‘He will have rights as the biological father.’
‘I know and I can’t stand that that part is out of my control. Legally, he has rights but knowing what he was like, how Cassiefelt, and that he was prepared to take money to stay out of Eva’s life, how can I stand back and let it happen?’
‘When is he coming back?’
‘I don’t know; he shows up when he feels like it.’ He ran his fingers around the mouth of his bottle, deep in thought.
‘You should get some sleep. We’re on early shift tomorrow.’
‘You’re right, I should.’ He followed after her as she led the way back through the house. ‘Thanks for working your magic with Eva.’
‘It was my pleasure.’ She stopped at the door. The last time they got this close was in the helicopter the other day when she’d helped move the patient from the scoop onto the litter inside and she’d fallen against his hard chest. He’d caught her arms and helped her upright and she’d turned away before he’d seen the effect he’d had on her. ‘I should go.’
‘Work is a good distraction for me these days, you know,’ he admitted.
‘Yeah?’ The tension between them crackled and she wanted nothing more than to stay a while longer.
‘It takes my head to a whole different place.’
‘It always did that for me too.’
When he leaned past to take the chain off the door, he was so close, she only had to turn her head slightly and she’d be able to kiss him. But it wasn’t the right time. Not now, not when both of them had so much going on. Would it ever be?
Before she left, Maya reached for his hand and held it briefly. ‘You’re more than a stand-in with Eva, you know, Noah. So much more.’ And when she saw him distracted, his gaze perusing the street, left, right, then back again now they were on the front step, she asked, ‘Do you think he’ll come back tonight?’
‘I hope not.’
She wanted to tell him that everything would be better in the morning.
But she knew it wouldn’t be.
26
Maya flew the crew to the next job. The helicopter was capable of reaching over 170 miles per hour but with all the equipment they carried on board, it was difficult to achieve that speed. They could fly a lot higher too but that was no good for scoping out landing sights which they would be doing shortly as they made their way to a patient who’d fallen off a ladder at his home in the countryside.
‘Good for fuel?’ Bess checked. They’d gone to this job from their previous one and so far, the rain had held back despite the bruised clouds lurking.
‘All good for fuel,’ Maya confirmed. Pilots were obsessed with fuel, which was calculated according to the weight you were carrying on board as well as other factors including outside temperature and air density. Every ninety days, the crew underwent a review ensuring they were all current with the technical aspects of aviation for the air ambulance and part of the tests involved getting weighed, which in winter included all the cold weather gear which made a significant difference. At the last weigh-in, Maya and Bess had joked that they were carrying a bit of extra Easter weight given the number of eggs that hadbeen given to the crews by the general public to show their appreciation and support. Those chocolate eggs had kept them going for almost a month at the airbase.
Dorset was laid out below them, beautiful despite the murky weather, a low-lying valley giving way to their destination. Bess and Noah were on the lookout for a suitable landing spot because the man’s home was in a cluster of houses in a village and there were scant options for setting the helicopter down too close.
‘There’s a school,’ Bess began before immediately backtracking. ‘Nope, the playground is far too small and doesn’t seem as though they have a field.’ She was using the iPad which would let her assess size and looking down at the landscape to draw her own conclusions. ‘What’s that over there to our left?’
Noah’s voice came over the headset. ‘Looks like the cricket pitch I mentioned earlier.’ Maya knew he’d be zooming in on his own iPad. ‘As long as they aren’t playing a game or practising, we should be good.’
Maya directed the helicopter that way, keeping the aircraft as steady as she could in the wind which seemed to be picking up. The rain had started, big, fat droplets hitting the windscreen. She only hoped it wouldn’t get any heavier. ‘I’ve got a visual of the pitch. Looks empty.’
‘All clear from what I can see,’ Bess confirmed.
‘All clear for me,’ said Noah.
The pitch unfortunately wasn’t that close to the actual job address but it was as good as they were going to get in a village with so many houses and not a lot of open spaces. Even the roads were the sort of country roads with sharp turns and blind bends that rendered them impossible to land on.
Maya’s wish for the rain to hold back wasn’t granted and already the skies had decided to unleash their fury, with rain coming down harder, and the wind doing its best to jostle thehelicopter. But Maya had done this plenty of times before. She’d flown in worse conditions.
Bess and Noah grabbed their gear as a man waving his arms came running towards them. The man stayed a distance back as the helicopter blades slowed, but only just. As soon as Noah and Bess went over to him, he led the way. Hopefully, he had a car and they’d get to the patient quicker.
Sometimes Maya hated waiting by when her crew had such a tough job. Going a distance to a patient was always hard and then there was the trek back to the helicopter. It was her job to be ready and waiting. Often, while she was on standby, passers-by would come over, ask what she was doing – it was a good chance to promote the Whistlestop River Air Ambulance. Mostly it was kids who wanted to approach but adults were interested too, although today the weather was so awful, she doubted anyone in their right mind would be outside unless they had to be.
