Foregoing dinner, Russfilled in the application form. When he'd completed the process, he hit thesend button. Shrugging his shoulders, he stretched his hands over his headuntil he loosened up, and rose from the chair.
He walked into the coldstate-of-the-art, stainless steel kitchen and made himself a sandwich, tootired to worry about a decent dinner. After cleaning up, he fell into bedexhausted, dreaming of a more peaceful life.
The following day hewas in the tea room having lunch when the Director of Medicine walked in.
"I hear you’rethinking of moving to the country." He poured a coffee and waited,standing near the door.
"I applied forsomething last night. I haven't heard anything though."
"Well, I just gotoff the phone to the employment agency and they seem pretty keen on you. I gavethem a glowing recommendation from us. Good luck with it." With a wink, hewas gone.
Russ smiled to himself.The thought of moving on was beginning to take hold and grow. With any luck, hewould hear something soon. Then he could start packing his meagre possessionsand leave his messy, gut wrenching divorce behind him. Starting fresh, where hewas the new guy in town. It became more appealing the longer he thought aboutit.
He was driving homewhen his phone rang. Touching the blue-tooth button on the steering wheel, Russanswered the call. "Hello, Dr. Williams speaking."
"Dr. Williams.This is Neeta Prior from the employment agency. I wonder if we could schedulean appointment for you to come in and discuss the position of In Charge Doctoryou applied for yesterday?"
"I'm sure thatwould be fine. When were you thinking of?" He turned left and headed downthrough the main street, careful to avoid the cyclists darting between the carson the busy city street.
"Tomorrow perhaps?I've been asked to procure a doctor immediately and since all your referees highlyrecommend you and your paperwork is in order, there is just the face-to-faceinterview." Russ heard the shuffle of papers over the line.
"When would I haveto go to the hospital? Surely the board will want to check out mycredentials?" He turned onto the freeway and left the tall buildingsbehind him as he drove home to the suburbs. Russ cringed at the sameness of thehuge houses lining the streets. Was it too much to wish he was passing thequaint cottages in his home town instead of the stark concrete structuredapartments and mega mansions.
"Actually, no,they’ve left it in my hands. I do all the recruitment for the hospital and theboard trust my judgement. Doctor Williams, the position is desperately in needof filling as soon as possible. Your current employer has said you can leavewhen you are ready."
"My term here isalmost up. I have been a locum for the last six months, as you are probablyaware. I have no problems packing and moving as soon as possible Actually, Iwould prefer it. What time tomorrow, Ms Prior?"
"I have a ninea.m. available if that suits you?"
"Fine, give me theaddress and I'll see you then." Russ listened as she gave the address andthanked him for his time. The soft lilt of her voice made him smile and herepeated her instructions before he hung up. Then he cursed himself for notasking for the name of the town where the hospital was.
By the time he pulledinto his garage, the excitement was building. He picked up the mail on his wayup the stairs and threw it on the kitchen counter before he grabbed a coldjuice from the fridge. Russ stood in the kitchen and sorted through theenvelopes. A redirected letter from his family's solicitor caught his eye andhe put the orange juice down, a feeling of dread curling around his heart.
Dear Dr Williams,
It is with a great dealof sadness I inform you of the passing of your father. I have tried to contactyou via the phone number listed but was informed you no longer live at that addressand the person I spoke to refused to give me a phone number for you. If youwould be kind enough to make contact with me as soon as possible, we haverather urgent matters to discuss regarding the will and the family property.
Sincerely,
Tory Daniels.
Russ's legs went weakand he held onto the counter for support before making his way to the nearestchair.
Shit, I never saw thatcoming. The old bastard was bulletproof, indestructible. Cade, I wonder if heknows? I’d better call him. How the heck am I supposed to get in touch withRooney when she has made it quite clear she wants nothing to do with thefamily?
It was too late to callTory about the details now. Even though they had been best mates at school,Russ had no idea where he was living since finishing law school. He had no ideahis father had become one of Tory's clients. It would have to wait untilmorning when Russ could call him at the office listed on the letter.
By the time he got ittogether enough to call his brother, it was dark. When the call went tovoicemail, he left a message. "Cade, it's Russ. We need to talk. Give me acall as soon as you get this message regardless of the time. Ta."
Russ walked into thebathroom, stripped off his shirt and threw it on the floor. He looked in themirror at the man standing there. His mother's colouring but his father’slooks. She was as fair as his father was dark. Unruly blond hair curled aroundRuss's ears. He’d given up worrying about it long ago, content to let it gowhere it wanted to. His eyes were his best feature according to his ex-wife.
Tiredness mapped hiseyes with red, the vivid blue dulled to grey and the usual piercing intensityreplaced with sadness. He wished he had made up with his father before now.Unlike his mother who’d supported her children, the old man hadn't. He was toostubborn to admit they deserved to choose their own career path. Where she gavethem free rein, his father had expected them all to follow in his footsteps asa cattle baron.
Nothing could sway Russto work the land. His goal had
