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
“Nothing much.” Laura grinned. “We weren’t the ones with a red-hot fella in our bed.”
Bree wasn’t in the mood for teasing this morning. “Get your work gear on,” she snapped. “Kate says she’s sick—”
“What’s wrong with her?”
“Hungover I guess.”
Laura frowned and looked towards the house.
Graeme’s ute came to a stop over by the machinery shed and the dogs barked madly, turning circles in their enclosure.
“Are you going to give us a hand this morning or not?” Bree said.
“Not.”
Bree’s mouth fell open.
Laura gave Graeme a wave as he climbed out of his ute. “It’s not as if you’re on your own and you weren’t expecting Kate or me anyway. I’ll bring you out some morning tea, though. Which paddock are you mustering?”
Laura looked boldly at Bree. The rays of early-morning sun highlighted the rainbow of hair flowing out from under her green cap that had a round-eyed frog and the words Hop to it embroidered on the front. Her hot-pink Lorna Jane t-shirt and platinum-coloured gym tights outlined every one of her perfect curves and even from the distance of a metre Bree could smell the sickly floral perfume she preferred. Bree glared at her sister. It was hard to imagine her helping out anyway; she might break one of her brightly painted fingernails.
She shrugged. “Fine. We’ll be somewhere in the tank paddock. And take it easy when you come. Don’t want you frightening the sheep and messing up our hard work.”
“I’ll be there at ten.” Laura spun on her heel and headed back towards the house.
Bree stared after her. She hadn’t been expecting help but it would have been nice if one of her sisters had stepped up, at least until her dad got back, around lunchtime according to the text she’d had from her mum earlier. Bree strode on to let the dogs out. Her sisters had always been useless when it came to working on the property. She didn’t know why she’d hoped that had changed.
Laura could feel Bree’s look boring into her back as she walked away. She hated sheep work. She was always in the wrong place at the wrong time and they never went where she wanted them to. Behind her a motorbike roared to life and the sound of its revving engine was joined by another vehicle. She didn’t look back.