‘Why? Think of all the times she left us alone to go rescue some animal. All the times we sat in the car and waited for her. And let’s not forget that she lied to me for seventeen years. That’s more than half my life. In another seventeen years, I will still feel the same.’
‘It sounds like you’re making me choose between you and her. Don’t do that.’
‘I thought you made that choice seventeen years ago. I thought you chose me. Was I wrong? Thanks for the lift. I’ll see you at work.’
Ben opened the car door and got out, slamming it behind him. He hated arguing with Justin. His brother was the one person in this world he loved. And the only person who loved him—unconditionally. As a child, all the love he’d known had come from his twin. He’d almost convinced himself that was all he needed, until that night, when he’d discovered that their mother had lied to him his whole life. That was the final straw. He thought of all those times she’d smiled at him and Justin as they cut their birthday cake. And every time it was a lie. Some people might think it was a small, unimportant thing she had lied about. That wasn’t the point. The fact of the lie was the point.
Their mother had cared more about her rescued animals than her sons. Why would he want her back in their life? She meant nothing to him now.
***
When he arrived at work, Justin went straight into the building without waiting for his brother. Like brothers everywhere, Justin and Ben had the occasional fight. The closeness that came with being identical twins didn’t preclude arguments, disagreements and, on a couple of memorable occasions when they were in their late teens, actual fist fights. But such events passed quickly. Justin hoped this would be no different. He had felt much the same way as Ben years ago, but now? No. Fifteen years is a long time and heated feelings cool. Maybe he’d grown up, but in some ways Ben remained that angry teenager. He’d get over it in time … probably. Until then, Justin was on his little brother’s side, as he always had been.
A uniformed figure was waiting for him in the shared rec space. ‘Turner. My office. Where’s your brother? I want him too.’
‘I’m here.’ Ben appeared in the doorway. He avoided looking at Justin as the two of them filed into the commander’s office.
‘Latest updates from Sydney say we can expect a hell of a fire season,’ Ted Carter said. Justin and Ben nodded; this was hardly news. ‘So we’re getting out there now. We need to prepare some of the smaller communities for what they could face. We’ll be sending men to the smallest towns all over the state. Recruitment. Education. Preparation. Those are the words the communications team are pushing.’
‘That makes sense,’ Justin said. ‘But we don’t want to spread ourselves too thin. When we’re needed—’
‘You’ll go where you’re needed, as you always have. But hopefully this year, people will be a bit more prepared. And if we have new volunteers as well, then we’ll be even better off.’
Justin nodded. ‘So you’re sending me …?’
‘Sending both of you. To Wagtail Ridge for a week or two. That town is pretty vulnerable and, after that last fire, there’s bound to be more. There’s a small station there. It’s not much more than a shed really, but it’ll do as a base. And they have a small tanker unit—all paid for by local fundraising—so there’s a beginning there that hopefully the two of you can build on. There’s living quarters with a bunk room and a kitchen. That’s why I’m sending the two of you—I imagine you’ll cope with living in cramped quarters just fine.’
Beside him, Justin heard Ben mumble something under his breath.
‘Is there a problem?’ Carter asked.
‘No, sir. No problem,’ Ben replied.
‘Good. Okay. Get yourselves organised. I want you to head down there tomorrow.’
‘Yes, sir.’
As they left the commander’s office, it occurred to Justin that Wagtail Ridge was exactly the place to be if he wanted to track down his mother. One glance at Ben’s face told him the same thought had occurred to him, but he wasn’t happy about it. The more he thought about it, the more Justin liked the idea of this assignment. It was well past time their small family worked out its issues.
And there was Anna. The thought of seeing her again was … exciting. He’d never felt so strongly attracted to a woman based on one short meeting. It wasn’t simply that she was beautiful, there was courage in the way she looked at the world. Courage and kindness. She was smart and he would have bet money that she would be funny, given a chance. And he so very much wanted to give her that chance. Give himself a chance to get to know her. Yes, he was curious about the scar on her face; he did want to know what had happened. But only if she wanted to tell him. Apart from that curiosity, the scar mattered not at all. It wasn’t who she really was. And who she really was interested him a great deal.
He was looking forward to his assignment in Wagtail Ridge.
CHAPTER
7
Anna laid the last of her groceries on the counter. ‘That’s it, I think.’
Behind the counter, shopkeeper Kelly was processing the purchases and packing them into a cardboard box. ‘Did you hear? We’re going to have a couple of firemen stationed here for a while.’
‘Are we? Is that because of the fire last week?’
‘Maybe. Apparently they’ll be looking at fire preps around the town. Helping people fireproof their properties. Recruiting and training more volunteers for the bushfire season.’
‘That all sounds good.’ Anna thought of the business card in her wallet and the man who had given it to her. She wasn’t sure if she hoped he would be the one assigned to the Ridge or not. ‘How do we know all this?’
‘Val, of course.’
