Chapter Four

In Mulwala, Richard navigated a couple of corners and drove along roads that Tracey had never been on before. Mulwala was not a very large town. It was smaller than Yarrawonga and that was small enough.

He pulled the car into a driveway at the bottom left hand side of a cul-de-sac.

    ‘Home sweet home,’ He smiled as he turned off the engine.

    ‘You dag,’ Kayla snorted with a loud laugh, ‘You don’t actually live here!’

    ‘Well… Technically, no; no I don’t.’ He grinned.

Tracey was wondering whose house it was if Richard didn’t technically live here. Perhaps it was a friend’s house or something.

He walked around to Tracey’s side of the car as she was opening the door and held it open for her as she got out.

    ‘DAG!’ Kayla shouted with her arms folded over her chest.

    ‘Freak!’ he retorted with a giggle.

Tracey shook her head, ‘I’m assuming you two do a lot of jabbing at each other? Are you, like… Dating or something?’

They both roared with laughter. Richard tried to speak through his giggles, ‘Us? Hell no!’ He finally said trying to control the fits of laughter that were coming in little bursts.

Tracey couldn’t figure out what was so hilarious about that question but she thought if they wanted her to know, they would share.

Kayla managed to stop laughing, ‘We’re just best mates Trace. I’ve known him since his Dad lived in Yarrawonga. His dad and my mum were in a relationship for about six months when we were only about eight or nine.’

    ‘Nine,’ Richard interrupted, ‘we were nine and I didn’t live with them. Not full time anyway. My mother lives in Pakenham and I live with her most of the time and I come here to visit my father every April and every September.’

The girls followed Richard up the front path to the door. He found the right key on his key ring and poked it into the lock. It must have been a sticky lock because he had to giggle it quite violently to get the lock to actually click open. Once it did, the door opened with a squeak and a lived-in smell wafted out the door.

Richard stepped aside, ‘After you, ladies.’ He said holding the door open.

The girls went inside and Kayla made her way across the open plan area to where a small kitchen table was sitting to the left. Tracey took a brief glance around as she followed Kayla. There was a fairly ancient looking three seater in the area off to the right. It kind of looked pretty retro and didn’t really match anything else in the house. It was three shades of green and the rest of the house had blue things. The arm chair was dark blue, the ottoman was a patterned light blue, the cushions were various shades of blue, the carpet was even a mottled blue. That green couch just looked so out of place.

Tracey followed Kayla into the dining area where Kayla pulled out a chair for herself. Richard was behind Tracey and he moved past her, trying not to bump into her as he went to the fridge.

    ‘Would you ladies like a drink? I hope you don’t mind, I’m going to have a beer.’

Kayla grinned at him with her teeth partly showing.

‘You already know my answer brat features.’ She chuckled.

Richard reached into the fridge and pulled out a two litre bottle of coke and handed it to Kayla.

    ‘You know where the glasses are,’ he said, ‘help yourself.’ He looked over at Tracey, ‘How about you? Are you thirsty?’

Tracey smiled, ‘I’ll just have what Kayla is having,’ she responded. Richard nodded at her and pulled out a stubby of beer. He reached for his stubby holder off the top of the fridge and popped the cold drink into it.

    ‘So… What was this thing you wanted to show us?’ Kayla asked him curiously, as she poured two glasses of coke and put the bottle back into the fridge.

    ‘Mmm,’ he said, swallowing a mouthful of the cold bitter liquid, ‘wait there. Be right back.’

He put the beer onto the bench and Tracey watched him walk away. He was wearing baggy jeans on his hips and a faded black t-shirt with some sort of print on the front. He had small muscles under his shirt. Not overly buff, but just nice.

    ‘I saw that.’ Kayla teased.

Tracey shot an embarrassed glance her way.

    ‘You saw what?’ she asked trying to sound innocent.

    ‘You checkin’ out Rich.’ She grinned with wide eyes cheekily.

    ‘Was not!’ Tracey snapped with a flushed, obviously guilty look.

    ‘You SO were!’ Kayla’s elbow nudged her with a cheeky little smirk. ‘Don’t worry your secret is safe with me.’ She added making a locking motion at the side of her mouth and pretending to throw away the key.

The girls were both giggling when Richard was coming down the passage way.

    ‘Well maybe I was just a little,’ Tracey admitted making an inch sized gesture with her thumb and pointer finger.

Richard over heard her. ‘Maybe a little what?’ he probed.

    ‘Don’t worry you dag,’ Kayla snorted in guffaw, ‘girl talk!’

    ‘Argh…’ Richard rolled his eyes, ‘Typical!’

He handed Kayla a printed sheet of paper. Tracey could make out some of it from the under side as the light from the window hit it. It looked like an email. Kayla began to read silently and as she did, her eyes widened.

    ‘Whoa!’ She stammered. ‘Are you going to do it?’

Richard shrugged and looked at Tracey to explain what was going on so she didn’t feel so left out, or so Tracey assumed.

    ‘My bestie from down home just inherited a four bedroom house in Saxonvale and he’s looking for some roomies to share expenses with.’

Tracey’s eyes widened. She knew where Saxonvale was. It was only about forty minutes drive from her home town of Morwell.

    ‘Saxonvale is the new estate near Drouin,’ she told him, ‘I know that area pretty well. I live not too far from there.’

Now it was Richard’s turn to have a wide eye expression on his face.

    ‘Of course! You said before that you’re from Morwell, yeah?’

Tracey nodded her head.‘Old man named Harris McVale lost his forty nine year old son, Saxon to a tractor accident and then he decided to sell off his two hundred and fifty acres to the council because he was too old and frail to tend the land himself. He was pretty good mates with one of the men on the council and so when the council bought the land they made a small estate out of it and named it after Saxon McVale. All that remains of the farm land that was there before that is Mr MacVale’s house and his old barn which was refurbished as a restaurant.’

Richard and Kayla were quite impressed with how well versed Tracey was with the situation.

Richard’s smile widened. ‘My mate Brock MacVale is Harris’ only grandson. Saxon was Brock’s father. His mother took off when he was about 10. She had a screw loose.’

    ‘Wow.’ Tracey gasped, realising that if Brock had inherited the house, then it meant Mr MacVale had passed away.

    ‘Harris is dead?’ she said with a look of sadness on her face.

Richard began to nod his head. ‘He had a massive heart attack two months ago.’

Trace frowned. She wasn’t sure what to say. Richard took a sip of his beer.

    ‘Brock has asked me to move in with him.’ He blurted.

Kayla was grinning. Tracey could see the curve in her lips and the little smile lines that indented at the sides of her mouth.

    ‘Reckon Brock would mind if I took a room as well?’ Kayla asked.

Richard looked at Tracey and then at Kayla in a moment of thought. He raised an eyebrow as he looked back in Tracey’s direction.

    ‘I reckon all three of us could move in with him.’ He suddenly exclaimed happily.

Tracey was not expecting that suggestion. She looked right at him. She almost felt happy enough to jump for joy. The idea was more than an appealing one. But she cautiously just smiled and remained silent.

    ‘woohoo!’ Kayla squealed, suddenly realising what Richard had just suggested.

She jumped around the kitchen happily cheering and it was contagious cheering. Tracey and Richard joined in. The neighbour’s must think we’re nuts. Tracey thought. She saw the look on Richard’s face. He was looking at her. Something in that gaze gave her warm tingles all over.