Gray smiled crookedly. ‘It’s like a normal classroom, but the classes are held over the radio. There are children living in homesteads scattered all over the Outback and each homestead has a special transceiver. They send messages back and forth. The teacher can talk to all of the pupils and they can talk to each other.’ He shrugged. ‘It seems to work really well.’
‘School over the radio? Wow. That sounds totally awesome.’ Josh couldn’t have looked more excited if he’d been told there were pet baby dinosaurs at his new school.
‘It sounds amazing,’ Holly agreed, thoroughly intrigued. To her surprise, she felt quite jealous of the nanny who would mentor Anna and Josh as they came to grips with this unorthodox schoolroom.
She shot the children sparkling grins. ‘Aren’t you two lucky?’
Josh, twirling spaghetti onto his fork, nodded enthusiastically.
Anna, however, looked uncertain. She turned to Holly. ‘Will you still be our nanny?’
Holly held her breath, not trusting herself to answer this question without giving her feelings away.
To her relief, Gray answered for her. ‘Holly can’t come to Australia, Anna. You know that. But we’re going to find a nice Australian nanny.’
Anna drooped. ‘I want Holly. And I like my school here. Why do you have to live in Australia? Why can’t you live in New York?’
Holly saw the sudden bleakness in Gray’s eyes, the wavering of his smile. Even though he’d sounded confident about finding a nice Australian nanny, he was obviously worried by Anna’s reaction.
She’d been determined to keep out of this conversation, but her heart was melting at the sight of Gray’s discomfort and she felt compelled to jump to his aid.
‘How could your dad live in this apartment?’ she asked with a deliberate smile. ‘What would he do with all his cattle?’
Anna shrugged. ‘Put them in storage?’
‘As if.’ Josh groaned and rolled his eyes.
An awkward hush fell. Gray continued to look worried and Anna looked as if she might cry. Her lower lip trembled.
Watching her, Josh began to look anxious, too. ‘It’s going to be great living with Dad,’ he urged his sister softly.
‘Not if Holly can’t come with us.’
Holly saw Gray’s shoulders stiffen at the same moment she felt her face flame.
Then Anna burst into tears.
‘Hey,’ Holly said, quickly drawing the little girl onto her lap, and not daring to catch Gray’s eyes again. ‘How can you cry in the middle of this lovely dinner your dad has cooked?’
Anna’s response was to cling to Holly tightly, sobbing louder than ever. ‘Why can’t you come with us?’
It was a truly difficult moment. Holly knew Gray was anxious about his ability to care for his fragile daughter and now her tearful reaction would only deepen his apprehension.
But, despite this, Holly couldn’t help feeling electrified, too, as if she’d touched a live wire. Anna had innocently brought into the open the very question that had rattled around in her head all day.
The thing was—school in the US didn’t start again till the autumn, which meant she could spend June and July in Australia helping the children to settle in to their new home and school, and she’d still be back in time to start her new teaching job.
And now that she’d heard about this School of the Air, the idea was especially intriguing.
Of course, it wouldn’t be plain sailing. After the past hectic months she would have liked a proper vacation and, if she went to Australia, she’d still be ‘working’. She’d have very little chance to catch her breath before she had to start in the new school.
Then again, she didn’t have any particular plans for the next few weeks—and she certainly didn’t fancy going home to Vermont, where she’d spend her time either avoiding Brandon or being showered with sympathy from family and friends. And she was intrigued by the set-up in the Outback—and, of course, she would love to see Anna and Josh happily settled.
The only negative factor was the silly frissons that danced over her skin whenever Gray Kidman came too near—but Holly was sure she’d soon conquer that foolish tendency.
For heaven’s sake, there wasn’t any danger she’d actually fall for poor Chelsea’s ex when the pain of being dumped by Brandon hadn’t even healed. She planned to be mega-cautious around all men in future—especially the attractive ones.
‘Why don’t you tuck the children into bed and read them a couple of stories?’ Holly suggested to Gray after dinner.
To her surprise, he looked unhappy, as if she’d asked him to help with some horrible chore like cleaning the toilets with a toothbrush.
‘But won’t they expect you to do it?’ he asked.
His obvious nervousness puzzled Holly. Perhaps Anna’s tears at dinner had upset him more than she’d realised. She tried to reassure him. ‘Anna and Josh will love it if you read to them tonight.’
When Gray still looked worried, she added, ‘They need to get used to small changes, and this would be a good first step.’
He swallowed uncomfortably. ‘I guess.’
‘Their favourite books are stacked on the nightstand.’
‘Okay.’
As he left the kitchen, heading for the children’s room, Holly saw a deep red tide that was not sunburn staining the back of his neck. The sight of it caused an ache right in the centre of her chest. Was he nervous about being alone with his children? Was he afraid Anna would cry again? Should she have offered to be there, too?
She almost called out to him, but there was something about the resolute straightness of his shoulders and the purposeful length of his stride that stopped her. He was like a soldier marching off to war. No, she was being fanciful.
And in the end everything was fine.
While Holly cleared the table and stacked the dishwasher, she could hear the deep masculine rumble of Gray’s voice and the bell-like tinkle of the children’s laughter. They were clearly having a great time.
With the kitchen tidy, she went into the living room and tried to relax, curled on the sofa with her current paperback novel. As soon as Gray was finished with the bedtime stories, she would talk to him about Australia. She only wished the thought of their conversation didn’t make her feel so inordinately excited.
It was quite a while before Gray returned, however, and he was smiling, his blue eyes reflecting relief and a new contentment.
‘That seemed to go well,’ Holly said warmly.
‘Yeah.’ He stood in the centre of the room, hands resting lightly on his hips, and he grinned. ‘Seems like I passed my first test as a single dad.’
‘That’s great. I suppose Josh pressured you into reading the pirate story.’
‘No, actually. I told them a completely different story tonight.’
‘Oh, right.’ She couldn’t help asking. ‘Which one?’
Gray shrugged. ‘I made one up. About Hector Owl and Timothy Mouse.’ He shot her a shrewdly narrowed glance. ‘Your experts wouldn’t object, would they?’
‘N-no, of course not. I’m just surprised. Amazed, actually. I’ve loved stories all my life but, even if you paid me thousands, I couldn’t make one up on the spot. Anna and Josh seemed to love yours.’
Still standing in the middle of the living room carpet, Gray shrugged again and scratched at the shadow of stubble