Free Beneath Outback Skies by Alissa Callen

him. He half-opened the window to distract the excited red heeler. Doggy slobber instantly streaked the glass. He briefly shut his eyes. His car was never going to be the same.
    Dusty barked out the window as Paige emerged from the vet’s. She crossed the footpath, smiled at the dog and slipped into the passenger seat. Tait couldn’t help but notice her smile dim as she looked across at him.
    ‘Everything okay?’ If he’d learned anything over the past days it was that when her chin tilted, he’d need his wits about him.
    ‘Yes. I mean, no, not really.’ She pinned him with a stare that would have made his old headmistress proud. ‘You haven’t been into the vet this morning, have you?’
    ‘Trust me, this is my first and last visit.’
    As if on cue Dusty whined, skidded from one side of the car to the other and again stuck his head out the window.
    ‘Sorry.’ Paige leaned between the front seats to check the blanket still covered the back seat. ‘He quite likes going to the vet. They have the best treats. Pop the window up and let’s get going and he’ll soon calm down.’
    As Paige predicted, by the time they turned onto the empty main street, Dusty had resumed his customary position on Tait’s shoulder.
    Tait attempted to look at Paige past Dusty’s muzzle. ‘Why did you ask if I’d been to the vet’s?’
    ‘Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I wanted to make sure you hadn’t been helping again.’
    By the way she’d enunciated the word ‘helping’ he was sure she meant ‘meddling’.
    ‘Helping?’
    ‘Yes.’ She hesitated. ‘Not that your generosity isn’t appreciated – Dad did enjoy the chocolates and Tim Tams – but you’ve come here for a break, not to help people you don’t know.’
    ‘I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I don’t know you and Connor. I’ve learned more about the two of you in three days than I would have from living next door to someone for three years in the city.’
    ‘That still doesn’t mean you need to feel obliged to solve our problems. You have your own to deal with.’
    ‘True, but I don’t feel obliged at all.’ This time he hesitated. ‘Someone once helped me, someone very much like Connor, and in a way by helping Connor I feel like I’m helping him.’ Tait didn’t need to see Paige’s face to sense her curiosity. Her knees had moved as she’d shifted in her seat to take a closer look at him. He spoke quickly. ‘Now what happened at the vet’s?’
    ‘To tell you the truth, I’m not too sure. I went in to pay a bill only to find it wasn’t what I expected.’
    ‘That bad, huh?’
    ‘No, the opposite. It was at least a third of what the bill should have been. I queried the amount but Laura was adamant that that was all I owed, despite me having the original invoice as proof. She said there’d been some mix-up and the real amount was the lower figure. So I paid it, but I’m positive there wasn’t any mix-up.’
    ‘What do you think happened?’
    ‘Not sure. If it wasn’t you, then someone else paid the bill.’ Concern underpinned her words. ‘Someone who would need the money to pay their own bills.’
     
    Connor Quinn sat in the shade of the front verandah and looked out over what had once been a garden. A few hardy agapanthus now lined the path and a crisp-looking native bottlebrush provided the only focal point in an otherwise flat and barren space. Molly would be heart-broken if she knew how the drought had ravaged her life’s work.
    He consulted his watch. Tait had called to let him know when they’d left Glenalla and they should be home soon. He looked towards the long driveway that rambled down to the old milk-can mailbox. His eyes closed.
    A lifetime ago he’d walked up the driveway, his worldly possessions rolled into a swag draped on his shoulder. He’d caught a lift with the postman who said Banora Downs might be looking for a farm hand. Feet blistered in his ill-fitting boots, he’d trudged his way