Chapter 14
CHAPTER
The wool shop on the main street was busy when Justin arrived to give his talk a couple of days later. He looked at the sign on the door. Wagtail Ridge Knitting Club. All welcome. Well, he was all. Not only that, he had an invitation. He pushed the door open and walked inside.
About fifteen people—women and kids—were already in the shop.
Most were seated around a large wooden table that was covered with wool and needles and other craft paraphernalia that Justin couldn’t identify.
There was also cake and cups of tea. As the door closed behind him, every woman turned his way.
They all smiled and exchanged satisfied glances and the occasional nod.
Justin began to fear there may have been more behind his invitation than he had thought.
‘Hi, Justin. Welcome.’ Bree detached herself from the group she’d been talking to.
It was probably too late now to back out.
Not that he would. His job was to help people prepare for the bushfire season and that was what he was here to do.
The women didn’t look too predatory. Well, except maybe for the older woman with the bright orange hair.
Val, he remembered. From the post office.
‘Come and meet everyone. Then, would you like some tea? We’re so glad you came.’ Bree must have read the look on his face. He could tell she was trying not to laugh.
‘Thanks, Bree. Happy to be here.’
As Justin moved further into the room, the door opened behind him.
Several of the women looked past him to the newcomer and grinned with satisfaction.
‘Justin?’
He recognised the voice immediately, without the need to turn around. But he turned anyway. ‘Hello, Anna. It’s nice to see you again.’
‘You, too, but I didn’t expect you to be here.’
‘The ladies—’ he gestured at those sitting around the table, ‘—asked if I would come and talk a bit about bushfire preparedness.’
‘Ah. I didn’t know that. They asked me to talk about caring for wildlife caught in fires.’
‘I see …’
Anna had stepped further into the room and was close enough for him to forget they had an audience.
When she was this close to him, all he knew was that she was beautiful.
And her voice was like a soft caress. And her smile was as bright as the sun.
Her eyes even brighter. He should say something to her about this mix-up.
But he couldn’t compose a sentence in his head.
‘Um …’ Bree interrupted them. ‘Why don’t you both take a seat? Ladies, can you find a place for them?’
There was the shuffling of chairs and Justin found himself being guided into a seat next to Anna.
The space opened for the new chairs was minimal at best, and as they sat, his shoulder and hers touched, her thigh brushed his.
A few more minutes of chaos ensued as tea and cake in generous quantities were produced, giving Justin a chance to remind himself he was here as part of his job.
Professional Justin began to emerge, but seemed to get lost again every time he looked at Anna.
When they were all seated and provided with tea, Justin found himself the object of intense scrutiny.
They were waiting for him to start talking about bushfires. At least, he hoped that was it.
He reached for the tote bag he’d been carrying and pulled out some RFS pamphlets to pass around the table.
‘I brought these for you to take home and show your families,’ he said.
‘There’s a lot of information there about being prepared for a bushfire.
I know most of you have had fires before and we can be certain there are more ahead this summer. ’
He noticed a couple of faces cloud over. He’d seen that before and had been well trained for it. They were people who had suffered bushfire losses in the past. His job was to try to stop that happening again.
‘Now, there’s four things you need to think about.
First of all, making it more likely your home will survive a fire.
Secondly, that if the worst happens, you will be safe, even if you can’t evacuate in time.
You also need to think of others. Make sure the fire is less likely to spread to your neighbours.
And finally, make it easier for us to help if fire does reach your home. ’
‘Will you come and rescue me?’ red-headed Val asked, batting her eyelids in a most disconcerting fashion.
‘We try to keep everyone safe,’ he said firmly.
‘You can keep me safe anytime.’
The comment was whispered breathlessly and Justin wasn’t sure who had spoken.
He glanced sideways at Anna. Her shoulders were shaking with barely controlled laughter. He took a deep breath and started again.
‘You know, a bushfire doesn’t have to come all the way to your fence line for your property to be in danger.
Embers from a fire some distance away can be blown by a strong wind.
So I’m going to start by talking about clearing away flammable materials around your house.
Clearing the gutters. That sort of thing. ’
Justin talked for an hour. After those first few minutes, his audience settled down and listened intently, while their hands moved swiftly and surely at their craft.
Beside him, Anna had taken needles and wool and, with a bit of help from Bree, was knitting something that might have been a scarf. She seemed to be enjoying herself.
At last he paused. ‘Has anyone got any questions?’
A couple of hands shot up.
‘Before we get into that,’ Bree said, ‘I think we should give our guest a break and another cup of tea. There are some rather nice lammies, too, Justin, if you’d like.’
‘That would be nice. Thank you.’
‘And I think everyone knows where the loos are.’
There was general movement and Justin wandered over to the table set for tea and coffee.
Deb from the pub was pouring. She was in full swing when she stopped and examined the tabletop intently.
‘There’s no milk. Justin, would you be an angel and get some for me, please?
The kitchen’s through there.’ She nodded at a door.
‘Sure thing.’
When he went into the kitchen, Anna and Bree were there, laughing together.
‘Oh. Sorry. Am I interrupting? I was sent to get milk.’
Bree laughed again. ‘Of course you were.’ She waggled her eyebrows at him and, still laughing, left the room.
Justin frowned. ‘Is there something going on that I don’t know about?’
‘Seriously? You haven’t noticed?’ Anna was holding her side against her laughter.
‘Well. I did, but I didn’t want to jump to conclusions …’
‘The Wagtail Ridge Knitting Club—’ she was struggling to get the words out, ‘—might otherwise be known as the Wagtail Ridge Matchmaking Society.’ Anna was laughing again.
Her laugh was lovely. So joyful and real. He didn’t even mind that he was the one she was laughing at.
‘Bree was just telling me how she and Matt were victims.’
‘Victims?’
‘Yep. Of course, that wasn’t a difficult case. The two of them were already well on the way even before the matchmakers stepped in.’
A sudden silence fell.
‘But—’
‘Then—’
They spoke at the same time.
‘You first,’ Justin told her.
‘Well, I was just going to say that you needn’t worry. We won’t offend anyone if we … if nothing … Well, you know.’
‘And I was about to ask you out to dinner and make their day.’
‘You don’t have to do that.’ Anna shook her head. ‘They’ll get over it.’
‘But I might not. I was looking for a chance to ask you out anyway. And this seems perfect.’ His heart was jumping about in a most ridiculous fashion as he watched her tug at a lock of her sandy hair, pulling it forward over her face. ‘Please, Anna. Have dinner with me.’
He thought she was going to say no and he struggled to think of the words that might persuade her to change her mind.
Then she looked up at him with those fascinating green eyes and nodded.
‘Yes.’
It was little more than a whisper but it was enough.
‘Thank you. Is tomorrow night too soon?’
‘No.’
His face broke into a wide grin and when she smiled back, it was all he could do not to kiss her. Or at least jump up and down a bit. He felt like a teenager about to go on a first date.
From the other side of the door, footsteps that seemed very loud were approaching. Someone coughed then the door opened quite slowly and Val stuck her orange-topped head into the kitchen.
‘I hope I’m not interrupting anything …’
Justin had a feeling that she was in fact hoping exactly the opposite.
‘No. We were just …’ Anna’s voice trailed off.
‘Getting some more milk,’ Justin jumped in, and strode over to the refrigerator at the back of the kitchen.
‘Ah. That was just what I came looking for,’ Val said with a knowing smile. ‘Everyone is waiting.’