Christmas at Coorah Creek (Choc Lit) Read Free Page B

shadows inside the garage.
    He turned the corner and parked outside the pub. He switched his engine off and looked up at the two storey building. It hadn’t changed. The paint looked fairly new. It hadn’t faded or developed that faint powdery look caused by long exposure to the harsh outback sun. But it was the same colour he remembered. The lovely wrought iron railings still edged the balcony on the top floor, twisting in intricate lacework. He had always loved this old building. So beautiful and elegant. So different from the garage and the shabby house behind it.
    Scott slowly got out of the car and turned to look about him. The pub might not have changed, but the rest of the town certainly had.
    He remembered the general store, but it was larger now. Had it been extended? The feed store was still the same, but what was that across the road? A ladies’ hair salon? That was new. So were the clothing store and the houses that he could see in the distance, either side of the town’s other main road – the one that led north to Mount Isa. When he’d last seen Coorah Creek, the Goongalla Uranium Mine was just a topic of conversation and a hope for the future. Obviously the mine had prospered and the town along with it.
    He was glad about that.
    He turned around and walked the few steps back towards the T-intersection that was the heart of the town. He could see the garage now. Any prosperity brought by the mine hadn’t touched that. It was still shabby and dirty. Even more so than he remembered. It occupied the corner opposite the pub. From this angle, he could see the workshop and the petrol bowsers. Eight years had passed since he’d last seen it and to his eyes it looked exactly the same. Nothing had changed. It didn’t even appear to have benefited from a new coat of paint in all that time. Over the top of the rusting tin workshop roof, he could see gum trees reaching skywards. That would be the garden around the house. He remembered those trees, but they had been a lot smaller back then.
    Katie’s car was still sitting outside the workshop. The bonnet was up, but he could see no sign of either its driver or the man who was fixing it. She would be all right, he thought. The old man was honest and would easily repair her radiator. And he’d charge a fair price for the work. No-one had ever accused the old man of doing wrong by a customer. His family though …
    Scott went back to his car. At some point he was going to have to enquire about a room at the pub, but not right now. Since he had driven past the town sign, memories had been flooding back. Among those memories was the publican’s wife – a garrulous woman with a real taste for gossip. If he checked into the hotel now, the whole town would know he was here in just five minutes.
    He wasn’t ready for that yet.
    He slid back behind the wheel of his car and pulled away from the pub. He’d drive around for a while, just to have a look at the town.
    It didn’t take long. The town might have grown a lot in eight years, but it still wasn’t very big. The houses on the north side all looked fairly new. They must have come with the mine, he thought. The old police station was still there, but it was now part of some kind of town square. The school was bigger than in his day. And it had a swimming pool! Now that was an improvement. Curious, he drove towards the southern side of town where he knew the mine must be. He wouldn’t mind taking a look at it. A couple of miles out of town, a good quality bitumen road led off to the left. He turned down it and sure enough, there were the gates to the mine. He drove straight past, following the chain link fence until he came to … an airport? Things certainly had changed.
    But now he had run out of excuses. Reluctantly he executed a three point turn on the narrow road and drove back in the direction of town.
    There she was again. Standing in the middle of the road. What was with this girl?
    Scott pulled up next to