Chapter 12
Finn O'Hara was finishing up a tour of Roger's Valley, an organic cattle station an hour's drive outside Fisher. He was impressed with what he saw. The owner, Dennis Roger, and his overseer, Nick Bricknell, ran a first rate, professional operation. They had top quality beef and their lambs looked great too, he thought.
"Thanks for taking me around Roger's Valley. You have a first class operation here. I have a few more properties on my list that I need to tour. I should have a decision made in the next couple weeks. Here's my card. Could I get yours so I can be in touch about my company's decision?" said Finn.
"Of course." Dennis reached into his pocket and handed a business card to Finn. "I hope we are able to do business together."
Finn shook Dennis and Nick's hands and headed to his rental pick up truck. He opened his laptop and wrote up his report. Roger's Valley was definitely on his short list, and overall, he was impressed with the quality of the organic farms he was seeing. South Australian farms were proving to be as good as any ranches he had seen across the US, but he just couldn't get Drovers Run out of his mind. Okay, to be honest, he just couldn't get Tess McLeod out of his head, he admitted to himself.
He thought about his experience yesterday. Tess McLeod was like no woman he had ever met before. She was a badass organic cattle farmer, but had this warmth and kindness that just seemed to flow out of her. Watching her interact with her family had given him an intimate peek inside her life. The way she spoke about and took care of her family was wonderful. The way the McLeods took care of each other had him envious and wishing he had relationships like that. He and his sister Carolyn got along well, and he loved his niece and nephew, but he didn't have the closeness that the McLeods clearly had. Maybe it was because he and Leah had never gotten to have children of their own. Maybe he just wasn't destined for that kind of love and support. He tried to put that thought out of his head and focus on his report.
Finn completed his report and entered the address of the Gungellan Pub into the gps on his phone. He wanted a steak, a beer or two, and maybe one of those Lamington things he kept hearing about. He was in this district for another couple weeks at least, so he figured he might as well get to know the local pub.. Once the decision on organic beef and lamb suppliers had been made, he had to start finding suppliers for organic pork and poultry. He hoped finding suitable suppliers for those was going to go as well as the cattle and lamb options he had seen thus far.
He put the truck into drive and headed out. He had a few hours drive ahead of him to get back to Gungellan. He liked how spread out everything was. It reminded him of his childhood home back in Wyoming.