheelie bag finding every bump and rock in the road. But the very thought of being stranded here with two extremely angry and disconsolate men drove her on.

  Where was Berry? How far did he have to come?

  She heard both vehicles at once. She saw a huge four-wheel drive sweep the bend ahead of her at the same time she knew Greg must be driving behind her. She glanced around. Sure enough, the vehicle which Mac Thomas had driven to bring her to the estate was speeding up the drive.

  She struggled off the track as Greg pulled up first. He snarled through the window. “Get in.”

  She swiveled to see Berry – she hoped it was Berry – about two hundred metres away.

  “Thanks. I’ll wait for Berry,” she said.

  Greg glanced up the track at the approaching vehicle then leaned towards her across the passenger seat. “Don’t do this. We need you back at the homestead. Get in.”

  Clancy, her heart pounding, watched Berry roaring up fast. “No. It’s okay, I’ll go with Berry.” She stepped back on the verge, still loaded with everything, afraid to let go of any of her stuff.

  Berry skewed his car to a halt just shy of touching the bullbar on Greg’s vehicle. He got out, stood for a moment and stretched.

  Greg shoved open his door and shot out to face his neighbour. “You’re on my property.” He hadn’t moved beyond the hood of his car.

  Berry nodded at Clancy. “You all right?” When she nodded in return, he opened the back door, took the wheelie bag from her and loaded it in. The rest she did herself. He turned back to Greg. “Not for long.”

  “Clancy.”

  “It wasn’t working for me, Greg.” She got in to the passenger side of Berry’s vehicle, crossed her arms because her heart was beating so hard she feared it would leap out of her chest. She stared resolutely ahead. Unfortunately she was facing back the way she’d come.

  “Lockett—”

  “Don’t know what’s going on, Greg. I’m just taking her back to the bus.” Berry wasted no time getting back behind the wheel, reversing, taking a wide turn and driving out the way he’d come.

  Clancy watched Greg in the side mirror. He remained in the middle of the road for some moments then he got into his car and tore back to the homestead. She took a deep breath. “Thank you. I’m sorry I called on you. An imposition, I know but I—”

  “No imposition.” Berry looked across at her. “Nothing broken?”

  “Only their restaurant.” She stared at the dashboard. In her head she was still stuck on the side of the road with nowhere to go. Her heartbeat hadn’t slowed and the unnamed threat of Greg Thomas was still with her. “The truck carrying all their new gear rolled over last night, wrecking the total fit-out, apparently.”

  “Shit.”

  Clancy gazed out the window, not really seeing the miles of vines happily uniform
and leafy across the stretch of land to her left. “It was getting a wee bit weird there. Understatement.”

  “Right.” Berry kept his eyes on the road. “So, you know there’s no bus until tomorrow. I can take you back to the pub and you can get a room there tonight—”

  She shot him a look. “You said they own that place, too.”

  “Or maybe you’d like to look over my place and I’ll drop you at the pub tomorrow in time for the bus.”

  Clancy hoped she hadn’t gone frying-pan hopping again. “Do you have somewhere for me to stay overnight?”

  “There’s a small bedsit just off my restaurant. Used to be where I’d camp when I was building my house.”

  “Sounds perfect. I can pay.” Clancy loosened the grip her arms had across her chest. She leaned back in her seat glad for the headrest. “I won’t get in your way. I’m just sorry I had to call on you for some help.”

  “Glad of it, might even put you to work to cover my good deed.”

  Clancy turned to look at him. “If I can be useful.”

  “There’s always something.” He gave her a quick glance. “I suppose I should fill you in on what I do.”

  She liked his voice; it was calming. He was calm; his whole demeanor was at ease, comfortable. She checked his hands on the steering wheel. Big knuckled, tanned and supple, stained with red dirt. Or maybe grape juice.

  “You do vines and wines, restaurant, freshwater cray. And moving land boundaries.”

  “Ah, seems you’ve already had the low-down.” He smiled across at her. “Yes, I have vines. Red grape varieties. I have the wines made to suit me. Luckily others enjoy them as well.”

  She let out another breath when they turned right out of the driveway and on to the dirt road. “Even after only one night at the Thomas’s, that is a very good feeling. Too uncomfortable back there.”

  He nodded, glanced across at her. “Now, my restaurant. That’s really something. I only open three nights a week in the slow season, and four in the busy season. Closed always Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays.”

  “Nice.” She sat straighter in her seat, jiggled around to loosen herself up. “So today is a day off.”

  “A day off from people coming to have dinner. But there’s always plenty of work. And today we get ready for the rest of the week’s food service. I’ll show you around when we get there.”

  “How far?”

  “Three ks.” He tossed another glance her way. “And there’ll be staff around later on. You won’t be on your own.”

  Clancy nodded. “Thank you.” She rubbed her face hard for a moment, lightheaded with relief.

  “You don’t need the cops or anything?”

  “Oh no.” She faced him. “It’s just... Greg came to my room—”

  Berry turned to her sharply.

  “—to tell me about the truck. And from there it all went downhill. Mac was... Well, distraught is not a strong enough word. And I wasn’t sure if Greg hadn’t flipped out a little bit. Somehow.”

  Berry maintained his silence for a moment. Then, “He can be a hot-head of sorts.”

  “I have a very different word to describe him.”

  Berry’s chin tucked into his chest. “And you’re sure you don’t need the cops?”

  This time Clancy took note. “I’m sure. Why? Has there been a problem before now?”

  “Nothing I have any proof of.”

  “Would have been nice to know.” She dropped her face into her hands for a second or two again.

  “Just rumours. Might also be clouded by the fact we are battling in court just after Christmas and I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them.”

  It was Clancy’s turn to nod and remain silent. She focused on the difference in the landscape a few kilometres made. The expanse of vines had grown and on the other side of the road she could see netted ponds dotting the paddocks for miles. “What are they for? Some sort of water catchment?”

  “That’s where we farm the crays. ‘Marron’ they’re called in this part of the world. Brought here by farmers years ago from West Australia to be fattened in their dams. They escaped to the waterways and today we have a new industry.”

  “Sort of a feral native food.”

  Berry nodded. “A different way of putting it.”

  “Is that all you serve at the restaurant?”

  “No. But it’s our mainstay. I’ll introduce you to the chef; have her show you around. She’ll be in sometime later.”

  Clancy smiled at him. She couldn’t help it. His face lit up as he glanced at her and he grinned back. She even believed the quickening of her heartbeat was with delight.

  What a ridiculous notion.

  Chapter Six

  Berry had driven right up to the restaurant itself, parked at the side. He got out, opened the back door and hauled out her wheelie bag.

  She stepped out of the vehicle. “Wow. An oasis amidst the vines.”

  The place was built to look like a huge tin hut. Roughly hewn beams were exposed over windows and doorways, and an open verandah area with a galvanised iron roof spanned the length of the building as cover for al fresco dining.

  “It looks great. Can’t wait to see inside.”

  Berry grunted pulling out the backpack. “Jeez, how’d you lift this thing?”

  She grabbed her laptop and handbag. “Clutching my worldly possessions, I ran for my life.”

  “Wouldn’t have got far. Weighs a ton.” He headed to a doorway at the back of the building, hefting the pack with him. Not needing a key, he turned the handle and pushed the door open. “Not a palace, but it has a bed and a bathroom, hot and cold water.” He dumped her bag inside and turned for the wheelie bag. “I didn’t need cooking facilities so there isn’t a kitchen in here. You might have to come up home when you need food. Restaurant won’t be open till late tomorrow.” He stopped and looked at her. “But I suppose you’ll be gone by then.”

  It felt odd to hear that said. Clancy nodded, looked around her, hoping she was conveying her gratitude. “This is great of you.”

  “I’ll bring some sheets and stuff for the bed,” he said. “There are heaps in the house.”

  “I’ll come up and get it. Don’t bother yourself.” She thrust her hands into her pockets and stood in the doorway.

  “When you’re ready. I’ll drive the car back to the shed and head over there now.” Berry pointed to the house some distance away, but he didn’t move off.

  She stepped into the little flat, brushing past him. It was just a bedsit, as he’d said, and she could see the shower and the toilet through an open door off to the left. “It looks fine.”

  He, too, dug his hands into his pockets. “Come and have lunch with me. I’ll fiddle about in the kitchen at the house and see what I come up with. Half an hour.”

  “Sounds good.” She swung back to him and smiled.

  “Right.” And he was gone.

  Clancy sat down on the bare bed. Shook her head just so. Was it barely thirty minutes ago she was wondering how she was ever going to feel safe again?

  *

  Berry leaned on the bench in his house kitchen, his heart thumping audibly. What the hell was he going to do now? She’d called on him, he’d charged in on his white steed and now she was on his property.

  He’d known her a day or so. Less if you counted last night’s sleeping time. But she’d been on his mind the whole time, even while he was sleeping.

  Rommy nudged his leg.

  “I’m standing in the kitchen. It doesn’t automatically follow you’ll get something to eat.”

  Rommy knew differently so he just sat. Waited.

  Berry went to the fridge. Come for lunch, he said. Half an hour, he said. Why look in the bloody fridge when you know it’s empty, he said.

  The empty fridge didn’t look any different no matter how hard he looked at it. Rommy took a cursory glance at it then back at Berry.

  “Failed miserably there, boy,” Berry said. “Come on, we’ll have
to go raid the shop.” Rommy knew ‘shop’. That was the restaurant kitchen. He trotted along beside Berry as they headed out the door and down the dirt track back to the shop.

  Berry left Rommy at the kitchen door.

  Inside, the chef was poking about in the coolroom. Berry called through the sliding door. “Heidi, I need something quick and easy for two – how about three or four decent sized tails, the lemon and grape sauce and a salad?”

  Heidi looked out. “Hey, Berry. Sure. You want me to plate it up?”

  “Uh, no—”

  “Or I can just give it to Clancy here to take up with her.” Heidi opened the coolroom door to reveal Clancy with her hands full.

  Clancy stared at him. “I saw there was someone in the kitchen and I just thought I’d—”

  “She came in to say hello. Good thing too. I’ve been at you long enough to find another chef and I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to reach the stove.” Heidi patted her large pregnant belly with one hand and with the other she took a platter from Clancy and handed it to Berry. “There’s the tails. I’ll get a salad.”

  Clancy came out of the coolroom carrying pots of Berry’s signature salad sauce. She closed the door with her foot. “Whole place looks good. Smaller than I thought.” She followed Heidi into the kitchen.

  Berry nodded. “Thirty seats max,” he called after her. Her hair was scrunched atop her head; she wore a very nicely fitted T-shirt under one of Heidi’s aprons, new looking jeans and sneakers.

  The girls must have worked quickly. He reckoned he’d only been gone twenty minutes.

  Clancy as his new chef. He felt good about the idea.

  He stood at the coolroom looking after them, the platter still in his hand. He hadn’t even interviewed her... well, that’s what lunch could be about. He had to find out if she could cook.

  And just who was he kidding? If she wanted the job it was hers. If she could cook. He could look at her all day long. Trouble was it was going to get pretty tricky around here in the next couple of weeks.