CHAPTER
26
Joey had avoided hospitals for twenty years, and in that time the plastic chairs hadn’t grown any more comfortable.
Nor had the memories.
Cancer.
His own dad had been battling cancer for three months and no-one had told him.
Robbo was whisked off with Patty when they arrived at Lismore Base. Felicity stood opposite him in the waiting room scowling at a wall mural of wading birds, Daisy had taken Amy home, Will had to go open the pub as he was the only one with keys to the change safe, and Red Ant and Lachy had disappeared into the labyrinth of hospital corridors to find coffee for everyone.
‘Flick,’ he said.
Her scowl turned to him. ‘What?’
‘Will you tell me what’s going on?’
‘What’s going on,Joseph, is that as well as having to worry about Dad the last few months, Mum’s had to worry about you, too.’
He frowned. ‘Why would she worry about me?’ He hadn’t even told his parents about his financial disaster. He was sorting that out on his own; it was just taking time. And blistering, back-wrecking effort.
‘Um hello … tragic hero returns home after twenty years and becomes a recluse on his farm?’
‘A recluse? I’m not a bl—’
‘Really? When was the last time you stopped in at the bakery?’
Um … sheesh. He’d stopped there a while back, but Jill Oatley had patted his cheek and given him the sad eyes.
‘Where do you get your groceries?’
‘The IGA like everyone else. I order them online and some kid wearing earbuds puts them in the tray of my ute.’
‘That’s not how everyone else does it. Everyone else goes in, chats to someone in the meat aisle about the weather, and chats to someone else in the veggie section about their new baby, then they put a few coins in the donation tin on the counter and they swap some gossip with the person on the till.’
Well, sure, it was all that chatting part that had made the online ordering system so appealing.How are you, Joey? So brave of you to come home; have you met the new school teacher yet? She’s adorable.
‘Amy’s school recital last month. Where were you when the rest of us were sitting through three interminable hours ofMulga Bill: The Musical?’
‘I’ve had scrub to clear, Felicity. Weeds to kill. Irrigation pipes to lay. I’m up before dawn most days and—’
‘Amy noticed you weren’t there.’
Crap. He could have gone …
He sighed. ‘Okay. You’re right. I don’t come to town much … but I’m not avoiding it.’
She crossed her arms and returned her ferocious stare to the mural. ‘Mum thinks you are.’
‘And that doesn’t explain why no-one told me about my own father having freaking breast cancer.’
‘Mum forbade it.’
‘But why, Felicity?’
Lachy and Anthony were back, paper cups in hand. He looked up at them.