‘Oh my God, Jack, you’re here! I didn’t know.’ Zara gave a happy laugh. ‘How are you? I’m so sorry I almost outed you at the rally. I didn’t put two and two together straightaway. Are you all right?’

‘It’s good to see you! I didn’t know you were back in town. Are you here for long?’

‘Gah! Too many questions,’ Zara said. ‘Tell me about you first.’

Kim tiptoed over to the doorway and peered around it. She turned and gave the thumbs-up. ‘Hugging,’ she whispered.

Dave gestured for her to come back to the bench. ‘Leave them alone,’ he hissed. ‘Nosy. How about you just worry about you and me.’ He leaned forward and kissed her.

‘I’m fine,’ Dave heard Jack say. ‘Got a bit banged up around the face, that’s all. Talk about an experience.’

‘Will you tell me about it sometime?’

‘Do you want to write a story about it?’

‘Definitely! I could do a feature on you as the hero of the pig industry. You wouldn’t expect anything less from me, would you? But I also want to hear about it because you’re my friend.’

‘I don’t know about that,’ Jack answered gruffly.

‘Hmm, you might have something there,’ Dave whispered as he wiped his hands on the tea towel. ‘She was one of the first people he mentioned when we got him out of that humpy.’

‘Look who I found,’ Jack said, ushering Zara through the kitchen door. She held a bottle of wine and was dressed in jeans and a thick woollen jumper.

‘Don’t you look gorgeous,’ Kim said, leaning forward to give her a hug. ‘Doesn’t she, Dave? Jack, what do you think?’

‘Yes, Kim,’ Dave answered in a henpecked voice, ‘she looks very nice. It’s cold out there, is it, Zara?’

‘Yeah, it’s just starting to rain again. Mum had thirty millimetres last week and now it’s raining again! It’s so exciting. They’ve got water in the dams and there’s germination beginning to poke through. Everything looks lovely and fresh.’

‘Such a relief for the whole farming community,’ Jack said.

Kim and Dave exchanged glances. Jack had never shown much interest in the farming community before. Other than in his mates who played footy.

‘Are you going down to cover the new trial for Gerard Hooper, Zara?’ Kim asked.

‘No, my colleague Liz is going to do that. I’ve been called as a witness. I guess to identify that Clancy was in the courtroom for all of the previous trial. I’ve got photos of him actually at the trial, which they’re going to use for evidence.’

‘I still think of him as Crumbs,’ Jack said.

‘Nasty piece of work, that bloke,’ Dave said. ‘I still can’t understand why someone would deliberately hurt animals and think that was going to make people pay attention to their cause.’