Sophie’s horse was still straining and Nathan could see the whites of its eyes as they rolled. She loosened the reins and shot off across the yard.
Lo remained behind, her pony more docile. ‘Is Mummy going to be in trouble?’
‘No. Why would she be?’
‘Because you look sad.’
Did he? ‘Sorry.’ Nathan rearranged his face into what he hoped was a more neutral expression. He started to close the sketchbook, then stopped. ‘Why didn’t you finish drawing your mum in the picture?’
Lo, suddenly unsure, looked for her sister, who was out of earshot across the yard. She faltered, then leaned in on her pony.
‘Daddy didn’t like it,’ she whispered.
‘What do you mean?’
‘He saw my picture and was cross with Mummy. I didn’t want to make it worse.’
Ilse was no longer in the stables by the time Nathan had walked the girls’ horses back. Lo had been distracted, losing concentration and control of her pony a couple of times. She didn’t know why Daddy was upset, she’d said, she just thought that he was. Nathan and Xander had exchanged a look as Lo grew increasingly worried, and hadn’t pushed it. After Lo nearly fell off for a second time, Nathan asked Xander to take the girls inside and find something safer to do. He had led the horses to the stables and taken his time settling them in as he thought about things.
It was as he was walking the long way back that he heard the sound. He was under a window outside one of the cabins and stopped. The soft catch of breath. Someone was crying. He walked around the front and up the steps.
The inside of the cabin was a surprise. It had been converted into a proper schoolroom, with a whiteboard and small desks, and alphabet posters covering the walls. A lot of it appeared homemade, and Nathan thought he recognised Ilse’s handiwork on much of it.
Katy was sitting in a large beanbag in the reading corner. She wiped her eyes as Nathan came in.
‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I heard you outside.’
‘It’s okay.’ Katy blew her nose on a shredded tissue. With a little difficulty she pulled herself out of the beanbag and stood up. ‘I should be getting back anyway.’
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Do you want me to get Simon?’
‘No. I’m fine.’
Nathan found a roll of paper towel by the art station and handed her a sheet. ‘Just take a minute.’
‘Thanks.’ Katy took it gratefully and wiped her eyes.
Nathan wandered around while she gathered herself. The classroom was a lot nicer than anything he and Cam and Bub had had when they were kids. Their schoolwork was mostly done at the kitchen table or not at all. On the teacher’s desk was a laptop with some post-it notes written in what he presumed was Katy’s handwriting.
A thick teaching folder supplied by School of the Air lay open and Nathan remembered his conversation with Sophie on the verandah.
I don’t think she’s a real teacher.
He looked up. Katy was blowing her nose again. He flicked through a few pages in the folder. The lessons were all laid out for the home supervisor to follow.
Introduce the unit, he read.Hold up the book and say to students: ‘Today we will be exploring picture books. We will be learning about characters in this story.’ Show students the front cover. Ask them to read the title out loud.
Nathan frowned. He read on. The instructions were all there. It didn’t seem too hard to supervise if you followed them. He thought he could have a crack at it himself, at a push. He closed the folder and saw Katy watching him.
‘Better?’ he said.
‘Yes.’ Her voice was a touch too bright and her makeup had smudged slightly, making her eyes look strangely dramatic. ‘I’m just a bit homesick. I’ll be okay.’
‘Are you going back to the house?’ he said. ‘I’ll walk with you.’
