Page 3

“Come on in, Holly.”

He climbed down the ladder, and by the time he’d put the roller in the paint tray, Holly had walked down the hall carrying the gift basket he’d ordered for Jac and Ryan.

Joe had finished painting the living room before lunch, put all the furniture back, and then put the Christmas tree up and decorated it. He grinned; if you could call his effort of throwing tinsel on the she-oak in the bucket of sand, and putting a plastic gold star on the highest branch he could reach, decorating.

This weekend, his focus was on the house. He had months of work ahead and had to stop going about it as a hit-and-miss project. He needed a plan. Working as a builder’s labourer, some knowledge should have rubbed off, but at first, Joe was too busy thinking about the land he’d bought to look very closely at the house.

But he’d made a plan and followed it through, and now the old farmhouse was looking great. He’d achieved a lot in the three months since he’d moved in, painting through, new carpet, and polishing the floorboards in the three bedrooms and the living room. The kitchen had been a lot of work, especially working by himself. He’d spent last weekend installing new cupboards he bought at Bunnings in Tamworth, and this morning he’d finished painting the living room and then moved to the last room—the kitchen.

He smiled at Holly when she met him in the middle of the hall. “You’re a lifesaver, Holly. Great idea and even a home delivery service.”

Every year since Jaclyn had married his brother, Joe had had the same problem. He had no idea what to buy for them for Christmas. There was only so much hand cream and boxed hankies that a couple could use. It was easy enough to buy toys for Georgia; the post office always made sure there was something suitable there. Jaclyn seemed to have the knack of gifting him something useful every Christmas and birthday.

Holly’s gift baskets were the answer to his problem. Last week in town, he’d spotted an ad on the community noticeboard for the gift baskets. He pulled out his phone and called the number on the flyer straightaway and was surprised when Holly David answered.

“Holly, it’s Joe Rossiter. What are you doing selling gift baskets? I thought you were working at the hospital in Lismore.”

“Is it that long since we last caught up at the pub? It’s almost a year since I left there.”

“Probably, I haven’t been to the pub much lately.” Joe had only been to the pub a couple of times since he’d bought the farm. No time and he was trying to save money. “Are you working in town now?”

“I’ve started my own business with the baskets, and while it gets going, I’m renting out a room in my place to help pay the bills.”

“Good on you,” Joe said. “I hope it goes well for you. I’ll order your biggest size for Jaclyn and Ryan, please.”

“A picnic basket or a gift basket?” Holly had asked.

Joe frowned. “You know Jac. You choose.”

“Well, seeing as they’re going away, I’d say the gift basket. Jac was really looking forward to their trip when I saw her at the Cyprus Café the other day. I couldn’t get over how much Georgia’s grown.”

“She has grown. And yes, Jac is excited. They’re leaving this week and that’s why I want to give them their present this weekend.”

Joe had organised to collect the basket in town on Saturday morning, but Holly had called last night to say she could drop it off

“I’m sorry to inconvenience you, Joe. I was wondering if I could drop the basket off at your new place tomorrow afternoon. You’re out on the Armidale Road, aren’t you? I’m sorry I won’t—” Holly had started apologising, but Joe interrupted.

“No problem at all, Holly. Suits me down to the ground. I can stay home and paint all day now. I’ll get a couple of rooms done, but are you sure it’s not too far out of your way?”

Holly reassured him. “No, I have to come out your way anyway, so it’s only a little detour to come down your road. How far along are you?”

“Exactly fifteen ks to the turnoff to the national park.”

“I can find that. I’ll see you about three, Joe.”

Now Joe glanced up at the clock as she followed him into the living room. Holly was right on time. Her eyes crinkled in a happy smile as she spotted his Christmas tree with brightly wrapped parcels beneath it. She was a pretty girl, a blue-eyed brunette who was always smiling. They had some mutual friends and had spent some time out with the group at the pub over the last couple of years since he’d started visiting Ryan in Bindarra Creek before he too had moved here. When Holly wasn’t working up at Lismore at the hospital, she came to the pub with some local friends.

When Joe had been working as a contract shearer, he’d spent most Saturday afternoons at the Riverside Pub, and when he’d moved to town to work with his brother, and Grant Cummings, the landscaper, he’d joined the social cricket club at the hotel and that meant late fun nights in the bar after the Saturday games.

He hadn’t signed up this year, because he’d known that he would be putting Saturdays into getting the property and the house sorted.

Joe frowned. Why was it that all his mates were finding partners and settling down, but he had never met anyone who had given him that spark? He had many female friends, both in Bindarra Creek and Tamworth. He’d had a few short relationships, but none of them had really met that expectation of the sort of woman he would like to settle down with one day.

When Ryan and Jaclyn got married and started a family, he’d been envious. He’d never seen his brother so happy.

Holly was a nice girl, and she was a good friend, but there was no spark. The same with Leah when she came to town last Christmas; he had been interested, they’d hit it off straight away and he’d taken her out to Ryan and Jac’s for a barbeque, but again, no spark.

He frowned as he stared over the top of Holly’s head at the Christmas tree. Maybe his standards were unrealistic.