Cody woke to the smell of eggs cooking. This time she was frying them. He glanced at the clock shocked that it was eight-thirty. "Shit." He jumped out of bed because the animals needed feeding.

"Your breakfast's ready." Fin smiled over at him from the stove.

"Can you keep it warm?" He ran his hand through his tousled hair. "I have to go and feed the chooks."

"I already did it," she said putting toast onto a plate.

"Oh. What about Max?"

"Yeah, him too." Fin turned off the heat and set the now empty frying pan aside.

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

She cocked her head, grinned and said, "Because you were tired." Fin put his plate on the table. "You talk to yourself in your sleep. Did you know that?"

Cody pulled out the chair and sat. "Do I? What did I say?"

"You called out your name." Fin giggled, sat opposite him with her breakfast, and added, "You said, No, Cody, don't die." She frowned and gave him a concerned look. "Your breathing changed and you said you were sorry then tossed your head from side to side saying no over and over." She cut the corner of her toast and just before she put the food in her mouth she said, "You must have been having a nightmare." After she swallowed her food, she looked over the table at him and asked, "Did you?"

"I don't remember." Cody hoped he didn't talk in his sleep often. He said, "Did I say anything else?"

"No. I worried because you sounded sad. I cuddled you and you stopped. It's scary when you dream about dying. I dreamt like that after the Gallos hurt me." She gave him a sad smile and said, "You thought I was your mother. You said I'm sorry, Mum."

Cody gave her an awkward grin and hung his head in the pretence of eating his breakfast. He didn't remember dreaming last night. It had taken him a long time to fall asleep because having Fin so close had made it hard to stop thinking about her.

"That's why I let you sleep in," Fin chatted. "It's still raining anyway. It makes the house dark so I slept in too."

He lifted his eyes to see her put food in her mouth and was relieved she didn't seem bothered by his dream.

"What will you do today?" she asked.

"I might service the truck. What about you?"

Fin shrugged. "Maybe I'll cook some more and scrub the bathroom. You're not very good at cleaning, are you?"

"I do alright." He grinned across at her as he lifted his fork.

She smiled and said, "It's tidy but not clean. There's mould in the bathroom and the toilet could use a good scrub."

"I'm going to paint the bathroom and toilet so I don't bother too much yet." Cody sipped his tea and looked at her from under his brows.

"You shouldn't paint over mould. It'll just keep growing back. Did you know that?"

"We don't have much mould where I come from so no, I didn't know."

"Where do you come from?" Fin took another mouthful and waited for him to answer.

"Somewhere it doesn't rain," Cody murmured.

"What's its name?"

"It's a long way away." Cody sighed and wondered what to say. He added, "You won't have heard of it."

"Does all your family live there?"

"Yes," he said and focused on his food.

"Have you been to lots of places, Cody?" Fin said. "I've only been in Cooktown. Findlay never took me anywhere else."

"I've been a few places." He chuckled at her barrage of questions and was glad she hadn't pushed for the name of his hometown.

"Will you tell me about them?" She put her forearms on the table and beamed over at him. "Maybe tonight when you've finished your work so I can listen to your voice."

Cody laughed and shook his head. "How about we keep reading? You can listen to my voice while we do that."

Fin gave him a grin and looked pleased.

They finished their meal in silence. Once they'd cleaned up Cody headed out to the shed.

She busied herself by scrubbing the toilet and bathroom. Fin thought about washing the bathroom walls but decided it was better to wait until Cody wanted to paint them. The mould would grow back before he got around to it. She thought she should tell him not to bother until the dry season.

The rain eased. Fin made Cody some lunch and took it out to him. She covered it in plastic and made herself a coffee to sit with him while he ate.

Cody lay under the truck with no shirt on when she went in. Fin couldn't see his face so she studied his body while he couldn't see her looking. He had hair from his navel into the waistband of his shorts. There was more hair across his chest. In the magazines she had looked at, most of the men had no hair at all. They were shiny and smooth. Findlay's was thick and bushy. Cody's was thinner and fair, just a light dusting around his nipples. Fin wondered why this was.

"Cody." She crouched and shook his leg. "I made you some lunch."

"Okay great." He lifted his head to look at her. "I'll be finished in a minute."

She put his sandwiches on one of the workhorses, then found an old metal toolbox under one of the benches, pulled it out and sat on it to drink her coffee.

Cody slid out from under the truck with a bucket of oil. He scrubbed his hands at the sink, sat on the ground and leaned against the leg of the workhorse near her to eat.

Fin studied his chest. She looked up to see him peering at her with a curious expression. Embarrassed because he had caught her staring. Fin blurted, "Why do men look different?"

He cocked his head and frowned at her question.

"Findlay is hairy and in the boxing magazines at Snakes they don't have any hair at all." She pointed at his chest. "You only have some."

"It's just the way it is." Cody laughed and shrugged. "Lots of the guys in the magazines have their chests waxed but some men don't grow hair. It's genetic. Chances are, for guys, if your father's hairy you will be too. A bit like women and the size of their butts I guess." He laughed some more and took a bite of his sandwich.

Fin hung her head, embarrassed, her question was stupid. Of course, everyone was different. She glanced at Cody and guessed he thought she was an idiot. "What will you do when you finish with your truck?"

"I might take Max to the creek. Do you want to come and have a swim?"

"I'm not very good at swimming."

"Maybe that's another thing I'll have to teach you." He grinned and took another bite.

His comment made her feel even sillier. She didn't want him to think she was stupid. "I don't know much about things I haven't done before. We only have a bore and dam. The water's dirty so I never swam much."

"Hey." Cody cocked his head. "I don't know much about mould but you do. As long as we're willing to learn there's nothing wrong with not knowing about things we haven't done before."

His words warmed her soul, she blushed and realised he was telling her it was okay that she couldn't swim or read. She decided she liked him a lot.

"You know heaps about cooking and making sandwiches." Cody held up the bread. "These are the best I've ever tasted."

Fin found it hard to stop smiling. He made her feel special. She guessed this was another reason why girls liked boys. When they were nice, they made you feel special. At that thought she stood and said, "I have to go and start dinner."

Thanks you for continuing to read.  I hope you are enjoying the story. ♥

Copyright © 2025 Donna Fieldhouse. All rights reserved.