One
Bel Buckley stifled a sigh as a car pulled up at the bowsers.Just when I was getting to the exciting part. She hated when her work life got in the way of her reading life. The latest book in Alison Gatsby’s Lexington Millionaires series had finally come out and Bel was desperate to start reading it. She’d promised herself she’d wait until she got home from work so she could settle into bed with a glass of wine and devour, uninterrupted, the whole book in one sitting, only the temptation was too strong … like the jawline of Jax Lexington, who posed shirtless on the front cover, lazily resting one hip against the side of a very expensive sports car, a pair of dark sunglasses resting low on his perfect Roman nose as he stared straight into her soul.
‘Bel! I ain’t got all day!’ an impatient voice bellowed from outside, snapping her out of her daydream in an instant as she quickly hit the button to activate the pump. She gave one last, disheartened glance at the cover and slid the book under the front counter. She pushed her thick-rimmed glasses back up her nose as she waited for Bill Matheson to finish filling up his battered old ute.
Bel watched his faithful old kelpie, Meg, drop her head over the side of the ute while Bill meandered across to the fridge and selected his usual sixpack of beer, then a packet of cashews, aTake 5magazine and a bag of dog treats before heading to the counter, where Bel was already ripping off his five dollars’ worth of scratchies.
‘Any sign of that rain they said was coming?’ Bel asked after informing him of the total. She listened to his usual rant about bloody government taxes and greedy politicians in bed with fuel companies for the billionth time—it was the same thing, like a record playing on repeat, every single Tuesday.
‘Nope. Won’t rain till the twenty-sixth.’
‘I hope not. There’ll be a lot of unhappy people around here if it does.’ Surely even Mother Nature wouldn’t dare risk the wrath of Larkin Buckley, bridezilla incarnate.
Bill shrugged one skinny shoulder beneath his dusty flannelette shirt—she was pretty sure it was hisonlyshirt, as he wore it into town every week. It had a small rip underneath the front pocket. ‘Rain don’t care who it upsets.’
‘See you next week, Bill,’ she called out after him.
‘Maybe. Unless I’m dead.’
She should be used to his usual farewell, but it still made her wince every time he said it. She had no idea how old he was, but one day he wouldn’t be in on a Tuesday, and she wasn’t sure she was going to be ready to cope with that day. As grumpy as he was, she’d grown fond of him. Underneath that gruff exterior was a kind man. He never left his farm without Meg and always bought her treats, and after he stopped in to get his fuel he would drop in at the nursing home to sit with his former neighbour, Mary, who had gone into care twelve months earlier. He always made sure to bring her aTake 5magazine so she could do her puzzles.
Bel listened to the ute drive away and heard her phone ping: ‘I hope you’re all wearing your shoes in!’ She groaned and reached for her book only for the door to open and set off the jingle of bells. She placed the book on the counter with exaggerated patience. Couldn’t she get just one minute of peace and quiet?
‘And no lollipops. I need to talk to Aunt Bel for a minute.’
Bel’s irritation passed and she smiled at the woman and toddler who entered. Then she walked around the counter, snagging a wrapped lollipop from its jar and slipping it into the little girl’s hand. ‘Shh,’ she said with an exaggerated wink, getting a conspiratorial nod in return.
‘Mabel Rose Buckley!’ Emma said, causing Bel to straighten and narrow her eyes. Emma was the only person who evercalled her by her full name and lived, and that was only due to the fact they’d been best friends since childhood.
‘Oh, come on, you and I both know Lucy would have used that cheeky grin to get a lollipop out of one of us before you left anyway.’
‘I know which one of us that would be.’
‘Well, you shouldn’t make such irresistible children.’ Bel watched Lucy’s cherub-like face smiling around the lollipop as she settled herself comfortably on the chair behind the counter.
‘Come over at dinnertime and tell me how irresistible they are then,’ Emma said. ‘Which reminds me, come over tonight. You haven’t been over for ages.’
‘I can’t. I have a date tonight,’ Bel said.
‘What! When? With who?’ her friend asked, staring at her.
‘With Jax Lexington,’ Bel said, wiggling her eyebrows as she leaned an elbow on the counter and gave her book a gentle pat.
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake,’ Emma snapped. ‘I thought you’d found someone.’
‘It’s the one I’ve been waiting six weeks for. There was a hold-up in the pre-orders. I told you about it,’ Bel prodded.
‘Yes, I know. You’ve been complaining about nothing else. I seriously worry about you, you know.’
‘I don’t know why. I’m perfectly happy.’ Bel tucked a stray strand that had fallen out of the messy bun she’d pulled her hair into on her way out the door that morning.
‘Sure you are.’
Okay, so maybe that was a slight exaggeration. She may not beperfectlyhappy … but she wasn’tunhappy. She was embracing positivity and abundance this year. It had all started with a book, titledMindfulness and Manifesting a New You—Love, Wealth and Career. She’d been drawn to the book while she’d been browsing in the bookshop, waiting for Larkin to buy napkins for the wedding. The self-help aisle wasn’t one she normally ventured down, but that day the bright gold and pink cover had caught her eye. New year, new me, she reminded herself.
And it wasn’t as though she didn’twantto find some nice guy to go out on a date with but come on—this was Wessex. In the middle of nowhere and the back of beyond. The pickings were pretty slim at best. Hence the need to take drastic action with the whole manifesting thing.
Bel pulled herself up. That wasn’t the kind of energy to be putting out there. She took a breath, remembering her list. Trust in the universe.
