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W hen her three-month block finished, Lucy had started another six week one.

She then had a week off before starting a four-week temp at an insurance firm around the corner from the club.

Once it started, it seemed only natural she’d spend most nights sleeping at the men’s apartment.

She would walk to work each day and enjoyed the exercise.

One afternoon, when she was almost back at the complex, Lucy was startled to see Rob was walking toward her.

“Lucy!”

She groaned softly then gave a weak smile as she said, “Hello, Rob.”

“I haven’t seen you for ages! Been like, five or six months. How are you?”

“I’m well, Rob.”

“I’ve got a girlfriend now.”

“You have?” Lucy felt happy for him. “That’s good news. Sorry I have to go. Bye, Rob.”

“Bye, Lucy.”

She went to walk away from him when he called out. “Want to double date?”

Trying hard not to laugh, Lucy said ‘no’ and continued walking.

She giggled to herself. It wouldn’t be a double date—she already did that.

Lucy thought it was weird because even though Rob was a creep as far as she was concerned, without him grabbing her that night she may never have met her wonderful men.

****

A fter the insurance temping block, Lucy went back to her house again, but it became increasingly obvious that at a point very soon either she would move into the apartment or else the men would move into her house.

Lucy had clothes at their place, and they had some of theirs at hers. It felt so right for the three of them.

One weekend late winter was particularly cold. There was a light snowfall in Little Hartley, and it was still on the ground when the two men turned up at Lucy’s. Immediately, there was another snowball fight that ended with Lucy pushing a snowball down Jack’s shirt.

Sebastian sent them all inside when it started raining, and by lunchtime the snow had gone and instead the yard was covered in mushy puddles.

The three of them sat in the formal living room with a roaring fire going.

They toasted crumpets, drank hot chocolate, and watched cable movies, snuggled up together on the large old sofa.

It was too cold to bother going out when they were all warm so Jack rang for pizza while they all vegged out on more movies.

Cooking lessons had become a regular thing.

Often on a Saturday morning, Jack would teach Lucy to cook.

They would make either lunch or sometimes dinner together, and while they were cooking Sebastian had taken to doing odd jobs around the place.

Lucy was surprised to learn he had been a cabinet maker before becoming a publican.

He told her he’d studied carpentry after leaving school with the intention of building houses for his people.

“So what happened?” Lucy asked.

“One day I was walking past a hotel and found a young Indigenous man lying drunk in the gutter. I took him back to my flat, and that’s when I discovered how many unscrupulous publicans would still sell grog to drunk First Nations people thinking it was funny.”

Sebastian had contacted a local Outreach group, and before he knew it, he was spending all his free time helping out.

When he’d visited his grandfather and told him, his grandfather insisted that during a Dreaming he’d been told that Sebastian was to take care of their people and help them fight against alcohol and drug addiction.

From there, he ended up buying the club and the rest was history. He’d worked hard to help the First Nations in the area overcome their addictions and had gotten full-time jobs for many.

Over the weekends, while the cooking lessons progressed, he returned to his old occupation and rebuilt the chicken coop, made a beautiful wooden bookcase in the kitchen for her growing collection of cook books, and repaired the broken handrail on the stairs leading up to the house.

One weekend, they went into Sydney and stayed Saturday night at one of the hotels near Darling Harbour.

Through the day, they went to the wildlife park and the waxworks.

Then in the evening, they caught a cab to the casino where Sebastian had organized tickets for them to see a production of The Rocky Horror Show .

On Sunday, they took a ferry ride across the harbor to Manly and wandered around. After lunch at one of the beach side restaurants, they took another ferry ride back to the city. Then they headed home to the Mountains.