Chapter 23 #2
Once the enormous picnic basket was placed in the back, they climbed into his ute and headed down the road.
They followed the main dirt road for a little while, passing huge open fields of crops.
In the distance, she could see tractors and other enormous machinery working and the paddocks stretching onwards, seemingly to the horizon.
‘There’s just so much land,’ she said, looking out her window.
‘Yeah, it’s different country out here, I guess. Wide open spaces.’
‘And you worked all this … before?’ she asked.
‘I was mainly on the cattle side of things, but occasionally, when it was busy. Bad weather coming in, bushfires threatening, any kind of natural or man-made disaster, it’s all hands on deck. You name it, we’ve most likely dealt with it,’ he said.
‘You looked so at home when you were doing cattle work with Jack the other day. Now I can see why,’ she said, looking out the window.
‘It’s like riding a bike, I guess,’ he said.
‘I can only ride my bike with training wheels,’ Poppy piped up from the back seat.
‘All good bike riders learn to ride with training wheels,’ he said, looking into the rear-view mirror.
‘I don’t need them on anymore, but Mummy says they have to stay on.’
‘I said we’ll take them off when we have time to practice.’
‘We never get time.’ The little girl pouted.
‘That’s not true,’ Kenzie said, turning around to face her daughter.
‘It is. You always have a wedding to go to instead of the park. And you’re always too tired.’
Kenzie groaned inwardly. Now she sounded like she was neglecting her child. ‘We go to the park lots.’
‘Not enough,’ Poppy said with another slight pout.
‘We go to the park,’ she said, turning back to the front. ‘There’s just certain times of the year that work gets a bit busier than usual,’ she added, hating that she suddenly felt as though she needed to justify herself.
‘Cows!’ Poppy called out loudly, pointing out her window, and the subject of too few park visits was dropped.
A short time later, they turned off another dirt road and followed a track that ran alongside a small creek until it branched out into a cleared area that looked perfect for swimming and picnicking.
‘This is great,’ Kenzie said as they got out of the ute.
‘It’s called Swagman Creek. This is where we used to come and swim as kids.’
‘Can I go for a swim?’ Poppy pleaded.
‘We’ll see. Maybe after lunch you can go for a paddle,’ she compromised.
A grassy bank ran down to the water’s edge, where clear, cool water bubbled and tumbled across the rocky bottom of the creek bed. Large rocks were visible under the surface that looked like they’d be painful to walk on.
They found a place to spread the blanket and unpacked the basket.
‘How many people did Peggy think were coming along?’ Kenzie asked, eyeing the copious amounts of food Ewan was pulling out of the huge hamper.
‘She doesn’t like anyone going hungry,’ he told her, placing a freshly baked sourdough loaf beside a selection of cold meats, cheeses and salads.
‘But wait,’ he said dramatically, ‘there’s more!
’ He pulled out a plastic container containing mud cake, another with an assortment of pastries, and a plate of bruschetta.
‘Seriously?’ Kenzie replied, shaking her head at the spread.
‘Oh, and one last thing … I wonder who might have told Peggy about this?’ he asked, bringing out the last item in the basket.
‘Fairy bread!’ Poppy gasped in delight.
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake,’ Kenzie said, rolling her eyes. ‘We’re never going to eat all of this.’
Ewan handed her a plate. ‘Doesn’t mean we can’t give it a red-hot go.’
Much later, with full bellies, they lay back on the blanket, watching Poppy as she explored nearby.
‘It must be hard taking care of a kid as well as running a business all on your own,’ Ewan said, breaking the comfortable silence.
Kenzie took her eyes from Poppy momentarily to look at him. ‘It takes a bit of juggling sometimes,’ she admitted, ‘but I’ve got my sister nearby and some good friends who are always on hand to help out. We get by.’
‘It’s not an ideal situation though, is it?’ he asked, and something in his tone made her suddenly wary.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Poppy getting passed around to different people when you need to work. That must be kind of hard on her.’
‘I don’t think it’s any harder than kids in a family with both parents working full-time.’
‘I’m not criticising,’ he said quickly. ‘I was just thinking, maybe down the track, I could help out. Like the bike-riding thing …’
‘There’s a bit more to parenting than taking trips to the park,’ she said archly.
‘I mean, that’s the fun bit.’ Poppy’s innocent comment earlier had managed to hit a sore spot, particularly the whole ‘You’re always too tired’ thing.
She was tired a lot of the time—physically as well as mentally drained after a long day at work—but even then, she often pushed through and dragged herself to the park because ‘passing her kid around’, as Ewan had put it, was not an ideal situation, and she genuinely wanted to spend quality time with her child.
‘I get that. I wasn’t trying to be a dick,’ he said, his serious gaze locked onto her. ‘I’m just saying, I could be helpful.’
Maybe she was being a little over-sensitive. What he was suggesting was a logical step in the progression of becoming part of Poppy’s life—trips to the park, maybe the odd movie, special little outings as they got used to each other.
But honestly, did she really want him to be part of the deeper parenting process?
That involved far more dedication. Dropping off and picking up from kindy.
Making meals and knowing when to use blackmail for said meals to be eaten.
Dealing with the overtired tantrums and the constant getting up through the night when she was sick, not to mention catching whatever daycare-originating bug she brought home and then having to take care of them both.
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean it to sound so snappy. It’s still a lot to get used to.’
‘I agree. But that was part of bringing you both out here, so we could all get used to it—to each other. I don’t want to be the enemy here, Kenzie.
I don’t want you to feel like I’m trying to steal her away from you.
I understand you two have a bond that I’ll never have with her, no matter what I do, because you’re her mum and you’ve been there from the start.
I just want to work out some kind of happy medium, where I get to be part of her life and, in the process, make it easier on you. ’
Kenzie’s heart tugged at his words.
‘I can’t make up for the first four years of her life, or change any of the ruined plans you had, and no matter how many times I say it, sorry just doesn’t really do anything. I want to make it up to you both. I want to be part of her life.’
Kenzie’s eyelids stung and she swallowed hard. He’d been nothing but honest and straightforward since the day she’d told him about Poppy, and she believed him when he told her he wanted to be in Poppy’s life.
She opened her mouth to speak but Poppy picked that exact moment to find something under a rock, and her excited, ‘I found a baby snake!’ ended further conversation.
Ewan was sprinting to Poppy’s side before Kenzie could even scramble to her feet, but his obvious relief as he bowed his head and braced his hands on his thighs alleviated her concern slightly.
‘It’s okay,’ he said, straightening and waving an arm. ‘It’s a worm.’
‘Poppy!’ Kenzie said, sheer terror turning to relief, and then anger.
‘In her defence,’ Ewan said, turning to face her as she stormed over, ‘it’s a pretty big worm.’
She looked down at the ground and her eyes widened slightly. Woah. That was an enormous bloody worm.
‘It’s a snake,’ Poppy argued, looking at both adults crossly.
‘Let’s take a photo of it and we can google it,’ Ewan said, crouching down beside her as he took out his phone from his pocket.
‘Let’s catch it and take it home,’ Poppy countered.
‘Yeah, no. It’s not good to take things from where they live,’ Kenzie cut in quickly. The thing was huge, and there was no way she was going to have it in the car.
After much convincing, Poppy finally accepted the worm theory and reluctantly left it under the rock.
They continued to explore the creek’s bank, spotting a few fish and searching for crayfish and tadpoles. She smiled as Poppy squatted down beside Ewan in perfect imitation, waiting patiently together for something to come out from under the rocks. It seemed almost surreal, being a family.
But you’re not a family. You barely know him.
That thought sobered her, ruining the idyllic moment.