But to live here…
She could make herself a permanent home. A home without the ties, the guilt, the associations of a family who disapproved of her, who’d never cease expecting her to be something she wasn’t.
She could buy a house. Something small overlooking the sea.
Home. It was a concept so amazing she couldn’t believe it had taken her until now to think of it. Maybe she’d never been in a place where the call had been this great until now. Like a siren song. Home.
She could put up wallpaper. Plant tomatoes. Do… whatever people did with homes.
Do it, she told herself. Now, before you change your mind.
And then she forced herself to repeat the question that had been hovering… well, maybe from the time she’d been hauled out of the sea.
Don’t be ridiculous. Her sensible self was ready with all the justification in the world. You’re doing it because of you. It’s time you settled, got yourself somewhere permanent. And Riley’s hardly in the hospital.
There was a reason doctor/patient relationships were banned, she thought. Was she suffering a bad case of hero worship?
How could she be friends with Riley? The relationship would be skewed from the start.
‘So what?’ she muttered. ‘I can avoid him. Is hero worship enough to stop me applying for a job, making a home in the best place in the world?’
I can’t drift, she told herself.
Yes, but that’s all, she decided. One more day of drifting and then…
Then move forward.
Toward Riley?
No, she told herself harshly. Toward a home. Nothing more.
CHAPTER FOUR
RILEY enjoyed Thursdays. He liked the flights to the Outback settlements. Today he was scheduled for a clinic at Dry Gum Creek and Dry Gum was one of his favourites. It was Amy’s home. It was also the home of Sister Joyce, possibly the fiercest senior nurse in the state. He loved her to bits. He pushed open the door to the Flight-Aid office feeling good, and found Harry sitting at his desk, with news.
‘No Cordelia,’ he said morosely. ‘Her head cold’s worse and her German shepherd’s in labour.’
They stared at each other, knowing each was thinking the same thing. Cordelia was a first-rate flight nurse but she was in her sixties, her health wasn’t great and her dogs were growing more important than her work.
‘We can go without her,’ Harry ventured. Working without a third crew member was fine unless there needed to be an evacuation. There wasn’t an evacuation due today-they were simply taking Amy home and doing a routine clinic.
But there was always a chance that a routine clinic would turn into an evacuation. Crews of two were dicey.
They had no choice.
‘There’s a note for you to go see Coral.’ Harry said, shoving himself off the desk. ‘Take-off in ten minutes?’
‘I’ll check what Coral wants first,’ Riley said. Their nurse-administrator was good. She usually let them be-that she’d contacted them today meant trouble.
More trouble than a missing crew member?
‘Are you sure?’ Coral was short and almost as wide as she was tall. She was sitting on the far side of her desk, looking at Pippa’s CV like it was gold. ‘You really want to work here?’
‘I’m not sure if I can get a work visa.’
‘I’ll have you a work visa in the time it takes my secretary to make you a coffee. You’re a midwife?’
‘Yes, but…’
‘But don’t say anything,’ Coral begged. ‘I’m reading this thinking I’m shutting up about two of your post-grad skills. I could have me a war if this gets out. The surgeons will want you. Intensive Care will want you. I want you. When would you like to start?’
‘I need to find somewhere to live. I’d like to find a house but it might take time.’
‘We have a house for med staff. Four bedrooms and a view to die for. You can move in this morning.’
‘My hotel’s paid until Sunday.’
Coral nodded, reflective. ‘You are still getting over your ordeal,’ she conceded. ‘Riley’ll say you should rest.’
‘I’m rested.’
‘Your chest okay?’
‘I’ve been given the all-clear.’
‘Hmm.’ The middle-aged administrator gazed speculatively at Pippa. ‘How about we break you in gently with a training day-give you an overview of what services we offer outside the hospital?’
‘I’d love that.’ She surely would. Her lone honeymoon wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
‘Well,’ Coral said, glancing with approval at Pippa’s jeans and T-shirt, ‘you’re even dressed for it.’
‘I’m not,’ Pippa said, alarmed. ‘I came with resort wear. I bought these jeans yesterday. I’ll need to buy serviceable clothes if I’m to nurse here.’
‘For where you’re going, jeans are great,’ Coral said, beaming. ‘Just wait until I tell Riley.’
Coral’s door was open. She was drinking coffee with someone. That someone had her back to the door but she turned as she heard him approach.
Pippa.
What was there in that to take a man’s breath away? Nothing at all. She’d probably come here to thank them. Something formal.
She rose and she was wearing neat jeans and a T-shirt. She looked almost ordinary.
But this woman would never look ordinary. Yesterday on the beach in her bikini she’d looked extraordinary. Now, in jeans, she still looked…
‘You two know each other,’ Coral said, and he pulled himself together. Coral was intelligent and perceptive, and she was looking at him now with one of her brows hiked-like there were questions happening and she was gathering answers whether he liked it or not.
‘I… Of course. You know Pippa’s the one we pulled from the water? Who helped with Amy’s baby?’
‘I do know that,’ Coral said, her brow still hiked. ‘So you know she’s skilled?’
‘I know she’s skilled.’ He felt wary now and he wasn’t sure why. Pippa’s face wasn’t giving anything away. If anything, she looked wary as well.
‘I have Pippa’s application to work for us on my desk,’ Coral said. ‘Right here. It looks impressive. You’ve worked with her. Any reason I shouldn’t sign her up on the spot?’
Pippa? Work here? There was a concept to think about. But Coral was giving him no time. Answer, he told himself. Now.
‘There’s no reason at all,’ he said, and was aware of a stab of satisfaction as he heard himself say it. Was that dumb? No, because Pippa was an excellent nurse.
Yes, because the satisfaction he was feeling didn’t have a thing to do with her competence. It was everything to do with her looking at him measuringly, those calm green eyes promising a man…
Promising him nothing. Get a grip.
‘For how long?’ he asked.
‘Indefinitely,’ Pippa told him. ‘I don’t want to go back to England.’
‘You’ll change your mind.’
It was Pippa’s turn to hike an eyebrow. She had him disconcerted. Very disconcerted.
