‘I think he was probably a pet. Or hung around a house where he was fed. He listened to the radio a lot, I think.’
‘Why do you say that?’
Anna grinned and Justin’s heart did a curious swoop through his chest.
‘Aaannnddd … They’re racing,’ she said in a sharp, nasal tone.
The bird turned his head on the side and started to talk. It was mostly gibberish but Justin recognised the occasional word. What was immediately clear was the tone and rhythm of the bird’s chatter.
‘He’s calling a horse race.’
‘Yes.’
‘Up the outside,’ the bird said clearly. ‘And the winner.’ Before subsiding back into silence.
Justin laughed, the stress starting to leave his body. ‘What are you going to do with him?’
‘I can’t release him back into the wild. Not with that wing. I’ll try to find him a good home. If not, there’s a sanctuary that will take him.’
‘I hope they like listening to the races.’
Anna’s work done, they left the animals to rest and walked back to Justin’s car. He glanced at his watch. The afternoon was done. Maybe …
‘I was wondering if—’
Before he could finish, Anna’s phone rang.
She held up her hand in apology as she answered it. She listened for a couple of minutes. ‘All right. I can leave right now. I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.’ She ended the call.
‘A patient?’
‘Yes. Sorry to dash.’
‘I understand. More native animals? Or something more mundane, like a cow in labour?’
A shadow passed over Anna’s eyes, so fast he barely noticed it before it was gone. ‘I don’t do cattle. This is a horse.’
‘I’ll get out of your hair. Good luck.’
‘Thanks.’ She turned to go, then hesitated and turned back. ‘Are you going to be part of this photo shoot next week?’
‘What photo shoot?’
‘I’ve been asked to be onsite vet cover during a calendar photo shoot for the RFS.’
Ah. Justin nodded. ‘We do one every year as a fundraiser. I hadn’t heard about this year’s, but I usually get involved.’
‘Well.’ She hesitated and smiled at him. ‘I might see you there. I’ve got to run. Bye.’
CHAPTER
12
Justin found the email when he arrived back at the Wagtail Ridge fire station. The theme for this year’s calendar was alpacas and apparently there was an alpaca farm nearby that had seen the birth of twin babies last year. Something that was, according to all accounts, incredibly rare. They wanted Justin and Ben, twin firefighters, posing with the twin alpacas. He shrugged. That made sense. The photographer would pause for the shoot on her way to Tamworth, where there was to be another session with more of his colleagues on a different farm. He googled the property to check out the animals. He’d never had anything to do with alpacas before, but they were not likely to leave tiny scratches all over his chest as last year’s kittens shoot had.
He and Ben were regulars on the calendar, both alone and in their unique place as identical twin firefighters. The calendar was to raise money for a good cause and he was happy to do it. Of course, he hadn’t been to the gym lately, because this town didn’t have one. But he was in pretty good shape. He wouldn’t be afraid to take his shirt off.
As he clicked casually through the website, he saw a woman with long, curly hair. She appeared to be the owner of the farm and she looked familiar. He’d probably seen her bringing food or drink to the firemen during that last big fire. He scrolled down to the next photo, and there was Anna. The two women were either side of an adult animal, with two young alpacas standing at their feet. Anna’s head was turned slightly and there was no sign of the scar on her face. This was how she must have looked before the incident that had left its mark on her forever. She was beautiful, and he imagined any straight man within fifty metres of her would have been desperate to ask her out, just as he was. He found it hard to imagine someone as beautiful and kind and funny and smart as Anna would still be single. Then he remembered the scar. Something that superficial didn’t change the woman she was, but he could imagine it would be a turn-off for some men. Not for him. If she was single, maybe he’d get a chance to ask her out at this photo shoot.
