Chapters (48)
- Cover
- Praise
- About the Author
- Also by Tricia Stringer
- Title Page
- 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
- Author’s Note
- Acknowledgements
- Excerpt
- One
Inside the cool cabin she flung her bag down in disgust, took a swig of water from her bottle and slumped into a chair. Her stomach gurgled and she realised she hadn’t eaten lunch so she set about cooking herself an early dinner, chicken shasliks and salad. It had smelled inviting as she cooked it but she ate it with little enjoyment. Around her the late-afternoon sky turned to gold and a flock of screeching white cockatoos whirled overhead and found themselves a roost in the spreading arms of a towering tree. Vehicles moved in the distance, doors banged, laughter carried across the still evening and then the sound of music. Natalie was often on the property by herself but she never felt so alone as she did here even though there were people not far away.
She cleaned up her dishes, had a shower then went back to her room and shut herself in. It was too cool now. The air conditioner had done its job. She turned it off, set the fan going over the bed and slid under the sheet. In the relative quiet she heard the music again and raised voices. It was a happy sound, heightening her sense of loneliness. Is this how life would be if she left Milt? And where would she go? Not into town. Perhaps the city, but she had no connection there any more. She could move to Victor Harbor, be closer to her sister and her parents. An image of her mother’s self-satisfied look popped into her head.
Her parents had never wanted her to marry Milt in the first place. She’d still been going out with her childhood sweetheart, Tony, when she got her first teaching job in the country and met Milt. She recalled the first time she’d seen him like it was yesterday. It had been at a tennis club fundraiser cabaret: tables made up of people from each club in the district and beyond, everyone brought plates of food, plenty to drink and there was a toe-tapping band. He’d asked her to dance and they’d stayed together all evening. He’d been charming, funny and she’d enjoyed the sensation of his arms around her as they danced. Everything about him had seemed solid, from his strength to his commitment to courting her. Love had developed quickly over the next few weeks, so different to the love she’d thought she’d felt for Tony, which was a schoolgirl crush in comparison.