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But Joe knew that he would wait for real love; he knew what he wanted. Ryan and Jac had a great relationship, and if he had to wait until he was forty to meet Mrs. Right, so be it.

Holly scratched her nose and looked at him. “What on earth are you thinking about, Joe? You look like you’re off with the pixies.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Must be the paint fumes. I’ve been locked up in the house all morning with a tin of paint. I’ll put the basket under the tree.”

“Nice tree. I love that you’ve got one when you live out here by yourself.”

“It’s a bit naff though, isn’t it?” Joe pulled a face. “First time I’ve decorated a tree since Ryan and I were kids.”

“It’s great. I love the she-oak in a bucket of sand. To me, that’s much more an Aussie Christmas than the green plastic or silver tinsel trees. Not that there’s anything wrong with them. Each to his own, it’s the spirit of Christmas that counts, isn’t it? May I?” Holly pointed to the gold star that was leaning a bit drunkenly almost at the top of his tree.

“Go for it.”

Joe folded his arms as she grinned at him and climbed onto the sofa, securing the star to a stronger and higher branch so that it actually graced the top of the tree rather than a sideways branch. Then she rearranged the strands of tinsel he’d pretty much thrown at the branches.

She stood back and smiled. “There you go. Much more balanced.”

‘Thank you. Much better.’

He looked at the gift basket that Holly had placed beside Georgia’s presents. A wicker basket filled with much more than he’d expected. “That’s huge. Have I paid you enough?”

“That’s the one you ordered. It looks extra big because some of the jars are large.’ Holly smiled. “There’s clear cellophane scrunched up between the bottles, so it pads it out.” She smiled. “I might have thrown in a couple of extra little things into your basket. Jac and Ryan are great people, and Ryan has done a lot of work for me and my family.” Holly pointed to the bottles in the middle of the basket. “There’s one hundred percent local produce in there. Fig and strawberry jam from Damien Forster’s berry farm, wine from Storey Family Wines, local honeycomb, and gingerbread cookies. Don’t you just love the smell of gingerbread cooking?” Her smile was contagious.

Joe chuckled. “I’ve never smelled gingerbread cookies baking.”

“When I start baking them, it really starts to feel like Christmas.” Holly’s blue eyes sparkled with delight when she smiled, and Joe couldn’t help being dragged into the Christmas spirit.

“I baked those myself,” she said, “but there’s also some Christmas tarts from the bakery.”

Joe shook his head. “Will it keep? Ryan and Jac leave for the islands in a few days. They won’t have time to eat it all before they go.”

“It will.” Holly bent down and picked up a couple of stray she-oak spikes off the floor. “I’d better get going, Joe. One more delivery and I’m done for the day. I’m sure I’ll see you in town before Christmas at the pub or the Carols by Candlelight.”

‘You will. Thanks for coming out, Holly, and good luck with the new business.” Joe walked her to the back door. “And thanks for fixing my tree.”

Two hours later, he paused and listened for a moment before he ran the roller over the last corner of the kitchen. It sounded like rain on his tin roof. The last few days had been lovely, with clear days warming up quickly. His new veggie garden would appreciate a drop of rain.

Ryan and Jac had come out three weekends ago, and his sister-in-law had stood at the edge of the huge vegetable garden with her hands on her hips. “My goodness, Joe, are you going into market gardening? What are you going to do with all those vegetables?”

Joe replied, “I don’t know, Jac. I just enjoy growing them.”

“Well, you certainly have a green thumb.”

The recent weather was helping his green thumb along very well. The only problem Joe was having was the deer that he had to keep out of his patch—they’d eaten the first batch of seedlings as soon as they’d sprouted a few weeks ago. Since then, he’d built a solid fence with the star pickets he found in the shed. Phil at the hardware store had spent a good half hour helping him choose the best fencing wire. He was a good salesman; Joe had come out of the store with a lot more than he’d intended to buy. Since the hardware store had expanded and moved out on the Tamworth Road you could just about get anything you needed there. Joe had been disappointed when he’d had to buy the flatpack kitchen in Tamworth; he liked to support local business as much as he could.

He climbed down off the ladder and took the paint tray and roller out to the original laundry where the old stone sink had come in handy for renovations. He washed them and put them on the back porch to dry overnight. On his way back inside, he stood at the back door and looked at the clouds rolling over from the west. There was blue sky behind them, and the rain had almost stopped; it was only a few spits now. He grabbed his boots and headed outside, whistling for his dog.

“Come on, Molly, are you up for a walk? I’m going for a ride.”

Sam, the horse he’d inherited from the previous owners, waited in the paddock close to the house. Joe went back inside and grabbed a carrot to put in his pocket. Local gossip told him the old horse had been on the property his whole life, and that he stayed here had been a condition of each time the farm had sold. Whenever the property was sold, Sam went with the land, or the sale wasn’t on. Joe knew that subsequent vendors and purchasers didn’t have to stick to the arrangement of the original owners, but he’d been more than happy to take the big white horse.

Sam was a gentle old soul, and Joe rubbed his forelock as he threw a blanket over his back and put the bridle on him. He didn’t mind being led and he knew better than to bother Molly. The one time she’d nipped at his hooves, she’d got a small kick in return, so she was wary of the old horse, even though Sam didn’t have a nasty bone in his body.

Joe climbed onto his back and leaned over to open the gate.

“Come on, Sam, take me for a wander. We can check that boundary fence past the house.” Sam had his regular route, and Joe had seen more of his property from the old horse’s back than he had in his ute.

This afternoon, Sam headed north, and Joe wondered what was out that way. The back of his property shared a border with the Akuna National Park, and he hadn’t been out that way yet; he had only driven out on the forestry road. It was too far to take old Sam for an exploration on horseback. One weekend, he’d saddle up Misty, the new horse he’d bought from the Kendalls before they’d moved to the coast, and he’d head out for the day. When the house was done.