The Dry (Aaron Falk #1)(47)

“You can’t tap the rich do-gooders again?”

She gave a sad smile. “We’ve tried that, actually. We thought we were in line for a windfall this year. It was a different mob from the playground, though. This was some private group, the Crossley Educational Trust. You ever heard of them?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Typical bleeding-heart types, but it sounded right up our street. They give cash to struggling rural schools, but apparently there are other schools more rural or struggling than us, if you can believe it. God help them. We made the short list, but no dice this time. We’ll look around, try again next year, I suppose, but until then, who knows? Anyway.” She broke off to wave at her son, who was standing at the top of a slide trying to get their attention. He slid down as they watched. “Lachie’s happy there for now, so that’s something, at least.”

She reached for the Tupperware as the little boy ran over. Gretchen held out a sandwich, but her son ignored her, staring instead at Falk.

“Hi, mate.” Falk held out his hand. “I’m Aaron. We met the other day, remember? Your mum and I were friends when we were younger.”

Lachie shook his hand and grinned at the novelty of the action.

“Did you see me on the slide?”

“We did,” Gretchen said, but the question wasn’t aimed at her. Falk nodded.

“You were really brave, mate,” Falk said. “That looks pretty high.”

“I can do it again. Watch.” Lachie took off. Gretchen watched him go with a funny look on her face. The kid waited until he had Falk’s full attention before he went. He ran straight around to do it again. Falk gave him a thumbs-up.

“Thanks,” Gretchen said. “He’s obsessed with grown men at the moment. I think he’s starting to see the other kids with dads and … well, you know.” She shrugged. Didn’t meet Falk’s eye. “Still, that’s what motherhood’s about, isn’t it? Eighteen years of crushing guilt?”

“His dad not involved at all?” Falk heard the note of curiosity in his own voice.

Gretchen heard it as well and smiled knowingly.

“No. And it’s OK; you can ask. His dad’s gone. No one you knew. Not a local, just a laborer who passed through for a while. I don’t know much about him other than he left me with this amazing kid. And yes, I know how that sounds.”

“It doesn’t sound like anything. It sounds like Lachie’s lucky to have you,” Falk said. But as he watched the child clamber athletically up the ladder, he found himself wondering what Lachie’s father had looked like.

“Thanks. It doesn’t always feel that way. I wonder sometimes if I should make an effort to meet someone. For both of us. Try to give Lachie a bit of a family. Let him see what it’s like to have a mum who’s not stressed and exhausted all the time, whatever that looks like. But I don’t know…” She trailed off, and Falk was worried she was embarrassed, when she flashed him a grin. “It’s a bloody shallow dating pool in Kiewarra. Muddy puddle at best.”

Falk laughed.

“So you never got married at all?” he said, and Gretchen shook her head.

“Nope. Never did.”

“Me neither.”

Gretchen’s eyes crinkled with amusement. “Yeah, I know.”

Falk was never sure how, but women always seemed to know. They looked sideways and smiled at each other. Falk imagined Gretchen and Lachie living by themselves on the vast Kellerman property she’d bought, and he remembered the eerie isolation of the Hadlers’ farm. Even Falk, who liked his own space more than most, started to crave company after a few hours with nothing but fields.

“You must get lonely on the farm on your own,” he said, and he could have bitten his tongue off. “Sorry. That was a genuine question, not a terrible pickup line.”

Gretchen laughed. “I know. With lines like that, you’d fit in better round here than you think.” Her face clouded. “But yeah. It can be an issue. It’s not really the lack of company; it’s feeling cut off that gets me a bit. I can’t get reliable Internet, and even the phone coverage is patchy. Not that I’ve got loads of people trying to call me, anyway.” She paused, her mouth pressed into a tight line. “You know I didn’t even find out what had happened to Luke until the next morning?”

“Seriously?” Falk was shocked.

“Yep. Not one person thought to ring me. Not Gerry and Barb. No one. Despite everything we’ve been through, I guess I…” She gave a tiny shrug. “I wasn’t a priority. On the afternoon it happened, I picked up Lachie from school, went home, had dinner. He went to bed. I watched a DVD. It was so ordinary and boring, but it was like the last normal evening, you know? Nothing special, but I’d give anything to go back to that. It wasn’t until the next morning at the school gates and I turned up and everyone was talking about it. It felt like they all knew and…” A single tear slipped down her nose. “And no one had bothered to call me. I couldn’t believe it. I mean, I literally couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I drove past his farm but wasn’t able to get anywhere near. The road was blocked, and there were cops everywhere. So I went home. By then it was on the news, of course. No chance of missing it then.”