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Des, Robert, and Percy all took off their coats, brushing drops of water from their hair, and Percy’s smile was wide, made even brighter by his clean face. “Sure smells good,” he said.
His smile was contagious.
And breathtaking.
When they went to the table, Albie noticed Des steer Percy away from his father’s seat, for which he was grateful. That also meant that Percy now sat beside Albie, and he was kinda grateful for that too.
Percy literally sat on his hands to stop himself from eating before he was allowed, and Des seemed to approve of that. As the foreman, he was responsible for all staff, and that included Percy. He’d probably given him a stern talking to before they’d come in, but Percy clearly had manners.
He was hungry, though, and underfed.
“Please, eat,” Albie said.
The only sound for a long while was cutlery scraping plates. The stew wasn’t terrible. It wasn’t exactly great, but they sopped up the gravy with the damper, and it mustn’t have been too bad if the cleared plates were anything to go by.
If you’re hungry enough, you’ll eat anything, his father used to say when he was a young boy, turning his nose up at vegetables.
It was true. As he got older and started growing, Albie had been grateful for any food on the table.
Percy patted his belly. “Thank you for the meal. It was... good.”
That didn’t sound honest. “Good?”
He gave him that blinding grin. “I like my damper well-done.”
Robert covered his laughter with a cough, and Des fought a smile, even though he grumbled at Percy to watch his manners.
“It’s fine,” Albie said. He could appreciate humour, and honestly, a laugh with the men felt good. “Percy’s cooking the damper for tomorrow’s dinner. So if it’s a charred lump of coal, we can sit here and watch him eat it.”
Percy wasn’t even concerned. He just chuckled. “It’ll be the best coal I ever eat.” Then his eyes met Albie’s. “And I was only pulling your leg. Your cooking was fine, and I appreciate the meal. So, thank you.”
Albie was a little embarrassed at the direct praise, especially in front of the other two. “We’ll see if you’re still so grateful after your first full day tomorrow.”
“So, Percy,” Robert said after a few seconds of silence. “You’re not from around here. Where you from?”
Percy sipped his water, and it was perhaps the first hint of anything but confidence Albie had seen in him. He swallowed hard. “Uh, down south,” he replied. “Down Kiama way.”
Kiama.
Hm. Interesting.
“What brings you up this way?” Robert asked. “Most people are heading toward the gold towns, not away from them.”
Percy blinked slowly, his smile not quite sitting right. “Wanted to make it on my own. I’d heard stories of the mountains, and I’m not cut out for the likes of Sydney.”
It was clearly not a comfortable subject for Percy, and Albie wanted to protect him somehow, for reasons he didn’t quite understand. “I was never cut out for the big smoke,” Albie announced. “I went once, when I was ten. Too many people. And we saw a boy get hauled off by the bobbies for pickpocketing. Right in front of us, he was. A boy younger than me. I couldn’t believe it.”
“Your dad talked of that for years,” Des said, smiling fondly. “I think he thought it was good for you to see, so you wouldn’t steal anything from anyone.”
Albie chuckled. “Except that time I stole the apples. Remember that? He whipped my backside for that.”
“You stole apples? From who?” Percy asked, his eyes wide and his genuine smile back in place.
“From the cook,” Albie said. “Old Mrs West. She came to help out when my mother passed away. She was as wide as she was tall and cranky as a bull.”
“Oh, she wasn’t that bad,” Des said.
“She was mean to me,” Albie said.
