The time when life had been full of excitement and promise. Before it had all come crashing down around her in such spectacular fashion.
The climb down that cliff face. Treating someone with traumatic injuries. Being winched into a helicopter and then flying over the city she loved so much. Somehow, in recent months she’d forgotten how gorgeous it was.
Being with Jack was another link to her past life and, oddly, she didn’t have a compelling urge to push it away in order not to add weight to the miserable shroud of what she’d lost. Today, it didn’t feel quite so lost and the reminder of what it had been like was poignant but also precious.
Jack’s car was parked at the back of the air rescue base, far enough away from where they’d landed to make Harriet very aware of how far she’d pushed her new boundaries today.
‘You okay?’ Jack’s sideways glance was casual. ‘You could wait here while I get the car.’
Harriet didn’t meet his gaze. ‘I’m good. This is what I do now, Jack. I limp.’
The silence made her realise that she’d slipped back into that defensive mode that made her tone too sharp and pushed people away.
‘Sorry,’ she muttered. ‘But I think I can make it. I need to try.’
‘I’m sure you can make it. You climbed down a cliff today, didn’t you? And you don’t need to apologise. I understand...’
People said that a lot, with the best intentions, but it was never true, was it? You couldn’t really understand unless it had happened to you.
But it felt like maybe Jack did understand. More than others, anyway.
‘It will get better,’ she told him. ‘It’s just that I’ve only been out of my brace for a week or so. And I probably did more today than I should have, even before I climbed down the cliff.’
‘What were you doing up there? Testing yourself? Might be a good idea not to do stuff like that by yourself, you know.’ His smile was crooked. ‘Just sayin’...’
‘Yeah, yeah... It was a bit of a test, I guess, but the real reason was to try out my new zoom lens. I wanted some shots of surf crashing on rocks, preferably as it got close to sunset when the light gets awesome.’
‘You’ve really got into photography, haven’t you? I saw you taking all the photos at Kate and Angus’s wedding.’
She’d noticed him there as well. Not that she’d made any attempt to go and talk to him. She’d stayed behind that camera the whole time and had left as early as she could without being rude. It had been hard, being there but not being one of the team any longer.
‘I really have.’ It was a relief to reach the car and take the weight off her leg. A quick glance at her watch told Harriet that she could take some more painkillers soon. As soon as Jack wasn’t around to notice because those sharp of eyes of his didn’t miss much. Had he been aware that she’d avoided talking to him at the wedding?
‘It started because I was taking photos of my leg, actually,’ she found herself saying quietly as the car pulled out onto the road. ‘I wanted a record so that, on bad days, I could remind myself that things were improving. And then I started taking photos of other stuff and I got hooked. Not only did I have a topic of conversation that had nothing to do with my leg but I could kind of hide behind the camera when I was out with other people. Win-win.’
She’d never admitted that to anyone. She’d kept people at a distance by being distant herself with a forced cheerfulness or, shamefully more often, a bad-tempered snappiness. Jack hadn’t seen the worst of it but she knew she’d hurt him by rejecting his support early on. Opening up, just a little, was a kind of peace offering and, judging by the intensity of the swift glance he gave her, he realised that it was a big thing.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said softly. ‘I can only imagine how rough it’s been for you.’
‘Actually, I think it’s me that should be apologising.’
‘What on earth for?’
‘I was horrible to you. When you came to visit. You didn’t deserve that.’
Jack shrugged. He seemed to be concentrating on the road ahead. ‘It was no big deal. You had your friends around.’
‘You’re one of my friends,’ Harriet said. Then her voice trailed away. ‘Or...you were...’
This time Jack turned his head. ‘I still am, Harry.’ But his tone held a note of wariness. ‘If you want me to be, that is.’
For a long minute, Harriet stared, unseeing, at the industrial buildings they were passing. She could hear echoes of the laughter of shared jokes and the teasing that Jack had been such a master of. She could feel the warmth of the kindness that was so much a part of him. Like the way he would always make sure that others were being cared for during any breaks on an exhausting disaster response and getting some rest and food and water.
And it hadn’t been just his teammates or other people he cared about.
‘Do you remember that last callout we were on together?’
‘The bush fire?’ Jack blew out a breath. ‘Sure do. That was a tough one, wasn’t it? A whole town lost. So many people killed or injured.’
‘And the animals. You found that dog with burnt paws and you carried him all the way back to base.’
‘If I’d known what was going to happen, I would have made you carry him.’
Harriet grinned. ‘You mean that photograph of you that went viral?’
Jack shook his head. ‘The attention was ridiculous. I started getting emails from all over the country. Girls who’d never met me but wanted to marry me, for God’s sake.’
Harriet was still smiling. ‘Of course they did. You were a hero. Young, gorgeous and single. And you love dogs. What more could a woman want?’
Jack was concentrating on changing lanes on the motorway that was leading them out of the city. He made a sound that could have been embarrassment at her singing his praises. Or it could have been disagreement.
‘You mean you don’t like dogs? Or you’re not still single?’
‘I like dogs,’ Jack muttered. ‘And, yeah...if you must know, I’m still single.’
Weird, Harriet thought. There must be an unlimited number of gorgeous young women who would love to catch his attention.
Then she sighed into the silence. ‘Me, too...’
Jack didn’t say anything for quite a while and Harriet could feel a tension that made her wish she’d kept her mouth shut. A lot of it was probably being internally generated, mind you. The rejection of having Pete walk out on their relationship had been soul destroying. She was damaged now. Unattractive. Unlovable, even?
Yeah...she was single and that wasn’t about to change. Maybe it never would.
‘I heard that Pete transferred to a Melbourne station,’ Jack finally said. His tone was laced with disapproval.
Was that what some of the tension was about? Jack had been friends with Pete. Everybody had been.
‘Mmm...’ Harriet tried to keep her tone casual. ‘I think he wanted a fresh start. With Sharleen.’
Jack shook his head. ‘Yeah, I heard about that too. I can’t believe he walked out on you. What a moron.’
‘It’s okay,’ Harriet said. Though the aftermath of that breakup had been agonising, she’d refused to let it drag her down further. ‘Everything we’d had in common was gone and he just couldn’t handle it. And then there was Sharleen. With two good legs. A top surfer. A gym bunny. That was where they met—at the gym.’
Jack took the exit that was signposted for the Kookaburra park and walkway. ‘You’ve still got two legs,’ he said, matter-of-factly. ‘And, from what I heard, that was a pretty big deal.’
‘Yeah...’ Suddenly the fierce ache in her leg seemed much more bearable. ‘I know. I was lucky.’
‘And they must be pretty good legs if you got yourself down that cliff today. I would have thought twice about attempting that.’
‘You don’t know
how dodgy it was. And I’ll probably be reminded of it for a few days now, I expect. I might have to admit defeat and use my brace again at work for a while.’
‘You didn’t even have a rope.’ Jack’s glance was one of admiration. ‘Weren’t you scared?’
‘I didn’t give myself time to think about it. I just looked one step ahead for a foothold or for the next branch that might give me a safe handhold. And then I was past the halfway point and it would have been just as hard to go back as it was to keep going.’
‘But you chose to keep going.’
‘I was worried that Eddie might start moving and roll off the ledge.’
‘So you gave yourself the biggest physical challenge you’ve had in a long time and put yourself in danger to save someone else.’
Harriet tried to smile but she could feel her lips wobble. ‘It made me feel like...like I was still part of the team.’
Jack was slowing the car now to pull into the parking area at the park, which was the entry point to the cliffside walkway. He stopped, turned off the engine and then turned to give Harriet a very direct look.
‘You are still part of the team.’
‘Don’t be daft.’ The fact that his words opened an emotional wound that had barely begun to close up made her tone sharp again. ‘That’s never going to happen and you know it.’
She could hear the edge of bitterness souring a moment that should have been a reconnection. A step back into a friendship that could be an important bridge between her old life and this new, difficult one.
‘Sorry.’ The apology came out as a sigh. ‘There I go again, being not nice to be around.’
Jack shrugged. ‘You’re allowed to be angry. I get it.’
‘I’m dealing with it. I hope... And I’ve got my next goals. Two of them, in fact.’
He nodded. ‘Like going down the cliff, huh? Just look as far as the next step or a safe handhold?’
‘Something like that.’
‘So what are they—these goals of yours?’
‘Well, you know that Blake and Sam are getting married, right?’
‘Yeah...’ Jack grinned. ‘So much for Blake’s rules about team members not hooking up. He’s changed, hasn’t he?’
‘He’s in love. They both are. Sam’s my best friend and I’m thrilled for her. I offered to take photos at their wedding but it turns out that I’m going to be her bridesmaid. So that’s my first goal. I don’t want to be taking any attention away from her by limping down the aisle.’
‘The aisle?’ Jack’s eyes widened. ‘They’re getting married in a church?’ His grin widened. ‘I don’t believe it. Our maverick ED consultant who wears cowboy boots and a ponytail to work is going to do something as conventional as getting married in a church?’
‘They haven’t decided where yet. It was a figure of speech. It might happen on a beach and sand is even harder to walk on.’
‘How long have you got to train for it?’
‘I don’t know that either.’ The parking area around them was dark now but Harriet could see some people moving off to one side. ‘You’ll be coming to the wedding, won’t you?’
‘If I get an invitation, sure.’ Jack had turned to look in the same direction as Harriet. ‘So what’s your other goal? You said you had two.’
‘I want to get back to my old job. In intensive care.’
‘Where are you now?’
‘Geriatrics.’ Harriet screwed up her nose. ‘I mean, I love the oldies. I hear the most amazing stories every day but I really miss the ICU.’
‘Why can’t you work there again now?’
‘My leg’s not strong enough. Imagine if there was an emergency and I turned to grab a defibrillator or something and I ended up falling over.’
‘Hmm...’ But Jack seemed distracted. ‘There are cops over there. With a dog...’
‘Oh...’ Harriet wrenched at her door handle. ‘It must be Harry the dog. Let’s go and check that he’s okay.’
The two police officers were about to load Harry the dog into their car but were happy enough to stop and chat when they learned of Jack and Harry’s connection to the unusual job they’d been dispatched to.
‘You never know what’s going to happen on a shift,’ the young officer said. ‘We get a good hike up a hill in a glorious sunset and we’re getting paid for it. How great is that?’
‘Was he hard to find?’
‘No. He was just lying there, with his nose on his paws, right on the edge of the cliff.’
‘Oh...poor Harry.’ Harriet crouched down to hug the dog. ‘It’ll be okay,’ she told him. ‘Someone’s going to look after you.’
‘He’s going to the pound,’ the older officer told them. ‘We’ve tried to find a family member to take him but there doesn’t seem to be anybody.’
Harriet felt the nudge of a cold, damp nose against her hand. He was good at communicating, this dog.
‘I’ll take him,’ she heard herself saying. ‘I don’t want him to go to the pound. How scary would that be? He’d think he was being totally abandoned.’
‘If you want to.’ The police officers exchanged a glance. ‘Can’t see a problem with that as long as we get all your details.’
‘Are you sure?’ Jack sounded concerned. ‘He’s a big dog. He’ll need a lot of exercise.’
Harriet straightened. ‘A lot of exercise is exactly what I need, too, if I’m going to get to where I want to be.’
‘Are you allowed dogs in your apartment?’
She shrugged. ‘Sometimes it’s better to apologise later than ask for permission first. I think this is one of those times.’
Jack’s gaze was thoughtful. ‘I could help, maybe. With the exercising?’
‘Sure.’ This time, Harriet wasn’t going to brush off Jack’s offer to help. It was like another peace offering. ‘That’d be great.’
A few minutes later, Harry the dog was installed on the back seat of Harriet’s car and she was ready to drive home as soon as Jack let go of her door so that she could close it.
‘I’ll be in touch,’ he said. ‘We can make up a roster and I can give him a good run on the beach or something.’
‘Okay. I’d better get going, though. I need to get to the supermarket and stock up on some dog food and stuff.’
Jack closed her door but he was still standing there so Harriet rolled the window down.
‘What?’
He shrugged. ‘Nothing. Just that I reckon you could add a third goal to that list.’
‘Oh?’
‘Yeah...’ He threw a smile over his shoulder as he walked away. ‘Getting back on the team for real. Reckon you could do it if you really wanted to.’
CHAPTER THREE
‘SAM...WHAT ARE you doing here?’
‘I had to come and find you. They told me on the ward that you’d brought someone to X-Ray.’
‘Yes.’ Harriet glanced sideways to where the patient she was accompanying was already snoring gently. ‘Poor old May fell out of bed during the night. She’s not complaining but it looks like she’s fractured her neck of femur. We’ve got a bit of a wait, though.’ She raised her eyebrows at her friend. ‘Why did you have to come and find me? Have you set a date for the wedding or something?’
Sam shook her head, flopping into the seat beside Harriet. ‘No...it was too late to ring you by the time I got home last night. There was an SDR meeting and I heard all about your cliff rescue. Oh, my God, Harry...what did you think you were doing?’
There was only one person who could have been spreading that news but Harriet wasn’t entirely sure whether she was disappointed in Jack for talking about her behind her back or quietly pleased that the team now knew all about it.
‘Jack said it would have been an astonishing thing for anyone to do but for you to do it was just mind-blowing.
’ Sam was looking down at Harriet’s leg. ‘Are you okay? You’re wearing your brace again.’
‘Just a precaution.’
‘Maybe you should have an X-ray after May.’ Sam glanced at the elderly woman and then caught Harriet’s gaze. There was amusement at the snoring but also sympathy. To sit and wait without even conversation was so very different from the challenges of nursing in the intensive care unit.
‘I’m fine. Honestly.’
‘Better than fine, from what I heard. Jack reckons you should be back on the team.’
Harriet shook her head sharply. ‘Not going to happen.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because I couldn’t do it, that’s why. You know the kind of things that go with a callout. Tramping miles into the scene of something like a flood or a landslide. And remember the Urban Search and Rescue course that you did? I still have enough trouble walking on a flat surface. I couldn’t climb over a pile of rubble after an earthquake if my life depended on it.’
‘You just climbed down a cliff and it was only someone else’s life that was depending on it.’
‘But I couldn’t be depended on and that’s like the number one requirement of an SDR team member.’ Harriet wanted to change the subject. ‘So, have you set a date for the wedding yet?’
Sam groaned. ‘We mentioned that we might prefer a beach wedding and now my dad wants to fly everybody off to a tropical island up north. Hamilton or Fraser Island, maybe.’
‘Wow... How cool would that be?’
‘It would be outrageous.’
‘I’ll bet Blake hated the idea.’
‘My dad’s not stupid.’ Sam shook her head. ‘He offered to donate the same amount of money he would spend on the wedding to Médecins Sans Frontières because he knows how passionate Blake is about helping to provide medical care in developing countries. Did I tell you that we’re thinking of getting a posting next year? Just for three months or so. Maybe in Africa.’
But Harriet was distracted by the idea of a luxurious island holiday that would be a part of her bridesmaid’s duties.
‘So it might happen, then? An island wedding?’
Rescued by Her Mr. Right Page 3
