Page 47 of Bluebird

I gazed out into the bushland, which was now blurred by the rain, and we chatted about the house and Luke’s ideas for future projects.

His face lit up when I asked him to tell me more, as if no one had ever shown interest before. I discovered not many people had been to the house, apart from my family, so no one really knew what he had achieved.

Reaching over, I gave Luke’s hand a squeeze. “She would be really proud of you too, Luke.”

He turned to meet my gaze with a melancholy smile. “Thanks, Blue.”

After a couple of hours of easy conversation, Luke rose from his chair and picked up my empty tea cup.

“Hungry?” he asked.

I grinned up at him and nodded. “Sure.”

We moseyed back into the kitchen, and my stomach rumbled.

Luke dropped a fully stocked picnic basket on the bench in front of me and scrunched up his face. “Best laid plans, right?”

My eyebrows rose in question.

Luke scratched the back of his head. “I was going to take you down to the river.”

“You mean…the creek?”

Luke grinned. “I mean the river that was once a creek.”

My eyes bulged. “Really?” I could only remember a small trickle of water that used to pass through the bushland at the back of Luke’s property. I spent hours as a child singing and dancing along the creek, whilst Nate and Luke were off having their ‘boy’ adventures.

He chuckled and nodded.

“Well, perhaps we could eat here and head there when the rain stops?” I offered, feeling optimistic.

Luke let out a laugh as he looked me over. “You’re not exactly dressed for wet weather bush bashing, Blue.” His gaze travelled down my body and colour rushed to my face. “Not that I’m complaining about the way you are dressed.”

I placed my hands on my hips and peered down at my lightweight, buttoned-up summer dress. My tan belt brought in my waist, bringing the length just above my knee. I only sported a pair of slip-on shoes, so I understood his point.

“I could wear gumboots,” I proposed stubbornly. “Did you keep any of Dawn’s boots? I think we were almost the same size.”

Luke grinned up to the ceiling, before squinting out the window. “We’ll see. The rain doesn’t look like it will be letting up anytime soon.”

I smiled, satisfied with his answer.

* * *

We sat opposite each other on the lounge room floor and delved into the picnic basket. After devouring all the food Luke had prepared, we stretched out on his sheepskin rug and reminisced.

“I saw you play once.”

My eyes widened with surprise. “What? When?” My tours never came to Australia.

“It wasn’t long after you left. Everyone was worried, so I tracked you down. Nate and I drove up to Tamworth to bring you home.”

“Oh…”

“We went into the pub to confront you, but you weren’t behind the bar like we expected.” His jaw twitched. “You were up on stage, looking all beautiful and singing like you were born to be there. The whole place was entirely captivated by you.”

I remembered that performance well. It was open-mic night, and I had left pulling beers for a moment of glory on the stage. I sang my heart out, and piqued the interest of the person who would change my world. Stefan flew me to Nashville a week later.

Luke sighed. “You looked so happy and content, and that’s when I knew we had to leave.”