Free Hope's Road by Margareta Osborn

gateway when the shiny red car blew past, showering her with grit and gravel. A hand was in the air, blonde locks and glittering rings on show, as the vehicle roared past.
    â€˜Bye, Jacinta,’ muttered Tammy. Nice enough girl but did she have to make it so apparent she wanted Travis Hunter? Where had subtlety disappeared to? Then again, perhaps she was getting old. Maybe it was all about just putting it out there. Come get me, big boy, I’m all yours, you don’t even have to ask. Joanne and Jacinta. Two peas in a pod. God, now she was getting cynical. Joanne would eat the poor schoolteacher alive, any day.
    She was in front of the dairy when she heard the whistle of a turbo diesel motor out near her front gate. The vehicle had passed the drive and turned into the gateway of the hayshed. She watched as the lights did a 360-degree turn, then slowly made their way back to her driveway. The ute then propped and the driver turned off the motor. The lights disappeared but just before they did she saw the shadow of a man in a hat in the driver’s seat. Shon? But it wasn’t a twin-cab ute. And why would he be casing the joint out?
    She fled inside, slamming the screen door. Switched off the back light. Watched through the louvre windows.
    A few minutes later the ute started again, the noise of the motor rumbling across the paddock in the clear air. So, whoever it was, they weren’t trying to be quiet.
    It was then, as the ute pulled away, that she realised it was a LandCruiser. Travis Hunter. Checking on her. Making sure she’d got home safely. She moved back outside and watched the path of the vehicle as it disappeared then reappeared through the low level crossing at the creek. Sure enough, at the T intersection it turned left and then right, and up the hill it went. The last she saw of it were the tail-lights turning the final bend, and then ute and man disappeared, swallowed by tall box and ironbark stands.

Chapter 10
    Shimmering azure water beckoned to Tammy from across the street. The photos advertising discount flights to the stunning islands off the coast of Queensland were in the window of the gift shop plus travel agency. Maybe she should just book a flight here and now, take off somewhere.
    Tammy pushed her trolley of groceries away from the supermarket and towards the parked ute. Beyond the main street lay the lake, the pride of Narree. The water glinted in the sun. There were some school kids rowing, their sculls skim­ming along the surface. Oh, to be that age again. Young and carefree.
    Ten years of marriage – almost a third of her life – wasted and not even a child to show for it. Shon hadn’t wanted to start a family too early. Now, that was probably a blessing. Imagine dragging a child through divorce courts and property settlements. Not that there’d be much to settle. The property was hers. Only the run-off block had Shon’s name on it. Still, she needed that land to run her dairy herd on during the winter to give the farm a break.
    But how exactly was she going to get that two-timing, lying, cheating bastard safely off Montmorency? She’d have to engineer a confrontation with him. When he threatened to leave, just tell him to go, rather than begging him to stay as she’d done countless times over the last two years. What an idiot she’d been.
    Unloading the groceries into the ute she pondered whether to just get in and go home or find some lunch. Shon was due back that afternoon. She decided to get lunch. Put off the inevitable.
    As she walked towards the bakery, she spied a new gallery setting up shop a couple of doors down. Might be worth a look. She bought a roll and bottle of mineral water and then slowly moved towards the new store.
    Displayed on its own in the window was a painting. Tammy suddenly forgot about eating lunch. The picture was incredible. It was of a woman, naked but tastefully so. Sphinx-like, her body was female, but with