The Auction a Romance by Anna Erishkigal Read online

  "C'mon, slowpokes!" Pippa shouted. "The last one there is a rotten egg."

  She and the dog barreled onwards, her pigtails waving behind her as she hopped like a pair of dual, white-blonde victory flags. At one point she slipped and fell into the mud. Adam plucked her out of the silt, but soon enough, she 'accidentally' slipped again. By the time we reached the rocks, she and the dog both looked like two drippy, mud-encrusted wombats.

  "I think this might be the spot," Adam said. "There are only a few places on the property where the bedrock sticks up through the clay."

  I clamored over the rocks, searching for any sign of the faded etchings, but this was not the outcropping the girl in the white pony had shown me in my dream. My heart shrank with disappointment. Sometimes, the things I saw in the dreamtime felt so real it felt as though I walked inside an echo of the waking world, but this only proved it was my own subconscious chewing on information I had taken in during the day.

  I tried to hide the disappointment from my voice. "I can't find anything."

  "It's still a nice place to picnic? Ey?"

  His expression grew wary, as though he feared at any moment I would launch into a tirade. What? After the man just saved me from a snake? He always approached me with a peculiar hyper-vigilance, the same cautious respect he'd used to approach the viper. It reminded me of this racehorse my father once trained, a big, beautiful thoroughbred that had retired from the racetrack after suffering horrific abuse at the hands of its former trainer. Adam's ex-wife must be one hell of a prima donna.

  I gave him my 'teacher's smile,' the one I used to set my students at ease.

  "Maybe we can plan a day-trip sometime to one of the parks?" I said. "I've always wanted to see them."

  There. It's not your problem, Adam. I'm not unhappy with -you-. Stop dancing around me like a skittish brumby. I'm not Eva. I will never give you the crop unless you deserve it.

  "Pippa would like that." From the way he relaxed, he would like it as well.

  Adam dug into his backpack and pulled out the lunch boxes. We settled onto the largest rocks, Pippa and her father on one rock, me and the dog on the other. Thunderlane wagged his tail as I handed him a 'people' ham sandwich. My own cucumber and goat cheese sandwich had been enhanced with a thick slab of ham. Adam groaned as the sweet-salty juices hit his tongue.

  "This imfff really gffood."

  I grinned.

  "You're exaggerating."

  Adam swallowed and made a yummy sound.

  "Obviously you've never eaten at an outback station. The food is, how shall I say it? Rudimentary at best."

  "So that's why you'll eat whatever I stick in front of you?"

  Adam stretched out on his rock like an enormous, satisfied, supine Buddha. When I'd first come here, he'd eaten very little, but the longer I stayed, the hungrier the man seemed to become.

  "My dear Rosie, everything you cook is heaven."

  Pippa giggled.

  "You mean everything Pippa cooks is delicious," I said. "She's becoming quite the masterful little baker."

  "Ahh, yes," Adam grinned. He rolled towards his daughter and poked a finger into her tummy. "Next thing you know, we'll all be roly-poly."

  Pippa's face dropped.

  "Mommy says I must never allow myself to become fat."

  Adam's grin disappeared behind that pinched look he often wore whenever anybody mentioned his soon-to-be-ex-wife's name. His musculature shifted into that same coiled up tension I'd seen when he'd gone after the brown snake.

  "I will always love you, whether you are fat or thin." Adam spoke with tight, clipped words. "And if anybody ever tells you otherwise, I will drop them down a mine shaft."

  I stared down at my hands. It appeared my tiny experiment with the math-muffins had backfired.

  We finished eating, and then we all stripped down to our swimsuits. I'd worn my maillot today, complete with shorts to cover up the muscular thighs I'd developed from a lifetime of horseback riding. Adam, on the other hand, unabashedly stripped down to a pair of Budgie Smugglers which clung to his long, lean frame like a lover's caress. He dove right in to the cool water before turning to taunt Pippa.

  "I beat you!" he called.

  "You didn't put your head beneath the water," Pippa said.

  "Yes I did."

  "No you didn't!"

  Adam grabbed Pippa and with a "1-2-3," dunked the both of them beneath the water.

  They came up laughing and swam around like playful platypuses, taking turns diving beneath the surface to tweak each other's foot. I watched them enviously, wishing -I- dared insert myself into the middle of their play. The riverbed here was rocky and not entirely comfortable to walk upon. The exposed boulders, however, made superb perches to sun myself and dangle my feet into the water. I tilted my face up to drink the warmth of the sun.

  "Look, Daddy!" Pippa copied me. "I'm a mermaid!"

  Before long Pippa had renamed herself Ariel, Queen of the Inland Ocean, Thunderlane her pet seal, Adam was King Neptune, and I, of course, was a beautiful siren, sent to lure hapless sailors onto the rocks. Adam would make a fitting sea god; the muscular, beautiful man who rose up out of river carrying a piece of driftwood like a trident. And Pippa was so adorable she'd put any Disney princess to shame.

  "Ahh … but can you sing, fair siren?" Adam's voice lilted with impish good humor. "The siren must sing to entice King Neptune to join her upon the rocks."

  "A little."

  "Oh?"

  Adam moved towards my rocky perch, tall, gorgeous, with droplets of water glistening like diamonds on his suntanned flesh. Slicked back with water, his hair is nearly as dark as mine, making his eyes appear luminescent with their peculiar swirl of blue and green.

  "Will you sing for me, fair Rosamond? Will you serenade the River King to join you in the sun?"

  The crick of cicadas grew very far away as I lost myself in those blue-green eyes. He had such beautiful eyes, cerulean blue, speckled around the iris with flecks of green, and when his mood was right, they turned aquamarine, deceptively warm and gentle, surrounded by murkier depths and danger. I stared at Adam's mouth. If I sang for him, would I be able to claim the River King as my prize?

  Don't be stupid! Adam is only teasing…

  I broke his gaze and pretended to stare at Pippa, pink flushing my skin that had nothing to do with the sunlight. What the heck was I doing, daydreaming about such a man? He was so far out of my league we might as well have lived on different planets!

  "N-n-nothing special," I stammered. "Just a bunch of old Gitano folk songs."

  "Ooh," Pippa exclaimed. "I hereby decree my royal siren must sing!"

  She splashed towards us, with her furry 'seal' dog-paddling behind her. His love for Pippa was the only reason a man like Adam would give me the time of day.

  "They're not really meant for singing," I recovered, "but the toque— steel guitar —and dancing." I kicked my bare legs into the air, crossed at the ankles. "My tail, I fear, would be in the way."

  Both Pippa and Adam tried to get me to sing, but I felt self-conscious about the wild gypsy songs my mother had despised. Had my father been here with his steel guitar and black Gallardo boots to keep the percussion, I might have taught Pippa the palmas to accompany the song, but the last person I wanted to sing and perform flamenco before was my sophisticated boss.

  We packed up our lunch and wandered a downriver until we hit a barbed wire fence.

  "This is it," Adam said. "This is where the Condamine River Ranch ends."

  "How many acres do you have?" I asked.

  "Only 700," Adam said. "Compared to the outback stations, this place is nothing but a pebble. But the soil is fertile, and we've never run completely out of water."

  He launched into a science lesson about the geological forces which had shaped Australia and patiently explained how every rock and clump of dirt Pippa handed him had come into existence. We were two rapt students, Pippa and I, Pippa because she was learning the in
formation for the very first time, while I was enamored because I'd never had a teacher describe plate tectonics with as much enthusiasm as Adam Bristow. He led us out of the riverbed, up a small outcrop of black, shiny rocks which indicated there were coal deposits close to the surface.

  "I'm surprised your company hasn't drilled here to test for gas," I said.

  Adam's expression turned into a scowl.

  "My father would get up out of his grave if I let those bastards step foot upon his land."

  I stepped back at Adam's sudden change in temperament. This was the angry Adam, the side of him I'd glimpsed only seldom. He was an even-tempered man, slow to anger and even slower to hold a grudge, but once he did hit that point, I suspected that getting him to budge would be like digging a coal mine with spoon.

  I was diplomatic enough not to remind Adam that he was one of 'those bastards.'

  "Well, it's pretty here," I deflected. "I hope you and Pippa decide to stay."

  I scrambled down the hill into a long, flat pasture which still bore remnants of the crop his parents had grown for feed. The pungent scent of alfalfa, blended with the heavier scent of fescue hay reminded me Harvey would have loved this place had he lived to see it. I glanced at my tall, now-brooding employer. Would Adam keep the station? And if he did, then what? Would he and Pippa still have a use for me?

  I scanned the grass before each step, searching for snakes, both physical ones, and also the metaphorical 'snake' of Adam's touchiness about the future. In that, we were both alike. Although Adam, at least, had someplace to call home.

  I continued Pippa's science lesson over the convenient vehicle of a corpulent caterpillar that'd spun itself into a chrysalis. Adam hung back, observing how easily his daughter absorbed information whenever the lesson was taken out of the classroom. After a while his dark, brooding mood began to lift as he and Pippa discovered the hopes of more future butterflies. I smiled inwardly. Pippa might not have inherited her father's ability to learn through books, but she had a powerful mind that thirsted for first-hand knowledge.

  We hiked back to the house through fields I recognized from my dreams to shower the river-mud off our bodies and make ourselves a simple supper of grilled hamburgers and a salad. There were no petroglyphs on this station, which meant my dreams weren't real, but it still felt good to go on an outing with Pippa and her father.

  It felt … as if I belonged…

  Chapter 14

  Midweek found us back at Julie Peterson's house so Pippa could have a playdate with Emily. As the girls dashed outside to go shovel out Polkadot's stall, Julie and I settled down for a nice cuppa Bushell's tea.

  "How will you take it?" Julie asked.

  "Do you have any NutraSweet?"

  "Only sugar." Julie pursed her lips. "They say aspartame can make you fatter than just eating the real stuff."

  I frowned as I sipped my tea. After a Sunday spent parading around in a swimsuit in front of Adam, it was time to lose that fifteen pounds I kept swearing I'd shed ever since I'd begun to notice boys. I scooped in a single teaspoonful of sugar.

  "Cream?" Julie held a tiny carton towards me.

  "Do you have any skim milk?"

  "I've got whole milk or cream."

  I took another sip. Bushell's was a bit more bitter than the green tea I preferred, but a hint of citrus gave it a complex flavor.

  "I think this will be okay."

  Julie scooped two generous teaspoons of sugar into her own pink porcelain teacup, followed by a healthy glug of cream, before settling into her seat with a satisfied groan. She leaned forward and rubbed her back.

  "Your feet hurt?"

  "Yeah," Julie sighed. "People think hairdressing is easy, but just you try standing on your feet all day, listening to other people yabber about their problems."

  My face broke out into a sarcastic grin. "My psychology professor called it cheap therapy."

  "I swear, it is!" Julie laughed. "People come in, all wrapped around the axel, but most of the time they just need somebody to say 'uh-huh' while they talk themselves into doing what they already know they need to do."

  She sipped her tea, her green eyes sizing me up from beneath her halo of carrot-orange curls. She wore a mischievous look, like when Pippa came bouncing in and made a subtle announcement such as 'guess what Rosie … I have a secret!'

  "Sarah Colbert's father Ed came in for a trim on Monday," Julie said.

  "Oh? I didn't realize he was one of your customers."

  "He isn't … usually." One red eyebrow rose up into an inverted V. "Tina's chair was open, but he asked to get his hair cut specifically by me."

  "Maybe he's interested in you? I noticed he wasn't wearing a wedding band."

  "Wasn't me he was interested in." Julie broke out in a devilish grin. "

  "Oh?"

  "Uh-uh."

  I lifted my teacup and took a sip. Through veiled lashes, I studied Julie's grin which looked like a Red Lory that had just found a bit of papaya.

  "What did he want, then?"

  "He wanted to know about you."

  "Me?"

  "Yeah, you, gypsy girl."

  My cheeks warmed pink beneath her appraising gaze.

  "I don't know why he'd be interested in me."

  Julie ran what would have been a perfectly manicured finger around the rim of her teacup, would have been because she wore a Band-Aid wrapped around her finger from a scissors-cut.

  "He said your father was a champion horse trainer," Julie said. "He claimed he wanted your phone number so he could see about hiring you to give his daughter private lessons."

  "Oh." My face fell. "Yeah, of course. Marina must have told him I used to ride."

  He's not interested in me. He just wants to pick up a cheap instructor…

  Not that I'd given the man a second thought, but Ed Colbert was attractive and I was now an unattached female. Perhaps I should channel my out-of-control libido someplace more constructive than lusting after my hunky boss?

  "What did you tell him? Adam is militant about not giving out his phone number."

  "-I- have his number."

  "You've had his number since you were a teenager," I said. "He didn't change it after his mother died."

  "So does every girl in town!" Julie laughed.

  "From Adam?"

  "No, from his brother, Jeffrey," Julie said. "Like I said, his brother used to get around."

  The question popped out of my mouth before my internal filter kicked in.

  "What about Adam? I mean … they were twins."

  Julie's grin turned into a knowing smirk.

  "What about Adam?"

  Shut up! Shut up! Stop blabbering your stupid fantasies to brand-new friends you hardly know!

  "I, uhm, nothing…"

  Julie laughed. Most hairdressers were astute students of recognizing non-verbal cues. Was it that obvious I found my employer intriguing?

  "Adam dated two girls in high school that I know of," Julie said. "Both of them dumped him and moved on to date his brother."

  "Ouch!"

  "Yeah." Julie's expression grew apologetic. "I think that's why he never made a move on me."

  I remembered the look on Adam's face when he'd said Julie wasn't interested in him. Talk about having your teenage ego decimated as a boy! No wonder he'd been so gun-shy about getting involved. I decided not to enlighten Julie that Adam had figured out her motives.

  "Were Adam and his brother close?"

  "Yes," Julie said. "For the most part. When they weren't trying to kill one another. But even though they looked alike, their personalities were as different as night and day."

  Her expression grew wistful. Whatever flame she'd once carried for Adam's brother, it was fairly obvious the years hadn't diminished it. I decided to steer the conversation back onto less risky ground.

  "So … what did you tell Sarah Colbert's father?"

  "I told him I'd ask if you wanted to earn some money on the side," Julie said, "and if y
ou did, I'd give you his business card."

  She flipped over a small, off-white card that'd been tucked under the edge of her checkered place mat. I flipped it over and read what Ed Colbert did for work.

  "He's a solicitor?"

  "Yes," Julie said. "He's in-house council for the Power Station. They had him move out here after the Condamine River began to bubble up methane gas in Chinchilla."

  I knew from the newspapers that portion of the Condamine River lay a few hours north, in close proximity to a group of Jackson Oil Company gas wells. I'd asked Adam if the bubbles were related to fracking, but he'd curtly stated he was bound under a confidentiality agreement. From the way he acted whenever he mentioned his former father-in-law's name; however, I suspected the fracking did have something to do with the bubbles, and it was part of the reason he'd left the company.

  "I thought the local power plant burned coal?"

  "It does," Julie said. "But people around here, they've gotten real anxious about all things related to the oil, gas and coal industry. Ed said they sent him out here to put out any fires."

  "How long has he been divorced?"

  "His divorce becomes final in another month," Julie said. "His wife moved out here with him, but then she decided she didn't like it, so she left him and went back to Sydney. Sarah wanted a horse, so Ed played the horse card to convince his daughter to stay with him."

  "So he's on the rebound?"

  "Yeah. Big time. After asking about you, he spent the next half-hour complaining about his ex-wife."

  We fell into a companionable silence as we sipped our tea. Julie allowed me to work things out myself. So? Ed's been free for just two months, eh? And that's supposed to be an improvement over Adam, who is still technically married … how?

  "Pippa keeps me really busy," I said. "I don't think Adam would appreciate it if I took a job on the side."

  Julie gave me an approving nod.

  "Kinda thought you might feel that way. Which is why I didn't give him your number."

  Translation … I wanted to make sure you had all the facts before you got all tangled up with a man who might be emotionally unavailable…