In the morning, Tilly rose early to make a batch of rock cakes (the cake supply tended to dwindle between her turns as cook). She packed some, still warm, with Graeme’s lunch, mentally thanking Providence for the tender supply of corned beef in the fridge as she made his sandwiches. Somebody had got it right at last – half-done meat seemed to be the metier of her fellow cooks. Luke had refuelled Sophie’s vehicle, and Graeme and Sophie left straight after breakfast, him with an impressive-looking camera slung about his neck.

Luke, having fed the cocky chicks, was the next to go, which left only Matt still at table.

‘Will you be needing your lunch today?’ Tilly asked. She found it hard to speak naturally to him and was relieved when he nodded.

‘Yeah. I’ll be workin’ at the camp. Ain’t worth drivin’ back just to eat.’ She felt his eyes on her and looked up to see them slide away. ‘What was the big confab about last night then?’

‘With Graeme and Sophie? I’ve no idea. I was clearing up.’

‘Later,’ he grunted. ‘I saw Sophie go into your room.’

‘Oh.’ Tilly, taken aback, searched for an answer. ‘Really, Matt, wouldn’t that be my business? If you must know,’ she improvised wildly, ‘I’ve suggested to my mum that she come up for a visit. Sophie agrees she needs a break and we were working out how to present it to her.’

‘Right, well. What d’you reckon about this McGuire bloke? Think he’ll go for it?’

‘I’ve really no idea,’ Tilly said primly. ‘Could you make your own lunch? I’d like to get on. That vegie garden looks like it hasn’t had a weed pulled from it in weeks. And I see there’s some laundry waiting as well.’

Once he too had left, Tilly was glad to have the place to herself, the tourists coming and going hardly counting, their interruptions only brief as they signed in and paid. She mopped and tidied, worked in the garden and pegged out washing while half her mind played over the previous day’s events and the rest, caught by the idea she had plucked from nowhere to satisfy Matt’s curiosity, wondered if her mother could be coaxed north for a visit.