Twenty-six
Over the next few weeks, life suddenly got very busy at work for Jenny. A new remote health clinic at a small place called Tallowhope had been in the planning stages for months, and Jenny had been doing the three-hour round trip out to the remote town, setting up the room for her fortnightly visits. She loved this part of her job—she loved lots of parts, but working in these clinics where no two days were ever the same was a highlight.
Today, on the drive out to the old hall they were using for the clinic, Jenny found herself thinking about how different her life was now. When it fit in with her shifts, Nick usually spent the night at her place and it was nice to wake up with someone—something she hadn’t done for a very long time. She smiled as she thought about the simple things she looked forward to now: rolling over in the middle of the night and seeing Nick there, sleeping soundly beside her, one arm thrownover her hip or at least a leg touching hers, connecting them. She missed him when they went their separate ways to work and found herself counting down the hours until she saw him again.
So much for the strong, independent woman she’d always thought she was, she thought ruefully. Of course, she was still independent—they didn’t do absolutely everything together, but the things they did do, she looked forward to. In this case, she didn’t mind losing some of her independence. Shelikedbeing part of a couple again.
And it was almost like they were a real couple—this morning she’d left a note on the bench to ask Nick if he would take a look at the shower after she noticed it was making a strange noise whenever she turned it on lately. The only thing stopping them from being a complete couple was the full-time living arrangements, but it was way too soon for that. And yet when he was with her, it felt like they’d been living together forever.
She drove down the short main street of Tallowhope with its row of closed-up shopfronts—many of them looking like they’d been vacant for decades, their signs faded—before arriving at the clinic. The old timber hall had recently been painted a crisp white and its rusted tin roof replaced with a shiny new silver one. A plaque reading ‘1914’ was secured to the front of the gable roof. Jenny could only imagine the stories the hall could tell. The town’s war memorial stood outside the hall, the stone-built mound with the names of the area’s missing and dead from both world wars managing to send a sting to Jenny’s heart.So many names, she thought sadly. This very hall would have held dances and farewells to those menwhen they went off to fight, and all that was left of them now was a name etched in stone.
The population had clearly suffered due partly to the casualties, the families in town dwindling over the years that followed, until all that was left was a small grocery store, which also served as the post office, with the town’s only petrol pump, a stock agent, produce store and a tennis court and children’s playground alongside the hall. There were only a handful of houses in the town’s three streets, so the majority of the people she’d see out here would be from surrounding properties.
Jenny unlocked the hall, put her bag away, switched on the jug and got started doing the equipment and drug check. With only time to down a rather tasteless cup of instant coffee, she was straight into seeing patients. She knew she had a full clinic today; they’d set up an online booking page and the appointments had been filled in the first few days. Already, depending on how well day one went, they were looking at adding an extra clinic day further down the track.
Jenny worked her way through the usual cases of patients needing repeat scripts for chronic conditions or a referral to a specialist, as well as a few vaccinations and some wound dressing changes, along with general check-ups.
The rest of the morning flew by and Jenny met a number of young mums with babies and small children, letting them know that she’d be doing a kids’ health and vaccination clinic in the upcoming months as well as a women’s health check. Everyone had been so appreciative and welcoming that she was almost sad to reach the end of her patient bookings.
It was a long day and the drive home seemed to drag. But all in all, it had been a great first day, and she had a feeling Tallowhope would be one of her favourite clinic days.
Nick sat up in bed and rubbed his hands across his face before reaching over and shutting off the annoying alarm, swearing as he realised he must have slept through the first three and was now running late. They’d fallen into a comfortable routine of finding as much time to spend together as possible, which was no easy thing when they both worked strange, long hours. The last few weeks had flown by and Nick felt like they’d been together almost forever. It was comfortable—it felt right, like nothing else before ever had. He threw off the covers, absently noting that Jenny wasn’t home from work yet as he grabbed his clothes, tugging on his jeans without bothering to do them up. He carried his T-shirt towards the ensuite but skidded to a halt when he remembered the busted pipe he still had to replace. That left only one bathroom in the house. He headed out into the hallway and gave a quick knock on the bathroom door.
Hearing nothing, he opened the door and stepped inside.
It all happened so fast his half-asleep brain didn’t react until he heard the gasp and registered that there was a naked woman in the shower in front of him … one that was not Jenny and was about to fall.
Savannah, having whirled around to find him standing there unexpectedly, slid on the slippery tiles and fell into his arms.
The shock that seemed to have held them both tightly in its grip suddenly let go, as common sense flooded back like a bucket of ice-cold water being tipped over his head. There was a wet, naked woman in his arms who was looking up at him with just as much surprise as he was feeling.
As he was scrambling to make his legs work and get the hell out of the bathroom, a third person appeared beside him.
He looked up to see horror on Jenny’s face.
‘What’s …’ Her question died on her lips as she slowly shook her head in denial.
Nick immediately put up a hand, in protest or as a gesture to wait, he wasn’t sure, but Jenny was backing away and his own alarm suddenly gave way to confusion. Surely, she didn’t think …
‘Jenny.’
She didn’t wait for further explanation, just headed to her bedroom, where she slammed the door.
What the actual hell had just happened?
‘Nick! Get out!’ Savannah was saying behind him, tucking a towel around herself and pushing at his back.
‘Shit. I’m sorry. I knocked—’
‘Out!’
Jesus. He’d barely had time to register he was awake and somehow he’d ended up in a horror movie.
‘Jenny?’ he called, tapping his knuckles on the bedroom door before opening it cautiously, half-expecting a vase to be thrown at his head.
‘What the hell?’ Jenny exclaimed, turning away from the window to face him.
He stopped midway across the room and watched her uncertainly. ‘What the hellwhat?’ he asked slowly. He had to be imagining the anger in her voice. It’d been an accident, surely anyone walking into that situation could see that? The blood seemed to drain from his face. She’d come home from work and walked past an open door and saw her half-dressed boyfriend and naked daughter in an embrace …fuck.
