Maya shook her hands over the sink before grabbing a paper towel. She could feel the usual exhaustion creeping up on her at having to try to explain away why she appeased her ex-husband.
‘I don’t want to give up on them,’ she told Bess. ‘Conrad and Isaac.’
Bess pulled a paper towel from the dispenser to use on her own hands. ‘You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t want the best foryour son. But are you absolutely sure having Conrad in his life is going to be the best thing for Isaac when already they can’t see eye to eye? I mean, I get that you wouldn’t want them estranged, but they’re not; they still have contact. Why can’t Isaac tell Conrad to bloody well bugger off with this Ireland idea, tell him it’s somewhere closer to here or nowhere at all?’
If only it were that simple.
Bess moved the conversation on now she’d said her piece about Conrad. ‘So… you and Noah,’ she began.
Maya turned to head for the locker room to get a change of T-shirt. ‘We are colleagues.’
Bess closed in behind her. ‘You walking away from me tells me very much that you’re more than that.’
Maya knew better than to flat-out deny it. Bess had been shooting her looks for days now and Maya knew she wasn’t that great at hiding her feelings. She admitted, ‘We’ve been getting on well.’
‘I knew it.’
Maya undid her locker and took out a fresh T-shirt. ‘He’s so unlike Conrad, in every way.’
A slow smile crept onto Bess’s face. ‘You really like him. Anyone could see you were attracted to him, but I didn’t know your feelings were that strong.’
‘They’re not… or at least they can’t be.’
‘You mean because you’re colleagues?’ She dismissed the worry with a swish of her hand. ‘You two are professional; you’d make it work.’
‘It’s not just the job. He’s complicated, I’m complicated; it’s a recipe for disaster.’
‘Or…’ Bess grinned. ‘It’s a recipe with a lot of heat and spice. My favourite kind.’
And with her laughter ringing around the air ambulance base, Maya began to think about her own future and whetherConrad would ever leave it. But more importantly, could Noah be a part of it?
Noah admired their handiwork with the rapid response vehicle. It had been a busy shift but one he’d desperately needed to stop him thinking about Paul’s impending visit. His mind kept conjuring up his sister and the look he imagined would pass across her face if she was here to see him so much as considering handing over her daughter to that man.
Nadia arrived shortly after Noah headed back inside the airbase and into the kitchen. She was carrying a platter on one forearm in the way a waiter would bring the food to your table in a restaurant. ‘I come bearing gifts!’
‘I should think so too,’ Maya joked as she came from the office into the kitchen. ‘While you’ve been off living it up, Bess and Noah have been out on a job, we’ve cleaned the rapid response vehicle, I’ve been doing paperwork, and the admin is piling up.’
‘I’ll get to it, don’t you worry.’ She set the platter down. ‘I was at my friend’s daughter’s christening, where I laid it on thick, saying my poor crew, they barely get to eat on some days, they’re so busy flying or driving around the county saving lives. And so, ta-da!’ She gestured to the platter once again.
Bess must have sniffed the sandwiches out from the back room and joined them.
But Nadia didn’t let anyone at the food until she’d asked whether the posters for the upcoming open day had been done.
‘Remind me of the date,’ said Noah. ‘I’ll put it in my diary.’
‘Oh, there’ll be little chance of forgetting,’ said Bess, ‘and Nadia, the posters are done. Vik and I did them last week,loads of colour, you’ll be impressed. And the flyers are ready for distribution.’
Noah felt bad he hadn’t helped with any of it yet. ‘I can distribute those if you like.’
‘You’re on,’ said Bess. ‘I’ll give them to you next, it’s less than a month away, so if you could get them out to local businesses and homes pronto. There’s a few thousand of them.’ When his face fell, she laughed. ‘Don’t worry, each of us will take a bundle and Nadia usually has a plan of the streets we each need to deliver to.’
‘The plan is ready,’ said Nadia. ‘I’ll send the email out to you all soon so you don’t duplicate deliveries.’
‘Sorted,’ said Bess, one eye on the food.
Noah asked Bess about the open days, wondered whether it would be similar to those he’d been involved in before.
It sounded like it would be. As with his previous team and others in the country, this air ambulance received no direct government funding towards running costs and they relied on charity donations, wills and grants. The good thing about that was that they got to spend money on what they wanted, upgrade equipment as needed and put patient care first without a whole load of red tape. But it also meant that fundraising, including open days, was a vital part of what they did. On open days, the team here at Whistlestop River would open their hangar doors to welcome in the public. There wouldn’t be an entrance fee, but donations would be encouraged.
