Breakfast at the house was very, very strained. There were six medics sitting around the breakfast table. The huge toaster on the sideboard was working overtime; they were onto their second pot of marmalade but there wasn’t a lot of conversation. Everyone was watching Gina and Cal-and Gina and Cal were very carefully trying not to look at each other.
How had Cal lived in this house for so long under these watchful eyes? Gina thought. Friends or not, she’d have gone nuts.
‘Why isn’t anyone talking?’ CJ demanded through toast, and Gina ruffled his curls-more a reassurance to herself than a reassurance to CJ.
‘They’re all busy eating,’ she said, ‘I expect they’ll start talking when they finish their toast.’
There was a general regroup. Talk started.
‘The weather’s looking good,’ Emily said, and they all nodded.
‘You don’t call scorching hot and no rain in sight good, do you?’ Hamish demanded. ‘I want to go back to Scotland.’
‘Are you hunting crocodiles today, CJ?’ Emily asked with a desperate look at Hamish, as if she was pleading for support.
‘Yes,’ CJ said, adjusting his hat and swelling a little with importance. ‘We are.’
‘You could go, too, couldn’t you, Cal?’ Emily asked brightly, and everyone at the table looked at Cal.
‘That’s dumb,’ Cal snapped. ‘You know how short-staffed we are.’
‘Just a thought,’ Em said.
‘Is Rudolph going?’ Hamish asked.
‘Rudolph isn’t my dog any more,’ CJ said mournfully. ‘He’s Cal’s dog.’
‘I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Cal offered to lend him to you,’ Hamish told him.
‘Hamish!’ Em said, shocked. ‘You know they’ve only had one day together so far. Cal and Rudolph need to bond. And, besides, dogs are crocodile bait.’
‘Maybe I could lend him…’ Cal started, but got such a glare from Gina for his pains that he backed off.
Good, Gina thought. Back in your box, buster. And don’t come out till I’m gone.
‘You’re sure you’re happy for me to go today?’ she said, addressing herself solely to Hamish. ‘If you’re the least bit worried about Lucky…’
‘Lucky’s fine,’ Hamish said. ‘Isn’t he, Emily? Emily’s been up half the night with him.’
‘Why?’ Gina frowned. ‘I thought he was settled.’
‘He is,’ Hamish told her. ‘But there’s a lot of people in this place who don’t seem to be sleeping. Isn’t that so, Mike? Emily? Cal?’ No answer.
‘Mr Narmdoo’s stable,’ Gina said, to no one in particular. ‘He’s pain-free this morning. The ECG changes are settling and cardiac enzymes are only minimally raised. It seems to have been a relatively minor infarct, but he’s going to need follow-up. Angiography will show whether he needs bypass surgery.’
‘He won’t have it even if he needs it,’ Hamish told her. ‘Most of the people from the settlement refuse to go to the city. That’s why we had Simon…’ He paused and looked at Em. ‘Um. Simon was our cardiologist.’
‘He may come back,’ Em said stoutly. ‘He just…needed to go.’
‘If he doesn’t then we’re in trouble,’ Hamish told her. ‘A cardiologist and a surgeon-like, for instance, you and Cal-can save a lot of lives up here.’
‘I think I hear Bruce,’ Gina said abruptly, and rose from the table. ‘Coming, CJ?’
‘I haven’t finished my toast.’
‘I’ll meet you on the veranda,’ Gina told him. ‘It’s getting a bit hot in here.’
Cal watched them go from the veranda.
Gina and CJ and Bruce the crocodile hunter.
‘We can manage without you.’ Charles was right beside him and he swore.
‘One day you’ll give me a heart attack.’
‘Then you’ll need a cardiologist.’
‘Leave it, Charles.’
‘I’m serious,’ Charles told him. ‘Miraculous as it seems, everything here seems quiet. If you want to go croc hunting with your son…’
‘Charles, leave it.’
‘He is your son, Cal. He’s going back to the States tomorrow.’
‘I don’t need a family,’ Cal growled.
‘You’re a fool, then,’ Charles said cheerfully. ‘You know, if that was my son, if that was my woman…’
‘They’re not.’
‘They’ll find someone else.’ They watched as Bruce solicitously helped Gina into his ancient croc-spotting truck. ‘Maybe they already have.’
‘What, Bruce?’
‘He may not look much, but his tours are earning him a fortune. He has twenty guides on the payroll now. And you have to admit he’s good-looking.’
‘The people Gina loves are in Idaho,’ Cal said, but there was a trace of uncertainty in his voice.
Charles looked up at his friend’s face and his own face grew thoughtful.
‘Things change,’ he murmured. ‘People change.’
‘Not me.’
‘Then you’re a fool.’
CHAPTER NINE
WHAT was she doing out on a river, looking for crocodiles, when it was her last day ever close to Cal?
He didn’t want her.
Gina sat in the bow of the boat and listened to Bruce chat to CJ about the mating habits of crocodiles. Bruce really was a nice person. He had three other tourists in the boat, an American couple and their teenage daughter, and he was including them all in his chat. He was making them laugh, making sure they all had fun.
He was very interested in her.
She knew it. She knew it in the way he watched her, the way he touched her.
She wasn’t the least bit interested.
Cal…
He had to unbend. He had to.
He wasn’t.
She was going home.
