by Karin Baine
‘Even busy doctors are entitled to a lunch break. Are you telling me you don’t take one back home?’ His raised eyebrow and smirk dared her to deny it.
‘Of course I take my regulation breaks. Just not usually all at once.’ She omitted to mention she took a packed lunch and did her paperwork through those breaks since it made her sound as if she had no life outside work.
He made a derisory ‘pfft’ sound through his teeth. ‘Ten minutes off our feet, keeping a baby under observation, isn’t a real break. We need a proper time out to de-stress before our next patients, otherwise how can we do our jobs effectively? You need to learn how to go with the flow, Emily.’
His cheeky wink only served to irritate her further.
‘I thought that’s what I was doing.’ The sigh of self-pity was entirely justified, she thought, after coming all the way out here and taking part in everything thrown at her thus far. If she let herself get carried away too much there was a danger she’d end up completely lost at sea.
‘It’s lunch, Emily. It’s not a big deal.’
It would seem silly to him but in her head it translated to something much bigger—ditching their responsibilities for their own gratification. That was exactly what Greg had done and she’d been the one left to deal with the consequences. It wasn’t a situation she intended to re-create any time soon.
‘What about cover? We can’t abandon our post here and leave people without adequate care.’
‘We can put a note on the door but, honestly, we won’t be that hard to track down if something happens. Yasi Island has survived all this time without us and I’m sure they’ll cope over one lunchtime.’ He was already scribbling on a piece of paper now he’d made her concerns seem ridiculous.
She was here for two weeks, had treated one emergency patient so far, and was trying to avoid a shared break under the cover of her ‘they can’t live without me’ excuse. It was no wonder he wasn’t buying it. This was about him, and her fear of spending time with him, and nothing else. She had to get over it or the next fortnight was going to be hell.
‘Is there some place we can buy lunch? I don’t recall seeing any fast-food restaurants nearby.’ Her tongue-in-cheek comment was intended to make her seem less of a jobsworth but the practicalities of his proposal were no less important to her. While it was refreshing not to have a coffee shop or burger joint on every inch of land, there was also a distinct lack of grocery outlets. She had literally nothing to bring to the table and it wouldn’t be polite to help herself to Miriama’s meagre provisions.
‘Lack of refrigeration is a problem on the island when the only electricity available is via the odd generator here and there so most of the food is fresh. There’s none of your fast-frozen, pre-packed, no-taste, processed muck here. The gathering of food is a communal effort, as is eating it. There’ll be no shortage of hosts to take lunch with.’ He pinned the note to the door and hovered, clearly waiting for her to leave with him.
She was certain the idea of turning up at people’s homes uninvited and unannounced was something he did all the time, given his nonchalance now, but she was used to a certain etiquette. Dinner parties and organised soirées were more her thing than breaking bread with strangers. Honestly, this man had no shame.
‘Should we take a gift?’ Something to break the ice and make it seem less like begging for food. She’d rather starve than face any humiliation.
‘You’ve already donated supplies to the school and I thought we could head there first. The children will be thrilled to meet you. They enjoy showing off and I know for a fact this is their lunchtime too. So...’ He gestured for her to make her way out in front of him but she wasn’t entirely convinced by his argument. That ‘first’ comment alluded to the idea there’d be more than one stop.
‘You could take your medical bag with you if that makes you any more comfortable about leaving.’ He pre-empted her next attempt to back out.
‘A mobile clinic?’ It wasn’t a bad idea to combine work and lunch, and accepting their hospitality in exchange for her medical skills was much more palatable than simply pulling up a chair and waiting to be served.
‘If that’s what you’d prefer.’ His voice was a mixture of amusement and exasperation.
‘It is.’ She knew she could be hard work when people seemed to tire of her so easily but at least Joe nudged her with encouragement rather than criticism. It left her free to make decisions on her own terms.
Negotiations over, she grabbed her bag and followed him out the door. Despite her initial reservations, reaching this compromise felt like a win. With a little forward planning she could do spontaneity. Somewhere between Joe’s laid-back attitude and her regimented approach to work they might find a way to actually make this work. Perhaps if she found that happy medium in her personal life, she might make that work again too.
* * *
Joe had been right again. It was becoming a habit. And very annoying. Every time his cool, calm and rational thinking was proved correct it made her fears seem all the more neurotic.
Their impromptu visit to the school had caused such a commotion the children had immediately abandoned their lessons. She would’ve felt terribly guilty about the disruption if their teacher hadn’t been equally animated by their arrival.
‘Vanaku. Thank you for coming to see the children.’
The pupils all stood to attention behind their desks as though someone of great importance had entered the room. It was difficult to come to terms with the fact that person could be her.
‘I, er...we thought I should come and introduce myself. I’m Emily, the new doctor.’ She shook hands with the pretty young teacher.
‘I’m Keresi. We’re so grateful for your wonderful gifts to the school. Aren’t we, children?’
They were prompted into an enthusiastic chorus of agreement that managed to suffuse Emily’s cheeks with heat.
‘It’s nothing, really.’ She’d only brought a few stationery supplies at the last minute. Nothing that would’ve warranted such an outpouring of gratitude at home. It was humbling to be reminded how lucky she was in the grand scheme of things and how much she took for granted. Okay, her heart had taken a mauling recently but she’d had a university education that enabled her to live a life of luxury compared to many here.
‘We would really like to do something for you.’ The effusive teacher clapped her hands to assemble the kids along the back wall of the classroom.
Emily stepped further into the room to allow Joe in on whatever was about to happen. No matter how hard she tried to make this a solo adventure they were destined to share these experiences and if she was honest, everything seemed slightly less intimidating when he was close by. This morning had been a prime example. She’d coped with the emergency largely on her own but having him there had been a comfort when she was so far from the medical support she was used to. Joe had been the first person in a long time to make sure she hadn’t felt alone.
The children launched into a repertoire of songs and dance, so well choreographed she understood this must be something they performed on a regular basis for tourists—and hungry doctors. It enabled her to stop overanalysing what people would think of her for turning up uninvited and enjoy the proud display of talent. Old and young alike had made it impossible not to be a part of the community here.
Once the show was over, she and Joe broke into applause.
‘That was just...lovely.’ The tears in her eyes and lump in her throat arrived unexpectedly.
‘Yes, thanks, everybody.’ Joe lifted his hands above his head and gave them another round of applause.
‘We’re going to take our lunch outside now, if you’d care to join us.’ Keresi motioned her class outside as she delivered the invitation Joe had prophesied.
‘That’s so kind of you. We’d be honoured. Wouldn’t we, Emily?�
� He didn’t even attempt to hide his glee at being proved right.
‘Sure, and in return we’d be happy to do a free health check for everyone while we’re here.’
She’d call that an even trade and a conscience salve all in one.
With everyone in accordance and no one beholden to anyone else, the trio of adults joined the rest of the class outside on the grass.
Joe had made it sound as though lunch would be some grand affair with buffet-style tables of food, or at least that’s how she’d interpreted it. Instead, the children were cross-legged under the shade of the trees, tucking into their food boxes.
‘What are we going to do? A lunch-box raid?’ she murmured, before catching herself.
She cleared her throat to draw his attention and spoke again. ‘I’m not taking food from the mouths of babes.’
‘Will you chill out? I can guarantee you’ll neither have to ask for food while you’re here nor starve. Honestly, you put yourself through so much unnecessary stress you’ll make yourself ill. You should take a leaf out of your brother’s book and take this all in your stride.’ He rested his large hand on her shoulder in an act that should’ve been easy for her to shrug off along with his advice, but his warmth on her bare skin stole away any snarky retort. His touch had distracted her even from the arrival of her stepbrother, who was strolling towards them.
‘Hey, you two. I saw your note and figured you might want to share a bite to eat.’ He held up a basket of fresh fruit and other foods not readily identifiable to Emily. At this moment she didn’t care. Her stomach was rumbling and Peter was family. She was entitled to take food from him guilt-free.
‘Oh, ye of little faith.’
Joe was really going to keep this gloating going all day.
Thankfully he did release her from his thrall, abandoning her shoulder in favour of a banana. There was definitely a happy vibe about him, her brother too, which was surprising given their previous life before Yasi. It showed a definite strength of character in both of them to have come through the darkness that time in Afghanistan had surely brought to their door.
She kind of envied this enlightened attitude they’d found where they no longer sweated the small stuff and trusted that everything would somehow work out in the end. Although not the path, or the losses they’d endured to reach this Zen place. A place that seemed so far beyond her reach when even the timely food delivery was causing concern.
‘Er...what is this?’ She prodded the leafy parcels that were apparently the main component of their meal.
‘Rourou and cassava,’ Peter declared, as though that helped her identify what he expected her to eat. Time apart had made him forget who he was dealing with here. This was the girl who’d taken a great deal of persuading to partake of the mildest curries when they’d gone to an Indian restaurant for the first time. She needed any new dish explained in simple layman’s terms and a tasting demonstration before she ventured into new territory.
Joe had no such qualms as he dug in with his fingers to take a sample. ‘They’re dalo leaves with boiled tapioca.’
‘Just like real school dinners, then?’ With her food taster apparently unharmed, and Peter helping himself too, Emily braved the unknown. It wasn’t as bad tasting as she’d imagined and the starchy snack would fuel her for the rest of the afternoon, along with the more familiar fruit she took for later.
‘I know you’d rather have a pasta salad and a fruit smoothie but this is the next best thing. You’ll get used to it. I have.’ Peter took a second helping to prove his point.
‘I see that.’ She also saw the way his gaze kept drifting past her to watch the pretty Keresi in the background.
‘Did you make these, bro?’ Joe scooped up the last food bundle after she declined it.
Her taste buds had been enjoying the sweet and stodgy delights of comfort food these past months so it was going to take some time to adjust.
‘No. The young mother whose baby you saved this morning sent them over to say thank-you. You two are her new heroes.’
‘Hey, it was all your sister. This girl knows her stuff and I wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of her by claiming credit for what she did. She can hit pretty hard when she wants to.’ Joe held his hands up and deflected the praise back to her.
‘Oh, I know all about it. She can be vicious if you take her toys without permission and as for her chocolate stash, if you touch that your life won’t be worth living.’ Peter made it sound as though they’d had a tempestuous relationship growing up when nothing could be further from the truth. She’d been so happy to be accepted by him and his mum, Shirl, she’d followed him like a puppy. He’d have been justified in pushing his pesky shadow away but he’d never once made her feel like a nuisance or his ugly stepsister. She’d often thought how different her life could’ve been if Shirl had been her actual mother, avoiding all the unpleasantness of her early years.
Peter rubbed the invisible evidence of their imaginary argument on his leg but his eyes were still focused on something, someone else. That someone who was making her way over to their little group.
‘Can I get you a drink?’
‘That would be—’
‘I’ll help you.’ Peter cut her off as he stumbled to his feet in a hurry.
‘Could he be any more obvious?’ Emily’s eye-roll was born out of her irrational jealousy that there was now a third party competing for his attention. She may as well have been back in high school when he had been the popular kid and she’d been the newbie with no friends of her own.
‘Give him a break.’
‘I thought he was here to spread the word of God, not get romantically involved with his congregation.’ She’d never seen him so smitten as he trailed after his love interest into the school, his tongue practically hanging out, but she shouldn’t be a brat and put her own happiness above Peter’s. This lovestruck bohemian was a far cry from the traumatised veteran she’d last encountered and his healing was all that mattered.
‘He’s a red-blooded, single man, not a monk, and this place is doing him the world of good. He’ll be settled down with two point four kids before you know it.’ Joe plucked a blade of grass from the ground and wound it around his finger until the circulation stopped and it turned white.
Despite his wise words on the subject he didn’t look any more thrilled about that prospect than she did. He was supposed to be the fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants adventurer, not a stick-in-the-mud who hated change like her.
‘And you? Are you planning on settling down at some point?’ Her heart fluttered as she asked the question, which had been on her mind since he’d kissed her.
His snort-laugh cut any hope dead that she could be the one to make him think again about his nomadic life choice but it was better to face that truth now before she got carried away over the next few days and considered that a possibility.
‘No chance. These itchy feet of mine don’t let me hang around long enough to develop that kind of attachment.’
‘Why’s that?’ It would’ve made more sense to her that someone who’d been in a war zone would’ve been glad of the normality and stability that a family could bring.
He was pulling the grass out in clumps now. ‘Life’s too short not to get out there and experience everything the world has to offer. I’m never going to be the pipe-and-slippers type to sit and vegetate in front of the telly with his missus.’
There was the crux of Emily’s ill-judged attraction towards him. If you swapped the pipe for a bar of chocolate he’d just described her idea of a perfect night in.
He hadn’t mentioned the events leading to his retirement from the army but she guessed that was part of the reason for his compulsion to live life to the full. In that sense he and her brother were very alike. The blast had had a profound impact on how they lived from day to day and she
was in awe of their courage when any new experience brought her out in a cold sweat. If, on the other hand, this drifting from one place to the next had been the guys running away from dealing with what had happened, setting down roots was a huge step forward. Still, long-term relationships didn’t always equal a happy-ever-after.
‘Yeah, marriage sucks,’ she said, trying to convince herself she didn’t want or need it any more either.
Joe raised his eyebrows at her as he stood and brushed the grass from his hands. Now she was going to have to explain herself and confess she was one of those losers who’d tried and failed at it.
‘I’m divorced. Greg left me for another woman.’ Even in the shade she was burning with the shame of her husband’s rejection. Although it was almost a relief to say it out loud.
Colleagues and friends knew about the split but she hadn’t divulged the gory details. Blurting it out to a man she’d only met and most likely would never see again was liberating. She could vent without fear of repercussions.
He held out his hand to help her up and without missing a beat said, ‘He’s an idiot.’
Those three simple words brought a smile to her lips and a lightness in her heart. There was no changing of the subject or querying the circumstances, he’d simply decided in her favour. Greg was an idiot and she should stop wasting any more of her life on him.
Joe’s lifestyle sounded too lonely for her but she could appreciate its merits. There was an attraction in walking away from a relationship before things got too serious and certain expectations grew around it. Such as being together for ever. Avoiding love was the best way to protect your heart. Thank goodness she no longer trusted anyone with hers.
CHAPTER FIVE
JOE’S PLAN TO get outside of their confined workspace into the great outdoors to create some distance between him and Emily had backfired spectacularly. Somehow mingling with a large group of excited school children had led to lunch together discussing their private lives, or in his case a lack of one. Where Emily’s was concerned he’d call it a lucky escape.
