‘Hi.’ His instinct was to help her with the bags, but he knew that wasn’t the sort of thing Anna appreciated. Instead, he opened her car door so she could load the bags into the back seat.
‘Hi.’ She leaned against her car, waiting for him to go on.
‘How is the patient?’
‘Very sore and sorry for himself.’ She smiled. ‘But he’s going to be all right. He’ll have to stay at the clinic for a few days. Rick says he’ll drop by every day to help me care for him.’
‘I’m glad to hear it. That was a pretty amazing thing you did, saving him.’
He watched Anna’s face. A mixture of pride and relief and a hint of the fear she must have felt played across her lovely features.
She took a deep breath. ‘Thanks. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do it. You know, after …’
He did know. Part of his training as a senior firefighter was to understand the effects trauma can have on people, even the people who had willingly accepted the danger of their actions. He’d seen it in his colleagues on a couple of occasions. He saw it now. ‘You should be proud of yourself,’ he said softly.
She shrugged. ‘All in a day’s work. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to say?’
There was the slightest tremor in her voice. He understood that as well. A reaction to the adrenaline of the rescue. As long as she was needed, someone like Anna would fight with every ounce of her strength. Keep going until she succeeded or failed. The time after the event was the hardest, when realisation and sometimes shock set in.
‘No. You don’t have to pretend that wasn’t hard for you. Say whatever you want to. I’ll still think you are amazing.’ He meant every word.
***
Anna’s hands started to shake a little less. The smile on her face became a little more real. And as she looked into Justin’s handsome face, the quiver in her belly went from the after-effects of shock to something else entirely.
‘Thank you.’
The pause that followed was not the awkward silences Anna had so often felt. It was, well, comfortable.
‘I was wonder—’
‘If you don’t—’
They laughed as they spoke on top of each other. Justin signalled for her to speak first.
‘I was wondering if you were doing anything tonight?’ she said. ‘Or if you might like to, I don’t know, grab a beer or some such?’
‘And I was wondering if perhaps you would like some company tonight?’
Anna smiled and nodded. ‘I don’t mind being alone at all. Not even after what happened today. But I think I do want company. The right company.’
‘I hope you mean me.’
‘I might.’
The smile that lit Justin’s face was the most joyful thing she’d seen for days.
‘The fire station isn’t much. Just a temporary residence. But I’d be happy to try to cook something for you there, if you would prefer a quiet night to the pub.’
‘Now that’s the best offer I’ve had all day. I’ve got a bag full of groceries in the car. How about I come to the station with you and I rustle us up something to eat?’
‘Sold!’
The kitchen at the fire station was, at best, basic, but Anna decided the evening wasn’t about fancy food. Her grocery bags contained the makings of a simple salad and some lamb chops. Enough for two when she added some chips from Justin’s freezer. There was beer in the fridge. Conscious that she was driving home at the end of the evening, Anna drank slowly. They ate the meal at a table near the open door that looked out onto the trees behind the station—all cut back as a suitable firebreak.
‘What made you become a firefighter?’ she asked.
‘The cool uniform. And the girls,’ Justin joked. Then his face became serious. ‘My brother and I left home very young. Things with our mother weren’t good and our father was long gone. We got labouring jobs, short-term and seasonal stuff, wandering around the bush.’
