“When you’re done, I want to have a word with you and Matt,” Brandon said, getting to his feet to clear the table.
“Sure.” It wouldn’t be good news. Nothing to do with the station was these days. But he pushed the thought to the back of his mind as he made biscuits with his daughter and then walked her to the bathroom to ensure she cleaned her teeth.
“Wehgngrananbook?” Lara asked, mouth full of toothpaste and toothbrush held at the ready.
He raised his eyebrows. “You want to spit before you repeat that?”
She grinned and toothpaste squirted out her mouth onto the floor. She laughed, spitting the rest into the sink and rinsing her mouth, while Darcy plucked a tissue to clean up her mess.
“Are we still going to read a chapter?” Her hopeful expression was impossible to resist, but he made a fuss of checking his watch.
“Pleeease.”
“All right. Butonechapter only.” They were nearing the end of the story, and she would want to keep reading. He appreciated she still enjoyed their nightly ritual and didn’t yet think it was stupid. While she headed for her bedroom and began to say goodnight to every stuffed toy Sofia had ever sent her, he poured her a glass of water which she’d inevitably ask for before turning out the light.
He navigated through the maze of stuffed toys now lying on the floor, and shuffled onto the bed beside her. Bennet eyed him warily from his spot on the end of the bed. Lara had begged to let the dog sleep with her after his parents’ accident, and he hadn’t been able to say no. Darcy was now resigned to Bennet sleeping on his daughter’s bed forever.
Lara handed him the book. “We’re up to here.”
He cleared his throat, and prepared for all the voices he had to do. Lara snuggled into him, her head almost obscuring the pages. Her hair smelled like strawberries and tickled his nose.
All of the tension in him melted away. This was his favourite time of day, his favourite place to be. With a smile, he began to read.
When he returned to the kitchen Matt, Amy and Brandon were already seated at the table. Outside thunder rumbled and the occasional bolt of lightning lit up the sky. No rain yet. He hoped the lightning didn’t start a bush fire. That was one headache he didn’t need right now.
“Cuppa?” Brandon asked gesturing to the tea pot.
Darcy nodded and sat next to Matt. “What’s up?”
“We need to discuss our finances.”
He braced himself. He’d put them close to bankruptcy when his father had been conned by the company from which Darcy had recommended they buy cattle. “How bad is it?”
“We’re limping along,” Brandon said. “As long as we have no major unforeseen expenses before lambing we should be right, but Amy’s put together ideas of how we can raise more money.”
Darcy sent thanks to his sister, Georgie who had told Amy about the job. Amy had been a massive help since she’d arrived, and she would officially be part of the family when she married Brandon next month. “What have you got, Ames?”
She opened the folder in front of her and handed them each a proposal. “These are ideas, and we wouldn’t do everything at once. Some of them have a cost involved.”
And they had little money to spend as it was.
Brandon gave her an encouraging nod. “The past three months has seen the half dozen camp sites full eighty percent of the time,” she said. “Even taking into account the long-stay discount we offer, it’s brought in over ten grand.”
Darcy blinked. He’d left managing the camp sites to Amy and had paid little attention to it aside from noting new caravans and tents on the property from time to time. “That’s brilliant.”
She smiled at him. “The key problem is we only have the single bathroom at the shearers’ quarters for all those guests. We need more.”
He flicked through the proposal and saw the figures. “These aren’t too bad.”
“Most of the cost is labour and Georgie knows a plumber who owes her a favour.”
“Of course she does,” Matt muttered, scowling at the document.
“I looked around the sheds and we have a lot of the materials lying around the place.” She showed them a photo of a rustic-looking shower. “It’s called a donkey shower. The water is heated by fire and then gravity fed to the shower. People love them.” She handed around a map. “If we clear a little more land, we could expand to two dozen camp sites. It would be ideal if we offered powered and unpowered sites, but that might have to wait until we’re a little more flush.”
“Do you think there’s the market for it?” Darcy asked.
“Absolutely. I’ve had to turn people away. The social media pages have been successful and we’re getting a lot of hits on the website. If we expand, I’ll invite a few influencers to stay for free so they can get the word out.”
