Coming Home to Katoomba

by Lucy Clark

  'When we get back to the hospital, please, go home and try and enjoy what's left of your day off. I know there's still heaps of paperwork to get through but I'll cope until tomorrow.'

  'But what about Inga and Utta? You don't want me to follow through?'

  He took her hand in his and squeezed. 'Enjoy the rest of the day and relax. I'll be working you hard enough, and goodness knows when you'll get another day off.'

  'Does this mean you're conceding? You'll do the rosters?'

  'You have to win the bet first.'

  'It's in the bag.'

  'So confident but you forget, I know Mrs Dixon and you don't.'

  'Ah, but I have an ace up my sleeve.'

  'And what, pray, is that?' He stood there with his hands on his hips, very sure of himself, but there was no way Stephanie was going to lose this bet and she'd take every advantage she had. Standing on tiptoe, she quickly leaned in and kissed him before whispering against his' mouth, 'I know the perfect place to take her. She won't be able to resist.'

  'Well, I certainly can't,' he said, and captured her mouth with his, returning the favour of her surprise kiss.

  The sound of the winch grew louder and Oliver groaned, breaking the contact. 'See? Something always interrupts us.'

  Stephanie giggled, feeling happy.

  Two hours later, when Oliver arrived at the house, Stephanie was sitting in her favourite wing-backed chair, the classical strains of Chopin filling the air.

  He tossed his briefcase, coat and tie into his room and was undoing the top button of his shirt and rolling up his sleeves as he walked into the room. 'Relaxed?'

  'I guess.'

  He watched her for a second. 'You're knitting!'

  'That's right. Well done.' She tugged at the wool, not missing a beat. 'You really are a smart man.'

  'And Chopin? I'd pegged you as a heavy-rock type of girl.'

  She shook her head, her earrings tinkling lightly. 'That's Stephen.'

  'Really?' He seemed amazed.

  'I'm a home body at heart.'

  'Do your home skills lean towards cooking?' He sniffed the air appreciatively.

  'Yes, as a matter of fact they do. I've made soup.'

  'From scratch?'

  'How else do you make it?'

  He shrugged. 'I don't know. Open a can.'

  'Please, tell me Mrs Dixon cooks or I'm not going to survive this experience.'

  Oliver chuckled as he walked into the kitchen. 'Of course she cooks. Didn't I tell you she was our housekeeper for most of my childhood?'

  'So? Keeping house and cooking are different things.'

  'True.' He returned a moment later. 'Is that ready to eat?'

  'Yes. Just let me finish off the row. There are some rolls warming in the oven.'

  'I'll get it. You keep...knitting.' He smiled as he said the last word.

  'What's wrong with me knitting?' she demanded.

  'Nothing. At least it's colourful. That fits with the image I have of you.' He walked off again. Once she'd finished the row, she went in search of him. 'What is it you're knitting? Not that I'm being offensive or criticising your talent. Just curious.'

  'A scarf.' She settled herself on a bench stool and watched him.

  'Very colourful scarf.'

  'Yes. I'm making it as an engagement gift for Nic. It'll match the one I made for Stephen a while back.'

  'Nicolette's getting engaged to Stephen?'

  'She will be. Neither of them know it yet but it's a certainty.'

  'How do you know?'

  She shrugged. 'I'm his sister. She's my friend. I just know. Besides, she respects the bond Stephen and I share.'

  He nodded as he gathered soup bowls, plates, napkins and spoons, setting everything up on the bench before dishing up. 'Smells wonderful.'

  'Thank you.' She waited until he'd taken his first sip before she took hers.

  'Mmm. Tastes wonderful, too.'

  'Thank you again. You are good for my ego, Dr Bowan.'

  'Does your ego need bolstering?'

  'Doesn't everyone's?'

  'Not necessarily. Lauren's certainly doesn't. That woman has claws.'

  'Still trying, is she?'

  'She's certainly trying her best. I hope you don't mind, but I started a rumour that we're already dating.'

  Stephanie's spoon clattered into her bowl. 'You did what?' Her mouth hung open in stunned amazement.

  'I'm joking.'

  She dragged air into her lungs and the tension eased as quickly as it had built.

  He waited a few moments before saying, 'Is the idea unpalatable to you?'

  'You and I dating?'

  He nodded.

  'No,' she answered slowly. 'But I don't know if it's a good idea.'

  'Why not? The attraction's there.'

  'That's just an attraction, Oliver. They have been known to peter out before. Also, you have your daughter arriving tomorrow and I'm no expert, but the last thing she'll need while she's adjusting to a new country is a new woman in her father's life.'

  'I had thought of that.'

  'How long is Kasey here for?'

  'The summer. Well, the northern hemisphere summer.'

  'Would you like her with you permanently?'

  'That's my current plan.'

  'If only Nadele would let go?'

  'Exactly.'

  'That's probably another reason why we shouldn't let anything develop between us. It may cause even more friction for you.'

  Again, she had a point and it wasn't one he liked as he knew it was pretty accurate. Still, a part of him wanted to know. 'My ex-wife and daughter aside, do you find the prospect of dating me so...bad?'

  Stephanie couldn't help but smile at him. 'Not...bad per se. I just don't think it's a good idea right now.'

  'So where does that leave us?'

  'Friends?'

  Oliver nodded and ate another mouthful of soup. 'Friends.'

  Yet the look they shared across the bench was a mutual acknowledgement that they were both fooling themselves.

  The next morning, Stephanie woke to find a note from Oliver on the kitchen bench. 'Coffee's ready, eat healthy, see you at the hospital...friend.' He hadn't signed it but she still admired the bold strokes, glad to find a doctor whose writing was legible.

  With a smile on her face and a spring in her step, she drank a cup of coffee, had a shower and ate a bowl of cereal before dressing and happily heading to work to see her friend. There would definitely be problems if they decided to pursue this attraction between them and she hoped they'd be able to control themselves, but the fact that he'd left her a note and the fact that she'd reacted the way she had made her wonder just how successful they would be.

  When she opened the door to Oliver's office, he looked up from the papers in front of him.

  'Finally.' There was no smile and her earlier warm fuzzies disappeared.

  'Problem?'

  He put his pen down and leaned back in the chair, stretching his arms above his head.

  'Oh, don't lean back too far,' she cautioned, but she was too late as the chair began to tip backwards. The next thing she saw were Oliver's legs going up, his arms clutching helplessly at the air and a look of horror on his face. The crash came next as he ended up sprawled on the floor, his legs tangled with the chair.

  'The chair's broken,' she finished lamely. 'Sorry. I should have mentioned that yesterday.' Trying not to laugh at the sight of him, she went around the desk to help him.

  'You think?' he snapped sarcastically. 'And don't you dare laugh,' he added when he saw her twitching lips.

  'I wouldn't dream of it,' she replied, not trying in the least to get rid of the smile. She held out her hand. 'Let me...'

  'I'm fine,' Oliver muttered.

  'Of course you are.' She stepped back. 'I'm surprised you haven't gone over before now but, rest assured, a new chair has been ordered. It's due on Friday, in time for the new director's arrival.'

  'So I suppose this is al
l my fault for arriving early.' Stephanie's answer was to continue grinning at him as he stood and righted the chair. 'What would have happened if I'd been able to come a few weeks ago when my contract was officially due to begin?'

  'It wasn't broken then.'

  'How did it break? No,' he continued, holding up his hands. 'I don't want to know.' He sat back down.

  'Can I get you a cup of coffee? Tea? Biscuits?'

  'You can sit down and help me get through this paperwork.'

  'Right you are, boss.' Stephanie did as she was told and picked up the piece of paper he'd been reading when she'd arrived. She frowned. 'This is a report on expenditure.'

  'I can see that.'

  'Good. Then we can move on.'

  Oliver breathed in deeply and was once more treated to the mesmerising scent she wore. 'Vanilla.'

  'Vanilla?' She glanced at the report and then her eyes widened as she realised what he meant. 'Oh. Sorry.' She dropped the report like a hot potato.

  'Don't apologise. I guess it's just something we need to get used to.' He raked his hand through his hair. 'To work, Dr Brooks.'

  'Good idea, Dr Bowan. Where do you want to start?'

  'At the top and slowly work my way down.' His voice was husky and Stephanie's gaze darted to meet his, widening when she saw the obvious desire there. Her lips formed a little O and her breathing increased. He was glad the idea seemed to set her alight because the same idea had been setting him alight for most of the night. Once more he'd hardly slept because he'd been too busy thinking of the woman who was living under the same roof as him. What was it about her that made him unable to control himself? He'd never had this sort of trouble with a woman before. Usually, he pigeonholed his life into nice, neat compartments in his mind, taking them out only when he needed to address certain issues. With Stephanie, however, pigeonholing wasn't working. She kept staying where she was, in the centre of his thoughts, and it was starting to drive him crazy.

  He cleared his throat and eventually broke his gaze from hers. 'Now it's my turn to apologise, even though what I said is true. We need to work, and first on the agenda is the new restructuring for A and E.'

  Oliver shuffled some papers on the desk and found the sheet he was looking for. The sheet was covered with the same bold strokes as the note he'd left her that morning... the note she'd put in her top bedside drawer so she could read it over and over again like a silly schoolgirl in the throes of her first crush.

  'OK. As you know, waiting times in A and E are usually astronomical if you're not an urgent case.' He waited for her nod before continuing. 'My restructuring protocol is to change the way the triage system operates. Instead of having the numbers from one to five, one being urgent, five being extremely non-urgent, the cases are split into surgical and medical.

  'The triage sister can then decide which is the most urgent of each, but this way people are in and out of A and E a lot sooner. This will also cut down on the patients having several different staff members looking after their case due to shift changes. Naturally shift changes happen but the commonality of it would be reduced.'

  'That would mean we need two shifts on at any given time.'

  'That's right. One medical team and one surgical team for each shift.'

  Stephanie rolled her eyes and leaned back in the chair, her arms crossed in front of her. 'You are definitely taking over the rosters. I'm not touching that one with a forty-foot pole. That would be a nightmare.'

  'Actually, it isn't. Everyone still has the same number of shifts as they have now, but the shifts are restructured.' He went on to explain the finer details and as he spoke his words actually began to make sense. Stephanie was sure he was hypnotising her with his deep, rich tone. He had a voice she would never tire of hearing, it was so delicious. He was so delicious.

  'So, what do you think?' Oliver looked at her, eagerly awaiting a response.

  'You have a very sexy smile.'

  'Stephanie!' He pushed the chair back and stood, shaking his head.

  'OK. I think it has merit.'

  'Really?'

  She laughed. 'You're as excited as a kid in a candy store. Yes, I think it sounds good and the fact it's been trialled in other hospitals is certainly a good recommendation.'

  Relief washed over him. 'Then you'll help me convince the rest of the staff?'

  She raised her eyebrows. 'You planned it this way, didn't you?'

  'I knew I'd need your help, yes.'

  'Is this why you've made passes at me? To keep me on side?'

  'Ha. I've been trying to keep you on side by not making passes.'

  She gave him a wry grimace. 'Didn't work.'

  'What? Getting you on side or not making passes?'

  Stephanie smiled. 'The latter.'

  'Seriously, will you help?'

  'The rosters will be a nightmare, especially if people are rostered on for a whole week with someone they don't like.'

  'I expect them to be professional about their work.'

  'And they are.'

  'But I understand your concern and am relying on you to make sure the teams don't have members who clash.'

  'Fair enough.'

  Oliver yawned.

  'Didn't sleep well last night?'

  'Not particularly.' He gave her a lopsided smile. 'I was plagued with thoughts about my assistant director.'

  'Plagued?'

  He merely grinned and smothered another yawn. His phone rang and he was glad of the interruption.

  'Oliver, it's Sophie. We have two ambulances due in five minutes. MVA. Is Steph with you?'

  'Yes. We'll be right there.' He hung up. 'Motor vehicle accident.'

  'This early in the morning?'

  'People rushing to work,' he said as she stood.

  'Especially if they didn't get enough sleep last night,' she added as they headed out the door.

  'Tired and rushing.'

  'Recipe for disaster,' she finished.

  He turned from locking his door to glare at her. 'I was just about to say that.' He closed his eyes for a brief second. "Will you get out of my head?'

  'Why? Does it disturb you?'

  'Yes.'

  She grinned. 'Good. That makes two of us.' With that, she headed off to A and E, leaving him to follow.

  When Oliver had seen the estimated-injury report from the paramedics, he called in extra staff, including Stephen.

  'I guess it's about time I got to know your brother,' he said softly as they stood at the nurses' station.

  'Uh...why?' Stephanie was a little apprehensive. Hadn't they decided last night to be just friends? Although with all the flirting they'd done so far today, they weren't off to a very strong beginning.

  'I'm sure you can figure it out.' He gave her a wink as Sophie walked up, cutting short any other questions she might ask.

  'Both trauma rooms 1 and 2 are ready to go.'

  'Thank you. Stephanie, you and Jade start in TR-1—

  Sophie, you'll be with me. When Stephen arrives, get him to help out where necessary.' He picked up the paramedic report and studied it, silently shaking his head. 'These kids are six and eight. Who's the paediatrician on call?'

  'Daisy Brambles,' Sophie supplied.

  'Pardon?'

  'That's her name.' Stephanie stood as the wail of ambulance sirens filled the air. 'Showtime.'

  'Have Dr Brambles notified and here a.s.a.p.,' Oliver said as he followed Stephanie to the trauma rooms.

  'What do we have?' Stephanie asked the paramedic as the first patient was wheeled into TR-1.

  'Thirty-five-year-old woman, blunt-force trauma to the chest from steering-wheel, possible fractures to the right scapula and humerus, possible fractures to the right tibia and fibula, whiplash, lacerations and bruising.'

  'No loss of consciousness?'

  'No. Airway and circulation all functioning well, breathing a little raspy due to possible pneumothorax or fractured ribs.'

  'Thanks.' Stephanie looked down at her patient w
ho was strapped to the stretcher with a cervical collar, oxygen mask in place. 'Hello, I'm Stephanie. What's your name?' Her patient hesitated. 'It's OK. You can speak with the mask on.'

  'Anita.'

  'Can you tell me what happened?'

  'I was turning the corner into the street a few blocks away from my kids' school and this other car just ploughed right into me.'

  'Right, Anita. I'm just going to have a look at you. I know you've been given something mild for the pain but is there anywhere that's really sore?' Stephanie checked Anita's pupils, glad they were contracting normally.

  'No. My arm was really sore before but it's not too bad now. My kids? Are they OK?'

  'They're being taken care of.' Next Stephanie hooked her stethoscope into her ears and listened to Anita's chest 'How's your breathing? Does it hurt to breathe?'

  'A little.'

  Stephanie nodded and listened closely. 'There's a slight hyper-resonance but other than that it's not too bad. ECG, thanks, Jade. Anita, have you had a chest X-ray before?'

  'Yes. Quite a few years ago.'

  'Good.'

  Jade gave her report of Anita's BP, temp and respiratory rates, all of which were noted in Anita's file.

  'Anita, your blood pressure's a bit low so we're going to top up your fluids to stop you going into shock.' Stephanie took off her gloves and wrote up her part of the notes, as well as filling in an X-ray form. 'Once we have the readings of your ECG, we'll get you off to X-Ray to check your shoulder, arm and leg, which may have sustained a break. I can't feel anything solid but, then, that's why we have X-ray machines. We'll get your chest done first, though.'

  'Is my shoulder dislocated? I've dislocated that shoulder before.'

  'OK.' Stephanie added that bit of information to the X-ray form. 'Even if it is dislocated, we can't relocate it until we've checked the head and neck of the humerus...' she pointed to the top part of the aim and shoulder '...isn't fractured.' She handed the form to Jade. 'Have the orthopaedic surgeon come and see her, but for now she's quite stable. Also, get a parental consent form signed for both her kids so we can treat them as necessary.'

  'Already on it,' Jade said, pointing to a form.

  The second ambulance was arriving and Stephanie went to see her next patient, leaving Anita in the capable hands of the nursing staff.