by Anne Fraser
By the time they arrived, Sally and Nick were already there, sipping coffee. The sun had burnt off the last remaining clouds and the day was going to be hot and dry. In the distance, Georgie could see the top of a mountain she had climbed and felt a pang. Sarah, who climbed regularly with Jamie, was always asking her to go with them, but Georgie always found some excuse, offering to babysit Calum for them instead. She was only now beginning to realise how much of her life she had shut away when Ian had died. But, she reminded herself, she had Jess. And her daughter was everything that mattered.
‘I’ve organised some gear for all of us,’ Logan explained. ‘We’ll get into it later. No point right now. After lunch will be soon enough.’
Georgie’s heart began to race as she contemplated the afternoon. Would she cope? Apart from not being on the team, she hated the thought of failing in Logan’s eyes. Damn it! She hated the thought of failing in her own eyes.
The afternoon came all too soon. The morning was easy; the protocols straightforward. Nothing that Georgie couldn’t cope with, although she knew being out there at the scene of the accident would be very different. No amount of training could prepare them for all the circumstances they might face. However, Logan’s matter-of-fact tone when he described situations he’d been in made her realise that keeping a steady head was the most important thing. And she was good at that. She had to be to work in A and E.
After lunch they gathered outside.
‘We’re going to start with off-road driving,’ Logan said.
‘What’s that got to do with medical rescue?’ Sally asked. ‘We’re not expected to do any driving as part of our role, are we? Next you’ll be telling us we have to learn how to fly a helicopter.’
Logan grinned again. ‘No. You can relax. Piloting lessons most definitely not required. Much of today is about testing skills you’ll need when out on a rescue. Like being lowered from a helicopter or being winched aboard. Before we go on to that, I need to see how you cope with heights, how you react under duress, whether you can trust each other enough to perform even when you’re not sure that what you’re being asked to do is right. At a scene we might have multiple casualties to deal with. It’s Nick’s job, or mine, to prioritise. Sometimes you might not agree with our decisions, but it’s essential you do what we ask.’
‘But the off-road driving?’ Georgie persisted. ‘I still don’t get it. I see the point of the other activities, but driving a four by four…?’
‘Ah. But this is driving with a difference. We’re all going to take it in turns at being blindfolded at the wheel. The driver will then have to trust their co-driver to give them instructions.’
‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ Sally spluttered. ‘I have enough of a back-seat driver with my father! He’s always telling me I drive too fast or too slow or something!’
Everyone laughed.
‘I don’t know,’ Nick said slowly.’ Sounds like fun. I’ve always wanted to do a bit of off-road driving. Not so sure about the blindfold, though.’
Nick rarely said much, seeming content to only chip in when his input was needed. He was almost the opposite of Logan—quiet when Logan was bursting with barely suppressed energy. But he had a calm assurance about him that Georgie found reassuring. In many ways, Logan had done a good job bringing his fledgling team together. Too many similar personalities could have caused problems and disagreements.
‘It’s more about trust than driving,’ Logan continued. ‘We all get a practice run without the blindfold then we take it in turns to be the driver and co-driver. I’ll partner Sally while Georgie partners Nick, then Sally goes with Nick while I go with Georgie and so on. Any questions?’
Everyone shook their heads. Logan and Sally went off to the vehicle with an instructor while Georgie and Nick went to the other.
In the end it turned out to be more fun than scary. Driving up and down steep slopes took a bit of getting used to, but was manageable. After the practice run, they swapped, Logan joining Georgie, and Nick accompanying Sally.
Logan took his turn with the blindfold first while Georgie told him where to go. When she said right, he turned without hesitation. Ditto when she said left or down or faster or slower. Whatever she asked, he did.
Then it was her turn.
He placed the blindfold over her eyes. ‘Trust me,’ he said in her ear. His breath, warm against her neck, gave her goose bumps. Oh, my word, could he just not do that? How did he expect her to concentrate?
‘Just do what I ask, and you’ll be fine,’ he continued.
Georgie knew about trust. Out on rescues, the team had to trust each other without question. There were often moments when all that stood between you and a fall was the person holding the lead rope. If you doubted them, you would never climb. Trust was what made the team work and up until Ian’s death they had always managed to pull each other through. And Ian’s death had nothing to do with the rest of the team, although she suspected that Kirk blamed himself. They all knew the risks. Or at least she had thought they had. Sure, she had always known that the mountain could kill, but Ian was the first person close to her who had died on the mountains, and, apart from her father, he’d been one of the best climbers she’d ever known.
Her mind raced back to that day. It had been winter and a layer of snow had covered the mountains. Despite being warned against it, a group of climbers had gone up the mountain. When they’d failed to return by nightfall, the mountain rescue team had been alerted. Georgie, with a baby to look after, hadn’t been asked to attend the rescue, but as always Ian had insisted on going. Kirk had been there too, but even his skill had been unable to prevent the tragedy that had followed. Although she knew it was illogical, in her darkest moments Georgie couldn’t stop the flood of anger when she thought about Ian’s senseless death. Why couldn’t he have stayed at home for once? Why did he always have to be the first person to volunteer?
‘All right, Georgie?’ Logan’s voice brought her out of her reverie. She nodded and started to drive. At first she was so tentative the car barely moved. But soon, under Logan’s soft confident instructions, she relaxed and found herself doing what he asked without any hesitation. Instinctively she knew he would never put her in danger.
When they stopped and she was able to pull off her blindfold, she grinned with relief. Logan smiled back, his toffee-coloured eyes approving.
‘Hey, not bad for a girl.’
When she took a playful swipe at him, he caught her hand and held it. She felt the pad of his thumb trace the inside most sensitive part of her wrist, and she had to bite down hard to stop the groan that bubbled to her lips. Heat soared through her veins, setting her nerve endings alight. Aghast, she pulled her hand away. What was she thinking? Only minutes before she had been remembering her dead husband yet here she was responding to a man, and not just any man either. The man who was in too many fundamental ways like her husband. If Ian’s death had taught her nothing else, it had taught her that loving was risky. Far too risky.
Logan looked surprised when she pulled her hand away and she prayed she wasn’t blushing again.
They swapped round and it was her turn with Nick. By this time she had got the hang of it. Nick was a steady, relaxed guide around the course and seemed to have no problem following her directions when it was his turn to be blindfolded. The last round involved her and Sally. That didn’t go quite as well. Sally kept trying to steal glances at the road from under the blindfold. When it was Georgie’s turn to be blindfolded, Sally somehow—Georgie wasn’t quite sure how—managed to direct her into a ditch. After seeing where they were, they dissolved in a fit of giggles.
‘C’mon, Georgie, let’s get out of here before they see us,’ Sally said when they had stopped laughing. ‘Never mind the blindfold, do whatever it takes. The last thing I want is our two male colleagues feeling that they have to rescue us and muttering under their breath about female drivers.’
‘Me neither.’ Georgie agreed wholeheartedly. ‘I
suspect they’d never let us forget it.’
It took a fair bit of effort and testing of their new-found skills, but soon they had the vehicle pointing in the right direction once more. Georgie replaced her blindfold before they were spotted and managed to bring the four by four to a controlled stop at just the right place. Unsurprisingly, Nick and Logan were there before them. If they were anything like the men she knew, and she strongly suspected they were, they had probably competed with each other all the way round. However, if there was friendly rivalry between the two men, there was no evidence of it in their relaxed manner with one another.
‘Okay. Now for the abseiling. I know you will have done this before, Georgie, so I suspect it’ll be a piece of cake for you. As far as I know, neither Nick nor Sally have, though.’
Georgie’s heart hammered against her ribs. This was the moment she’d been dreading. But she knew she couldn’t avoid it. Either she would freeze, in which case she was off the team, or she wouldn’t. Either way her role in the team would be decided.
As they put on their harnesses, Georgie’s heart continued to race. If Logan noticed she was quiet he gave no hint, being too engrossed in making sure Sally and Nick’s harnesses were properly secured. When he had finished with them he crossed over to her.
‘I know you’re used to doing this yourself, but I need to check, okay?’
Georgie nodded, her mouth too dry to speak. As Logan fiddled around with the straps, his fingers brushing against her body, her knees felt as if they wouldn’t support her for much longer. But whether that was from his touch or fear of the next half an hour or so, Georgie couldn’t tell.
‘Okay. Who wants to go first?’
Georgie followed his eyes upwards. First there was a high pole with steel pins to climb. From there two lines of steel were strung across the gap, which led to a small platform. Each participant would have to balance on the lower steel wire while using the higher one to balance. Once on the platform there was a higher level to climb up to. From there, they would abseil down a wall. The last bit would probably be fine, but would she cope with her vertigo at the point where she had to cross the gap? There was only one way to find out.
‘I’ll go,’ Georgie volunteered, relieved to find her voice steady. If she couldn’t do it, now was the time to find out. Much better to find out now instead of when in an aircraft and about to be winched down to some casualty. Whatever her terror of being exposed like this, her horror of letting a casualty down was far worse.
She started climbing the pole, her blood thumping in her ears. Don’t look down, she told herself. It was the same thing she had told countless people when she had been taking them off mountains. Just keep looking up, or straight ahead.
She was shaking when she reached the first platform. She forced herself not to look down. Instead, she measured the distance to the next platform with a practised eye. Gingerly she stepped out on the wire, gasping as it swayed with her weight.
Before she could help herself she glanced down. A wave of vertigo washed over her, nauseating her. She swallowed hard. Pretend you are on the ground, following a line. Think of something else and keep moving. Unfortunately the only image strong enough to divert her attention away from the ground was six feet three with toffee-coloured eyes and a body that took her breath away. So be it. As she moved across the wire, she let her mind dwell on narrow hips and long muscular legs. What would it be like to have those arms wrapped around her, holding her tight against his chest, the muscles rippling under her cheek? She almost groaned aloud and just stopped herself from closing her eyes. Delicious. That’s how it would feel.
Then she was on the second platform. It swayed slightly in the wind. But her fear was ebbing away. In its place was the old thrill of pushing her body, testing its limits, making it obey her commands no matter how impossible those demands seemed at the time. She stretched her arms to the sky, revelling in the rush of air against her skin. It felt good. She had beaten one fear. Could she beat another? Wasn’t it time she stopped hiding from all that life had to offer?
Exhilarated, she abseiled down to the bottom where Logan was waiting.
‘Well done,’ he called to her. But something in his voice made her wonder whether he had noticed her hesitation at the beginning. If he had, would he be beginning to doubt her? Before she could say anything, Nick slid down next to her. He must have followed immediately. That just left Sally, who was nervously waiting her turn. And Logan.
Sally was looking understandably nervous.
‘I’ll go in front of you and Georgie or Nick will go behind you,’ Logan said reassuringly. ‘It’s okay to be scared, but you’ll cope just fine.’
With a look at Georgie, which suggested Sally held her accountable for the predicament she found herself in, Sally followed Logan hesitatingly up the pole.
‘Shall I?’ Nick asked with a tip of his head. He didn’t wait for a reply but immediately followed Sally. Georgie could hear his voice urging Sally on whenever she hesitated, which was surprisingly little. Sally hesitated only once before making her way across the rope to the platform and abseiling down the wall. It seemed that they had all underestimated her grit once again. Georgie felt like cheering, knowing how much it meant to Sally that the women in the team were seen to be on par with the men.
The mood was buoyant as they stripped off their overalls.
‘Who fancies stopping off for a celebratory meal on the way home?’ Logan asked. ‘I think we deserve it.’
Sally’s face fell. ‘Sorry. I promised I’d be home for dinner. My parents are having guests and I told them I’d join them.’ She grimaced and Georgie had the uneasy feeling that, whoever these guests were, Sally wasn’t looking forward to their company.
‘I’ll drop you off, then,’ Nick said cheerfully. ‘We can all get together for dinner another time.’
‘What about you, Georgie?’ Logan asked.
She could be mistaken but she thought her reply really mattered to him. Could he be lonely? Was he really as selfsufficient as he liked to make out? After all, he was probably used to being surrounded by people all the time. She had the impression, although she could be completely wrong, that men in the forces spent all their time together. However, Logan didn’t strike her as someone who needed to be with other people. Quite the opposite, in fact. There was a confidence about him that said he was used to relying on himself. His invite was what it was. One colleague seeking out the companionship of another.
But she had been away from Jess for the whole day and she saw little enough of her daughter.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, genuinely regretful. ‘Another time perhaps? I’ve a little girl waiting for me at home.’ Then impulsively, before she could help herself, she added, ‘But why not join us for dinner tomorrow? It’s Mum’s birthday and I’ve booked us a table at Rogano’s as a treat. I’m sure they’ll make space for one more and Jess would love to see you again.’
A strange look crossed Logan’s face.
‘I don’t want to intrude on a family celebration,’ he said mildly. ‘Why don’t we make it another time when we’re all free?’
Georgie cringed inwardly, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks. Did he think she was making a move on him? Trying him out as a father fit for her daughter? How absolutely mortifying.
They said their goodbyes and soon Georgie and Logan were racing back to Glasgow. This time the silence was uncomfortably strained.
Georgie was relieved when the sound of a mobile ringing broke the silence.
‘Would you like me to answer for you?’ she asked. Logan nodded and Georgie pressed button to accept the call.
‘Darling, where have you been all day?’ The voice was low, throaty and unmistakably feminine.
‘Sorry. This is one of Logan’s colleagues. He’s driving and can’t take the call right now. Shall I ask him to call you back?’
‘If you could, that would be lovely,’ the voice answered.
‘Who shall I say…?’
<
br /> A husky laugh travelled down the line. ‘Logan will know who it is. Tell him I’ll be waiting for his call.’ And with that she disconnected.
Georgie stared at the phone before folding it closed. Whoever the woman was, she knew Logan intimately. She felt a rush of disappointment.
‘Er…she didn’t say who it was—but you’re to call her.’
Logan flicked her a glance. ‘Camilla.’
Why should she be surprised? A man like Logan was bound to be involved with someone. So she had read more into his invitation than he had intended. Then again, who could blame her? He had asked her out on a date very recently. She felt a sickening sense of disappointment. So his asking her out had just been his instinctive reaction to any woman. She should have known. A man like Logan could have his pick. Why would he choose someone who hadn’t ever managed to shift the baby weight and whose idea of a great day out was a walk in the park? All the more reason to keep her distance.
‘I’ve known Camilla for longer than I can remember.’ Logan broke the silence. ‘She was married to my best friend. They’re divorced now, but she still calls on me when she needs an escort to some event.’
The thumping sense of relief almost took her breath away. Whatever she was trying to tell herself—it clearly wasn’t working. She most definitely wanted Logan not to be involved with another woman—even if she couldn’t—shouldn’t—have him for herself.
Now, why had he said that? Logan wondered. Especially when it wasn’t entirely true. He and Camilla had been lovers once—a long time ago—but as soon as Camilla had known he was back in the UK, she had suggested they take up where they’d left off. He had tried to make it clear as gently and as tactfully as he could that it was over. Yes, she was stunning. Thick dark hair, light green eyes and legs that went on for ever, and she knew it. But what had they ever done together except end up in bed? Once that would have been enough. More than enough. It would have suited him just fine and for the first time he caught himself wondering. When had they shared a joke, gone for a walk, discussed a book? And when had that started to matter? Why did he have the uneasy feeling it had something to do with the woman sitting beside him?
