Outlast the Night (6 page)

“You never know,” Neil said. “It happened to Chris and Jesse. So I guess the answer is for you to watch them and to watch Caine and Macklin. That should give you some sense of how to go on.”

“S
O
WE
have a new office manager?” Macklin asked Caine as they got ready for bed that evening.

“We do,” Caine said. “By counting room and board as part of his salary, we don’t have to pay him as much in cash, and having someone who’s actually familiar with Aussie laws will almost certainly save us money in the long run. And we had a good season, even being shorthanded. We sold a record number of lambs and had minimal attrition among the breeding ewes. We’ll have all the wool in the spring plus the new lambs. We’ll be fine.”

“And hopefully next season we’ll have a better group of hands,” Macklin agreed.

“Even if the same ones come back, they’ll know more when they start than they did this spring,” Caine said. “And with Jesse familiar with the station now, he’ll be able to step up as a crew boss instead of just another jackaroo.”

“Jeremy has the experience as well,” Macklin said, “although he may not be quite as familiar with the precise lay of the land.”

“It won’t take him long to learn that,” Caine said. “If we make a point of sending him out with whatever crews go out over the winter, he’ll know the station well enough by spring.”

“We’re going to have to keep an eye on Neil,” Macklin warned. “He’s a hothead and Jeremy is from Taylor Peak.”

“I thought the tension was between Devlin and Uncle Michael,” Caine said. “And then between Devlin and us.”

“It is,” Macklin replied, “but Neil sees the name Taylor and won’t look any farther. You know how he is.”

Caine did indeed know. He’d had the same problem with Neil seeing only the label “gay” and not the rest of Caine’s merits when he first found out about Caine. “I’d like to hope it won’t come to Jeremy having to save Neil’s life to get him to reconsider his position.”

“We’ll hope not, although Jeremy being gay won’t help any.”

“I wasn’t planning on telling Neil that part,” Caine said with a grin.

“I wasn’t either, but I don’t know how long Jeremy will want to keep it a secret,” Macklin said. “I overheard conversations between some of the seasonal jackaroos about hooking up on their nights off. Now that they aren’t afraid of losing their jobs for being gay, they’re more open about it than they ever would have been before—here or anywhere else. Jeremy’s unattached and attractive, and who knows how long it’s been since he last made a trip to town? He might decide to take advantage of the opportunity while he can, and really, why shouldn’t he as long as he gets his work done?”

That was news to Caine, but then he tried to stay out of the bunkhouse as much as possible. He wanted the jackaroos to feel like they had their own space where they could relax without the boss hanging over their shoulders constantly.

“As long as the work’s done, what they do on their own time is up to them,” Caine agreed. “I was thinking we should take a trip for a few days this winter.”

“Did you have somewhere in mind?” Macklin asked, seemingly unfazed by the sudden change of subject.

“Well, I’ve already been to Sydney, so not there,” Caine said. “Where’s your favorite place in Australia?”

“We’re sitting in it.”

The words warmed Caine all the way through, but they didn’t help. “Your favorite place outside of Lang Downs.”

“I don’t know,” Macklin said. “I haven’t really traveled all that much. I ended up here at sixteen and haven’t really left except for my yearly trip to Sydney.”

“Well, where did you live before you came here?” Caine said, giving up on being discreet. “It could be fun to visit your hometown.”

“There is nothing in Tumut that I have any desire to revisit,” Macklin said in a flat voice. Caine nodded but inside, he was jumping with delight. He had the name of Macklin’s hometown now. He might not get Macklin to go back there, but it gave him a place to start his search. Macklin had lived there until he was fifteen. Even if his family was no longer there, Caine ought to be able to find some record of him.

“Okay, so where’s somewhere you’ve always wanted to go?” Caine asked. If he gave up on the vacation idea that quickly, Macklin would suspect something, and Caine didn’t want that. If he wasn’t successful or if he didn’t find good news, he didn’t want Macklin to be disappointed.

“Perth,” Macklin said.

“We can look into that,” Caine said. “What do you think?”

Macklin shrugged. “No harm in looking, I suppose. I’m just not much of a traveler. I only went to Sydney all those years because Michael insisted.”

“My homebody,” Caine said with a smile. “Come to bed now?”

Macklin shot him a wolfish smile as he pulled off his thick shirt. Caine leaned back against the pillows and prepared to enjoy the show.

Chapter 5

S
AM
looked around the canteen, trying to decide where to sit. With the breeding finished, three weeks into his tenure on the station, the seasonal jackaroos would be leaving in the morning. Kami had broken out the barbie and grilled up more meat than Sam figured three times as many people could eat, along with more sides than Sam knew what to do with. Everyone was in high spirits, the emotion rubbing off even on Sam, but that didn’t solve his current problem. Molly and Neil had left for Yass as soon as Macklin declared the work done for the day so they could look at venues for their wedding and reception, leaving Sam with no one he really knew. He’d spent the days working in the office and the evenings with Neil and Molly, or else alone in his room if the other two seemed to want some privacy. He’d gotten a lot of work done, which was good, but he hadn’t made any new friends beyond his soon-to-be sister-in-law.

“Don’t stand there blocking the food. Come sit down.” Sam couldn’t remember the name of the kid who spoke, but he followed him back to the table where he was sitting with another kid, two jackaroos… and Jeremy Taylor.

“I’m Jason, by the way,” the kid said. “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.”

“Sam,” he said automatically. “Sam Emery. So what do you do on the station?”

“My dad’s the head mechanic,” Jason said, “but I don’t really like engines. I’d much rather work with the animals. Macklin lets me help out some now that I’m old enough. I’m going to be a vet some day and come back here and take care of all the animals.”

“How can you not like engines?” the other kid interrupted. From the look on both boys’ faces, it was a familiar argument.

“And just like that, we won’t get another word out of them tonight not related to the merits of engines versus animals. I’m Chris. That’s my brother, Seth. This is Jesse and Jeremy.”

“Nice to officially meet you all,” Sam said. “I’m Sam, Neil’s brother, and I guess Caine’s office manager, at least until we can get everything straightened out with the inheritance taxes and everything. I don’t know if he’ll need me after that.”

“He’d rather be out with Macklin on the station,” Jesse said. “As long as you’re willing to put up with the station and the job, he’ll keep you around.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Sam asked.

“Because a lot of people think life on a station is all romantic, like you see in the movies,” Jeremy answered before Jesse could, “when really it’s a lot of isolation and hard work, extremes of temperature, and the weather trying to beat the shit out of you. There’s nothing romantic about life on a station.”

Chris and Jesse snickered.

“I didn’t say you couldn’t have a romance on a station,” Jeremy said, rolling his eyes, “because that obviously happens. We’ve got three couples on this station right now who met here, and that’s just the ones I know about. That’s not what I mean. I mean the way it’s portrayed in movies. We saw it every year at Taylor Peak. We’d hire on these young guys, all fresh-faced and convinced they were setting off on some grand adventure. Half of them didn’t even make it through a single season, much less come back.”

“I’m not working under any illusions,” Sam said, “but I have a roof over my head, food to eat, and a job that uses my skills. That’s a little hard to complain about.”

“We’ll see what you say in the middle of July, when it’s freezing cold, or in the middle of December when it’s so hot you can barely breathe,” Jeremy said.

“That sounds like a challenge to me,” Sam said, not quite believing his own temerity. “What do I get if I make it? If I last a year?”

“All the beer you want for a year,” Jeremy replied without batting an eyelash. “If you make it through April of next year, I’ll buy you beer for a year.”

“Deal,” Sam said, holding out his hand to shake on it.

Jeremy sealed the deal, and if Sam didn’t pull his hand back as quickly as he might once have done, no one seemed at all bothered by it.

“I asked Macklin if I could take the supply run tomorrow,” Jeremy said, changing the subject completely. “Anybody need anything while I’m in town?”

“I could use a couple of things,” Chris said. “I’ll make you a list.”

“No, I’m good,” Jesse said.

“Do you think I could come with you?” Sam asked. “I don’t have much of anything I’ll need for the winter up here, but boots and coats aren’t something I can ask someone else to buy for me.”

“There’s an extra seat in the ute,” Jeremy said with a shrug. “The drive’ll go faster with someone to talk to.”

It wasn’t as enthusiastic a response as Sam might have hoped, but it was better than a refusal. Sam reminded himself Jeremy had a history with Neil, even if Sam didn’t know the details, and that of course Jeremy would be cautious since he didn’t know if Sam would share Neil’s opinions. “Thanks. What time are you planning on leaving?”

“As soon as we’re done with breakfast,” Jeremy replied. “It’s a four-hour drive to Boorowa.”

“I’ll be ready.”

Caine stood up at the front of the room and whistled for everyone’s attention before they could say anything else.

“I want to thank everyone for their hard work this season,” he began. “None of you had to take a chance on Lang Downs when we hired you in the spring, whether this was your first season on the station or another of many. None of you had to take a chance on me. This year could have been a disaster for us. New owner, a lot of new men, but it wasn’t, and that’s due to your hard work, particularly Neil, Kyle, and Ian, who worked harder than I would have asked of anyone. We had a good summer, and you’ll all find a little something extra in your final paycheck in the morning. I wish you all the best this winter and look forward to seeing you again next spring.”

The jackaroos all applauded at the news of a bonus.

“He’s too generous,” Jesse muttered. “Half of them barely even earned their actual paycheck, much less a bonus.”

“He can afford to be generous,” Sam said. “Whether they deserve it or not, the station is in the black.”

“That’s good news,” Jeremy said. “I don’t know if this was truth or Devlin being a bastard, but I heard rumors the station had a rough year before Lang died, maybe even a rough couple of years.”

Sam didn’t say anything since he wasn’t sure how much Caine was comfortable sharing with his employees, but it hadn’t just been rumors. The numbers hadn’t been bad enough to put the station in danger, but Sam had seen a couple of years in the red as he’d looked back through the accounts to get a sense of trends. Weather and circumstances beyond the graziers’ control had played into that, Sam knew, but Caine had turned it around. He and Macklin were a formidable team.

Jeremy grinned. “Of course, knowing Devlin, he probably made it all up to deflect attention from the issues Taylor Peak was having at the same time.”

“Mismanagement aside, I would think weather conditions and that sort of thing would affect both stations fairly equally,” Sam said. “I mean, it’s not like they’re on opposite sides of the territory. They’re neighbors.”

“Yes, much to my brother’s dismay,” Jeremy said. “I, on the other hand, think it’s bloody brilliant.”

“Why’s that?” Sam asked.

“Because anything that annoys my brother is bloody brilliant in my book,” Jeremy replied. “He’s a misogynistic, racist, homophobic bigot, and I’m done defending him, no matter what
your
brother thinks. He didn’t like it when I told him that, but I’m done with him, so it doesn’t matter.”

Sam noticed the nearly faded bruise around Jeremy’s eye, the slight discoloration mostly hidden by his tanned skin. “That how you got the black eye?”

“I might have said a few things he didn’t like,” Jeremy said. “It was worth it, though, and he looked worse than I did when I was done with him.”

Sam took a moment to be grateful to Caine for changing Neil’s homophobic attitude before Sam arrived. Without that, Sam could all too easily imagine them coming to blows, only Sam wouldn’t have acquitted himself nearly as well as Jeremy seemed to have done. Sam’s strength had always been numbers, not fists.

S
AM
lay in bed that night and replayed the conversation with Jeremy, and the easy way he accepted Jesse and Chris. Sam hadn’t noticed anything in their behavior right away, but it had become more obvious over the course of the evening. Jeremy hadn’t even blinked when Seth had made an obnoxious adolescent comment about how close they were sitting together and nobody wanting to see that. Jesse had casually smacked the teen on the back of the head, and everyone, Seth included, had laughed. If anything, Chris and Jesse had sat even closer after that.