No Job for a Girl

by Meredith Appleyard

  ‘I will.’ His tone was gruff. ‘But people seem to forget that I’m not out here for a good time. I’ve never heard anyone complain about the fancy car, the flash house, the private school.’

  ‘No, you’re right. But it’s not always about money and possessions.’

  They said their goodbyes and Alex disconnected, feeling more unsettled than he had before the phone call. He tried the boys again, frustrated when both of their numbers went straight to voicemail. He left messages, telling them he’d try again the following night. He wasn’t worried; he’d just wanted to hear the sounds of their voices.

  Distracted, he scrolled through several more emails and stared at Leah’s vehicle-inspection report until the words blurred in front of his eyes. He swore again, then turned off his computer and locked up the office.

  Out of curiosity he took the long way to his room, past the wet mess, and sure enough Phil and Frank were still at the bar. In the interest of public relations he went in and had a beer with them, so it was well after nine when he stopped by Leah’s room and knocked on the door, telling himself that as her boss it was his responsibility to make sure she was okay.

  She came to the door in an oversized t-shirt, looking tousled, legs bare. Heat surged through him, stirring places dormant since Claire had left. One look at Leah’s red-rimmed eyes told him she’d been crying; he’d never been good with crying women.

  ‘You didn’t go to dinner. Are you okay?’

  She nodded, tucked a hank of her thick, glossy hair behind her ear.

  ‘You’re not bothered about the stuff we talked about earlier in the car?’

  ‘I guess I hadn’t thought about Richard for a while. I try not to.I don’t usually talk about it. The split wasn’t acrimonious, but . . . you know how it is. You try and leave all the failures, the wasted years behind you and just get on with it.’

  ‘Yep, I know all about that. At least you haven’t got an older s­ister who’s always on your case.’ He paused, reluctant to say what else he needed to say. Leah looked happier now than when she’d first opened the door, but it had to be said. ‘Frank —’

  Leah drew back, folding her arms across her chest. ‘Did you hear everything?’

  ‘No, not everything.’

  ‘You did warn me.’

  ‘I did.’

  Leah looked away. ‘Was there anything else?’

  ‘No,’ he said after a beat, his voice dry and croaky while his body screamed, Yes, please, something, anything.

  Noticing the shiny, scarlet varnish on her toenails had been too much. Now every time he looked at those steelcapped boots he’d know what was inside, underneath her socks. He backed down the single step, away from the door. ‘I just wanted to make sure you were all right.’

  ‘Thanks. I am all right. It takes more than someone like Frank Ballard to scare me off.’ She gave a dry, husky laugh that shot straight to his groin. Alex knew he had to leave immediately, before his body and not his brain took charge. Then he’d be no better than Frank.

  ‘Goodnight, Leah. I’ll see you in the morning.’

  ‘You will. Goodnight, Alex.’

  With clumsy fingers he unlocked his door, conscious she was still standing in her doorway. What was he doing, lusting after his safety advisor? This wouldn’t do.

  Leah climbed back into her warm bed and lay staring into the darkness. If today was anything to go by, she’d be drawing on her deep inner reserves to survive the next weeks and months. Taking on Frank had left her quaking on the inside, though she’d m­anaged to keep it all together.

  And Alex – what to think and feel about him? She wished he’d stick with the grumpy boss routine. It was easier to deal with. The kind and compassionate man she’d seen tonight threw her c­ompletely. And their conversation in the car had her picking over memories she’d packed away and hoped never to revisit, especially that defining moment when a work colleague had said, ‘You know Richard is marrying her, and they’re pregnant.’

  After that, scraping together the money to buy out Richard’s share of the house had become an obsession. She’d worked too hard for the house, given up too much for it. Selling up would have meant walking away with nothing.

  The anger had dissipated but the memories still had the power to hurt.

  The television, followed by the shower, sounded in the room next door. Their rooms were separated only by their ensuite bathrooms. The walls were paper-thin. Rolling onto her side she wrapped the pillow around her head. Since she’d stepped off the plane y­esterday morning, there’d been one confrontation after another. She was f­eeling worn out, and a little bruised.

  Paul had warned her. ‘Being a woman will make the job harder than it should be,’ he’d said when they’d had dinner the Saturday night before.

  ‘Don’t scare her,’ Eve had snapped. ‘She’s more than up for it.’

  Leah would not let self-doubt eat away at her confidence.

  When she finally drifted into a light and restless sleep, everything was quiet next door, so she almost leapt out of her skin when someone rapped firmly on her door.

  Stumbling out of bed she opened the door a crack to find Jason Roberts standing anxiously on the doorstep.

  ‘One of the blokes is in a lot of pain.’

  ‘What sort of pain?’ Leah smothered a yawn. ‘What time is it?’

  ‘Just after midnight, and it’s his eyes, they’re burning something fierce. Says it feels like he’s got hot sand in them.’

  ‘Has he been welding?’

  ‘Yeah, he would have been.’

  ‘Bring him to the first-aid room. I’ll be there in five minutes.’

  She pulled on trackpants and a sweatshirt, and quickly cleaned her teeth and dragged a brush through her hair. She was u­nlocking the door to the first-aid room moments before Jason showed up with the patient.

  Thirty minutes later Leah was locking up again after treating the patient’s welding flash burns. He would come back in the m­orning and she’d have another look at his eyes and ring the RFDS duty doctor if she needed to. Pain relief and soothing eyedrops would get him through until morning. And the remaining paperwork could wait until then.

  It was freezing. She hurried around the corner, intent on getting to her room and back into her warm bed. The bunker light outside cast a dull, dirty wash of light, barely enough to see the pathway.

  Keys in hand, she swiped her thumb across the doorknob in search of the keyhole.

  ‘Is everything all right?’

  Leah jumped and the keys flew out of her hand, clanking against the building before disappearing into the darkness. ‘Bloody hell, Alex! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?’

  When she hunkered down to feel around in the dirt for them, he stepped down out of his doorway.

  ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘You scared me and I dropped my keys.’

  ‘I’ll get a torch.’

  He was back in seconds, a shaft of light illuminating the ground in front of him. The keys had fallen between the slats of the wooden crate used as the step up to her room.

  In the steady beam of Alex’s torch Leah retrieved the keys, slid the step back into place and stood up, almost colliding with Alex’s bare chest. She jerked back, glad there wasn’t enough light for him to see the fiery blush rising to her cheeks.

  ‘Oops, sorry,’ she said and stepped up to slide the key into the lock and open the door. Light flooded out. She turned to thank him and nearly did have a heart attack at the sight of him in only a pair of trackpants, slung low on his hips.

  ‘W–welding flash burns,’ she stammered, trying not to stare at the smooth, golden skin of his chest, the light sprinkling of hair, the dark, puckering nipples.

  ‘Right,’ he said and switched off the torch.

  ‘He’ll be okay until the morning.’ She had to get away from him before she made a fool of herself. She stepped into her room, ready to close the door.

  ‘You’re having a bad run.’


  ‘What?’

  ‘I said, you’re having a bad run. With patients.’

  ‘Yes. Goes with the territory I guess.’ She wished he’d go so she could close the door and not have to look at his half-naked self any longer.

  ‘I don’t remember Steve being woken in the middle of the night very often.’

  ‘No?’ She began to shut the door. ‘Thanks, and sorry I woke you.’

  He finally got the message and said, ‘See you in the morning.’

  ‘Goodnight, for the second and I hope last, time.’ She latched the door firmly, pausing to collect her wits before undressing and s­crambling back into bed.

  Leah groaned, trying to resist the urge to turn off the alarm and pull the doona up over her head. She’d barely gone to sleep and it was time to get up again.

  Revelling in the warmth and comfort, she lay there calculating the shortest amount of time she’d need to get dressed and across to the mess by five thirty. Maybe she’d skip breakfast. Maybe not – she’d missed dinner the night before. Alex’s door slammed and she reluctantly shoved back the bedclothes.

  Ten minutes later she was zipping up her jacket against the brisk air as she jogged across the camp to the mess. When she opened the door, breakfast chatter and warm, fragrant air enveloped her. Toast and bacon. Almost light-headed with hunger, she piled food onto a plate and dropped bread into the toaster.

  ‘Sorry to get you up in the middle of the night,’ Jason said, putting his loaded plate down beside hers.

  Leah shrugged, spreading peanut butter onto a piece of toast. ‘Don’t worry about it.’

  Jason was making serious inroads into his breakfast when he stopped, looked around furtively, leaned closer and whispered, ‘What did you do to upset our mate, Frank?’

  Toast caught in her throat. She coughed. Jason frowned and slapped her on the back. Leah gulped her tea, burning her tongue.

  ‘What?’ she said, hand at her throat.

  ‘Frank. He was giving you a roasting in the bar last night. Being a real tosser.’

  ‘We had a disagreement about the tag on the excavator.’

  ‘Yeah, so I gathered.’

  ‘Oh, for goodness sake.’ Leah pushed away what was left of her breakfast. ‘Is nothing private in this place?’

  Jason grinned. ‘Nope, not a thing. And believe it or not, Terry Burns went out to bat for you. I’ve never heard the bloke string more than three words together, but he was pretty vocal last night. Said the effing machine should have been fixed when Ryan first reported the leak. For a bit there we thought he was going to deck Frank, not that the mongrel didn’t deserve it. Ben had to step in.’

  Leah pushed back her chair and picked up her plate. ‘I need to open up,’ she said.

  Jason looked up at her, a mischievous glint in his eye. ‘Frank had a skinful last night. You could always get him to blow in the bag this morning . . .’

  She hesitated, tempted by the idea, but then reality in the form of a contract clause washed over her.

  ‘Nice thought, Jason. But I have to live here, and do my job.’

  ‘Yeah.’ The twinkle in his eyes disappeared. ‘Watch your back,’ he said and went back to his breakfast.

  That was the second time in as many days that she’d been warned to watch her back. Surely Frank wouldn’t be any more v­indictive than he already had?

  Hunching into her jacket, she crossed the camp and opened the fuel bowser. Two 4WDs were waiting, the drivers stomping their feet beside their vehicles, trying to keep warm.

  ‘Ready to go, fellas,’ she called as soon as she’d unlocked the padlock.

  Alex was at his desk. He didn’t look up, only grunted when she said good morning.

  Leah logged on to her computer and quickly scrolled through the emails in her inbox. There was no such thing as a nine-to-five day out here; emails came in at any time. She printed off an attendance sheet for the pre-start meeting and collected the work permits for that day.

  The breathalyser kit was kept in the locked filing cabinet. Since her arrival she hadn’t looked at it, but she found the key in the desk drawer and took it out, turned it on and checked the batteries, then counted up the mouthpieces.

  ‘Don’t do it, Leah,’ Alex said in a quiet voice.

  ‘Do what?’

  ‘Breath-test Frank.’

  She put the kit away and pushed the filing-cabinet drawer closed. ‘I’m not a complete idiot.’

  ‘I never for a moment thought you were.’ Alex leaned back in his chair. ‘He’s coming here, after the pre start. We need to sort this out.’

  ‘Yes, we do. But I’ve made arrangements to see the guy with the welding flash burns after the meeting.’

  ‘How long will that take?’

  ‘Only a few minutes if he’s okay. But if he’s not and I have to ring the Flying Docs, I could be half an hour.’

  ‘All right. Get back here as soon as you can. This other business is important. The breath tests can wait until tomorrow.’

  Leah hesitated, stung by his autocratic tone. Choose your b­attles, she thought, and locked the filing-cabinet drawer. She picked up the gear for the pre start. ‘I’ll see you over there,’ she said and, without waiting for a reply, she walked out.

  Frank was ensconced in her chair, coffee in hand and a smug expression on his face when she returned for the meeting.

  ‘The patient is good,’ she said. Alex nodded.

  She stood in the doorway staring at Frank. He didn’t take the hint, settling deeper into the chair. Alex indicated the visitor’s chair. Apt, she thought, and sat down.

  Throughout the twenty-minute meeting, Alex’s e­xpressionless mask remained in place. Leah wondered if the man played poker – he’d be great at it.

  Frank, on the other hand, did nothing to hide his rancour.‘I ordered the effing parts before Ryan’s accident. As soon as they arrive the mechanic will fix the excavator,’ he said. Leah seriously doubted that and she’d love to have seen the paperwork to support his claim, but of course she never would.

  Alex nodded his head. Leah bit back an angry retort.

  ‘The reversing siren has been fixed,’ Frank went on and once again Alex didn’t question him. Leah drummed her fingers on the desk. She would be checking at the first opportunity.

  Throughout the whole exchange Frank didn’t look her in the eye, not once. He’d either directed his comments towards her chest, or at some point over her left shoulder. When Alex said, ‘I think the Danger: out of service tag can be removed,’ Leah felt her blood pressure rise. She could see Frank was itching to tell her where she could stick the tag.

  Not one to slam things around when she was annoyed, Leah felt like doing exactly that when the meeting was over. Never before had she been in a work situation where she was convinced her gender had been a contributing factor to the outcome. Alex had basically let Frank get away with the whole damn thing.

  In an effort to calm herself down she went to the first-aid room, seeking solace in familiar things. Here she didn’t feel as out of her comfort zone as she had dealing with Frank and Alex.

  Following the routine described in Steve’s notes, she checked the first-aid room twice each day, morning and afternoon, recording the temperature in the drug fridge and double-checking it was locked. To maintain a constant temperature in the room the air conditioner was kept on day and night. The low hum of the split system was soothing, and it drowned out the constant grumble of the generator.

  She lifted the receiver on the satellite phone, listening for the dial tone. No way did she want to risk being without a functioning tele-phone in an emergency. Carefully replacing the handset, she felt an almost physical yearning to talk to someone familiar. Someone who knew her, cared about her, liked and respected her. Someone she could talk to without having her guard up all the time, or without having to prove anything. At lunchtime she’d take her phone card and ring Rose. The thought of it brought a smile to her lips.

  Putting of
f going back to the office until she was confident Alex and Frank would be kilometres away, she unlocked the RFDS m­edical chest to check expiry dates on the medications. Was it c­owardly to avoid them? Too bad. Unfortunately there’d be no avoiding them at the debrief later that day.

  It was almost nine when Leah walked through the deserted camp to dip the diesel fuel cell and the water tanks and jot down the day’s levels. A cold winter wind whistled through the alleyways, whipping up swirls of dust. Tea towels flapped and snapped on the clothesline near the kitchen.

  Behind the water tank and out of the wind, the sun was warm. Leah leaned against the poly tank, closed her eyes and took a moment to soak up the rays. When she opened them again, a tiny buff-coloured bird was flitting about in the saltbush, and a well-camouflaged lizard sunned itself on a nearby rock.

  Back in admin, while she was stirring sugar into a cup of tea, Dee came to the door of the contractor’s office, folded her arms and leaned against the doorjamb. Today she was wearing a skin-tight black t-shirt over black leggings, leaving little to the imagination.A fluorescent orange vest completed the outfit.

  ‘Can I book two blokes in for an induction? They’re coming in on the afternoon plane. Should get here about five.’

  ‘Okay. Do you want me to do the induction when they arrive this afternoon, or can it wait until the morning?’

  ‘Yeah, this arvo if that’s all right with you. Phil wants them to start work first thing in the morning.’

  ‘Done. If something comes up and I can’t, I’ll let you know.’ Leah smiled and tossed the wooden stirrer into the bin. Dee made a sound that could have been thanks before disappearing into the contractor’s office and closing the door.

  Leah took her drink and sat down at her desk to start on the day’s reports. She scanned in the daily fuel record and emailed it to the company admin in Nickel Bluff. With the information she’d collected she wrote up the daily report, including the number of inductions done, any accidents and incidents, and anything notable happening around the camp.