Chapters (50)
- Cover
- About the Book
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
- Also by Sandie Docker
- Book Club Questions
- Welcome to the Kookaburra Creek Café
- Prologue
- One
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Down by the fence two men hauled whipper snippers from the back of a ute. One was a young man not long out of childhood, with the same red curls as Mandy, wearing an old T-shirt and a pair of boardies. The other was a tall man, in his mid-thirties maybe.
‘That’s my boy, Jack, and Danny Temple. Danny’s the town’s handyman. I thought the two of them could make a start in the garden while we have a cuppa. What do you say?’
Mandy pushed past her and headed to the kitchen. From the overgrown lawn Danny nodded slightly in Nicole’s direction and he and Jack went into the garden and started slashing the long grass. Nicole didn’t quite know what to do. She ran after Mandy.
‘I can’t afford to pay them,’ she blurted out as Mandy put the casserole in the small bar fridge that had come with the cottage.
Nicole had done a budget and she hadn’t accounted for gardening work. The stipend that came with the rental deal wouldn’t stretch that far.
‘Oh, don’t worry about that. The boys will do it for free and the town coffers can pay for any materials.’
Nicole frowned.
Mandy shook her head. ‘Sorry, I should explain. It’s Nicky, right?’
‘Nicole.’
‘Well, let me officially welcome you to Rosella Cove, Nicole. If there’s anything you need, don’t you hesitate to ask. Everyone’s pretty friendly here. You’ll see that for yourself soon enough. We had a town meeting once we heard about you renting this place and we agreed that to see this old girl sparkling back to her former beauty again, we’d help out a bit. Jack’s doing landscaping at TAFE, so he’s happy to get some experience, and Danny does a lot for the town.’
‘That’s …’ Nicole really didn’t know what to say. She knew country folk were generous, but this went beyond generous. Why would they help her, a perfect stranger, out like this? But, the scale of the job before her was far beyond her capabilities and she wasn’t really in a position to turn away help. Especially free help. ‘Thank you,’ she said simply, deciding not to question it.
‘Don’t mention it.’ Mandy moved about the kitchen as if it were her own and made two cups of tea.