“Hi.” Nick’s voice was unexpectedly serious. “Mom and Dad are here and they’re pretty upset. They’re saying when they picked up Leo, Jess was drunk.”
Libby’s hand tightened around the phone. For weeks, Nick had honored her request that she didn’t want to hear any details about Thursday afternoons. Although the girls sometimes chattered about seeing Leo, the topic died away quickly enough once she redirected the conversation. Now, despite their agreement, that child and his mother were being shoved into her face.
“And you’re telling me this why?”
“Leo might not be safe.”
“Call child protective services then.”
“That’s a big leap, isn’t it?”
“You just said he might not be safe.”
He was silent for a moment and then he said, hesitantly, “Can’t you—”
“No!” Angry and devastated that Nick was asking her to intervene, she hung up and strode down the corridor to the waiting room. “Mr. Tran?”
Libby threw herself into work, thankful it kept her too busy to think of anything other than the patient in front of her. Three hours sped past and she was just following up on some results when Ramesh stuck his head around the door.
“Sorry to disturb you. I have sent Jess Dekic to Bairnsdale Hospital for tests.”
“She’s not my patient.”
“Ah, no.” He looked uncomfortable. “But she was very insistent that Nick is her next of kin.”
In her dreams! The urge to scream, hit, punch and destroy had her gripping the edge of the desk. “Tell me you didn’t call him on her behalf?”
“I told her I would contact him. I did not specify how I would do this,” he said in his precise English.
“Thank you. Was she drunk?”
“I did not do a blood alcohol reading. However, she has a UTI, is febrile, dehydrated, nauseated and has abdominal guarding. I inserted an IV, gave her an antiemetic and analgesia and started her on antibiotics. I am certain BRHS will keep her in overnight.”
“As I said before, I’m not her doctor. I don’t need to know the ins and outs of her treatment plan.”
Ramesh gave her a tight but sympathetic smile. “This means her son will be in your and Nick’s care overnight.”
Libby punched for an outside line and dialed the social work department of BRHS.
For the first time in a week, Alice wished she’d accepted Dan’s offer to stay with him for a few days instead of fleeing Pelican House for Burrunan and Libby. Not that she’d told Dan the exact reason she was taking time out from Peter and Karen and he hadn’t asked. However, he had taken her on an overnight hike in Croajingolong National Park. It had been the perfect distraction. The physical exertion the walk demanded, the beauty of the coastal scenery, the delicacy of the wild flowers and the wildlife—all of it had filled her mind and pushed the distressing truth of her conception aside for a while.
“We’re really friends, aren’t we,” she’d said as they lay on a groundsheet gazing up at the space haze floating lazily in front of the Milky Way.
“Did you doubt it?”
“Our parents are friends, but don’t you think when we started this, we were more acquaintances?”
“No.”
She elbowed him. “We’re way past a charm offensive.”
He sighed and rolled over to face her, his features cast in shadow. “I’ve always considered you a friend, Alice. Don’t you remember the summer I broke my leg? You sat next to me on the beach every afternoon.”
Alice did remember that summer. Peter and Karen had refused to let her stay at home alone and she’d hated being stuck on the beach while Libby did lifesaving training. “I remember sitting next to you, but I don’t remember us talking much.”
“We didn’t say much, but I liked watching you draw.”
“I found being a teen pretty confusing. Books and art were the only things that made any sense to me.”
“Well, you were the only person who bothered to keep me company. It took the edge off my frustration that I was sidelined for the summer.”
She laughed. “And the moment the plaster came off you abandoned me.”
“Yeah. Sorry about that. Fifteen wasn’t my most introspective period.”
“Fifteen?” she teased.
“Despite the stories the gossips like to peddle, I’m not that shallow.”
“You know, I could always tell people the true story of Dan van.”
“Nah.” He grinned, his teeth flashing white in the dark. “Happy to leave it as our secret.”
Cocooned in her sleeping bag, she’d slept well that night. She’d woken to find they’d rolled into each other for warmth. It was as close as they’d ever come to breaking the “no snuggling” rule.
Now, standing in the family room at Burrunan with tension dripping down the walls as Nick and Libby engaged in a stand-off, Alice missed Dan’s uncomplicated company.
“I’ll take the kids out for a while,” Alice offered. “Give you time to sort this out.”
Libby muttered something that sounded like, “There’s nothing to sort out.”
“Thanks, Alice.” Nick’s strained face, which had been absent for weeks, was back in full force. He dug his key fob out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Leo’s diaper bag’s by the door.”
Alice bundled Leo and the girls into the car answering their questions about where they were going with a vague “It’s a surprise!”
As she adjusted the driver’s seat so she could reach the accelerator, it started raining. Bugger! That ruled out the park, the beach and the pier. The library had just closed and the ice-cream parlor hadn’t started its summer trading hours. Normally, Pelican House was the obvious answer, but since she’d fled with Libby a week earlier, she was yet to sit down with Karen and Peter on her own. Could she take the children to Dan’s?
“Hurry up, Alice!” Indi demanded.
“What’s the surprise? “Lucy asked.
“Tractor!” Leo announced, clearly
