Page 83 of Bluebird

Breaking the tension, Mum sat down next to where I lay. “What on earth were you doing out there in the storm?”

“I had a job to do and I was doing it,” I said, with a shrug.

“You know you shouldn’t be near the horses in a storm, darling. It’s dangerous.”

I exhaled irritably. “What about Nate, Dad, and Luke? They were out there fixing the fence. That’s even more dangerous.”

Mum sighed and shook her head. “That’s different.”

“How so?”

Luke growled. “Because we’re not the ones recovering from a serious operation, Natalie. You are. And you should be looking after yourself!”

I grumbled. I knew he was right, but preferred not to acknowledge it.

“I’ll go call Gavin and Nate in for dinner,” Luke announced, as he stormed out of the room.

Mum rose from the chair and politely escorted the doctor to the front door. “Alan, thank you again for coming out so quickly. I think we can handle it from here,” she said, with a tight smile.

“Not a problem, June. It’s always a pleasure to come here and see your beautiful family. Now, Natalie, please remember to rest. Your body needs time to heal. Not just from this, but from your procedure. Come and see me at the clinic in seven days and I’ll remove your stitches.”

“Thanks, I will.” I forced a smile.

As soon as Mum disappeared out the front door with the doctor, I let out a groan of frustration.

“We’re all just trying to help you. You know that, right?” Luke stated, walking back into the room with a glass of water.

He held it out to me and I took it, not realising how thirsty I was until that moment. I drank the entire glass and sighed. “Yeah, I know. It’s just…I’m just feeling so…useless around here.”

Luke’s expression softened and he eased himself down into the armchair opposite mine. “Well, the farm isn’t exactly your kind of life anymore, is it?”

I closed my eyes. “It never was.”

We were silent for a moment before Luke decided to change the subject.

“So, I’ve finally started clearing out Nan’s music room. Not the instruments or awards or anything, just all the sheet music. I have piles and piles of it. Mostly Nan’s, but some of it is yours, and I don’t know what to do with it. I have boxes full of it. I was hoping you could come over and go through it all. When your head’s better, that is. Keep what you want, and throw away the rest.”

I studied him curiously. A glimmer of something flashed across his face that I couldn’t quite read. “If it’s mostly your Nan’s work, wouldn’t you prefer to go through it all?”

“I don’t really have the time these days, with the pub being understaffed,” he said. “Plus, I think Nan would have preferred you to go through it all. It looks like a fair bit of it could be yours anyway…from when you were younger.” He smiled and winked mischievously.

My mouth fell open and blood rose to my cheeks. I winced. Most of my earlier songs were about unrequited love and Luke, not that I ever dared to write his name.

“Ah, how embarrassing,” I said. “Yes, I’ll do it. If it means my juvenile song lyrics will never see the light of day…or your eyes.”

“Well, it may be too late for that.” He chuckled.

My jaw dropped in mortification.

“Joke, that was a joke,” he declared, chortling at my response.

I threw a cushion at him and laughed nervously, entirely relieved he hadn’t read the inner most thoughts of my teenage self.

“Well, you know where the key is, just let yourself in anytime. I’ll be at work most days anyway, so you’ll have the place to yourself,” he assured, pushing himself out of the chair.

“Okay, sure. Beats hanging out here with my mum all day.” I laughed and Luke grinned. His gorgeous dimples on display.

“I heard that,” Mum sang, as she waltzed back into the house.

Luke scrunched up his forehead. “Why wouldn’t you want to hang out with your Mum?” he asked innocently, before gliding over to Mum and wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

I rolled my eyes and pretended to gag. “You’re such a suck.”

Luke shrugged it off and smiled cheekily.

Mum was oblivious to our banter and chuckled happily on her way back to the kitchen to finish dinner.