Free Little Girl Lost by Janet Gover Page A

she had dreamed about since she was a little girl. All the things a family could want. All the things he didn’t want. At least, not now. And not with Linda.
    He was feeling trapped. He didn’t want to feel that way, but he did. He liked to think he was a good man with a proper sense of right and wrong. He’d do the right thing by Linda and the baby, but he wasn’t entirely sure exactly what the right thing was. Support, both emotional and financial was definitely right. Although their relationship had never been that serious, he didn’t question that the baby was his. Linda wouldn’t lie about something like that. However, he had to wonder if it was right to marry and set up a home if his heart wasn’t in it? He liked Linda a lot. But love? No. He wasn’t in love with her. Had it not been for the baby, he would have ended their relationship by now.
    Pete ran his fingers through his hair. If there was an answer to these questions and all the others that were running around his mind, he had no idea where to find them.
    He drove slowly through the town and out the other side, heading for the mine.
    By the time he turned in at the mine gates, Pete had driven all thoughts of Linda and the baby from his mind. At least, that’s what he told himself. He turned his rig and began backing up to the loading dock at the big storage shed. He’d done this a hundred times before, placing the rear doors of the trailer against the raised loading bay, so the pallets and drums could easily be rolled out.
    ‘Hey, Pete,’ a voice called from just outside his window. ‘You’re gonna miss it, buddy. More right hand down.’
    Feeling a surge of embarrassment, Pete pulled forward a few metres and tried again, this time keeping his head squarely in the game.
    In a couple of minutes, the rear of his rig was pressed hard against the wooden rail at the edge of the loading bay. The mine workers had been through this procedure as many times as Pete. They had the back open and were already starting to unload. Pete stood back and left them to it. There were drums of grease and oil for the huge mine machines and spare parts, the use of which he couldn’t even begin to guess. An operation this big took a lot of support.
    One of the huge mine trucks drove slowly past, to pull up beside the refuelling bullet. The door opened and, to Pete’s surprise, a woman got out. He’d never seen a woman driver at the mine before. And she was quite some woman. She was slender and shapely despite her heavy-duty work wear and bright protective vest. Her hair was caught up in a clip at the back of her neck, with just a few wavy tendrils escaping. Pete could imagine that when she let it loose, it would cascade down her back like a red wave.
    ‘Don’t even bother, mate.’
    One of the mine workers had seen the direction of his gaze.
    ‘She keeps herself to herself that one. Most of the blokes have tried, but she’s not interested.’
    Pete shrugged and said nothing. He couldn’t be interested in someone like that now. He was going to have to stop thinking about other women altogether. His relationship with Linda didn’t stand any chance at all if he kept on thinking or acting like a single man still searching for The One. He was only now beginning to realise that marrying Linda meant he was giving up on falling in love and having the same sort of relationship his parents had. He didn’t want to do that. But he was going to have to. He owed it to Linda and their baby to try to build a strong, happy family.
    When he left the mine, he turned north, back towards Coorah Creek. He had some boxes for the store and some kegs for the pub. He figured he might grab a meal at the pub before heading north back to base.
    The main street was almost deserted as Pete drove slowly through. As always, there were a few cars parked outside the pub. Pete swerved off the road and parked his truck along the newly built kerb outside the store. He killed the engine and jumped to the