Heart of The Tree

Chapter 29

Rhys stared at the guy standing near the lecture room entrance. He suspected that Cameron Mulholland was waiting for him. His guess was confirmed when Cameron started moving in his direction.

“Oh, fuck,” Rhys whispered to himself.

He had learnt more about Cameron from Brendan after Cameron left the party. Brendan had been apologetic, and had passed on some information that he’d asked Rhys not to share. One key piece was that Cameron wasn’t out to anyone else. Before the party, Brendan had been the only gay guy he had spoken to.

Rhys debated quickly with himself and decided to ignore Cameron. He reasoned that Cameron was unlikely to do anything openly, or he would be outing himself. He continued walking towards his class.

“Rhys.”

Rhys ignored Cameron and went past without a glance.

“Rhys, wait up.”

Rhys kept walking.

“Please, I just want to apologise for Friday night.”

Rhys paused and glared at Cameron. “Apology accepted. Now get lost.”

Rhys gritted his teeth as Cameron followed him into the lecture room, still trying to talk to him. After tossing up on the options, Rhys chose a seat at the end of a row where there was already someone sitting in the adjacent seat.

“Look, I really need to talk with you. Can we meet up after the lecture?” Cameron was sounding desperate.

Rhys looked up and narrowed his eyes. “I’ll think about it. Now, how about fucking off and leaving me alone?”

Cameron retreated and took up a seat nearby. Rhys was able to concentrate on the lecture, but each time he glanced in Cameron’s direction he saw Cameron looking back at him, a worried expression on his face.

As soon as the lecture ended, Rhys shot out the door. He knew that Cameron would corner him eventually, but he wanted it to be in a place of his choosing, not Cameron’s. He was annoyed, not worried. He had had a good time at the party, with Cameron’s tirade being the only negative. He wasn’t looking forward to whatever it was that Cameron wanted to get off his chest, but he was sure he would be able to forget all about it once the episode was over.

Rhys waited outside the building, in the shade of an old gum tree. He watched as the other students streamed out. When Cameron appeared, Rhys saw him looking around frantically until he spotted Rhys and jogged over to join him.

“Rhys. Thanks for waiting for me.” Cameron’s relief was obvious, but Rhys still detected a tense edge.

Rhys crossed his arms. He didn’t want to give any indication that he was interested in being with Cameron. “I didn’t have much of a choice. If I hadn’t waited, you would have stalked me until you’d got what you wanted.”

“Still, thanks. I wanted to say sorry for what I did at the party.”

“You’ve already apologised. If that’s all, you can fuck off.”

Cameron raised both hands and grabbed his hair, as if he was going to pull it out. “You don’t understand! That wasn’t me — I was drunk. I had to be drunk. It took me a third of a bottle of Jack Daniel’s to get myself to walk through that door. You have no idea what it’s like!”

Rhys had a sudden flashback to when he’d outed Vince, and the way Vince had turned on Mark. He sighed and put a hand on Cameron’s shoulder. “You’re afraid that everyone is going to turn on you. That everyone you care about is going to hate you.”

Cameron slowly lowered his arms and stared at Rhys. “Yes,” he said softly. “How did you know?”

Rhys dropped his hand. “Because I saw a good friend go through the same thing. I outed Vince and I saw how he reacted. He had the same fears as you. That was why I was there at that party. I wanted to make sure he was okay.”

“You’re not going to tell anyone, are you?”

“About you? I’ve already told my closest friends, but I won’t say anything to anyone else.” Rhys saw Cameron tensing up. “Relax. Only the guys who were there know who you are. The rest just have a name.” Rhys glanced past Cameron and smiled. “However, there’s someone coming that I think you should talk to.”

Cameron spun around and spotted Matt approaching. Geoff, from the party, was with him. “What are they doing here?”

“I sent Matt an SMS during the lecture. I wasn’t sure what you were going to do and I wanted someone around, just in case.”

The two guys joined them. “G’day, Rhys.” Matt said. He flicked a glance at Cameron. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry to have bothered you. It looks like everything’s okay.”

Matt stared at Cameron suspiciously. “Your text didn’t make it sound that way.”

Cameron appeared to shrink under the gaze of both Matt and Geoff.

“Go easy on him, Matt. He’s just like Vince was when I outed him. Since you’re here, I’m wondering if you’ll have a chat with Cameron. Shane’s said that you’ve done this sort of thing before.”

Matt was startled. He looked first at Cameron and then Rhys. His expression relaxed when Rhys smiled. “Cameron? I’ve got thirty minutes until my next class. Why don’t we sit down and have a talk?”

Rhys and Geoff watched as Matt led Cameron to a nearby bench and sat him down.

“I’m a bit surprised. After the way he went at you at the party, I didn’t think you’d have anything to do with him,” Geoff said.

Rhys shrugged. “I didn’t want to, which is why I sent the message to Matt during the lecture. But after I spoke to him, I realised that Cameron is just scared. He seems different to the guy we saw on Friday night.” Rhys looked at Geoff. “How come you showed up, too?”

Geoff grinned. “I was leaving a lecture when Matt passed by. He grabbed me and said he might need some extra muscle. He told me that Cameron was stalking you.”

“You’re a pretty tight bunch of guys, then.”

“There aren’t that many of us. We know there are other gay guys around, but they aren’t stepping forward. We’re not really tight, but we try to help each other out when we can.”

Geoff and Rhys started to stroll towards the cafeteria.

“Where’s your boyfriend?” Rhys asked.

“Boyfriend? You mean Andrew? He’s just a friend. I’m single.”

Rhys blinked. “Sorry. I just assumed you two were a couple.”

Geoff laughed. “Because we were talking together, we’ve got some common interests, and we’re both gay? It takes a lot more than that. No. Andrew’s a nice guy, but he’s not really my type.”

“Oh?”

Geoff stopped and looked at Rhys. “If you weren’t straight, I’d be fighting with Cameron over you. You’re more my type.”

Rhys felt uncomfortable. He didn’t like where the conversation was going.

Geoff chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to try anything, but I thought I should say something before Andrew does. I’ve already told him, and he’s almost certain to say something when we go riding. That’s one of the reasons he’s not my type.”

Rhys mulled it over while they resumed their walk. “I suppose I should take it as a compliment that you like me.”

“You’re smart, you’re kind, you like bikes. You’re a loyal friend — you were at the party to support Vince — and you inspire friendship. The way Matt was so quick to jump in to help you showed me that. Why shouldn’t people like you? The fact that you’re not bad looking is a bonus. If you didn’t have one major flaw, you’d be perfect boyfriend material.”

“A flaw?” Rhys was offended.

Geoff laughed. “Yeah, you’re straight!”

* * *

“You’re awfully quiet today.” Vince grinned and poked Matt in the side. “Did a weekend with your family wear you out that much?”

The two of them were resting in the living room at Matt’s place. Vince had finished his classes for the day and Matt had a break before his next lecture, so they had started a habit of meeting there each Monday afternoon. Two of the other residents were in their rooms, leaving the two boys with the communal area to themselves.

“I told you about Cameron and Rhys. The chat I had with Cameron, and some of the things he’s afraid of, reminded me of something Dad said to me just before they headed home.”

Vince felt a small worry at the back of his mind. “It wasn’t about me, was it?”

Matt smiled. “Only in a roundabout way. No, it was just something I’ve never really thought about before and I’m not sure I like thinking about it now.”

“What do you mean? Maybe sharing it will help?”

Matt sighed. “You don’t think about something happening to your parents. They’re supposed to be there forever.”

“What’s wrong?” Vince gave Matt’s shoulders a squeeze. “Is he…?”

“Nah, nothing like that. It’s just that he told me he’s discussed it with Fee and Mum, and they’ve all agreed that the farm is going to be left to me. At least most of it. They’ll sell off part for Fee’s inheritance, but the best parts will be mine.”

Vince rested his head on Matt’s shoulder. “I know what you mean. Dad’s going to do the same. Warren doesn’t want the farm, but he should have a fair share.”

“That means between us, we’ll have two farms, four hours apart. That’s bothering me. It’s impossible to look after both.”

Vince blinked as he realised Matt was right. “Which one do we keep?”

Matt pulled a face. “I know how much your place means to you, but our farm is more viable. We’ve got a lot more water and in the current drought, that’s critical. We can keep at least fifty percent more stock at our place than you can at yours.”

Vince straightened up as he thought about it. “That’s not necessarily true. One of the lecturers today was talking about some new techniques that could increase how much stock we could support.”

“But those same techniques could be applied to my family’s farm, too. I know you haven’t seen our place yet, but I’ve seen both. Our farm’s got more long term viability.”

Vince pulled away and stared at Matt. “There’s nothing wrong with our farm!”

“It’s a great place — don’t get me wrong — but you’ve got a water supply problem.”

“There’s a drought on! Everyone’s got water supply problems.”

“We don’t. We’ve got a good solid supply that’s not going to run out unless the whole country is dry.”

“I’m not selling our farm!” Vince glared at Matt and then stood up.

“I’m not asking you to…”

Vince interrupted. “It sure sounds like it to me. Your place is better than mine, and so that’s the one you want to keep. Well, I want to keep my place — I’ve put a lot of work into it and I don’t want to see it all wasted!”

The conversation went downhill from there.

* * *

Shane was whistling as he approached the residence. He was going to get changed and then go for a run. He hadn’t been exercising properly and he thought it was beginning to show. He decided a gentle jog around the campus would be fun.

The whistling stopped when he saw Vince slam the door as he left the building. Shane watched as Vince stormed down the path.

“Vince! Wait up.”

Vince threw Shane an angry glare and marched off in the opposite direction.

Shane was still staring at Vince’s disappearing figure when Matt came out in a more sedate manner.

“Mattie, what’s going on? I just saw Vince leave, looking like he wanted to kill someone.”

Matt sighed. “We’ve just had our first major fight.”

“What was it about? Can I help?”

Matt glanced at his watch. “Thanks, but I’ve got to get to my class. Vince said we’d talk later. Sorry.”

Shane frowned as he watched Matt head in the opposite direction to Vince. Matt had appeared unsettled rather than upset. Vince was the one who appeared to be fuming. Shane pulled out his mobile phone as he entered the house. He suspected Vince was on his way home, and he wanted to warn whoever might be there.

* * *

“Councillor Young is on the line for you, sir.”

Keith Tyler had been expecting the call, though it wasn’t one he had been looking forward to answering. “Thanks, Melanie. Can you join me when I’ve finished? Oh, and I’d appreciate it if you would listen in. I might need your opinion.”

“Okay, sir.” The intercom went dead.

Keith took a deep breath and painted a smile on his face as he reached for the phone. He knew that facial expressions help convey the right tone of voice. “John! It’s good to hear from you. How’s things?”

“”I’m fine, but what games do you think you’re playing?”

“Settle down, John. I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about,” Keith said cheerfully, lying through his teeth.

“It’s about this contract. You’re supposed to have bloody well finished it by now!”

Keith frowned at the tone. He had known John Young long enough to know that the swearing was normal for him, but it was unusual for the councillor to get worked up on anything not directly related to his garden supply business.

“Which contract are you talking about, John?” Keith asked, stalling for time while his mind raced. “The new vintage won’t be available for another couple of weeks — I can’t fill the council order until then.”

“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about The Tree!”

“The Tree?”

“Yes! You’re supposed to have cut it down by now!” There was a slight pause. “It’s a hazard, and we need to make the park safe as quickly as possible.”

Keith caught the pause and the change in tone. He wondered what it signified. “I know, John, but we also need to make sure it is done safely. I remember that the contract requires that we meet all OH&S requirements, so I’ve got my staff doing safety checks on all the equipment. Once that’s done, we should be ready to go.”

“Occupational Health and Safety? What the hell are you talking about?”

“We can’t risk an accident because of faulty equipment, so I ordered that it all be checked before we use it.”

“Hmm. Okay, I suppose.” The voice was calmer. “How long is that going to take?”

“I don’t know, but how long can it be? How about I let you know when we’re ready?”

“You do that. This is important, and I don’t want to wait forever.” The line went dead.

“Ah, but I want you to wait forever,” Keith said quietly.

The door opened and Melanie Speeling, his personal assistant, entered with two cups of coffee.

“Thanks, Melanie. You’ve read my mind.”

She smiled. “That’s my job. Now, what did you want to talk about?”

“You listened in to that call?” He waited for her to nod. “There’s more going on than I’m aware of. I’ve never heard John get so heated on a subject unless it affected him personally.”

“He sounded desperate to get The Tree cut down. As if he’s under a time constraint or a lot of pressure.”

Keith stared out of his office window towards the maintenance sheds. “I can appreciate the time constraint. There’s moves afoot to get the decision overturned, and if we stall long enough it just might happen.”

“Have you heard the latest rumours about the new Heart, sir?”

Keith looked back. “How long have you worked for me, Melanie? You’ve got something to say, so just spit it out. I don’t bite.”

“Not often, sir.” Melanie smiled.

“I only bite the idiots. Have you got some news for me?” Keith knew that Melanie had a solid link into the company grapevine, but she was always careful to only pass on gossip that was critical. It was important to her that she separated her personal and business lives.

“The news sweeping the town is that the new Heart has been identified. At least most people think so — some don’t believe it.”

“Who is she?”

She paused before answering. “Alex Landeau.”

“Who’s that… wait! That’s Scott’s son. How can he be The Heart?”

“The story is that this time The Heart is a gay guy. It certainly fits, and explains why no one has been able to work out who the girl is.”

Keith’s forehead wrinkled as he considered the news. “It does explain a few things. I wonder if John knows.”

“Sir?”

“John Young has said a few things in the past that make me think he might be homophobic. If he knew this before anyone else, it just might explain why he’s doing what he’s doing.”

“What about us?”

Keith looked at Melanie in surprise. “What do you mean?”

“The go-slow action to try to save The Tree. Does this change things?”

Keith tried to read his personal assistant to see if there was an ulterior motive for the question, but he couldn’t detect one. “I don’t see why it should. What was the right thing to do before is still the right thing to do now. We’re working to save The Tree. It sounds like Alex Landeau will be playing his part in that task as well.” He paused. “There’s one thing we can do to try to confirm the rumour. Ring maintenance and tell them I want to see Robert Elkington in my office at the earliest opportunity.”

After Melanie had left the office, Keith resumed his stance at the window, though he was only peripherally aware of what was out there. He was busy trying to analyse his feelings and thoughts. He could be decisive when he needed to be, but most of the time he preferred to think things through.

“How much faith do I have to have, and how much do I need to help?” he asked himself. “Alex can’t get married under The Tree, so how is it going to be saved? There’s an answer somewhere, but I don’t know what it is.”

* * *

Mark was waiting for Vince. Mia was out visiting a new friend and Rhys was still at the university, so Mark was the one who had taken Shane’s call fifty minutes earlier. In an effort to hide the conspiracy, Mark was lounging in a chair, pretending to study. He was beginning to worry, as it should only have taken Vince twenty minutes at most to catch the bus home.

When the front door was flung open, Mark saw for himself that Vince was in an extremely sour mood.

“What’s wrong, mate?”

“That self-centred, egotistical, selfish son of a…” Vince spluttered to a halt as he glared around the room. He flung his backpack against the nearby wall.

“Who?” Mark asked, though he had already guessed the answer.

“Matt ‘I know what’s best’ Sterling! I’ve just spent thirty minutes walking around trying to calm down, but every time I think about what he said, I…” Vince growled.

“You’ve had a fight, then.” Mark said nonchalantly as he pretended to resume his studying.

“I don’t know why I didn’t throttle him. He’s got no right to say what he did! Just because he thinks his place is better than mine…” Vince dropped into the chair opposite Mark.

Mark put down his book. “Well, his place is better than ours. Come on, look around. This place is okay, but Matt’s place is a lot cleaner and nicer.”

“Not this place. Our farms!”

“Oh.” Mark stared at Vince. “Do you want to talk about it? What did he say?”

Vince scowled. “He doesn’t think my farm is worth keeping. He thinks we should keep his farm, instead, because it’s more drought-proof.”

“Back up. I didn’t think you two owned either farm in the first place.”

“Both of our parents have said we’ll get their farm when they retire.”

Mark stopped himself from rolling his eyes. “So you’re telling me that you and Matt are fighting over which farm to keep in twenty years’ time? Don’t you think you could wait until then to have this fight?”

Vince opened his mouth for an angry retort but stopped. A flush appeared on his face. “Put that way, it does sound stupid.”

“Can you see any other way to put it?”

Vince narrowed his eyes. “He still shouldn’t have said those things. He doesn’t understand how much I love our place.”

Mark leant forward and rested his elbows on his knees. He could see that he needed to get Vince’s thoughts out of the loop they were in. “Can I ask some personal questions?”

Vince looked suspicious. “Sure, but I may not answer.”

“Do you love farming, or your farm?”

“Both!”

“Does that mean you wouldn’t be happy farming elsewhere?”

Vince paused before answering. “No. I love farming, but I want to be on my farm!”

Mark thought that Vince was just being stubborn. “But you could be happy farming somewhere else?”

“Yeah, I suppose so.”

“And do you think Matt knows you love farming?”

“He bloody well should by now! Though I’ve got my doubts after today.”

“Do you think he just might be trying to make you happy by making sure you have the best possible place to do your farming?”

Vince was puzzled. “I don’t get what you’re driving at.”

“I’ve seen how your dad’s struggling. He wants to make a go at it, but it’s hard work.”

“That’s the drought. If it wasn’t for that, everything would be okay.” Vince sounded defensive.

“Do you think your dad would be happier if he had a place where he didn’t have to worry about the drought?”

Vince blinked a few times. “Maybe.”

“Don’t you think Matt might want you to be happy, and so he’s suggesting the place where he thinks you’ll be most successful as a farmer?”

Vince didn’t answer. He started to gnaw on his bottom lip as he stared into space.

Mark leant back and smiled. “How about you talk to him about what you really want, and then leave the issue of which farm that turns out to be for the future?”

Vince gave a wry half-smile. “I’ve been stupid, haven’t I?”

Mark raised an eyebrow. “Do you honestly expect me to answer that? Now, why don’t you give Matt a call and have a long chat.”

Vince stood up. “I’ve got a better idea. I’m going to go see him.” He grinned. “Thanks, Mark.”

“You’re welcome. Now get going.”

Mark stood up and stretched while Vince headed out the door. As soon as he was alone, Mark picked up his phone and rang Shane.

“Mark! Have you had a chance to talk to Vince?”

“G’day, Shane. Yeah, and I think things are sorted. Vince is going to see Matt. I just heard the engine start, so he should be there shortly.”

“Hmm… that’s a problem. Matt left his class early. He said he couldn’t concentrate. He’s just headed off to your place.”

“Did he tell you what it was all about?”

“Nope. He just came in, grabbed his keys and told me he was going to see Vince. Do you know?”

“Yeah, and it’s one of those stupid things that’s been blown all out of proportion. I talked Vince around and he’s gone to make up. At least that’s what I hope he’s going to do.”

“Great! How did you do that?”

Mark laughed. “The benefits of education. One of my lecturers today was telling us stories of when she was a primary school teacher, and how she would handle some of the schoolyard arguments. I just applied the same ideas to Vince. Worked like a charm.”

“You’ll have to tell me the details later, but for now, what are we going to do about the two cross-eyed lover-boys?”

“Will they have much privacy where you are?”

“No. The rest of the people here are trickling in. They could go to Matt’s room, but that’s it.”

“In that case, I’ll keep Matt here and you send Vince back. How does that sound?”

“Perfect! Thanks, Mark.”

Mark was whistling when Matt opened the door. Vince had given him a key soon after university had started.

“G’day, Matt!”

“Er… Hi, Mark.” Matt looked frantically around and then headed down towards the room that Mark and Vince shared, pausing only to peer into the kitchen.

Still whistling, Mark closed the front door and leant against it. A few seconds later, Matt reappeared.

“Do you know where Vince is? I need to speak to him.”

Mark grinned. “Have a seat, Matt. You need to calm down.”

“I’ll calm down after I’ve spoken to Vince. Do you know where he is?” Matt looked around the room again, as if he expected Vince to materialise.

“You’re repeating yourself. Sit down and I’ll tell you.”

Matt perched on the edge of a chair and stared up at Mark. “Well?”

“Vince should be on his way back here soon. He left a few minutes ago to go see you.”

Matt jumped up. “If I move fast, I’ll catch him.”

Mark laughed. “It’s all under control. Shane’s going to send him back here, and then you two can have a good long chat.”

“Did you talk to Vince?” Matt slowly lowered himself back into the chair.

“Yep, and I think you’re a pair of idiots, arguing about something that’s years in the future. Things could have changed completely by then, and the whole issue becomes academic.”

Matt gave a sheepish grin. “I came to that conclusion myself, but Vince has got his phone off and I couldn’t tell him”

“Now that we agree on that, how about a drink while you wait?”

* * *

Bobby dumped his bag on the floor of his unit. It had been a busy day at work, and mildly stressful. He hadn’t been sure what to say when the CEO had asked him if Alex was the new Heart, so he had just replied that Alex was his best friend. Keith Tyler wasn’t happy that Bobby wouldn’t say anything more than that, but Bobby thought he seemed to accept it. For some reason, the CEO seemed to trust Bobby’s judgement.

Bobby had a shower to loosen up, and then lay down on his bed. There was something he wanted to do that he had been working himself up to all day — another reason for the day being stressful.

He picked up the phone and hit the speed dial. “Cindy! How’s things?”

“Bobby! Good. How are things with you?”

“Not bad. I was wondering if you would like to drive out here to Mourton for the weekend? I’ve got some work I need to do, but I thought we could go out for dinner on Saturday night.”

“Only if Lady Penelope is invited to Mourton, too.”

Bobby grinned. “Of course!”

* * *

Matt and Vince were lying together on Vince’s bed. After passionate apologies, they had agreed to worry about which farm to keep when it became an issue.

“Mark made me realise something else, too,” Vince said.

“What’s that?” Matt snuggled into Vince and started to lick his ear.

“Stop that! I can’t concentrate when you do that.” Vince continued after Matt stopped. “Mark pointed out that you were looking at which farm would keep me happiest.”

“I thought we weren’t going to discuss that.”

“I know, but we haven’t considered your job. We don’t know where you’ll be able to work as a vet. We might have to move away from the area completely.”

Matt lifted himself onto one elbow so he could look at Vince. “It may not come to that. Your local vet seemed interested in me working with him.”

“Yeah, but it may, and that made me realise that being with you is more important to me. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, but I can farm anywhere — well, almost. I think we’ll be more constrained by where you can find work.”

“Do you know that I love you?” Matt asked, just before another passionate kiss.

Matt rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. “There’s another good thing that’s come out of this.”

Vince smirked. “Making up afterwards?”

Matt chuckled. “Besides that.” His smile disappeared as he lifted himself up so he could see Vince. “I realised that if I’m worrying about how we’ll manage things that are probably twenty years away, then I think that means I’m seriously looking at a long term relationship with you.”

Vince went wide-eyed. “Does that mean…?”

Matt smiled and gave Vince a light kiss on the lips. “Next weekend, we’ve got a date. You and me, under The Tree. There’s something I want to say to you.”

NEXT CHAPTER