TWICE IN A LIFETIME

by Carole Mortenson

cardi38morn@gmail.com

PART SIX


DISCLAIMER: See Part 1

FEEDBACK: Thanks for reading. I welcome any feedback of a positive and constructive nature. Please contact me at cardi38morn@gmail.com

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

"Time to get up, you two," Rose shouted down the hallway. "Fred will be up and chomping at the bit to get going. I'll have breakfast ready in a jiffy."

Jo woke up first—faintly hearing Rose's voice—and turned her alarm off. She was pulling on her jeans when Shannon woke up and sat on the edge of her bed. Jo noticed she still didn't have anything on, and Shannon hastily wrapped the sheet around herself as she got up. She said good morning to Jo, who nodded in response.

Jo quickly turned her back as she zipped up her jeans and said, "Whew!" under her breath. She was afraid to say anything, because she didn't know how the words would come out of her mouth. She was still thinking of the name 'Kim' that Shannon had whispered in her sleep.

Maybe Kim is a lover she left back in the States, or....No, that couldn't be right. She came on to me too strongly to have a lover back home waiting for her.

She hurriedly pulled on her T-shirt and grabbed her shoes and socks and went into the kitchen, leaving Shannon looking around for some clothes to put on. Rose was in the middle of fixing breakfast. Jo quickly finished dressing with Rose's eyes questioningly on her. But Rose never said a thing.

Shannon came out to the kitchen and sat down beside Jo. Then Fred came in from his bedroom and sat down after fixing himself a cup of tea. He offered the two guests the same, but they refused.

Rose then said, "Would you to like some coffee, instead?"

"Oh, yes, please," Shannon and Jo replied with one voice.

Rose spooned out instant coffee into two cups and poured hot water in them. Then without stirring, she set the cups before Jo and Shannon.

"Could I have a little cream and a spoon, please?" Shannon asked. She disliked instant coffee, but guessed it was all they had here. She'd dose it up with cream.

"The whitener is right there in front of you, dear," Rose said. She pointed to the jar of instant, powdered creamer and handed them each a small spoon. Shannon took out two heaping spoonfuls of the dried creamer and thought how disgusting it was that there wasn't even some good coffee in this B&B . But when in Australia , do as the Australians do , she thought, with a spin on the familiar “ Rome ” saying. She'd find a place in Ballarat for a decent cup of coffee when they got there this morning. Jo took her coffee black, disliking it, too, but she preferred it over Rose's offer of tea yesterday.

"Did you girls sleep well?" Rose inquired, setting individual bowls of deep red strawberries on the table for the two of them, plus bowls for her and Fred.

"All right, once I got to sleep," Jo said in answer to Rose's question. Her really 'good' sleep had come before Shannon called out to her in the middle of the night. "How about you, Shannon," she asked, turning to look at her.

"As a matter of fact, I slept very well. I feel wonderful this morning." She touched her tender lips slightly with her fingers and returned Jo's look intently. Jo caught the subtle meaning in the gesture.

Jo thought, as her lips tightened to a thin line, You should feel wonderful. I gave you everything you let me give you last night. I would have taken you farther, but you fell asleep and—

“We're having porridge as well as strawberries this morning," Rose said, interrupting Jo's thoughts. "Do you girls like porridge?” She spooned some out of the huge pot into Fred's bowl and sat it down in front of him. He started digging into the breakfast with gusto. Without hesitation or waiting for an answer from Jo or Shannon, she spooned porridge into the three other bowls.

"Is that like oatmeal?" Jo asked.

"That's exactly what it is," Rose responded, setting two of the bowls of oatmeal in front of them and the other bowl at her place at the table before she sat down.

" Davie isn't up yet?" Shannon inquired.

Fred shook his head. "He isn't going with us, is he?"

"No," Shannon replied. "Just let him sleep. He's a growing boy." She chuckled when mentioning Davie 's immaturity, and realized he must be all of 21 years old. It crossed her mind just briefly that she told him last night she'd take pictures of the B&B this morning, but that could wait. Finding a car to drive was the most important thing right now.

Shannon started wolfing down her food like it was the last thing she would ever eat. She kept her eyes glued to her bowl and coffee cup.

She really feels good, Jo thought. But then, so do I—after a fashion. I wish she would have made love to me, too. She regretted last night because of that. If only I knew who Kim was—

It was 6:45 when Fred rose from the table and started out the back door onto the enclosed veranda. "I have to feed the chooks before we go, so you ladies finish your breakfast, and I'll see you at the car in a few minutes." He waved at them and left.

"When he says 7 o'clock, he means 7 o'clock, doesn't he?" Jo smiled.

"Oh, yes. Fred is very prompt. He's always been that way," Rose said. "He's a good man. He's never been late, never told a lie—that I know of—and he's always kept his word."

"Those are good qualities in anyone ," Jo said, glancing askance at Shannon .

Shannon and Jo finished their breakfast in silence. Jo didn't dare look any closer at Shannon than out of the corner of her eyes, and forced herself to focus on her oatmeal and fresh strawberries. She deliberately calmed herself down and understood that now was not the time to let her emotions get away from her. If she could have—right at this very moment—she would have pulled Shannon away from the table and taken her back to their bedroom and had mind-blowing sex with her! Regardless of this person named Kim .

When they were finished eating, Shannon went back to the bedroom and came out with her camera hung around her neck. Her tripod and a small vinyl bag of accessories were in her hands. Her Aussie hat sat on her head. She loved the hat so much that she wanted to wear it all the time now.

"Ready to go?" she asked Jo, smiling.

"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess," replied Jo, following her out to Fred's car. They both waved at Rose as they went out the door.

Shannon hasn't said a word to me about last night. Of course, there really hasn't been an opportunity, and we both couldn't very well let on to Rose and Fred that we were having sex last night. Besides, Shannon wouldn't know that she had talked in her sleep, would she? But body language counts for something, doesn't it? And I certainly saw plenty of that this morning. I wonder how much of that was pertaining to this 'Kim' character! Now I'm really perplexed!

Jo didn't understand how she had gotten herself into a couple of situations where it would be so difficult to sort things out. With Paige, it was trying to figure out if Paige really was gay—which she thought she was—but had no way of knowing for sure. With Shannon , it was trying to figure out now who the mysterious 'Kim' was. She guessed she would find out when the time was right. Why can't life just be simple? she thought as she buckled up in the back seat of the car.

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

They arrived at Ballarat in record time, due to Fred's heavy foot on the accelerator. There weren't any speed limit signs that Jo recognized. All the way there, Fred filled them in on some history of the area so that Shannon and Jo hardly talked at all. He dropped them off in front of a car rental agency.

"You do know how to drive in Australia , don't you?" he asked Shannon .

"Of course." She waved him off. "How hard can it be?" Of course, I know how to drive in Australia ! Things can't have changed that much in ten years, can it?"

"Well, I hope you don't get lost," Fred said.

Shannon assured him they could find their way back and said it might be a while because she wanted to take photos on the way back.

Shannon had no problem picking out a car to drive. She had remembered that Ballarat was where she and Kim had rented a car ten years ago. The memories flooded in when she spotted a two-door red sports car, close-to-the-ground—very much like that vehicle of the past. She felt a little strange when she was signing what seemed to be a multitude of paperwork. Maybe she shouldn't have leased something that brought back memories. But she dismissed the reasoning, and they finally drove off the lot.

They stopped at a McDonald's and ordered some coffee to take with them. Shannon flashed a Visa card in Jo's face when Jo asked how she could pay for stuff if she didn't have any Australian money yet. First the car rental and now the coffee.

" Everyone takes Visa ," Shannon said. After a couple of sips, they both agreed it was the best coffee they'd had since they arrived at the B&B .

They took their time and drove around Ballarat which, as Fred had pointed out, had a population of nearly 85,000. Before she'd come to Australia , Jo had pictured a small western-type frontier town with a former gold-mining flavor with its local melodrama stage shows. That's how it was advertised in all the travel brochures. But it was much more than that, she noted. What a nice town , she thought, pointing out a women's health club to Shannon as they drove through downtown.

After they'd finished their coffee and seen most of the town, they headed back to the B&B . They hadn't gone very far down the two-lane road back to Clunes, when Jo couldn't keep her mouth shut any longer. It was the natural curiosity of a writer coming out in her, as well as wondering where she was heading in any relationship with Shannon .

"Who is Kim?" she asked, trying to sound vaguely disinterested.

Shannon abruptly looked at her. "What?" She unintentionally jerked the steering wheel and almost went off the side of the road and then quickly straightened the car out.

Jo pretended not to notice the near-accident. She repeated, "Who is Kim?"

"Uhh...where did you come up with that name?" Shannon shot back. She had regained her composure and was driving down the middle of the road. There were no other cars in sight in either direction.

"Last night. You were talking in your sleep."

"Oh." Shannon hesitated. "What precisely did I say?" she asked.

"I don't know exactly. You know how people are when they talk in their sleep—kind of mumbling? But the name Kim was definitely part of what you said."

Jo detested not telling Shannon the whole truth. She knew exactly what had been whispered in the dead silence of night except for the quietly humming fans. But she wanted to get to the bottom of this, and Shannon would have to come clean without her help.

"Oh." Shannon hesitated again and then thought she might as well get it out in the open. "I traveled to Australia about ten years ago with a woman. Her name was Kim. We were lovers."

She glanced over at Jo to see her reaction. Jo was looking straight ahead and unresponsive.

Shannon continued. "I've heard from her only one time since I left here. She elected to stay behind and not return to the States with me."

"So you don't have any relationship with her right now then?" Jo prodded, turning to look at her.

"Heavens, no. That was years ago!" Shannon replied with emphasis. "Why do you ask?"

Jo felt a sense of relief as she heaved a big sigh. "Oh, I just wondered," she said, knowing she was not completely honest. She was relieved ... but only to a point.

That explains why she called me Kim. But that really doesn't explain why she called me Kim. And if she was talking in her sleep, she really wasn't calling me Kim, was she? And why did she still desire Kim, if it was over between them ten years ago? Why was she letting me make love to her?

Shannon didn't follow up with any additional information. Jo was thoroughly confused, but wasn't going to ask any more questions.

Shannon stopped frequently to take photos, and Jo wished she had brought along her own point-and-click camera. She might not have an opportunity again, as Shannon and her photography crew would be taking off to do their shooting at various towns—and who knows where else—and she would be staying behind with her pen pal. She would have no way to get around unless Rose and Fred drove her. She viewed Rose at this moment to be the height of boredom alongside Shannon . Jo wished she could go with her. It would be much more exciting.

* * * * * *

Jo thought Shannon was overdoing it a bit when she pulled over every quarter mile or so to take a picture. Now they had stopped once again where another road intersected. At every junction—and there were many of them—there were often multiple signs on white-painted wooden posts pointing the direction to different towns. Each town had its own sign.

Shannon got out of the car and looked the situation over. She positioned her camera on its tripod to take a picture of only the multiple signs at this intersection. Jo got out of the car, too, and was leaning against the hood, watching Shannon set up her camera and thinking how professional she looked.

Shannon said suddenly, "Jo, would you mind if we took a side trip?"

"How much...of a...side trip?" Jo hesitatingly answered.

Shannon kept making small adjustments to her camera as she talked. "There's a little town up here to the right about 20 kilometers away that I'd like to visit. It's called Daylesford. It's a beautiful little place, with rolling hills of dense eucalyptus forests just as you're coming into town. It's right next to a spa town named Hepburn Springs. There are a couple of beautiful lakes there. And they even get snow there sometimes in the wintertime. Wanna go?" She turned to look squarely into Jo's eyes.

Jo looked at her oddly after that lengthy explanation, trying to read something in Shannon 's eyes. She finally decided there was nothing there to read, or else Shannon was covering it up very well.

She answered, "Sure. Why not? We have plenty of time, don't we, before we have to be back at the Willowbranch ?" She glanced at her watch. Plenty of time.

She thought Shannon must have a good reason for wanting to swing over to Daylesford. And she also thought there might be something there she could write about when she got back home. She already had enough material to fill several pages of her personal journal. And she was out for adventure, wasn't she?

"Yes," Shannon said. "I think we have lots of time. Davie will hold down the fort in the event we're not back when Mr. Bannister arrives. He's supposed to be his right-hand man. I think. Or maybe I should say his right-hand boy . Actually, I don't know much about him. I only met him a few days ago when he picked me up at the airport in Sydney ."

Jo thought Shannon's explanation about Davie left a lot to be desired—even if Shannon didn't know much about him. Jo could think of no reason why Davie should want to go with them to Ballarat, for instance. He seemed intent on being Shannon 's shadow.

Shannon took the pictures she wanted and then got back into the car in somewhat of a hurry. She started the engine while Jo was still closing her passenger door. She looked in all different directions for on-coming traffic—there had been absolutely none since they left Ballarat—and then turned the wheel sharply and squealed down the two-lane road to the right. If it hadn't been for signs at every intersection they went through, Jo thought they would have gotten lost. There were no landmarks to set their sights on, like the mountains to the west in Colorado Springs . Every road looked the same. This road looked exactly like the one they had just turned off of, except it didn't have a white stripe down the middle.

The countryside all looked the same, too. There were sheep everywhere, and the land was flat with barbed wire fences strung up to keep the sheep in. Every now and then they would pass what appeared to be an abandoned gold mine, with tall, rounded heaps of tailings surrounding an old weather-beaten building or two or a concrete structure in crumbling disarray. Shades of past history.

* * * * * *

"Did Shannon and Jo say when they'd be back?" Davie asked, stepping into the kitchen from the veranda. He'd berated himself for sleeping so late. It was already after 10 o'clock.

Rose was rummaging around in the refrigerator for something to fix for the noon meal. She looked up, pretending she didn't hear his question. "G'day, Davie ," she said. "How was your night?"

"Very good, thank you. I shouldn't have slept so long, though. The day is half gone. I suppose breakfast is over, isn't it?"

"Yes, but you can fix yourself toast if you want," Rose replied. "Bread is right over there at the end of the counter. Toaster is under the counter. Help yourself."

She had no intentions of stopping what she was doing to cater to the overgrown gangly boy before her. He could manage by himself. She reckoned that if he wanted breakfast, he should have gotten up earlier and ate with the others. She tried not to play favorites with her guests.

Davie dropped some bread into the toaster. "Did Shannon and Jo say when they'd be back?" he asked again.

He remembered when he stepped into the kitchen that they had planned on going to Ballarat with Fred. He also remembered Shannon saying she was going to take pictures of the B&B this morning, but that she'd have to get an adapter and some money exchanged. So maybe she decided to exchange her money in Ballarat and get an adapter there.

"No," Rose said. "And I didn't ask. They're big girls, Davie —and they can take care of themselves. Fred is down at the garden doing some weeding. Why don't you go down and help? It would give you something to do."

She couldn't ever remember when she suggested to a guest that they help out around the place. It just wasn't done. They were paying guests, and shouldn't be expected to help out. But she didn't feel that way about Davie . He reminded her of her youngest son, trying to make his way in the world. He was just irritating to her sometimes, nevertheless.

"No, thanks," Davie replied. "I'll just eat and go back down to the bungalow and get some stuff ready for when Mr. Bannister arrives."

As he munched on his buttered toast with jam, he hoped his boss would get here after Shannon and Jo got back rather than before, or he was in big trouble.

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

"Do you know where you're going, Shannon ?" Jo asked. They were racing along at breakneck speed, like they were trying to outrun a fire.

"Oh, yes. I've been here before."

"Oh," Jo responded. She didn't know what else to say. She didn't trust herself to speak anymore.

The terrain changed abruptly as they went around a tight curve and started down an incline. The winding road reminded Jo of some mountain roads in Colorado . But there the similarity ended. Instead of pine trees on both sides of the road, eucalyptus trees began emerging. They were beautiful gray-green gum trees, with their twisting branches coming out of the main trunk at all different angles and which soon became dense foliage.

Shannon never slowed down to take a single picture. She seemed hell-bent on getting to Daylesford, and Jo sometimes gripped the door handle, hanging on for dear life as Shannon rounded the sharp curves. She was glad they were strapped in their seatbelts.

One time, heading into a curve, Jo looked up and thought an on-coming car was going to hit them head-on. She covered her eyes and ducked. She felt the car swerve as Shannon and the other driver passed each other by inches!

"Aren't you going to take some pictures?” Jo finally asked her, breathless—opening her eyes. She felt the need to stop and settle her nerves.

"I'll take some on the way back," Shannon answered. Then she was silent.

"Oh," Jo said again. She slid down in the seat far enough so she wouldn't be looking over the dashboard at traffic coming at them. There were more cars on this road than the road they had turned off of—which had virtually no cars. She caught glimpses of the dense eucalyptus forest when she cautiously rose up and peered out the side window.

A few minutes later, they reached the bottom of the incline and then began climbing again. Shannon slowed down, and Jo sat up straighter in her seat. The trees thinned out only slightly as they crossed a bridge and came into the town of Daylesford . Jo saw what looked like a rounded-over volcanic mound rising up at the end of the street a few blocks ahead of them. It was covered with trees and brush. She asked Shannon about it.

"That's called Wombat Hill. There's a kind of park on top of it, and some botanical gardens. A beautiful place. You can overlook the town in different directions from the top. People go up there for picnics a lot, driving in from all the little towns around. We could grab a snack at a take-away and go there and eat, if you'd like." She glanced over at Jo.

"Hey, you're driving," Jo replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Whatever you want to do. I'm just along for the ride." She didn't think she should point out that Rose might be expecting them for lunch in a couple of hours, even though they had not indicated to her that they would be back in Clunes by then. Shannon seemed distant.

They proceeded slowly through the town, turning onto the main thoroughfare of the business district. It was only a couple of blocks long. Diagonal parking ran down the middle of the street as well as on both sides along the curb. Jo noticed the names of a couple of businesses as they drove by: "Feline Eats" —a café; " Women's Stuff" —a clothing store.

Many cars lined the street, with shoppers—appearing to be all women—walking on the sidewalks. Jo couldn't stop gawking. She felt like she had just dropped down onto a side street on the way to heaven!

Shannon found a vacant parking spot near a fast food restaurant a few paces away, but made no attempt to get out of the car. Jo waited for her to make a move.

"It looks like a lot of people are here for the holidays already, Jo," Shannon said, turning in her seat. "You may as well know about it now rather than later, because you'll probably find out from someone, anyway. Mr. Bannister probably will have me taking some photos here, because it's a very unique place." She stopped, trying to gauge what Jo's response would be and just how much she should tell her.

"What's so unique about it?" Jo asked.

Shannon continued. "Daylesford is a gay and lesbian town. In fact, it's known as the 'gay capital of Victoria .'"

I think I gathered that, Jo thought , when we were driving down the street!

"Right now it's the Christmas holiday season, and the place is going to be overrun with gays and lesbians on Christmas Day," Shannon said. God, that's only a few days away! "They come up here for the spa, the massages, the mineral springs, and so forth. It's that way with every holiday that comes along. They also come for the camaraderie. One year, on the Queen's Birthday holiday in June, the town blossomed by 10,000 more people for those three days. All of the B&B s and motels and hotels were filled, and people were camped out in the parks and down by the lakes. They had a huge parade that year!"

She stopped, still looking at Jo. "Any questions so far? Anything you'd like to know?"

"You were here with your girlfriend Kim ten years ago, weren't you? That's how you know so much about Daylesford. Right?" Jo knew the answer before Shannon opened her mouth again.

"You add things up pretty well, you know?" Shannon replied. "You're right. But you won't rat on me to my employer, would you? I don't think I would have this job very long if my new client found out I was a lesbian."

Jo looked down at her hands. "I wouldn't say anything about your personal life to anybody . You can trust me on that. You're the one who would have to say something." She looked up at Shannon . "By the same token, I trust you won't say anything to my pen pal and her husband that I'm a lesbian."

Shannon said, "Of course not, silly. But I think Rose already knows you are. Fred probably doesn't have a clue."

"Why would you think Rose knows about me?" Jo asked.

"Just a hunch. Maybe because she didn't raise her eyebrows when we elected to stay in the same room together, knowing that I had a friend who was going to meet me here? You mean you've never come out to her after e-mailing her for years?"

"She probably thought you were a lesbian, because you're the one who has the friend coming. Not me." She smiled at Shannon , congratulating herself as she made what she thought was a very witty remark. "No, I never told her. It didn't seem important that she know." She looked back down at her hands.

"Come here, you," Shannon said, grabbing Jo's T-shirt. Pulling her close, she started kissing her, and Jo responded by reaching out and pulling Shannon 's shirt out of her pants. She slid a hand underneath the shirt and grasped one of Shannon 's breasts. They pulled each other closer and Shannon started unbuttoning Jo's pants excitedly and reaching her hand down inside Jo's panties, oblivious of where they were.

A few wolf-whistles startled them, and they looked up. They had completely forgotten that they were parked on the street, just sitting in the car. A crowd of women standing in front of the store where they were parked were ogling them and waving! They quickly pulled apart and Jo waved back at them, blushing and grinning broadly and buttoning up her pants. "I guess we better get out of the car and grab something to eat, don't you think?"

Shannon 's mind seemed to be going in another direction as she said, "Actually, I think we should get back to the Willowbranch."

"I thought you wanted to get a snack and take it up to the top of the hill," Jo said, surprised at Shannon 's words. "We could find a cozy spot and eat and maybe feast on a little something else while we're there—if there aren't any people around." She raised her eyebrows as she smiled at Shannon .

"I know what's on your mind—and I wish we could," Shannon responded, smiling back. "I really do." She grew serious then. "But I think we should get back, in case Mr. Bannister gets there early. Davie might have a hard time explaining why I wasn't there. I'll probably be coming back to this town, anyway, with the photography crew—because of its uniqueness, which I'm sure Mr. Bannister would want to capitalize on."

Jo was disappointed, but it would not be a wise move on Shannon 's part if she were to shuffle her work aside in favor of a romp in the grass.

"I need to stop somewhere and use a bathroom first," Shannon said, as she backed out of the parking space. "The coffee we had is finally starting to go through me."

They pulled into a filling station, and Shannon got out and hurried off to the restroom, leaving Jo sitting in the car. She was gone for so long that Jo finally got out and went inside the station. She bought some candy bars and sodas—her empty stomach was teasing her. She paid for them with American money, and the lady behind the counter never batted an eye when she gave change in Australian coins.

Shannon finally came out of the restroom after Jo had sat in the car for a few minutes longer, and Jo noticed she'd been crying. Shannon tried to hide the redness in her eyes by not looking at her. Jo couldn't imagine why she would be crying.

They pulled off the road a few times on the way back to Clunes so Shannon could take pictures. Jo pulled out the sack of candy bars and sodas at one particularly scenic spot where they found a picnic table. Shannon 's eyes lit up as Jo offered the sack to her. She began to comment on the beautiful trees and how and forests reminded her of Colorado . Then she talked about how they should have stopped at Lake Daylesford outside of town before they started back.

"They have a book shed right there by the lake—in fact, at one end of the parking lot—that is unbelievable! They have every book imaginable under the sun for sale. Most of them are used books, so there are great bargains. Some terrific lesbian books. I should have taken you there."

"I would have liked that," Jo responded. "I don't have a chance to go into those kinds of bookstores." There were no places like that where she lived, and she would have had to travel far to find a feminist bookstore. Even the big one in Denver had closed. So she ordered mostly online.

"But we can go there when we come back here again," Shannon said. "I'd like you to come with me, Jo, when I go on these photo shoots to small towns—no matter which towns we go to. Would you like that?"

Jo hesitated, not quite believing what Shannon was saying.

"Of course, you'll have to check with your pen pal to see if she would mind," Shannon said when she noticed Jo's hesitancy. "You came over here specifically to see her ."

"I don't think she'd mind," Jo said. "But don't you think your boss would say no? And why do you want me to come with you?"

"It shouldn't matter to Mr. Bannister who I take along with me. If it does, then that's just too bad! I need the company of another woman. I'll be leaving Carly behind in the B&B while I go places—using that as home base. She's not able to get around that good yet with her hip replacement. And she's a pain in the neck sometimes. But I promised her we could spend some time in Melbourne and other places on my times off. I don't expect to be working twenty-four-seven. And as far as I know, it's an all-man crew I'll be working with. A single woman with a bunch of men? I don't think so! I couldn't handle that for very long. Besides that, I need you right now, Jo."

Need me for what? Jo thought. "Okay, I'll go," she responded.

They got back in the car, and after buckling up, Shannon reached over and pulled Jo's head to her and kissed her gently. "Thank you," she said.

As they emerged from the eucalyptus forest out onto the flats again, Jo began wondering what really happened when they were making love last night. She remembered Shannon 's delicious and willing body as she felt the stirrings of desire again. She looked over at Shannon , whose eyes were intently focused on the road ahead. She placed her hand on Shannon 's thigh above her knee and squeezed it and then rubbed it softly. Shannon responded by covering Jo's hand briefly with her own and then bringing it back to the steering wheel.

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Jo and Shannon arrived back at the Willowbranch B&B at the noon hour. Davie was walking up from the bungalow when they drove in the driveway and parked in back.

"Hey, that's a great-looking car!" he exclaimed, as Shannon emerged from the driver's side. "Can I borrow it sometime?"

"No, Davie , you cannot," Shannon said abruptly to him. "I rented it, and if you want to drive a car, you'll have to rent your own!"

She knew she was a little sharp with him, but she didn't care at this juncture. And she didn't even know what was setting her on edge. She was normally a very easy person to get along with.

Davie thought Shannon was joking with him, but when he saw the seriousness on her face, he decided it was no joke!

The three of them walked through the veranda and into the kitchen. They were just in time for lunch. Both Shannon and Jo had snacked on candy bars and soda, so weren't terribly hungry. But they thought they should at least eat a little bit, since Rose had gone to the trouble of fixing lunch for them. Fred had come in from pulling weeds in the garden and was already seated at the kitchen table.

"Jo, dear, I was checking my e-mail earlier," Rose said, "and you have a message from somebody. I left the computer on so you could check it when you got back."

"If it's okay with you," Jo responded, "could I check it now before I eat lunch?" She couldn't imagine who would be sending her an e-mail. Who's in Australia that I know?

"No worries, dear. We're only having sandwiches and salad. Nothing that will get cold if you don't eat it right away." She added, with a chuckle, "Since it's already cold."

Jo sat down at the computer and opened her e-mail. It was from Paige. She never expected Paige to answer at all. As she read the letter, her eyes widened in dismay. She deleted the message and clicked the computer off and came and sat at the table with the others, who had already started eating.

"That e-mail was from my friend Paige," she said, "who lives in same town as me. She's in Sydney right now—used the hotel's computer to e-mail me. She gave me her flight number and wants me to pick her up at the Melbourne airport at 10:30 in the morning. Tomorrow morning. She got an emergency flight, because her mother died over here and she had to get here right away. She wants to come and see me while she's here in Australia ."

Jo realized then that Paige must not have gotten the e-mail she sent her last night. How did she contact her here , then? She thought back and remembered she had given Paige the name and address of the B&B before she left the states. Paige was smart enough to go online and find the e-mail address of the B&B , and then contact her at the Willowbranch . Jo wished she had done that before she had left the States. She could possibly have prevented her from coming to Australia . But if her mother died—

Her face reddened with embarrassment, because Paige had said something else, too. "You were right, Jo. I am just like you! Can't wait to see you. So hope you get this message, and I'll see you tomorrow." Of course, Jo didn't relay this part of the message to her friends around the table.

"Do you think you might have room for her to stay here, Rose?" Jo asked. "I don't know what else to do with her, otherwise."

Rose and Fred looked at each other, and Fred said, "Well, I think we can find another bed to set up in the red room where there's only the one bed. Max across the street has an extra bed they're selling. They're moving in a couple of months down to Geelong , and trying to get rid of some things before they go. I think he'd probably let us have it for practically nothing. I'll go check with him this afternoon."

"That's a good idea, Fred," Rosalie said. "Never know when it will come in handy later." She turned back to Jo. "When did her mother pass on, dear?"

"I honestly don't know, Rose," Jo responded. "She never said. I've only known Paige for a month or so and don't really know that much about her family. We were kind of becoming friends, though." She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, then looked sideways at Shannon .

Rose was silent. Shannon was silent. Davie was silent. And Fred was silent. Jo didn't know what else to say.

Now you've gone and done it, Paige, she thought to herself. I guess I brought this on myself, hoping Paige would change her mind about saying she wasn't gay. I'm guessing her mother didn't die over here. But I certainly didn't think she would come unglued and fly over here to be with me! That's unreal! And where did she get the money? She holds down two jobs just to make ends meet! Oh, God...and here I am involved with Shannon now! What am I going to do?

"I have no idea how I'll be able to meet her at the airport," Jo said, breaking the silence. "I might have to ask Fred to drive me?" She looked over questioningly at Fred, who nodded absentmindedly. She could see that he really wasn't keen on making another trip into Melbourne . And she didn't know what Shannon 's plans might be for tomorrow, since Mr. Bannister was coming this afternoon. She might be working.

Paige might be stranded in Melbourne, she thought . And that might not be so bad. If I'm not there to pick her up, she might just decide to turn around and go back home—which would be the best thing all around. But she probably wouldn't. She found a way to get to Australia , so I'm sure she'd find a way to get to Clunes.

"What flight number is she coming in on?" Shannon inquired. When Jo told her, she said, "My friend Carly is going to be arriving in Melbourne tomorrow, too, and that is her flight number. I'm glad I bought plane tickets to Melbourne for both of us ahead of time, so I at least know the flight number we would have taken together from Sydney . "I have an idea. Why don't I call her and have her locate Paige on the plane, and they can ride up here on the bus together?"

"That's a good idea," Jo replied, trying to sound enthusiastic about it.

"The only thing wrong with that is that I don't know where Carly is staying now," Shannon said, after a brief pause. "I think she moved to a different hotel when she got to Sydney , rather than stay at the one I had booked. But I don't know which hotel—and I have no way of contacting her. She told me she forgot to bring her cell phone, so I just have to wait for her to call me. "

What little enthusiasm Jo had engendered suddenly deflated.

"Wait," Shannon said. "Let me call the hotel I was at in Sydney , just to make sure she has actually moved. Maybe she changed her mind." She quickly found the hotel's number and dialed. It wasn't a long conversation.

"Well, it was a long shot," she said as she hung up. "She isn't registered there. I don't know what else to do, Jo. I'm sorry."

"It isn't your fault, Shannon . The most I can hope for, I guess, is that Paige will notify me somehow when she gets to Melbourne and discovers I'm not there to meet her. Maybe she can take the bus up here."

After lunch, Fred went to pick up Rose's mum while Rose cleared the table. Paige was forgotten for the moment. When they returned, mum suggested playing a game of cards, called '500', which required partners. She didn't have an opportunity like this very often to play cards with Rose's guests. She played once a week at the Women's Guild at her church. And Rose had asked her to come over, to make her pen pal feel more at home.

"We need to go to the bank and get our American money exchanged for Australian first," Shannon said.

"You'll have to go to Maryborough for that, then," Rose said. "Clunes is so small that we don't even have a bank that can make foreign currency exchanges. Maryborough is about twenty kilometers from here. Be sure and take your passports, as they probably will require that."

It didn't take them long to get ready. They started out the back door to go to the car when Davie suddenly asked if he could go, too—remembering the sleek look of the sports car. He wasn't sure Shannon would even let him ride in her rented car, let alone drive it. He seemed to have forgotten that his boss might arrive at any moment.

"Come along, Davie ," Shannon said. "You may as well go along for the ride." Davie followed her eagerly, and when Shannon held the back of the front seat forward, he climbed into the cramped back seat. That cramped him even more because of his long legs. But he didn't care.

"You know how to get to Maryborough from here, don't you?" Jo asked softly.

"Of course," Shannon said, starting up the car's engine. "Shhh, we don't want Davie to know anything. He's the last person I would want to know what's going on! He has a big mouth, don't you agree?"

"Yes. But if he hadn't said anything about your allergic reaction, I wouldn't have known. Why didn't you tell me, Shannon ?"

"I was mostly over it by then, and it didn't seem important alongside what was going on with us ! She smiled as she drove up the driveway. "And I really was tired from the trip, not because of the allergic reaction."

"Do you have a map in the car, Shannon"" Davie asked.

She looked in the glove compartment and handed him a map of the State of Victoria that the car rental company had conveniently placed there for its customers.

Davie engrossed himself in the map for a few minutes. " Shannon ," he said loudly above the road noise, "do you know how to get to Maryborough? I can show you—"

"Yes, Davie ," She replied complacently. "All you have to do is follow the road signs. That's how we got back from Ballarat." She gave Jo a wink.

They both made their money exchanges at the Bank of Melbourne in Maryborough. Shannon had brought her passport, but Jo had forgotten hers—her mind had been focused on other things as they left the B&B . The bank manager was called over and all Jo had to do was give a contact number, so she gave her Rose and Fred's number at the B&B . It was only if they were cashing a personal check or traveler's check that they really needed a passport.

Davie said, "You mean to say if someone picked up a wallet that was filled with American money that someone had dropped in the street, that you'd take that money and change it over to Australian?"

"Of course," the manager answered. "You didn't pick it up off the street, did you?" she asked, in her best deadpan expression. Then she grinned broadly, and they all had a good laugh.

Jo was more comfortable now that she had a nice mix of Australian bills, as well as coins she had received in Daylesford. She asked Shannon about a drugstore. She needed Chap Stick and a couple of other things. Shannon indicated a place right across the street from the bank. Davie said he'd wait by the car.

Browsing through the pharmacy, Shannon also picked up some things she'd forgotten back in the States—plus an adapter for her laptop computer. Shannon told Jo they couldn't get over-the-counter drugs and prescriptions at this pharmacy, but needed to go to a chemist's store—which had medicinal products like the Walgreen's at home.

That's good to know, Jo thought, in case my headache medicine runs out. I haven't had to take any pills so far, though.

"You've been here , too, haven't you?" Jo asked Shannon , leaning in close to her.

"Of course. Need you ask?" Shannon replied. "I traveled a lot around here."

When they came out with their purchases, Davie was not at their car. "I think I might know where he is," Shannon said, looking around. "Probably in the bottle store. He's kind of young, and still wet behind the ears. But I imagine he's curious, too."

The bottle store was next to the bank, and couldn't imagine why they were going into a store that sold bottles. But when they went inside, she realized it was a liquor store! They saw David going from shelf to shelf, lifting one liquor bottle after another and looking at the labels.

" Davie !" Shannon said loudly. He jumped like a little kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Oh, I was just looking around—" he said embarrassingly. He quickly set the liquor bottle in his hands back on the shelf.

"You don't drink, do you, Davie ?" Shannon asked, curious.

"Absolutely not!” Davie emphasized. "My father said alcohol can ruin a person's life." Then he said, blushing, "I have a beer once in a while, though, when it's offered. Or maybe a glass of wine. But it's all to be sociable, you know."

"We're ready to go now, Davie ," Shannon said, raising her eyebrows at him and smiling. Davie followed them like a meek little lamb out to the car.

Shannon took a different route back to Clunes, thoroughly confusing Davie . He was sitting in the back seat holding the map in his hands, still trying to get his bearings.

"I want to show you something," Shannon whispered to Jo.

They hadn't driven very far along a side road when Shannon pulled over to the shoulder, leaving the engine running and turning the radio on loudly enough so their conversation wouldn't be overheard by Davie .

"What do you think," she asked Jo, gesturing out the window. When Jo looked where she was pointing, she saw a golf course—out in the middle of nowhere!

"This is an 18-hole golf course," Shannon said, "and is used by a lot of people, but especially women—who love to golf. I've played here a couple of times. It's only about 30 kilometers from Daylesford."

"Why are we stopping?" Davie asked, shouting to be heard.

"We were just looking for kangaroos. Fred sees them now and then on the way to and from Ballarat," Shannon shouted back at him. She didn't know how truthful that was, but had to come up with something.

"Oh, really?" he asked. "Where are they?" He looked out the side window. "I'll have to quit looking at the map, then, and start looking for kangaroos."

Shannon laughed to herself when she saw how excited Davie was. She didn't tell him that if he saw any wild kangaroos it would be in the early dawn or at dusk—not in the middle of the day.

Davie had lived most of his life in Melbourne , but had never seen kangaroos in the wild—only in zoos. He had never been allowed to go venturing as a youngster. His trip to Clunes was about as far as he'd gotten away from home, except for his dad's two-year military assignment to the U.S. when he was a teenager. His mother died when he was only five, leaving only his father to care for him. Shortly after returning from the States, his father was killed in a freak auto accident, and Davie had gone to live with his father's sister.

Jeff Bannister, who had moved to Australia from the States and opened the Scenic Visions studio, had befriended Davie in a rival photo gallery a year ago. He saw the young boy's keen interest in photography—saw his potential—and took him under his wing and began teaching him the basics of the photography business. Davie never dreamed Mr. Bannister would take him on a photo shoot this early in his career.

Shannon tooled on down the road back to Clunes as fast as she dared. Davie was completely lost, as she turned off on several roads going back to town. He wouldn't have known how to tell anyone where they'd been, or how to get back there—which suited Shannon just fine. And they were traveling much too fast to look for kangaroos! Even if there had been any to see—

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

They arrived at Ballarat in record time, due to Fred's heavy foot on the accelerator. There weren't any speed limit signs that Jo recognized. All the way there, Fred filled them in on some history of the area so that Shannon and Jo hardly talked at all. He dropped them off in front of a car rental agency.

"You do know how to drive in Australia , don't you?" he asked Shannon .

"Of course," she waved him off. "How hard can it be?" Of course, I know how to drive in Australia ! Things can't have changed that much in ten years, can it?"

"Well, I hope you don't get lost," Fred said.

Shannon assured him they could find their way back and said it might be a while because she wanted to take photos on the way back.

Shannon had no problem picking out a car to drive. She had remembered that Ballarat was where she and Kim had rented a car ten years ago. The memories flooded in when she spotted a two-door red sports car, close-to-the-ground—very much like that vehicle of the past. She felt a little strange when she was signing what seemed like a multitude of paperwork. Maybe she shouldn't have leased something that brought back memories. But she dismissed the reasoning, and they finally got in and drove off the lot.

They stopped at a McDonald's and ordered some coffee to take with them. Shannon flashed a Visa card in Jo's face when Jo asked how she could pay for stuff if she didn't have any Australian money yet. First the car rental and now the coffee.

" Everyone takes Visa ," Shannon said. After a couple of sips, they both agreed it was the best coffee they'd had since they arrived at the B&B .

They took their time and drove around Ballarat which, as Fred had pointed out, had a population of nearly 85,000. Before she'd come to Australia , Jo had pictured a small western-type frontier town with a former gold-mining flavor with its local melodrama stage shows. That's how it was advertised in all the travel brochures. But it was much more than that, she noted. What a nice town , she thought, pointing out a women's health club to Shannon as they drove through downtown.

After they'd finished their coffee and seen most of the town, they headed back to the B&B . They hadn't gone very far down the two-lane road back to Clunes, when Jo couldn't keep her mouth shut any longer. It was the natural curiosity of a writer coming out in her, as well as wondering where she would be going with any relationship with Shannon .

"Who is Kim?" she asked, trying to sound vaguely disinterested.

Shannon abruptly looked at her. "What?" She unintentionally jerked the steering wheel and almost went off the side of the road. She quickly straightened the car out.

Jo pretended not to notice the near-accident. She repeated, "Who is Kim?"

"Uhh...where did you come up with that name?" Shannon shot back. She had regained her composure and was driving down the middle of the road. There were no other cars in sight in either direction.

"Last night. You were talking in your sleep."

"Oh." Shannon hesitated. "What precisely did I say?" she asked.

"I don't know exactly. You know how people are when they talk in their sleep—kind of mumbling? But the name Kim was definitely part of what you said."

Jo detested not telling Shannon the whole truth. She knew exactly what had been whispered in the dead silence of night with only the fans quietly humming. But she wanted to get to the bottom of this, and Shannon would have to come clean without her help.

"Oh." Shannon hesitated again and then thought she might as well get it out in the open. "I traveled to Australia about ten years ago with a woman. Her name was Kim. We were lovers."

She glanced over at Jo to see her reaction. Jo was looking straight ahead and unresponsive.

Shannon continued. "I've heard from her only one time since I left here. She elected to stay behind and not return to the States with me."

"So you don't have any relationship with her right now then?" Jo prodded, turning to look at her.

"Heavens, no. That was years ago!" Shannon replied with emphasis. "Why do you ask?"

Jo felt a sense of relief as she heaved a big sigh. "Oh, I just wondered," she said, knowing she was not completely honest. She was relieved ... but only to a point.

That explains why she called me Kim. But that really doesn't explain why she called me Kim. And if she was talking in her sleep, she really wasn't calling me Kim, was she? And why did she still desire Kim, if it was over between them ten years ago? Why was she letting me make love to her?

Shannon didn't follow up with any additional information. Jo was thoroughly confused, but wasn't going to ask any more questions.

Shannon stopped quite frequently to take photos, and Jo wished she had brought along her own point-and-click camera. She might not have an opportunity again, as Shannon and her photography crew would be taking off to do their shooting at various towns—and who knows where else—and she would be staying behind with her pen pal. Without any way to get around unless Rose and Fred drove her. She viewed Rose at this moment to be the height of boredom alongside Shannon . Jo wished she could go with her. It would be much more exciting.

* * * * * *

Jo thought Shannon was overdoing it a bit when she pulled over every quarter mile or so to take a picture. Now they had stopped once again where another road intersected. At every junction—and there were many of them—there were often multiple signs on white-painted wooden posts pointing the direction to different towns. Each town had its own sign.

Shannon got out of the car and looked the situation over. She positioned her camera on its tripod to take a picture of only the multiple signs at this intersection. Jo got out of the car, too, and was leaning against the hood, watching Shannon set up her camera and thinking how professional she looked.

Shannon said suddenly, "Jo, would you mind if we took a side trip?"

"How much...of a...side trip?" Jo hesitatingly answered.

Shannon kept making small adjustments to her camera as she talked. "There's a little town up here to the right about 20 kilometers away that I'd like to visit. It's called Daylesford. It's a beautiful little place, with rolling hills of dense eucalyptus forests just as you're coming into town. It's right next to a spa town named Hepburn Springs. There are a couple of beautiful lakes there. And they even get snow there sometimes in the wintertime. Wanna go?" She turned to look squarely into Jo's eyes.

Jo looked at her oddly after that lengthy explanation, trying to read something in Shannon 's eyes. She finally decided there was nothing there to read, or else Shannon was covering it up very well.

She answered, "Sure. Why not? We have plenty of time, don't we, before we have to be back at the Willowbranch ?" She glanced at her watch. Plenty of time.

She thought Shannon must have a good reason for wanting to swing over to Daylesford. And she also thought there might be something there she could write about when she got back home. She already had enough material to fill several pages of her personal journal. And she was out for adventure, wasn't she?

"Yes," Shannon said. "I think we have lots of time. Davie will hold down the fort in the event we're not back when Mr. Bannister arrives. He's supposed to be his right-hand man. I think. Or maybe I should say his right-hand boy . Actually, I don't know much about him. I only met him a couple days ago when he picked me up at the airport in Sydney ."

Jo thought Shannon's explanation about Davie left a lot to be desired—even if Shannon didn't know much about him. Jo could think of no reason why Davie should want to go with them to Ballarat, for instance. He seemed intent on being Shannon 's shadow.

Shannon took the pictures she wanted and then got back into the car in somewhat of a hurry. She started the engine while Jo was still closing her passenger door. She looked in all different directions for on-coming traffic—there had been absolutely none since they left Ballarat—and then turned the wheel sharply and squealed down the two-land road to the right. If it hadn't been for signs at every intersection they went through, Jo thought they would have gotten lost. There were no landmarks to set their sights on, like the mountains to the west in Colorado Springs . Every road looked the same. This road looked exactly like the one they had just turned off of, except it didn't have a white stripe down the middle.

The countryside all looked the same, too. There were sheep everywhere, and the land was flat with barbed wire fences strung up to keep the sheep in. Every now and then they would pass what appeared to be an abandoned gold mine, with tall, rounded heaps of tailings surrounding an old weather-beaten building or two or a concrete structure in crumbling disarray. Shades of past history.

* * * * * *

"Did Shannon and Jo say when they'd be back?" Davie asked, stepping into the kitchen from the veranda. He'd berated himself for sleeping so late. It was already after 10 o'clock.

Rose was rummaging around in the refrigerator for something to fix for the noon meal. She looked up, pretending she didn't hear his question. "G'day, Davie ," she said. "How was your night?"

"Very good, thank you. I shouldn't have slept so long, though. The day is half gone. I suppose breakfast is over with, isn't it?"

"Yes, but you can fix yourself toast if you want," Rose replied. "Bread is right over there at the end of the counter. Toaster is under the counter. Help yourself."

She had no intentions of stopping what she was doing to cater to the overgrown gangly boy before her. He could manage by himself. She reckoned that if he wanted breakfast, he should have gotten up earlier and ate with the others. She tried not to play favorites with her guests.

Davie dropped some bread into the toaster. "Did Shannon and Jo say when they'd be back?" he asked again.

He remembered when he stepped into the kitchen that they had planned on going to Ballarat with Fred. He also remembered Shannon saying she was going to take pictures of the B&B this morning, but that she'd have to get an adapter and some money exchanged. So maybe she decided to exchange her money in Ballarat and get an adapter there.

"No," Rose said. "And I didn't ask. They're big girls, Davie —and they can take care of themselves. Fred is down at the garden doing some weeding. Why don't you go down and help? It would give you something to do."

She couldn't ever remember when she suggested to a guest that they help out around the place. It just wasn't done. They were paying guests, and shouldn't be expected to help out. But she didn't feel that way about Davie . He reminded her of her youngest son, trying to make his way in the world. He was just irritating to her sometimes, nevertheless.

"No, thanks," Davie replied. "I'll just eat and go back down to the bungalow and get some stuff ready for when Mr. Bannister arrives."

As he munched on his buttered toast with jam, he hoped his boss would get here after Shannon and Jo got back rather than before, or he was in big trouble.

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

"Do you know where you're going, Shannon ?" Jo asked. They were racing along at breakneck speed, like they were trying to outrun a fire.

"Oh, yes. I've been here before."

"Oh," Jo responded. She didn't know what else to say. She didn't trust herself to speak anymore.

The terrain changed abruptly as they went around a tight curve and started down an incline. The winding road reminded Jo of some mountain roads in Colorado . But there the similarity ended. Instead of pine trees on both sides of the road, eucalyptus trees began emerging. They were beautiful gray-green gum trees, with their twisting branches coming out of the main trunk at all different angles and which soon became dense foliage.

Shannon never slowed down to take a single picture. She seemed hell-bent on getting to Daylesford, and Jo sometimes gripped the door handle, hanging on for dear life as Shannon rounded the sharp curves. She was glad they were strapped in their seatbelts.

One time, heading into a curve, Jo looked up and thought an on-coming car was going to hit them head-on. She covered her eyes and ducked. She felt the car swerve as Shannon and the other driver passed each other by inches!

"Aren't you going to take some pictures?” Jo finally asked her, breathless—opening her eyes. She felt the need to stop and settle her nerves.

"I'll take some on the way back," Shannon answered. Then she was silent.

"Oh," Jo said again. She slid down in the seat far enough so she wouldn't be looking over the dashboard at traffic coming at them. There were more cars on this road than the road they had turned off of—which had virtually no cars. She caught glimpses of the dense eucalyptus forest when she cautiously rose up and peered out the side window.

A few minutes later, they reached the bottom of the incline and then began climbing again. Shannon slowed down, and Jo sat up straighter in her seat. The trees thinned out only slightly as they crossed a bridge and came into the town of Daylesford . Jo saw a mound rising up at the end of the street a few blocks ahead of them, looking like a rounded-over volcanic hill. It was covered with trees and brush. She asked Shannon about it.

"That's called Wombat Hill. There's a kind of park on top of it, and some botanical gardens. A beautiful place. You can overlook the town in different directions from the top. People go up there for picnics a lot, driving in from all the little towns around. We could grab a snack at a take-away and go there and eat, if you'd like." She glanced over at Jo.

"Hey, you're driving," Jo replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Whatever you want to do. I'm just along for the ride." She didn't think she should point out that Rose might be expecting them for lunch in a couple of hours, even though they had not indicated to her that they would be back in Clunes by then. Shannon seemed distant.

They proceeded slowly through the town, turning onto the main thoroughfare of the business district. It was only a couple of blocks long. Diagonal parking ran down the middle of the street as well as on both sides along the curb. Jo noticed the names of a couple of businesses as they drove by: "Feline Eats" —a café; " Women's Stuff" —a clothing store.

Many cars lined the street, with shoppers—appearing to be all women—walking on the sidewalks. Jo couldn't stop gawking. She felt like she had just dropped down onto a side street on the way to heaven!

Shannon found a vacant parking spot near a fast food restaurant a few paces away, but made no attempt to get out of the car. Jo waited for her to make a move.

"It looks like a lot of people are here for the holidays already, Jo," Shannon said, turning in her seat. "You may as well know about it now rather than later, because you'll probably find out from someone, anyway. Mr. Bannister probably will have me taking some photos here, because it's a very unique place." She stopped, trying to gauge what Jo's response would be and just how much she should tell her.

"What's so unique about it?" Jo asked.

Shannon continued. "Daylesford is a gay and lesbian town. In fact, it's known as the 'gay capital of Victoria .'"

I think I gathered that, Jo thought , when we were driving down the street!

"Right now it's the Christmas holiday season, and the place is going to be overrun with gays and lesbians on Christmas Day," Shannon said. God, that's only a few days away! "They come up here for the spa, the massages, the mineral springs, and so forth. It's that way with every holiday that comes along. They also come for the camaraderie. One year, on the Queen's Birthday holiday in June, the town blossomed by 10,000 more people for those three days. All of the B&B s and motels and hotels were filled, and people were camped out in the parks and down by the lakes. They had a huge parade that year!"

She stopped, still looking at Jo. "Any questions so far? Anything you'd like to know?"

"You were here with your girlfriend Kim ten years ago, weren't you? That's how you know so much about Daylesford. Right?" Jo knew the answer before Shannon opened her mouth again.

"You add things up pretty well, you know?" Shannon replied. "You're right. But you won't rat on me to my employer, would you? I don't think I would have this job very long if my new client found out I was a lesbian."

Jo looked down at her hands. "I wouldn't say anything about your personal life to anybody . You can trust me on that. You're the one who would have to say something." She looked up at Shannon . "By the same token, I trust you won't say anything to my pen pal and her husband that I'm a lesbian."

Shannon said, "Of course not, silly. But I think Rose already knows you are. Fred probably doesn't have a clue."

"Why would you think Rose knows?" Jo asked.

"Just a hunch. Maybe because she didn't raise her eyebrows when we elected to stay in the same room together, knowing that I had a friend who was going to meet me here? You mean you've never come out to her after e-mailing her for years?"

"She probably thought you were a lesbian, because you're the one who has the friend coming. Not me." She smiled at Shannon , congratulating herself as she made what she thought was a very witty remark. "No, I never told her. It didn't seem important that she know." She looked back down at her hands.

"Come here, you," Shannon said, grabbing Jo's T-shirt. Pulling her close, she started kissing her, and Jo responded by reaching out and pulling Shannon's shirt out of her pants and slid a hand underneath the shirt and grasped one of Shannon 's breasts. They pulled each other closer and Shannon started unbuttoning Jo's pants excitedly and reaching her hand down inside Jo's panties, oblivious of where they were.

A few wolf-whistles startled them, and they looked up. They had completely forgotten that they were parked on the street, just sitting in the car. A crowd of women standing in front of the store where they were parked were ogling them and waving! They quickly pulled apart and Jo waved back at them, blushing and grinning broadly and buttoning up her pants. "I guess we better get out of the car and grab something to eat, don't you think?"

Shannon 's mind seemed to be going in another direction as she said, "Actually, I think we should get back to the Willowbranch."

"I thought you wanted to get a snack and take it up to the top of the hill," Jo said, surprised at Shannon 's words. "We could find a cozy spot and eat and maybe feast on a little something else while we're there—if there aren't any people around." She raised her eyebrows as she smiled at Shannon .

"I know what's on your mind—and I wish we could," Shannon responded, smiling back. "I really do." She grew serious then. "But I think we should get back, in case Mr. Bannister gets there early. Davie might have a hard time explaining why I wasn't there. I'll probably be coming back to this town, anyway, with the photography crew—because of its uniqueness, which I'm sure Mr. Bannister would want to capitalize on."

Jo was disappointed, but it would not be a wise move on Shannon 's part if she were to shuffle her work aside in favor of a romp in the grass.

"I need to stop somewhere and use a bathroom first," Shannon said, as she backed out of the parking space. "The coffee we had is finally starting to go through me."

They pulled into a filling station, and Shannon got out and hurried off to the restroom, leaving Jo sitting in the car. She was gone for so long that Jo finally got out and went inside the station. She bought some candy bars and sodas—her empty stomach was teasing her. She paid for them with American money, and the lady behind the counter never batted an eye when she gave change in Australian coins.

Shannon finally came out of the restroom after Jo had sat in the car for a few minutes longer, and Jo noticed she'd been crying. Shannon tried to hide the redness in her eyes by not looking at her. Jo couldn't imagine why she would be crying.

They pulled off the road a few times on the way back to Clunes so Shannon could take pictures. Jo pulled out the sack of candy bars and sodas at one particularly scenic spot where they found a picnic table. Shannon 's eyes lit up as Jo offered the sack to her. She began to comment on the beautiful trees and how and forests reminded her of Colorado . Then she talked about how they should have stopped at Lake Daylesford outside of town before they started back.

"They have a book shed right there by the lake—in fact, at one end of the parking lot—that is unbelievable! They have every book imaginable under the sun for sale. Most of them are used books, so there are great bargains. Some terrific lesbian books. I should have taken you there."

"I would have liked that," Jo responded. "I don't have a chance to go into those kinds of bookstores." There were no places like that where she lived, and she would have had to travel far to find a feminist bookstore. Even the big one in Denver had closed. So she ordered mostly online.

"But we can go there when we come back here again," Shannon said. "I'd like you to come with me, Jo, when I go on these photo shoots to small towns—no matter which towns we go to. Would you like that?"

Jo hesitated, not quite believing what Shannon was saying.

"Of course, you'll have to check with your pen pal to see if she would mind," Shannon said when she noticed Jo's hesitancy. "You came over here specifically to see her ."

"I don't think she'd mind," Jo said. "But don't you think your boss would say no? And why do you want me to come with you?"

"It shouldn't matter to Mr. Bannister who I take along with me. If it does, then that's just too bad! I need the company of another woman. I'll be leaving Carly behind in the B&B while I go places—using that as home base. She's not able to get around that good yet with her hip replacement. And she's a pain in the neck sometimes. But I promised her we could spend some time in Melbourne and other places on my times off. I don't expect to be working twenty-four-seven. And as far as I know, it's an all-man crew I'll working with. A single woman with a bunch of men? I don't think so! I couldn't handle that for very long. Besides that, I need you right now, Jo."

Need me for what? Jo thought. "Okay, I'll go," she responded.

They got back in the car, and after buckling up, Shannon reached over and pulled Jo's head to her and kissed her gently. "Thank you," she said.

As they emerged from the eucalyptus forest out onto the flats again, Jo began wondering what really happened when they were making love last night. She remembered Shannon 's delicious and willing body as she felt the stirrings of desire again. She looked over at Shannon , whose eyes were intently focused on the road ahead. She placed her hand on Shannon 's thigh above her knee and squeezed it and then rubbed it softly. Shannon responded by covering Jo's hand briefly with her own and then bringing it back to the steering wheel.

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Jo and Shannon arrived back at the Willowbranch B&B at the noon hour. Davie was walking up from the bungalow when they drove in the driveway and parked in back.

"Hey, that's a great-looking car!" he exclaimed, as Shannon emerged from the driver's side. "Can I borrow it sometime?"

"No, Davie , you cannot," Shannon said abruptly to him. "I rented it, and if you want to drive a car, you'll have to rent your own!"

She knew she was a little sharp with him, but she didn't care at this juncture. And she didn't even know what was setting her on edge. She was normally a very easy person to get along with.

Davie thought Shannon was joking with him, but when he saw the seriousness on her face, he decided it was no joke!

The three of them walked through the veranda and into the kitchen. They were just in time for lunch. Both Shannon and Jo had snacked on candy bars and soda, so weren't terribly hungry. But they thought they should at least eat a little bit, since Rose had gone to the trouble of fixing lunch for them. Fred had come in from pulling weeds in the garden and was already seated at the kitchen table.

"Jo, dear, I was checking my e-mail earlier," Rose said, "and you have a message from somebody. I left the computer on so you could check it when you got back."

"If it's okay with you," Jo responded, "could I check it now before I eat lunch?" She couldn't imagine who would be sending her an e-mail. Who's in Australia that I know?

"No worries, dear. We're only having sandwiches and salad. Nothing that will get cold if you don't eat it right away." She added, with a chuckle, "Since it's already cold."

Jo sat down at the computer and opened her e-mail. It was from Paige. She never expected Paige to answer at all. As she read the letter, her eyes widened in dismay. She deleted the message and clicked the computer off and came and sat at the table with the others, who had already started eating.

"That e-mail was from my friend Paige," she said, "who lives in same town as me. She's in Sydney right now—used the hotel's computer to e-mail me. She gave me her flight number and wants me to pick her up at the Melbourne airport at 10:30 in the morning. Tomorrow morning. She got an emergency flight, because her mother died over here and she had to get here right away. She wants to come and see me while she's here in Australia ."

Jo realized then that Paige must not have gotten the e-mail she sent her last night. How3 did she contact her here , then? She thought back and remembered she had given Paige the name and address of the B&B before she left the states. Paige was smart enough to go online and find the e-mail address of the B&B , and then contact her at the Willowbranch . Jo wished she had done that before she had left the States. She could possibly have prevented her from coming to Australia . But if her mother died—

Her face reddened with embarrassment, because Paige had said something else, too. "You were right, Jo. I am just like you! Can't wait to see you. So hope you get this message, and I'll see you tomorrow." Of course, Jo didn't relay this part of the message to her friends around the table.

"Do you think you might have room for her to stay here, Rose?" Jo asked. "I don't know what else to do with her, otherwise."

Rose and Fred looked at each other, and Fred said, "Well, I think we can find another bed to set up in the red room where there's only the one bed. Max across the street has an extra bed they're selling. They're moving in a couple of months down to Geelong , and trying to get rid of some things before they go. I think he'd probably let us have it for practically nothing. I'll go check with him this afternoon."

"That's a good idea, Fred," Rosalie said. "Never know when it will come in handy later." She turned back to Jo. "When did her mother pass on, dear?"

"I honestly don't know, Rose," Jo responded. "She never said. I've only known Paige for a month or so and don't really know that much about her family. We were kind of becoming friends, though." She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, then looked sideways at Shannon .

Rose was silent. Shannon was silent. Davie was silent. And Fred was silent. Jo didn't know what else to say.

Now you've gone and done it, Paige, she thought to herself. I guess I brought this on myself, hoping Paige would change her mind about saying she wasn't gay. I'm guessing her mother didn't die over here. But I certainly didn't think she would come unglued and fly over here to be with me! That's unreal! And where did she get the money? She holds down two jobs just to make ends meet! Oh, God... and here I am involved with Shannon now! What am I going to do?

"I have no idea how I'll be able to meet her at the airport," Jo said, breaking the silence. "I might have to ask Fred to drive me?" She looked over questioningly at Fred, who nodded absentmindedly. She could see he really wasn't keen on making another trip to Melbourne . And she didn't know what Shannon 's plans might be for tomorrow, since Mr. Bannister was coming this afternoon. She might be working.

Paige might be stranded in Melbourne, she thought . And that might not be so bad. If I'm not there to pick her up, she might just decide to turn around and go back home—which would be the best thing all around. But she probably wouldn't. She found a way to get to Australia , so I'm sure she'd find a way to get to Clunes.

"What flight number is she coming in on?" Shannon inquired. When Jo told her, she said, "My friend Carly is going to be arriving in Melbourne tomorrow, too, and that is her flight number. I'm glad I bought plane tickets to Melbourne for both of us ahead of time, so I at least know the flight number we would have taken together from Sydney . "I have an idea. Why don't I call her and have her locate Paige on the plane, and they can ride up here on the bus together?"

"That's a good idea," Jo replied, trying to sound enthusiastic about it.

"The only thing wrong with that is that I don't know where Carly is staying now," Shannon said, after a brief pause. "I think she moved to a different hotel when she got to Sydney , rather than stay at the one I had booked. But I don't know which hotel—and I have no way of contacting her. She told me she forgot to bring her cell phone, so I just have to wait for her to call me. "

What little enthusiasm Jo had engendered suddenly deflated.

"Wait," Shannon said. "Let me call the hotel I was at in Sydney , just to make sure she has actually moved. Maybe she changed her mind." She quickly found the hotel's number and dialed. It wasn't a long conversation.

"Well, it was a long shot," she said as she hung up. "She isn't registered there. I don't know what else to do, Jo. I'm sorry."

"It isn't your fault, Shannon . The most I can hope for, I guess, is that Paige will notify me somehow when she gets to Melbourne and discovers I'm not there to meet her. Maybe she can take the bus and come up here."

After lunch, Fred went to pick up Rose's mum while Rose cleared the table. Paige was forgotten for the moment. When they returned, mum suggested playing a game of cards, called '500', which required partners. She didn't have an opportunity like this very often to play cards with Rose's guests. She played once a week at the Women's Guild at her church. And Rose had asked her to come over, to make her pen pal feel more at home.

"We need to go to the bank and get our American money exchanged for Australian first," Shannon said.

"You'll have to go to Maryborough for that, then," Rose said. "Clunes is so small that we don't even have a bank that can make foreign currency exchanges. Maryborough is about twenty kilometers from here. Be sure and take your passports, as they probably will require that."

It didn't take them long to get ready. They started out the back door to go to the car when Davie suddenly asked if he could go, too—remembering the sleek look of the sports car. He wasn't sure Shannon would even let him ride in her rented car, let alone drive it. He seemed to have forgotten that his boss might arrive at any moment.

"Come along, Davie ," Shannon said. "You may as well go along for the ride." Davie followed her eagerly, and when Shannon held the back of the front seat forward, he climbed into the cramped back seat. That cramped him even more because of his long legs. But he didn't care.

"You know how to get to Maryborough from here, don't you?" Jo asked softly.

"Of course," Shannon said, starting up the car's engine. "Shhh, we don't want Davie to know anything. He's the last person I would want to know what's going on! He has a big mouth, don't you agree?"

"Yes. But if he hadn't said anything about your allergic reaction, I wouldn't have known. Why didn't you tell me, Shannon ?"

"I was mostly over it by then, and it didn't seem important alongside what was going on with us ! She smiled as she drove up the driveway. "And I really was tired from the trip, not because of the allergic reaction."

"Do you have a map in the car, Shannon ?" Davie asked.

She looked in the glove compartment and handed him a map of the State of Victoria that the car rental company had conveniently placed there for its customers.

Davie engrossed himself in the map for a few minutes. " Shannon ," he said loudly above the road noise, "do you know how to get to Maryborough? I can show you—"

"Yes, Davie ," she replied complacently. "All you have to do is follow the road signs. That's how we got back from Ballarat." She gave Jo a wink.

They both made their money exchanges at the Bank of Melbourne in Maryborough. Shannon had brought her passport, but Jo had forgotten hers—her mind had been focused on other things as they left the B&B . The bank manager was called over and all Jo had to do was give a contact number, so she gave her Rose and Fred's number at the B&B . The manager said it was only if they were cashing a personal check or traveler's check that they really needed a passport.

Davie said, "You mean to say if someone picked up a wallet that was filled with American money that someone had dropped in the street, that you'd take that money and change it over to Australian?"

"Of course," the manager answered. "You didn't pick it up off the street, did you?" she asked, in her best deadpan expression. Then she grinned broadly, and they all had a good laugh.

Jo was more comfortable now that she had a nice mix of Australian bills, as well as coins she had received in Daylesford. She asked Shannon about a drugstore. She needed Chap Stick and a couple of other things. Shannon indicated a place right across the street from the bank. Davie said he'd wait by the car.

Browsing through the pharmacy, Shannon also picked up some things she'd forgotten back in the States—plus an adapter for her laptop computer. Shannon told Jo they couldn't get over-the-counter drugs and prescriptions at this pharmacy, but needed to go to a chemist's store—which had medicinal products like the Walgreen's in the States.

That's good to know, Jo thought, in case my headache medicine runs out. I haven't had to take any pills so far, though.

"You've been here , too, haven't you?" Jo asked, leaning in close to Shannon .

"Of course. Need you ask?" Shannon replied. "I traveled a lot around here."

When they came out with their purchases, Davie was not at their car. "I think I might know where he is," Shannon said, looking around. "Probably in the bottle store. He's kind of young, and still wet behind the ears. But I imagine he's curious, too."

The bottle store was next to the bank, and Jo couldn't imagine why they were going into a store that sold bottles. But when they went inside, she realized it was a liquor store! They saw Davie going from shelf to shelf, lifting one liquor bottle after another and looking at the labels.

" Davie !" Shannon said loudly. He jumped like a little kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Oh, I was just looking around—" he said embarrassingly. He quickly set the liquor bottle in his hands back on the shelf.

"You don't drink, do you, Davie ?" Shannon asked, curious.

"Absolutely not!” Davie emphasized. "My father said alcohol can ruin a person's life." Then he said, blushing, "I have a beer once in a while, though, when it's offered. Or maybe a glass of wine. But it's all to be sociable, you know."

"We're ready to go now, Davie ," Shannon said, raising her eyebrows at him and smiling. Davie followed them like a meek little lamb out to the car.

Shannon took a different route back to Clunes, thoroughly confusing Davie . He was sitting in the back seat holding the map in his hands, still trying to get his bearings.

"I want to show you something," Shannon whispered to Jo.

They hadn't driven very far along a side road when Shannon pulled over to the shoulder, leaving the engine running and turning the radio on loudly enough so their conversation wouldn't be overheard by Davie .

"What do you think," she asked Jo, gesturing out the window. When Jo looked where she was pointing, she saw a golf course—out in the middle of nowhere!

"This is an 18-hole golf course," Shannon said, "and is used by a lot of people, but especially women—who love to golf. I played here a couple of times with Kim. It's only about 30 kilometers from Daylesford."

"Why are we stopping?" Davie asked, shouting to be heard.

"We were just looking for kangaroos. Fred sees them now and then on the way to and from Ballarat," Shannon shouted back at him. She didn't know how truthful that was, but had to come up with something.

"Oh, really?" he asked. "Where are they?" He looked out the side window. "I'll have to quit looking at the map, then, and start looking for kangaroos."

Shannon laughed to herself when she saw how excited Davie was. She didn't tell him that if he saw any wild kangaroos it would be in the early dawn or at dusk—not in the middle of the day.

Davie had lived most of his life in Melbourne, but had never seen kangaroos in the wild—only in zoos. He had never been allowed to go venturing as a youngster. His trip to Clunes was about as far as he'd gotten away from home, except for his dad's two-year military assignment to the U.S. when he was a teenager. His mother died when he was only five, leaving only his father to care for him. Shortly after returning from the States, his father was killed in a freak auto accident, and Davie had gone to live with his father's sister.

Jeff Bannister, who had moved to Australia from the States and opened the Scenic Visions studio, had befriended Davie in a rival photo gallery a year ago. He saw the young boy's keen interest in photography—saw his potential—and took him under his wing and began teaching him the basics of the photography business. Davie never dreamed Mr. Bannister would take him on a photo shoot this early in his career.

Shannon tooled on down the road back to Clunes as fast as she dared. Davie was completely lost, as she turned off on several roads going back to town. He wouldn't have known how to tell anyone where they'd been, or how to get back there—which suited Shannon just fine. And they were traveling much too fast to look for kangaroos! Even if there had been any to see—


To be continued...

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