LITMIR.BIZ

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on her own was breathe.

      A huge vase of red-and-yellow hibiscus blooms sat in the centre of the desk. New pens and a large pad had been lined up neatly. The doc probably wouldn’t realise how much she was wanted and needed here.

      ‘Wow, are those for me? What a lovely surprise.’ Rachel spoke up behind him, making him start. Brushing past him, her arm slid across his and he had to fight the urge to haul her against him. Imagine if he did. There’d be fireworks for sure.

      ‘They’re all yours,’ he croaked.

      ‘Makes me feel very special.’

      ‘Watch out for ants.’ When her exquisitely styled eyebrows arched at him, Ben added, ‘Off the flowers.’

      She placed her medical bag on the desk.

      His warning obviously hadn’t sunk in. ‘Your bag. Ants.’

      Her pale face turned a dusky pink. ‘Okay, slow learner.’ Her bow-shaped mouth curved into a sweet smile that twisted his belly and flooded him with warmth. Rachel’s glance checked the empty shelves, the hospital bed pushed against one wall, and she chuckled. ‘Well, here we go. First day of my new job. It’s quite exciting to be practising in such a different environment.’

      ‘It won’t be easy.’ In case she’d missed the point last night, she needed to be warned that there’d be no fancy diagnostic equipment, should be told that second opinions came via the phone or email. At the end of the day the buck stopped with her. There were going to be times when she’d feel very isolated. How she dealt with that would be a test of her mettle. Somehow Ben didn’t think she’d be found wanting. But he was only guessing. Her needlework last night had been fine, but that had a degree of difficulty of one on a scale of one to ten.

      ‘There’ll probably be moments when I’ll wish I was back in London, but right now I see this as a challenge. It’s all too easy to take everything for granted when you work in a very modern hospital with all the equipment and staff you need available at the push of a button.’

      Should he tell her he’d happily discuss any diagnosis problems she might have? Icy bumps lifted the skin on his arms. No way could he do that. Not now, not ever. What was happening to him that he’d even consider such a thing?

      ‘Ben, Rachel, there you are.’ Lissie bounced into the room, her smile wide, her eyes filled with happiness. ‘Glad you brought Rachel in, Ben. I ran out of time with Jason arguing that he shouldn’t go to school when Harry and Riley didn’t have to.’ Lissie wrapped her arms around the doc in a big hug. Rachel seemed to sink into her friend’s arms as though she needed the comfort.

      ‘Not a problem,’ he muttered.

      Lissie dropped her arms, turning to him. ‘I hear poor Effie was our new doctor’s first patient after her accident last night.’

      ‘Right.’ Ben watched the ease the women had with one another. A sense of loss, of being on the outside, slammed into him. When had been the last time someone had hugged him? As in an affectionate kind of hug? Far too long ago. Since when had he even needed a damned hug? Right now, as it happened. After last night’s onslaught of emotions over Catrina, he’d ached with need for closeness to someone. Quickly, before he let despair take hold, he dug deep for the strength to haul up the protective barrier he usually kept wrapped around his heart and soul. He didn’t need close friends. He was a stand-alone man these days. Far safer. For them, as well as him.

      ‘How did you hear about Effie?’ Rachel grinned at the other doctor.

      ‘Everyone knows everything that goes on in Raro. Don’t forget that if you decide to do something you don’t want found out.’ Lissie grinned back. ‘Colleen has taken Riley for a look at the carp in the pond outside. She’s happy to look after him until Lanette gets here to collect him. Lanette’s running a bit late.’

      The doc shrugged and laughed again. ‘So Riley’s not a problem? He can sit in here with me until your sister-in-law turns up.’

      ‘Colleen will be spoiling him rotten already. She loves kids, and misses her grandkids heaps.’

      Ben straightened up from leaning against the wall. ‘I’m off. I can drop Riley at Lanette’s.’

      The doc’s mouth tightened. ‘I thought you were on your way to work.’

      Didn’t she like him stepping in to help? ‘I go past Lanette’s house.’

      ‘Okay, then, thanks. I’ll come and find him, explain the change of plan.’ Her mouth eased off the tension.

      Lissie asked, ‘Ben, do you know anyone with a reliable car for sale? Rachel’s adamant she needs one, though I keep telling her the buses are fine.’

      ‘I don’t fancy catching a bus hauling a week’s worth of groceries with me.’ Rachel sighed. ‘Besides, what happens if I get called in during the night? No buses then.’

      ‘Use my car.’ The offer was out before Ben had thought through the ramifications. ‘Until I find you one to buy.’

      ‘Won’t you need it?’ the doc asked.

      ‘Got a work truck.’

      Lissie explained, ‘The cops are allowed to use their vehicles to go to and from work, which means they can stop just about anywhere in their own time.’ She looked at her watch. ‘Rachel, you’ve got lots of people waiting to meet you before your first clinic at ten.’

      ‘Right, I’ll say goodbye to Riley and get started.’

      Ben stepped out of the office. Time to put some miles between him and his distracting neighbour. Distracting? An exploding petrol tanker would be a distraction. This woman made much more of an impact. He should never have hung around in her office, but he’d wanted to see her in her working space so he could picture her throughout his day. He had a sense of losing control, of acting like a lovesick puppy around her.

      He suspected she’d be a superb obstetrician. Ask him to justify that and he couldn’t, but Rachel had a purposeful air that demanded confidence in her. The women had been talking for weeks now about the new ladies’ doctor coming to the island. One of his colleagues said his wife would’ve gone back to New Zealand to have her baby if the doc hadn’t been appointed. He believed the women were in good hands.

      Stepping outside, Ben shook away the old, familiar hospital smells that had taunted him while he’d been inside. Formalin seemed to have a way of getting into everything, even in rooms where it was never used. It had a smell most people disliked but he’d accepted it as part of his life a very long time ago when he’d started his medical training.

      He strode away, swearing under his breath. He did not need this. It was all the doc’s fault these once-buried memories were pounding at him again. Why couldn’t Lissie have found her a house to rent further around the island, closer to the hospital? Why did he keep opening his trap and offering to do things for her? Like taking the kid to Lanette’s. That need to help her he’d felt last night would not go away.

      Ben headed to the pond and slapped his hands on his hips as he watched the boy leaning over the water, following a large carp swimming around the edge. Beside him the doc was talking softly, her face full of love.

      Stay away from the kid, Ben growled to himself as his heart rolled over. Stay away from the doc, he hissed in his mind as his stomach tightened. Then life would return to its uneasy but uneventful pace and he could slip back into obscurity.

      Rachel followed Colleen through the hospital, being stopped every few minutes by someone wanting to shake her hand and welcome her to Rarotonga. ‘I’m starting to feel like royalty,’ she quipped to Colleen. ‘I only hope I can remember everyone’s names.’

      ‘You’ll be fine.’ Colleen stopped at the open door to the maternity ward. ‘At least this should look familiar to you.’

      Stepping into the noisy room with windows pushed open to allow in any breeze that might come this way, Rachel paused to

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