Down Outback Roads by Alissa Callen Read Free Book Online Page B

up a stool. ‘Nice shirt,’ he commented in his unhurried drawl.
    ‘That’s enough cheek from you,’ Ewan said with a smile, eyeing off Bill’s unfamiliar collared shirt, which had the Calf and Cow logo on the right front pocket. ‘I could say the same thing about you.’
    Bill had owned the bar for as long as Ewan could remember. He’d served him his first beer as an eighteen-year-old when his father had brought him in to celebrate his milestone birthday.
    Bill grimaced and tugged at the chambray-blue shirt collar. ‘It’s Jordy’s fancy idea. She thinks if I dress more professional-like, when tourists come they’ll visit again. She has pink ones for herself and even had a small green one made for Mikey.’
    Ewan accepted the beer Bill slid to him with a small nod. ‘Your Jordy has a good head on her shoulders. She may very well be right.’
    ‘Let’s hope so.’
    ‘Things that bad?’
    ‘They’ve been better.’
    Ewan took a sip of the cold beer. ‘It takes time. You’ve survived your share of droughts and know the drill. For farmers to have money in their wallets, their stock has to fatten and their cash crops ripen first.’
    The older man wiped a tall glass clean. ‘How about you? Got any crops in?’
    ‘I’m trying. The winter oats are in and if I ever get the airseeder fixed the canola and wheat will soon be in, too.’
    ‘How’d it go with the bank?’
    Ewan knew the shrewd barkeep wouldn’t have missed why he was dressed in his Sunday finery. Bill, Travis and Old Harry were the only people privy to his financial jam. ‘As well as can be expected. I don’t envy the city-bankie his job, but direct city ways don’t work out here. I don’t need to be told how serious things are. I sure as hell know.’
    ‘So, he’ll back you into those fancy-sounding cattle?’
    ‘I’ve got the green light but only for half the amount I need.’
    Bill placed the glass he’d polished on the counter. ‘Ewan, you know your dad and I go way back. Your father was a good and decent man and you’re a chip off the old block.’
    Bill’s mouth firmed and Ewan knew he’d mentally finished his sentence with the words, ‘unlike your brother’. He’d never asked Bill why he and Fergus hadn’t got on. Maybe it had something to do with Fergus’s willingness to start a pub brawl.
    But Bill hadn’t finished speaking. ‘It would be an honour if you’d let me help. I’ve got a nest egg and I’m sure my money would be safe with you. Knowing you, those cows won’t be any hare-brained scheme.’
    Emotion constricted Ewan’s throat. When the wheat silo on the property they’d share-farmed had fallen and killed his father, Bill had taken him on as though he were the son he’d once lost. And now Bill was offering him financial help when he should be making provisions for his and Jordy’s future.
    ‘Bill, I don’t know what to say.’
    ‘Say, yes. Little Mikey is only three and he and Jordy won’t need my nest egg for a while yet.’
    ‘Thank you, but you know I can’t. I couldn’t forgive myself if I wasted a cent of your savings.’
    Bill collected another glass to wipe. ‘Well, my offer stands for anytime you need cash. If my boy had survived his motorbike accident, I hope he’d have turned out like you. Tish and the twins would be lost without your help.’
    Ewan took a deep gulp of beer. ‘Thanks again, Bill, but I’ll find a way to afford the UltraBlack cattle … So how’s Mikey doing? He looked like he’d grown a foot when I last saw him.’
    As Ewan had hoped, Bill’s faded brown eyes brightened at the mention of his adored, red-haired grandson, who lived behind the pub with him. Ewan’s tight grip around his beer glass eased. He was safe. There’d be no more talk about money or about the reason why caring for Tish and the boys had become his life’s mission.

    Sweet dreams.
    Tish zipped the plastic cover of her small greenhouse shut and smiled at the two new pots on the middle shelf.