‘Thanks. Come again.’
Harry took his change and the coffee and headed for his vehicle, a bounce in his step. The day ahead was sorted, leaving no time trying to find ways to fill in the hours.
All he had to do, and that wouldn’t be until later, was to figure out why he was really holding out on spending more time with Sienna when he adored her and couldn’t get enough of her. Not that she’d welcome him in her life with open arms. He would have to earn that right.
There were the ‘don’t want to be pushed around’ and ‘lack of trust’ issues, but there was something else ticking at the back of all this. It rose whenever he considered the jobs he’d been offered. Again when he compared cities, and the friends he had through work in both those places. It always came back to Sienna and why he was afraid to love her.
Um...actually he already did love her.
That’s why I can’t decide. Holy moly.
He was stumped. Now what? It wasn’t as though he could rush in and tell Sienna. She was too vulnerable, and their lifestyles were still poles apart. He swallowed the sudden pain gripping him. To admit his love to Sienna was impossible if he was to remain strong and invulnerable and not hurt her.
Why, damn it, why?
* * *
Sienna bounced back onto the ward on Monday morning feeling happy to be there and knowing she had other things to look forward to at the end of the day. ‘Morning, Dale,’ she smiled as she picked up patient notes from the desk. ‘I’ve had the best break, thanks to you nagging.’
His face fell. ‘We need to have a word. Grab a coffee and meet me in my office.’
Why did that sound ominous? A chill ran down her spine. ‘You want one?’
‘Already got it.’ He started down the corridor in the opposite direction.
What was going on? Opting for a double-shot long black to keep the sense of unease at bay, she headed into Dale’s office and at his instruction shut them in. The apprehension increased. ‘You’re freaking me out.’
‘Do you remember Wendy Hall?’
‘You took over from her about six months before I came on board.’ Her reputation as a determined woman for getting her own way hadn’t been kept quiet even after she’d gone.
‘She’s coming home from London next month and is making it known she wants her old job back.’ Anger rode off Dale in waves. ‘I have no intention of letting that happen. I am here for the long haul.’
So where did she fit into the picture? ‘You think I need to be concerned for my job?’
‘Yours is the next one up for renewal and somehow she knows that—I suspect from a certain board member she’s always had under her thumb.’
Sienna slumped back in the chair. ‘But I don’t understand. Am I going to have to compete for my position?’
‘It probably won’t come to that. I’m just giving you warning so you can make sure you’re up to speed with all the changes going on in the hospital.’
‘I need to know what shifts the cleaners are doing now that their new contract has gone offshore?’ This was payback for having fun last week, for spreading her wings and living life outside of here. For getting a life. So much for planning how to use those other weeks’ leave owing. She’d never use them now.
Dale balanced a pen between his thumbs. ‘Not quite, but be on your toes all the time. Just in case.’
Just in case. Those words followed her around all day. She could lose her security, her sense of worth, her control—all because Wendy Hall wanted to take her job as a stepping stone on the way to the top. Just as well she had walked away from Harrison. There was no way she could fit into his lifestyle now. She needed to hold on to her job to know who she was. Didn’t she?
Of course she had to hold on to this position. She worked too hard to let it go now just because someone else thought they could snatch it off her. Thank goodness for emergencies or she’d have hidden away and spent the rest of the day trying absorb that idea.
‘Jonty Brooks is on his way down from the rescue chopper,’ Julie told Sienna a little after three.
‘Get the mask and oxygen set up in Room Three.’ Sienna flicked through the computer files until she had Jonty’s before her. The six-year-old was a regular with severe asthma who lived on a remote island. ‘He was in here last week with a severe attack.’
‘Time of the year, I suppose,’ Julie said. ‘Here he is.’
Sienna looked up and directly at Harrison—dressed in an oversized red outfit with white fluff at the neck and cuffs. She smothered a laugh. ‘Hello, Santa. How’s Jonty today?’
‘His condition’s not as severe as it was last week, but he needs attention.’ Harry handed her the patient notes he’d filled in. ‘How’s your first day back?’
Hell on wheels. ‘Wish I’d stayed away.’
He stared at her. ‘Never thought I’d hear you say that.’
She’d never thought so either. She shrugged and stepped up to the stretcher. ‘Hi, Jonty. Hello, Mrs Brooks.’ His mother looked tired, probably due to some major seasonal work happening on the farm. This family never stopped working, including all six children, right down to the five-year-old. Sometimes Sienna wondered if that contributed to Jonty’s recurring asthma attacks, exhaustion taking away his ability to fight physical blows. The boy was pale despite spending most of his days outside. She’d add a CBC to his requirements while here to see if he was anaemic.
‘Jonty had two minor attacks during the night apparently,’ Harry, standing beside her, said quietly so as no one else heard. ‘How minor is of concern. It took some time for the nebuliser to help his breathing.’
‘The family’s usually pretty good at calling for help if they’re worried.’ But once they’d been too busy with shearing and Jonty had been very ill that time. ‘I’ll look into it.’
‘Good. I’ll head away. The chopper’s waiting.’ But he didn’t move.
Sienna looked at Harry properly, and had to bite down on the wave of need swamping her.
> I miss him all the time.
No doubt about it. She loved him. And if she hadn’t had two weeks off work it would never have happened. That was what came of stepping outside her comfort zone. ‘Love the outfit,’ she told him while thinking, would she do it again if she could go back to the night she came off her bike and rerun the days differently? Or would she turn up here every single day and work all the hours that came her way so as not to get thrown under a bus by Wendy Hall?
Flying had turned out to be one of the few things that she couldn’t line up in straight lines all the time, wasn’t in control of all the factors affecting flight or the engine or what other aircraft were sharing her space in the sky. And she loved it. Got so much pleasure from learning how to master a plane that she felt alive in a way she hadn’t since she was a child going down to the river to catch eels with her dad. That hadn’t stopped her doing school work. She’d done both. And coped, been more rounded than she’d become as an adult.
‘Doctor?’ Julie was waiting on the other side of the stretcher. ‘We need to get Jonty offloaded onto a bed.’
Cripes. She’d been completely distracted. Harry had said he was on his way, in other words needed his stretcher back. ‘Let’s go.’ Taking one corner, she began pushing the stretcher towards the room he’d be in. Jonty needed her concentrating on him, no one else.
In very little time the boy had been transferred and Harrison was taking his stretcher to the lift. Julie was listening to Jonty’s chest and reading the monitors noting his heart activity.
‘Give Jonty another corticosteroid injection, Julie. And then we monitor him. I’m also wondering if we might get a CBC and renal functions done in case there’s an underlying illness going on.’ A gut feeling there was more going on than what they were used to with Jonty had her tossing up other ideas and rejecting them.
‘You think anaemia? Or worse?’ Julie asked away from Mrs Brooks.
‘Hopefully neither, but Jonty is paler than usual, and Harrison thought his previous two attacks might’ve been more severe than the family let on. I’m playing safe, really.’ But listening to her gut had saved patients in the past. ‘I’ll talk you through my thoughts once we’ve got him stabilised.’