by Lucy Clark
‘Why are you so defensive? Seriously, Phemie, how do you know what Tommy’s half-wit cousin is feeling?’
‘She’s not a half-wit and I know what she’s feeling because I understand Down’s syndrome. My brother has it.’
‘Down what?’ one of the boys had asked.
She shook her head. ‘We graduate in a few weeks from high school and you people have no idea about the world. You all live in your own little bubbles and don’t care about anyone outside of them.’
‘You have a brother like that girl?’ Danny was almost aghast at the news. ‘Why didn’t I see him tonight? Are you ashamed of him? Hiding him away?’
‘I’m not ashamed of him. He was in bed. He’s younger than me and he goes to a different school.’
Danny then looked at his hands and wiped them on his jeans. ‘I touched you. I held your hand. Eww. Did I catch it?’
‘Nah, that only happens if you kissed her.’ His mate sniggered.
Phemie shook her head in utter disgust. ‘You people make me sick.’ A teacher came over then and broken up the group. Phemie went to check on Tommy and Lerleen, pleased to find the girl was OK.
‘Thanks,’ Tommy said. ‘I think I’ll take her home now.’
Phemie nodded then turned to look at Danny, her hopes and dreams crushed. The tingles he’d evoked had turned to disgust but for a while there it had been nice. Nice to feel as though someone liked her.
Now, though, she wasn’t in high school, she wasn’t an adolescent and yet Gil had somehow awakened those feelings, those sensations which she’d thought totally dormant. Still, to have someone of the opposite sex interested in her, to look at her as though she were beautiful, to let her know she was still mildly attractive was indeed exciting. The fact he’d managed to evoke such a reaction made her wonder if she was looking for something more than she presently had—life in the outback, working with good friends and spending her evenings alone.
Growing up, there had always been Anthony to consider. Her parents had thought he would always be living at home, that he’d never reach the stage where he’d be capable of independent living. Phemie had intended to stay close to home to support her parents in any way she could.
Yet Anthony had surprised them all. Out of the two children in the Grainger family, he’d been the first one to move out of home into the assisted living facility where carers such as Liz were on hand to help them whenever required. He’d shown them all he was more than capable once his parameters had been set and now here he was, travelling across the country.
With Anthony not needing her as much, and her parents deciding this was their opportunity to travel overseas, Phemie had found herself floundering in a sea of confusion until an excolleague and friend from Royal Perth hospital, Dexter Crawford, had coaxed her to check out the RFDS.
It had been just what the doctor had ordered. Stepping outside her very comfortable comfort zone was something Phemie rarely did, mainly because she was needed in her comfort zone, needed by her parents and her brother, but with Anthony forging ahead on his own and her parents travelling, the RFDS had provided Phemie with the opportunity to do something for herself.
Granted, she was still helping people, as was her nature, and it hadn’t taken her too long to settle down at the base where she’d been living for the past eight months. The staff she worked with, all of them, had been so extremely welcoming that she’d known she was in the right place.
Still, they were all married with families of their own and at times she felt the odd one out—the single one—which made her feel more isolated then the vast landscape of the outback.
Would it be so bad to have Gil come back to the base with her? It would only be for a week—seven days—and then he’d be gone. They’d experienced an instant connection—or, at least, she had. There was a good chance she was way off target but, still, having him around, knowing he could never stay…it might make her feel a little more normal for a while. She admired him as a professional and there was no denying she could certainly learn a lot from him in a professional capacity.
Just the thought of having him at the base made her skin prickle with anticipatory delight and her heart rate started to increase. No. She damped down those emotions. Attraction or not, she wasn’t looking for a relationship.
‘Phemie. I’m awake. Are you?’
A smile spread across her lips as she pushed her thoughts back into the box marked ‘DO NOT OPEN’ and opened her eyes to look at her brother. ‘I’m awake.’
‘I’m really excited. I get to go to Sydney.’
He made it sound as though he’d travelled to the moon and just for a split second she wished she could see the world as Anthony did—a place of wonder and enjoyment simply waiting to be explored. ‘I know, love.’ She placed a hand on his cheek. ‘How about you go and get changed out of your pyjamas and we’ll head to the dining car so you can have something to eat.’
Childlike delight lit his features as he talked excitedly about what was on his ‘list’ of things to do today. He ticked them off on his fingers and Phemie listened patiently. It was part of Anthony. He needed to get everything sorted out clearly in his mind before he did anything
Phemie spent the rest of the morning helping Liz and passing the time until the train pulled into Sydney’s central railway station. She didn’t see Gil in the dining car or the lounge carriage or anywhere else for that matter and after they’d disembarked from the train and had collected their luggage, Phemie said goodbye to Anthony and his friends.
‘Stay safe. Remember to only cross the road at traffic lights. Don’t go out at night time. Listen to Liz. And call me. Every night.’
‘To say goodnight to Phemie.’ Anthony nodded, content to accept her instructions.
‘Exactly.’ She hugged him close. ‘I love you.’
‘I love you, Phemie,’ he responded, and squeezed her tight just as a child would.
She watched him get onto the minibus that would take them to their lodgings, with promises from Liz that she’d make sure Anthony called every day. Phemie waved goodbye, blowing kisses until the minibus was out of sight.
Sighing, she looked around, bringing her thoughts back to her own life and the next obstacle that lay before her. She needed to hail a taxi and get to the conference hotel. There were no scheduled events until tomorrow morning’s welcome breakfast, which was held for the presenters, the conference not really starting until Monday. Still, she was looking forward to having a proper shower, as opposed to the one she’d had on the train, swaying to and fro with a few drops of water landing on her skin, and hopefully managing to catch up on her sleep.
Looking up and down the street, she realised there wasn’t a vacant taxi in sight. All the other train passengers had taken them whilst she’d been fussing over her brother. She pulled out her mobile phone and was about to punch in the number for the taxi service when a black car pulled to the kerb beside her. She was about to pick up her luggage and move to another spot when the rear passenger window slid smoothly down.
‘May I be so bold as to offer you a lift?’ The deep, accented tone she’d dreamt about washed over her.
Phemie glanced up from her phone to look directly into the brown, hypnotic eyes of the man she’d been hard-pressed to stop thinking about ever since they’d first met.
‘Gil.’
He stepped from the car as the chauffeur came round and started to put Phemie’s luggage in the boot. ‘I’m presuming you’re on your way to the conference hotel?’
‘Yes.’ She looked into his gorgeous face and tried not to sigh. He was so incredibly good-looking. There were no two ways about it.
‘Then you must allow me to give you a lift.’ He held the rear passenger door for her and as her luggage had already been stowed in the boot, she really had no option but to accept.
‘Uh…thank you,’ she replied as she climbed into the back seat.
‘Hello, there.’
Phemie was momentarily startled at the
other person sitting in the back of the car. She sat next to him and then found herself sandwiched between the two men as Gil climbed in beside her. Whilst there was more than enough room for the three of them, she was incredibly self-conscious of the warmth radiating from the professor.
‘Euphemia Grainger, meet William Hartnell.’
‘Pleased to meet you, Dr Grainger.’ William shook her hand politely.
‘William is my personal aide and right-hand man,’ Gil explained.
‘And his left hand too, sometimes. I also double as the gopher and bodyguard.’ William leaned a little closer and said in a stage whisper, ‘I’d even take a bullet for him.’
Phemie turned to look at Gil in horror and concern. ‘You have people shooting at you?’
Gil laughed. ‘No. William was merely joking. I apologise for his warped sense of humour. I guess as we’ve been travelling together for almost a year now, we’re too used to each other’s ways.’
‘OK.’ Phemie decided to simply clasp her hands in her lap and sit nice and still until the car arrived at the hotel. She needed to concentrate, to keep her mind firmly under control and not allow the sensation of being this close to Gil to affect her. Of course, they’d been much closer, given that she’d fallen on him when the train had made its emergency stop, but that touch had been accidental. She was also trying to fight the way his scent was winding itself around her, the warmth of his body radiating out to encompass her. She prayed for green lights all the way to the hotel because the sooner she could put a bit of distance between herself and Gil, the sooner she’d be able to start thinking coherently again.
‘I take it Anthony’s safely away?’
‘Yes. Uh…thank you for asking.’
‘When does the group fly back to Perth?’
‘Wednesday.’ The conversation felt stilted but she tried not to worry about it. Gil was the one who’d offered her the lift so as far as she was concerned he could make all the effort at conversation. Besides, she was too busy keeping her equilibrium under strict control.
‘And when will we be leaving Sydney?’
‘Sorry?’ William chimed in before Phemie could answer. ‘What do you mean? Has something extra been added to your schedule?’We?
Gil shook his head. ‘After this conference ends, I officially have one week’s leave to do with as I see fit. Phemie, here, works for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. I’m going to spend a week in the outback with her.’
‘You want to go to the outback instead of the beach?’
‘Correct.’
‘The rest of the team don’t have to—?’
‘No. You all have the right to choose what it is you want to do for that last week.’
‘And you want to go to the outback?’ William looked at Gil as though he’d grown an extra head.
Phemie felt as though she were at a ping-pong match. The two men were clearly friends but it was also clear that William didn’t like being kept out of the loop, especially when it pertained to his boss.
She looked straight ahead. Green lights. Please?
‘Phemie’s going to try and pull some strings to see if I can return to the RFDS base with her instead of heading up to see the tropical coast.’
William pursed his lips for a moment before opening the folder that was on his lap. He took out a pen and made a notation. ‘Dr Grainger, I’ll be needing your cellphone number and a contact for the RFDS base.’
Phemie turned and looked at William, shaking her head in confusion. ‘No. Um…this is all a bit premature. I haven’t even spoken to my boss yet. Nothing is set in stone.’ She was really starting to feel pressured and she didn’t like it one bit. She liked things neat and organised and all hospital corners. Not higgledypiggledy like this. If Gil wanted to come and see where she worked, she would talk to her boss but she wasn’t going to be pushed around, having people making her life miserable.
‘Which is why I need your contact details. So we can liaise and iron out travel plans,’ William pointed out, pen poised.
Phemie looked at Gil and he could see she wasn’t going to play ball—at least not William’s way.
‘Back off for the moment, William,’ he remarked.
‘Gil.’ Phemie spoke clearly. ‘I’ll speak to my boss tonight and see what I can do. I need to find out if you can legally come and help but there will be a lot of red tape to get through. As I’ve already mentioned, I’m not sure I can promise anything. I’ll let you know—both of you.’ She turned to look at William, making sure he knew he wasn’t being kept out of any loop. ‘As soon as I have news. But until then this topic is off limits. I have to present a paper at the conference on Monday and I don’t need any other interruptions. Understood?’
Gil could see the strain on her face and nodded. ‘Understood, Phemie.’
She relaxed a little and was pleased when the car slowed down, hoping they’d finally arrived at the hotel. When she looked out the front windscreen it was to discover they were standing still in the middle of traffic. So much for green lights all the way.
‘Problem?’ Gil asked the chauffeur.
‘Not sure, sir. Just a moment, I’ll check to see if I can find out what the problem might be.’
‘I hope it’s not an accident,’ William murmured as the chauffeur made a phone call. ‘We’re delayed enough as it is.’
‘Sydney always has traffic jams.’ Phemie tried not to shift around in her seat. She couldn’t see much out the front window and moving to try and catch a glimpse of what might indeed be holding them up was only causing her to brush up even more against Gil.
‘Good heavens,’ Gil muttered, then, before she was aware of what he was doing, he’d unbuckled his seat belt and was opening his door.’
‘Gil?’ she called.
‘What are you—? No don’t,’ William protested. ‘Stay in the car. Gilbert?’ But it was no use. The professor had disappeared. The chauffeur in the front seat was still making calls, trying to discover the reason for the delay.
‘He’s always like this,’ William complained, and pulled his own phone from his pocket, pressing a button on his speed dial. A moment later he too was talking on his phone and Phemie wished on all the sanity she could muster that she’d had the presence of mind to decline Gil’s offer of a lift and to find her own way of getting to the conference hotel. Even if it had meant she’d right now be sitting on board a bus stuck in the same traffic jam, at least she wouldn’t have to be putting up with the prima donnas around her.
When the rear passenger door was wrenched open, she almost jumped out of her skin.
‘Accident. Two cars, at least, from what I could see. It didn’t happen that long ago. Emergency services have been called but we need to act now. Out.’
Phemie didn’t need to be told twice and after he’d ordered the chauffeur to pop the car boot, Gil retrieved a small medical kit. ‘It’s all I’ve got.’
‘It’ll have to do. We can improvise wherever possible.’ They started walking away from his town car, both of them ignoring William’s protests.
‘Improvise, eh?’
‘Sure.’ She grinned at him. ‘If you want to survive a week in the outback, Professor, you’d best be a fast learner.’
A spark of interested delight flashed into his eyes, which left Phemie catching her breath with a wave of tingling anticipation. ‘Oh, I am, Dr Grainger. Just you wait and see how fast I can learn.’
CHAPTER FIVE
AS THEY walked past the parked cars, some impatiently honking their horns, others deciding to switch off their engines, Phemie was glad the accident hadn’t happened in one of the tunnels. Thankfully, from what she could remember of Sydney, they weren’t too far from Sydney General hospital, which meant that help would be on its way sooner rather than later. All she and Gil really needed to do was provide triage for the patients and provide whatever care they could.
‘I thought there were only two cars involved.’ Gil pointed to where there were two other cars, having sla
mmed on their brakes and skidded into other cars.
‘It looks like a backwards letter K,’ Phemie remarked. There were three lanes of traffic, all of them now blocked by cars strewn across the lanes. Some of them had stopped perilously close to each other but had managed to avoid crashing. Of the others, they could see that some had only been hit in front, others were crumpled at both ends but the main car, right in the centre of the crush, appeared bashed from all sides.
‘How do you want to play this?’ Phemie asked, more than happy to defer to Gil.
‘Take a look at the passengers in the surrounding cars. I’ll check the main one to see whether there are any survivors.’ There were two men out of their cars who were also trying to help and Gil walked up to them.
‘My colleague and I are doctors. Have you any information on the situation?’
‘Uh…we’ve called for emergency services—’
‘I did that,’ the younger man interjected, and Phemie realised he could be no more than twenty years old.
‘Good thinking,’ she praised. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Connor. That’s my dad, Jim.’
‘I did twenty years in the army,’ Jim remarked.
‘Then you’ll be able to keep a clear head.’ Gil nodded. ‘If you can keep traffic controlled and maybe find a way to clear a drivable path through for the emergency crews, that would be of great assistance. Take point where needed.’
‘Yes, Doctor,’ Jim replied, almost snapping a salute.
Gil turned to Phemie. ‘Go check out those cars.’ He pointed to the ones at the rear of the mess. ‘Report back as soon as you can. I’ll do the same.’
With that he headed off to the car in the centre as Jim and his son started taking control of the traffic. Phemie walked over to the end car and peered inside. Only one person.
