Bree stood next to her dad, waving Granny off. “I’ll go and let the dogs out.”

“Wait a minute.”

She turned back. Milt was fidgeting with his hat.

“Can we talk a moment?”

“What about?”

“I wondered if you’ve made a decision about heading off to be with Owen?”

She folded her arms. He’d pressed her last week for a date and she’d put him off. Owen had been asking too. She felt torn between the two of them.

Milt held up a hand. “I was hoping you could stay here a bit longer, that’s all. With all that’s going on, we’ve got a few things to sort out, and the seeding of course. And then…I might need to go…well, I could be away a few days. Could you stay, keep things going here until I get back?”

He looked so worried the resentment left her. “What sort of time are you thinking?”

“I’m not sure yet. I needed to see how you were situated first. Owen must be keen for you to join him.”

Bree nodded.

“I’m sorry, Bree. Once I’ve sorted things you can do whatever you like. All this stuff with Connie has made me think. No-one asked us what we wanted to do when we were your age. It was assumed I would work the property and she would go to university.”

Bree had never thought about her dad wanting to do something else.

“Did you want to go to university?”

“Not really. Connie had the brains for that.” He studied her closely. “I don’t want you to feel tied to this place, like it’s a duty. If you think you need to be doing something else, you do it. You’ve still got time to work out your own path. I’m not going to pressure you.”

Bree was surprised. “Thanks, Dad, but when I go to Marla it’s only temporary. I can’t imagine doing anything else but living and working here.”

“Like I said, there’s time to decide. And if you’re serious about Owen he might want something different.”

Bree frowned. She hadn’t thought that far ahead. “It’s early days with us yet.”

“Oh, right, yes. It’s just that your mother…” He grabbed his collar and tugged it away from his neck. “Never mind. So you don’t have to rush off to Marla?”

“No, I can stay here till you’ve sorted what you need to.” She took a deep breath. While he was being candid she had another question. “What were you going to say about Mum?”

A dog barked and he looked in the direction of the kennels. “Nothing. It doesn’t matter.”

“Is Mum okay?” Bree decided to press on while her dad was being chatty.

“Why would you ask that?”