‘Got to go. There’s been a crash on the Brinduan’s.’
‘Catch you later.’ How cool was that? Talking to Harrison came easily, and as far as she could tell he hadn’t been annoyed with her phoning. They’d even talked about last night in a roundabout way and she still felt comfortable with him.
On the footpath a woman was walking two dogs on leads and a pang of longing hit Sienna. Owning a dog would be fun, special, a pet to love and rush home to at the end of the day. And not fair on the animal with the long hours she kept. It wasn’t even worth putting that one on the list. Nor was a pet a man replacement.
With all the moving around, then the years of studying, she’d never had a dog or a cat. Not even a pet rock. Her father had always said no when she’d asked for a puppy. They’d lived how he decreed, and that was that.
It’s in his bones, the need to continually move, never sit still. You can’t change him. Which means you probably can’t change Harry. If you wanted to.
She didn’t like the idea of losing Harry from her life, but she also wasn’t about to make a fool of herself by asking that he change his lifestyle. Nor would she ever go back to the nomadic way of her childhood. She just couldn’t.
Despite the sun pelting down on her arms, a sudden chill enveloped her. Had she got in too deep too quickly? Was she going to be able to wave him goodbye and not fall apart?
She had no choice.
She had to make the most of the days and nights she had. That was all. Suck it up and enjoy; laugh and have fun. This was starting to sound as though she cared too much for Harrison. Cared? Loved? Her heart skittered. She loved Harrison? As in give-up-the-life-she’d-made-for-herself-to-be-with-him love? To follow him anywhere? No. All her adult life she’d believed she would never do that for anyone, and that hadn’t changed even if her lawns were mown in circles now and not straight lines. This wasn’t love. More like deep friendship with benefits. Gah. That sounded terrible. Strange how she couldn’t come up with a better description though.
* * *
Harry simply couldn’t get Sienna out of his system, not even after the long, hot night they’d shared. From the moment he’d left her to go to work the hours had dragged, become laborious. He wanted more of what they’d shared throughout the hours in his room. Bad for the future. Good for now.
At least Sienna would be at home when he finished his shift, and they could continue working this thing out of their systems. She’d surprised him when she phoned, but he’d also been surprised at how good that had made him feel. Like he was a part of something he had never had. Seriously? A simple phone call and he was all hot and flustered? Who knew where they were headed with this...? This fling? Interlude? Getting together. It wasn’t something permanent. They both understood they were opposites, wanted very different futures, so this had to be about having fun and using up some hormones. Right?
‘Three minutes to destination.’ The pilot’s confident voice sounded in his headphones.
‘Roger.’ Where did Roger come from? Why didn’t everyone say okay, or right, or Gerry? Harry shrugged and looked out the window, his head space a mix of the serious and ridiculous since making love with Sienna the first time. And something else he couldn’t name. Couldn’t, or wouldn’t? Afraid to look the truth in the eye? ‘What truth would that be?’ he asked under his breath.
Connor tapped his arm. ‘Over to the left.’
The state highway stretched north and south through dairy farms as far as he could see, with a small school directly below. The playground was devoid of children, while three adults stood on the perimeter, one holding high a home-made wind sock for the pilot. ‘No sign of the bee swarm that struck our patient,’ Harry tossed over his shoulder.
‘Unless it had found a suitable tree, it wasn’t likely to hang around. The kid was lucky to only receive a few stings.’
‘More than enough to go into anaphylactic shock.’ Harry returned to staring out at the rapidly approaching scene, breathing deep, in and out, slowly, calming the sudden but familiar fear that he wouldn’t be good enough for the child relying on him to save his life. Once the rotors slowed he’d be okay and the dread would recede, but until then he had to wait out this insecurity. He’d never worked out where it came from, but presumed it was from never getting anything right for his mother. Now he accepted this aberration as part of who he was when in doctor mode. Could be it had made him stronger as a doctor, helped him to see more clearly the priorities and how to stabilise patients successfully.
Whichever, it made him more vigilant, sharper, more connected with his patient for the time they were together, whether it was minutes or hours.
Hours. On a hill. Together. Time. Sienna. A sleepless night, her messed-up bed, his messed-up bed, a driving sense of time disappearing on him way too rapidly.
‘One minute.’
Harry stood up, moved to sit on the edge at the door, his pack at hand, feet planted on the bar used to disembark. ‘Here we go.’
The wheels touched the ground with only a nudge. The rotors were already slowing. Harry slipped to the grass and bent over low before running across to the men and woman at the edge of the playground. One man was pointing to a building and running in that direction. Harry charged after him. ‘Is this boy known to have an allergy to bees?’ he asked once within earshot.
‘No, but we have two children who are so we recognised the symptoms and have the means to administer an antidote. One was administered within minutes of our realising what was going on, but Tommy’s not reacting as we hoped.’
‘Any known allergies?’ he asked as they reached the boy, whose face was swollen to the point he couldn’t open his eyes.
‘Nothing on his records.’
‘Hello, Tommy. I’m a doctor and I came on the helicopter to help you, so don’t be afraid. Have you ever had bee stings before?’ Find a country kid who hadn’t, but Harry liked to start softly with little ones. He asked over his shoulder, ‘Have the parents been told?’
‘Yes, but, as luck would have it, they’re in town. They’re waiting there to see if you’re taking Tommy to hospital.’
Harry nodded. That wasn’t the best-case scenario. He preferred a parent to accompany children but it was what it was. ‘Tommy, I’m going to give you an injection to help with the bee sting. Is that okay?’
‘Will it hurt?’ the boy asked in gasps, his shortness of breath another confirmation of an anaphylactic shock. ‘The other one did.’
‘If it does I’ll buy you an ice cream when you’re better.’ He’d set himself up to fork out for a treat but that tiny smile the kid was giving back was worth it. ‘First I’m cleaning your skin with a wipe.’ He tore the packet open and sterilised Tommy’s upper arm, then prepared the dose of epinephrine. ‘What’s your favourite flavour?’
‘Chocolate with extra chocolate buttons.’
‘That’s mine, too.’ Done, and not a murmur. ‘There you go, sport.’
‘You did it already?’ The kid’s face fell, and the gasps were harder. ‘I didn’t know.’
Harry patted his hand. ‘That’s because you’re brave. Let’s make it a double-sized cone.’
‘Really? Thanks, mister.’
Harry picked up the boy’s hand, began rubbing the back to bring the veins to the fore. ‘One more prick, Tommy, so we can get fluid into you.’ This wouldn’t be so simple. The needle was bigger, but there were good veins to work with.
Sure enough, Tommy howled. ‘Ow, that hurts!’ His face fell. ‘Do—do I still get my ice cream?’
‘Of course you do, sport. But first you’re going for a helicopter ride. Ever been in one of those?’
‘No, but I want to.’
‘Then let’s get you on a stretcher and we’ll go for a fly. I need you to lie still and not talk unless we ask you questions, okay?’
The boy nodded, his breathing still la
boured, so the less he spoke the easier on his lungs.
‘Do they breed them tough out here or what?’ Harry said to Connor when the cannula was in place.
‘I reckon. The kid could show some adults a thing or two.’
While Connor strapped Tommy onto the stretcher, Harry approached the teacher. ‘Can you inform the parents Tommy has had a moderate reaction, but he’s doing fine. We’ll take him to North Shore Hospital. They can meet us there.’
North Shore, not Auckland and Sienna’s ward. Not that she’d be at work, but even landing at that hospital had him thinking Sienna. An enigma. She managed to wind him up something shocking when no one else could, but more and more he was starting to see behind the control she exercised over herself and everything around her to the kind, fun-loving, gentle yet tough woman she was. As if she was deliberately letting him in one step at a time.