‘I’m so sorry about Lydia and Brodie.I truly am,’ she said with a hand to her heart.‘I get that this town, you, have all suffered a blow.But this,’ she said with her hand sweeping over the room.‘This isn’t justice.And I’m sure Lydia would only want the best for all of us.’
‘What would Brodie say?’she asked, then huffed.‘Actually, knowing teenagers, he’d probably mutter something sarcastic and pretend not to care.But hewouldcare.Because Brodie knows what this place is made of.’
The bar filled with silence now.Real silence.
‘I may be that outsider, but what I’ve seen of this town?It’s something rare.Something layered with this incredible ingrained community spirit.Like the red dust doesn’t come off easy, but it gets into everything and somehow it makes you stronger.You look after each other in ways I’ve never seen before.Not in city offices or federal buildings.Not even in families that say they’reclose.’
That earned her a few quiet nods.
‘You build things here.You fix things.You carry pain with your heads high, and you don’t ask for help until someone’s handing you a cold beer and a fresh bandage for a wound you didn’t even know was showing.But that mate beside you, willing to give you a hand, and you them?That’s not weakness.That’s the great Aussie spirit and something to be proud of.So if you want to honour Lydia, do it by being who she believed you are—good men, who don’t need to raise a fist to prove they care.And if you want to help?Great.Then help.’
She pointed toward the front doors.‘Let’s start by getting those stockyards open.That’s what Lydia would want—trucks moving, cattle sorted, and all that yard dust back in the air where it belongs.So, who usually helps when Lydia goes away on holiday?’
A voice shouted from the back: ‘Bree!’
‘Call her!’someone else shouted.
‘Only if you’ve got some cupcakes,’ said another, ‘she’ll drag the baby with her, no sweat.’
Laughter rippled through the room like relief cracking at the tension.
Taryn grinned.‘You heard ‘em.Someone call Bree and order a double batch of cupcakes for her, and someone to help her with the baby.’
Baby.
Nope, not the time!
She forcefully put her hands on her hips, and not on her belly.With her badge catching the pub’s light, she refocused on the crowd.‘If any of you have any information, sightings, or whispers?Please report it to Tanisha at the station.And if you’re the type who doesn’t want to dob in a mate… there’s a confidential tip line for that too.No need for names.Just your truths.’
She eyed the room one last time with a lot of them nodding back at her.
‘Now, let’s get those stockyard gates open.And let’s show Lydia we’ve got this covered until she’s back behind that desk, bossing everyone around with a cup of coffee and clipboard in hand.’
A few cheers rose as the crowd started to scatter.
She jumped down, heart thudding like she’d just mustered a thousand head on foot.As laughter, along with the scuff of boots and a renewed purpose, filled the pub behind her.
She didn’t see him—not until he was there.
Finn.
Tall, dust-worn, eyes locked on hers like she was the only damn thing that mattered in the entire world.His hand wrapped around her wrist, and without a word, he pulled her into the small storeroom behind the bar.The door swung shut behind them with a thud.
‘What are y—’
But the words never landed.
Because Finn kissed her.
No hesitation.No build-up.
Just one hand sliding to her nape, the other curving around her waist like he’d done a thousand times in her dreams and wasn’t letting go again.
He kissed her like he’d waited too damn long and wasn’t about to waste another second with words.It was a kiss that was full of heat—wild, outback heat—and something deeper.Likehome.
Taryn had no hope of resisting.She simply melted.Completely.Into their kiss.
Their boots were toe-to-toe, as her heart thudded against his chest, her hands fisting into his shirt like it was the only thing keeping her upright.
