Perhaps that was what was making his company so easy. It seemed perfectly natural to be meeting up to take a dog for a walk like this or to be making arrangements to go somewhere together tomorrow.
No big deal.
Just...nice...
* * *
‘Oh...that’s such a great photo.’ Eddie’s eyes looked suspiciously bright as he unwrapped the framed image of Harry in the surf, poised to chase the stick that Jack was holding.
‘He loves the beach.’ Jack’s grin was exactly the same as the one Harriet had captured in the photo.
‘It’s a real treat for him. Hey... I can’t thank you guys enough for taking care of him.’
‘He’s a great dog,’ Harriet said. ‘I’m loving having the company. I’ve been living on my own for a while now so it’s been a treat for me, too.’
The swift glance from Jack made her realise how easily he picked up on what wasn’t being said. That he knew that Pete had moved in with her before the accident and that the toughest part of her recovery had been made that much harder by being left alone to deal with it.
‘I always wanted a dog when I was young,’ she added hurriedly. ‘And everybody else loves him, too. I have a friend, Kate, who’s a surgeon at Bondi Bayside, and her great-aunt, Alice, lives on the same floor in my apartment building. She’s been taking Harry out during the day when I’m at work.’ She eyed the heavy cast on Eddie’s leg. ‘Will you have someone to help after you get discharged tomorrow? I could keep him a while longer, if it would help.’
‘It’s all good,’ Eddie told her. ‘I have a big back yard that’s all fenced and I can just leave the doors open all day. It’ll only be a few weeks until I can get mobile again. And my neighbours will help. There’s a lad down the road who would love to take him for a run.’
‘Stay away from the cliffs for a while,’ Jack said.
‘Oh, I will.’ Eddie was still looking at the photograph. ‘This is really good,’ he said. ‘You could be a professional photographer, Harriet.’
‘It’s become a splinter skill,’ she told him. ‘And I love action shots.’ Her glance slid sideways towards Jack. ‘I didn’t tell you, but Sam came up with the idea of me going out with the team on the next callout—in the capacity of official photographer.’
‘What’s the team?’ Eddie asked.
‘Specialist Disaster Relief,’ Jack supplied. ‘It’s a team of medics from Bondi Bayside plus some extras, like me from the ambulance service and some guys from the fire service. If there’s a callout to something big, like a bush fire or a flood or something, we get dispatched as first responders. They fly us in and we’ve got all the supplies we need to stay for a few days and do whatever we can.’
‘Sounds exciting.’
‘It is.’ But Jack was staring at Harriet with an expression that was almost sombre. ‘I think that’s a fantastic idea,’ he told her quietly. ‘Let’s make it happen.’
Harriet shrugged, trying to quell the beat of excitement that would make it disappointing if it didn’t happen.
‘I’ll think about it,’ she said. ‘It’ll probably be ages before the team gets deployed again. It’s not as if we get disasters every week, thank goodness.’
She hadn’t been entirely successful, Harriet realised as they ended their visit to Eddie and drove back to the other side of Sydney.
The excitement was still there.
Growing, even...
CHAPTER FOUR
DESPITE QUITE A few misgivings, this was turning out to be fun.
The SDR team’s rare access to the HUET training facility had been the perfect opportunity for Harriet to tag along in the capacity of a photographer. She wasn’t taking up extra space in a helicopter or chartered plane and everybody was keen to get a record of one of the more thrilling training sessions that was occasionally available.
HUET stood for Helicopter Underwater Escape Training. After a classroom training session, everybody moved to a deep, purpose-built diving pool dominated by a crane at one side. Attached to the crane was a metal cage designed to replicate the structure and seating of a helicopter. Participants wore float suits that kept them warmer than their normal overalls because they would be submerged more than once. They could take on a vertical escape and one where the ‘helicopter’ was submerged and then tipped on one side. For the more advanced or bravest amongst the team, they could get tipped completely upside down and even wear blackout goggles.
Harriet was recording everything from the beginning of the session, with people donning life jackets and getting strapped into the harnesses in their seats—even the expressions of trepidation that were obvious despite the dive masks covering half their faces.
She loved the shots she was getting as the cage was swung out and lowered into the pool, with the rush of bubbles exploding around the vanishing figures. She found she was holding her breath as she snapped murky images of the shapes at the bottom of the pool, waiting for people to unclip their harnesses, for someone to open the door and then to see the ‘survivors’ kick their way to the surface. The grins on faces and thumbs-up signals at that point were a joy to capture.
Harriet hadn’t been able to do this training the last time it had been available because she hadn’t been able to get time off work but Pete had gone on for weeks about what a thrill it had been and she’d been gutted to have missed out.
She was still missing out, being on the sidelines like this, but it was better than nothing.
Much better.
She could sense the excitement of the others. The fear. The pride in pushing oneself to do something scary and the sheer exhilaration of success. She would have been even more nervous than Kate if she was doing it herself but it certainly wasn’t something she could have attempted now. What if she kicked against the metal structure and her leg didn’t have the strength to give her the impetus needed to get the door and escape? Someone would have had to help her and that could have put them in danger by making it too long a time to be able to hold their breath.
She snapped a quick series of pictures as Blake climbed out of the pool after the sideways escape and then extended his hand to reach for Sam and help her out. The looks they gave each other were priceless but it might not be one they wanted to share. It was a shared moment of triumph. Total pride in each other and a very deep love.
For a moment Harriet lowered her camera, focusing instead on taking a few deep breaths to counter the sense of loss that swamped her.
Would she and Pete have ever looked at each other like that? It was an irrelevant thought because Pete was long gone but the longing was still very real. Not for Pete but for someone who would look at her as if nothing else in the world could ever be that important. That cherished.
And the sense of loss wasn’t just due to the empty aftermath of a failed relationship. She shouldn’t be standing here, dry and safe, while her teammates were literally immersed in this training session. She still felt like a part of this team and the longing to be properly involved was just as powerful as the need to be loved.
At an even deeper level, it brought back feelings of not being cherished as a child. Not the way that the parents of her friends seemed to love their children. In later years she’d wondered if she’d been added simply to complete a picture of a family. That maybe she’d been a disappointment of some kind. Too messy—the way a dog would have been? Or a sibling?
Maybe being here hadn’t been such a great idea after all.
‘That was terrifying,’ Sam told her, as she came closer.
‘You did it, though. Well done. I’ve got some great photos.’
‘Ooh...let me see...’
‘Later. I don’t want to miss any of the next one. It’s the biggie, isn’t it? Upside down?’
Sam shuddered. ‘Not for me. I’ve had enough. I’m freezing.’
‘Are you heading for
the showers?’
Sam shook her head. ‘I can’t go yet. Not until I know that Blake’s out of the pool.’
‘He’s going to do it?’
‘Yeah. And Jack. One of the firies said they wanted to but I think he’s changed his mind after the sideways one. I think he swallowed a bit of water.’
Harriet’s gaze shifted to where the two men were climbing back into the cage. Lifting her camera was an automatic shield as much as a desire to capture every moment of this experience. It had been Jack, with Sam’s backup, who had made this possible and, even if there were painful moments of loss to deal with, Harriet knew she was a whole lot closer to being the person she used to be and that had to be a good thing. Eventually, anyway...
Was Jack nervous? She zoomed in on his face and it felt like he was aware of her watching him because he turned his head, lifted a fist with his thumb up like a flag of confidence and grinned at her.
He had the most amazing smile. Harriet put her camera into video mode. She wanted to give Jack a record of every second of this.
The cage lurched as it was lifted and swung over the water. Harriet’s heart lurched right along with it. This was dangerous. No wonder Sam was standing there, hugging herself and looking distinctly pale. Jack was only a mate, not the person she was planning to spend the rest of her life with and she was feeling nervous now herself.
In all honesty, she had been missing Jack’s company since Harry the dog had gone home to Eddie. When Jack had called to see if she wanted to come and take photographs today, knowing that he was going to be there had tipped the balance in favour of coming.
The cage swung for a moment and then started to tilt. The two men were lying sideways like the last exercise but then the movement continued until they were both hanging in their harnesses upside down. Harriet knew that her video would capture Sam’s distressed sound as their heads touched the top of the pool and then vanished.
She was holding her own breath now as the cage slipped into the effervescence of the escaping air bubbles. Did being upside down make it harder to follow the rules they’d learned in the classroom, to wait until all those bubbles had cleared before they released their harnesses and opened the door?
Surely it was taking too long? Harriet was already starting to fight the urge to suck in some more oxygen but there was no sign of any movement from the bottom of the pool. Sam had her hand pressed against her mouth and the rest of the team looked frozen as they waited. And stared at the surface of the water. Had the men had difficulty with unclipping their harnesses or opening the door? Or had they become disoriented and couldn’t kick towards the surface? One of the instructors dropped to a crouch on the edge of the pool. Was he wondering whether he needed to dive in and help?
The tension escalated until Harriet’s hands were starting to tremble as they held the camera. Was she about to record a rescue attempt? Or worse...had she snapped the last smile the world would ever see from Jack Evans?
No...suddenly she could see blurry shapes that were moving underwater and almost instantly a head appeared. And then another. It had been a good decision to take a video, after all, because it captured the cheer that came from the whole team and the handshakes and congratulatory hugs that came from every direction as Blake and Jack hauled themselves out of the pool. It was possible it had also recorded the sound she’d made herself. A sigh that expressed the most profound relief that she’d ever felt in her life.
The session broke up a short time later with everyone heading for the showers and changing rooms. Except for Jack, who came over to where Harriet was sitting in the first row of the tiered seats.
‘How was that?’
‘Awesome. Were you scared, doing that upside down bit?’
‘Of course.’ But Jack was smiling. He was also dripping wet and had to be cold and exhausted but he sat down on the plastic seat beside Harriet. ‘You’d be a bit stupid not to be scared doing that but I figured it was a good thing to try. If it ever happens for real, maybe I’ll be a bit less scared and I’ll remember what to do.’
‘I took a video.’
‘Great... I’ll look forward to seeing it.’ His smile faded. ‘How was it, really? Did it make you feel like you were missing out?’
Harriet looked away in case he could see too much in her eyes.
‘A bit,’ she admitted.
‘So how would you feel about giving it a go?’
Her gaze flew back to meet his. ‘What?’
‘I had a chat to our instructor, Chris. He knows your story. He—and the guy operating the crane—are both happy to stay a bit longer. Just for a vertical dip. Just you and me. Nobody else has to know about it.’
‘But...’ Harriet was dumbfounded. ‘But...why?’
‘Because this type of training doesn’t come around too often and you might find yourself back on the team before then and feel like you missed out on something important.’
Harriet found herself shaking her head slowly. ‘I don’t think I could, Jack...’
‘Hey...’ His tone was firm enough to still the negative movement she was making. He leaned closer and held her gaze. ‘I believe in you, Harriet Collins. I think it’s time for you to start believing in yourself again.’
He reached out and took hold of her hand.
‘I know how hard it can be to take that first step,’ he said quietly. ‘But you’re not alone. I’m here. I can be here for every step it takes to get you back to where you want to be. If you want that,’ he added, his lips curving into a smile. ‘Kind of like a personal trainer.’ He gave her hand a quick squeeze and then let it go. ‘Or maybe just a good friend.’
The wave of emotion was threatening to drown Harriet. She didn’t recognise what it was that was so huge, however. Was this what real friendship had at its core? She could sense that closeness that came with special friends, like Sam, for instance, where you could always count on loyalty and support. But this was different.
Bigger.
Was this what real family was about? The bond of unconditional love that could be there from parents and siblings? From the kind of family she’d never been lucky enough to have herself?
That had to be what was so big it felt it could explode in her chest. What was threatening to bring tears to her eyes. Yes...if she could have had a brother, she would hope he would have been exactly like Jack.
She swallowed hard. ‘You really think I should do it?’
‘I know you should.’ He stood up. ‘Come on, let’s not keep these guys away from their well-deserved beer for too much longer. There’s a float suit waiting for you. You can put it on in the life jacket cupboard and that way nobody else will know what’s happening and hang around to watch.’
* * *
Had he pushed Harriet too far?
She looked suddenly small, strapped into the seat in the cage beside him. Small and frightened and so, so vulnerable.
This was a much bigger deal for her than for any other members of the team but he’d talked her into giving it a go and here she was.
Trusting him.
As the cage lurched and slipped into the water, he reached out and took hold of her hand.
‘Deep breath. Hold it until we’re out. Don’t worry. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.’
Trust was a precious gift and he wasn’t going to let her down.
Good grief...had he really believed that he could keep himself safe from offering anything to Harriet that could put him at risk of being rejected again? He’d done it again, hadn’t he, by offering to be a personal trainer and to spend as much time as it took for her to start believing in herself again?
But it still felt like something he was prepared to do. Wanted to do, very much, in fact. He might be shifting the barrier that had been there as far as a real friendship was concerned but he could still protect himself by making sure he
didn’t let himself hope for anything more than that. Friends were important, too.
Right now, as the cage sank below the surface and kept going down, he wanted nothing more than to protect this woman and the feeling was so strong it felt like it could last a lifetime.
But friendships could last that long, couldn’t they? From what he’d seen happening around him, they often lasted far longer than relationships or even marriages. And trust was a two-way street. If she was prepared to trust him this much, he had to let himself trust her as well—at least as far as being true friends.
More importantly, Harriet needed to learn to trust herself and not depend on him and he had to trust himself to know where that balance was. She needed a push, as long as she had protection nearby. So he let her hand go when the cage finally stopped its descent. Let her find the buckle on her own harness and release it and then pull herself clear of the cage to kick for the surface.
He couldn’t resist touching her again when they reached the edge of the pool, however. Putting his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close for a hug.
‘See? Wasn’t that bad, was it? Want to try a sideways one?’
* * *
Shooting a few hoops on the basketball court was supposed to be a fun way to end an intense workout session at the gym but when you were playing with Blake Cooper, it was an extra workout.
Jack grabbed his towel to mop the sweat from his face and neck and then picked up his water bottle.
‘You’re killing me, mate...’
Blake grinned. ‘Keeping you in shape, more like. You can thank me later.’ He took a long pull of his water and then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. ‘While you’re in a weakened state, though, I’ve got something I wanted to ask.’
Rescued by Her Mr. Right Page 5
