‘Nothing like that,’ he muttered. ‘It was a birthday party for one of the firies on the team. Dan?’
‘Oh...’ Harriet’s tone had changed. It sounded almost wistful. ‘He was Pete’s best mate on the station.’
Was she disappointed that she hadn’t been invited?
‘It was just a barbecue at the station. Mostly the guys. Too much beer.’ Jack’s gaze slid sideways but Harriet wasn’t looking at him. She was licking some melted chocolate off her fingers.
It was just as well she wasn’t looking at him because he suddenly found he couldn’t look away. He hadn’t bothered really trying to nail how her question about a female companion had made him feel. He certainly wasn’t going to even start analysing what watching her lick her fingers was doing to him.
Man...this woman wasn’t just courageous. She was...hot...
He needed to shore up that barrier between this friendship and anything else. Anything like the kind of thing he’d once dreamed of. It wasn’t going to happen. He wasn’t even going to think about the possibility of it happening.
‘Did they say anything about Pete?’ Harriet asked. ‘Has anyone heard from him?’
Okay...this turn in the conversation was disturbing. Was Harriet still in love with the guy?
‘Do you really want to know?’
She shrugged, making it no big deal. ‘Just curious, I guess.’
‘So he hasn’t been in touch with you since he left?’
Harriet shook her head.
‘Not even to see how you’re doing? Or to apologise?’ The burn of anger was uncomfortable. Jack got to his feet to shift it. ‘And, no, I didn’t hear anything about him last night. I don’t think anyone thinks much of the way he treated you.’
Harriet didn’t say anything and again he wondered how she felt about her ex. The thought of her even talking to Pete again make him feel sick. But it was none of his business, was it? He’d never been in a relationship serious enough to move in with someone so what did he know? Harriet was older and presumably wiser.
She was trusting him with her friendship and he wasn’t about to wreck that by telling her what he thought of her ex-boyfriend.
Or, worse, admitting the way he still felt about her sometimes. Like in that moment when he’d watched her licking chocolate off her fingers.
She needed a rock in her life. A good friend. If she knew how often he wanted to take her hand or hold her in his arms to comfort her, she’d think twice about spending time with him at all. If she knew how it made him feel to see her play with her hair when she tied it back in a ponytail or the intense desire provoked by watching her lick her fingers, she’d run a mile and never look back.
It wasn’t going to happen.
He stuffed the bag and his bottle into his backpack and then held his hand out for Harriet’s bottle. ‘You ready to head back?’
She nodded. ‘Feels like we’ve done enough for today, that’s for sure.’
‘Yeah...’ Jack found a smile. ‘More than enough. I hope you won’t be too sore tomorrow.’
* * *
The day room for the geriatric ward at Bondi Bayside was a lovely place for patients to spend time with their visitors with its comfortable chairs and a view of the beach.
‘Fancy a cuppa, Nurse?’ The woman pushing the tea trolley through the doors of the day room had a badge that advertised her position as a hospital volunteer. ‘We’ve got cheese scones today and, although I don’t want to blow my own trumpet, they’re pretty darn good.’
‘That’s very kind of you.’ Harriet smiled. ‘I’m just coming in to check on one of my patients but I just might sit for a few minutes after that and a cup of tea would be lovely.’
She could use the hot drink to wash down a couple of her anti-inflammatory tablets and maybe they would kick in a bit faster. Her leg was sore today after that hill climb yesterday but she’d been determined not to go back to using her brace at work.
The patient she was going to see was in a wheelchair at the far side of the large room. Poor old May, who’d broken her hip when she’d fallen out of bed, was still an inpatient and it looked as if she was never going to recover enough to be discharged back to her nursing home. Her son, Bruce, a man in his late sixties, had been an increasingly frequent visitor and he’d thought his mum would enjoy a change of scene today. He’d asked Harriet if he could take her outside to smell some sea air but she’d suggested the day room and a view of the sea instead. May had refused to go anywhere with the nasal prongs that were providing some extra oxygen so Harriet needed to check that she was managing without it.
‘There’s a cup of tea on its way,’ she told May. ‘And I hear there’s some cheese scones as well.’
‘Ooh... I do like a good cheese scone.’ May reached out to pat her son’s arm. ‘You do too, don’t you, Bruce?’
‘Mmm... I’m not very hungry at the moment, though, Mum.’ Bruce pulled a large handkerchief from his pocket and mopped his brow. ‘It’s very hot in here, isn’t it?’
Harriet’s gaze shifted instantly. ‘Are you okay?’
‘To be honest, I feel a bit sick.’
He was sweating profusely and his skin was looking grey. Harriet took hold of his wrist to feel for his pulse but she knew he was in trouble before she realised it wasn’t palpable. His blood pressure had clearly dropped dramatically.
‘Let’s lie you down on the floor,’ she said calmly. ‘I’m going to get one of the doctors to come and see you.’
Bruce nodded. His hand went to the centre of his chest as he started to move and he gave a low moan.
Harriet was holding onto his other arm to help him down so she felt the exact moment that he lost consciousness and crumpled the rest of the way. All she could do was to stop his head hitting the floor too hard.
‘Oh, my goodness,’ May said. ‘Whatever’s happened?’
Harriet rolled Bruce onto his back and tilted his head to make sure his airway was open. She tried to find a pulse again, this time in his neck, putting her cheek close to his mouth and her other hand on his abdomen to feel for any signs that he was still breathing.
He wasn’t.
Harriet looked up briefly, to catch the horrified gaze of the tea lady. ‘Call for help, please,’ she told her. ‘Tell them we’ve got a cardiac arrest here. We need the crash trolley.’
Without pausing, Harriet positioned herself on her knees and began chest compressions. She hadn’t done CPR for a very long time now but it felt as familiar as if she’d done it only yesterday. Bruce was a big man and it took real effort to make her compressions deep and fast enough to be effective. She only looked up when she heard the rattle of trolley wheels behind her. It was one of the younger nurses on the ward who was pushing it and she looked terrified.
‘Is the crash team on its way?’
‘Yes. I pushed the cardiac arrest button.’
‘Can I do something to help?’ The tea lady was wringing her hands.
‘Yes,’ Harriet said. ‘Take May back to the ward. And ask everybody else here to leave.’ She still didn’t pause her compressions as she looked back at the nurse. ‘Open the defibrillator pack and get the patches out. I’ll tell you where to stick them. You’ll have to work around me.’
One patch went below the collarbone on the right and the other on the left side of the chest. Harriet kept up the compressions, giving directions to her assistant, and she was well out of breath by the time the machine was switched on and she could pause long enough for any heart rhythm to be detected. Not everybody had left the room, she noticed. And there was no sign of the crash team yet.
‘Shock advised.’ The voice on the defibrillator’s automatic program was clear and calm. ‘Push “Charge”.’
Harriet pushed the button and listened to the whine that changed to an alarm when the charge had been reached.
&nbs
p; ‘Stand clear,’ she said, looking up to make sure no one was within touching range of Bruce, including herself. She pushed the shock button and Bruce’s arms jerked, then she positioned herself to start chest compressions again.
‘Do you know how to use a bag mask?’ she asked her junior colleague.
‘I think so. I’ve practised on mannequins.’
Harriet’s heart sank but they were still within the window of time when compressions alone were sufficient. If necessary, she could change her position and do CPR from over Bruce’s head, which would mean she could ensure that she could deliver respirations as well, but her arms were tiring and, ideally, there should be a change of personnel to deliver the compressions.
Two minutes and then it was time to try and shock Bruce’s heart back into action.
‘Stand clear...’ she called. This time, when she looked up to check safety, she could see the crash team arrive. A bigger trolley, two doctors and another nurse. ‘Shocking now.’ She pushed the button and closed her eyes for a moment as she let out a relieved breath.
‘Well...look at that.’ One of the doctors on the crash team was crouching beside her as she opened her eyes again. ‘Looks like we’ve missed all the excitement. Good save, mate.’
And there it was, on the screen. A little erratic but it was close enough to a normal rhythm.
‘I’ve got a pulse.’ The other doctor had his hand on Bruce’s neck. ‘I’ll get some oxygen on.’
It wasn’t until much later, when Harriet finally went back to the ward, that she noticed her leg was still aching.
She’d never got round to taking those tablets.
And she hadn’t given her abilities, or any lack of them, any thought at all during that emergency.
‘May?’
‘Oh...no...’ Pale blue eyes looked more frightened than she had ever seen them look.
‘It’s okay, May.’ Harriet took hold of her hand. ‘Bruce is going to be all right. He’s having a procedure called an angioplasty now and that’s going to fix the artery in his heart that’s blocked.’
‘His heart?’ May’s voice trembled. ‘He’s had a heart attack?’
Harriet nodded. ‘It was enough to stop his heart for a little while, and that’s why he collapsed. But we got it going again.’ She was smiling now. ‘He woke up again and he told me to tell you that he’s going to be fine. And that he loves you.’
‘Oh...’ There were tears pouring down May’s face. ‘You did that? You saved my son?’
‘We did. It was a team effort.’ Harriet wasn’t about to take all the credit, even though the crash team had made sure she knew exactly what a good job she’d done. The conversation she’d had with one of the doctors as they’d got ready to transfer Bruce on a stretcher had made her feel even better.
‘You used to work in ICU, didn’t you?’ he’d said.
‘Yes. I got sent here to recover from an injury. It was supposed to be a bit quieter.’
‘Well, you look like you could cope with anything again now. Let me know if you need a reference for getting your old job back.’
Harriet sat with May for a while, until her frail patient finally slipped into a peaceful sleep.
And then she sat there for a bit longer because she was actually officially off duty now and she wanted a moment to get her head around what seemed like turning a new corner in her life.
She had coped. And coped well. She was ready to ask if she could be considered for her old position again.
She couldn’t have done that a couple of months ago and there was someone she needed to thank for her new level of physical ability.
Jack.
The rush of gratitude was a warmth that enveloped Harriet as she sat in this quiet corner of May’s room. It held notes of pride and excitement and a hope for the future that was so strong and positive it was the best feeling ever.
And then it seemed to coalesce into something a little bit different.
A feeling that was all about Jack Evans. She couldn’t wait to talk to him and tell him about what had happened today. She wanted nothing more than to bask in the gaze she knew she would be under from those warm, brown eyes.
Told you so, that gaze would say. I’ve always believed in you...
They didn’t have another session planned until Saturday and that was days away. Harriet found herself actually reaching for her phone. If Jack wasn’t working or busy, maybe they could meet up for a drink or something. Her fingers closed around the phone in her pocket but then she froze.
She remembered this feeling of wanting to tell her news to just one person. Of wanting to be with them so much.
The last time she’d felt like this had been...when she’d fallen in love with Pete.
Which was ridiculous.
She wasn’t in love with Jack. This was gratitude, that was all.
But a prickle of awareness was trying to contradict that assertion. Flashes of memories that could be interpreted with a very different slant. Like that evening at the beach with Harry the dog, when she’d noticed how gorgeous his skin looked, glowing bronze in the last sun of the day. The way the tattoo highlighted the muscles on his arm. The way his smile made the world a brighter place.
Another flash reminded her of how it had made her feel when he’d told her that he believed in her and how it had persuaded her to do the HUET exercise. That she’d felt like she finally understood what a real family was all about.
And what about yesterday, when he’d taken hold of her hand to help her up those steps when she’d already pushed herself to the limit? She had welcomed the strength in that hand. The touch of his skin against hers...
Oh...help...
It was there, wasn’t it? If she wasn’t already in love with Jack—and she wasn’t—the possibility that she could be, in the near future, couldn’t be denied. She’d believed that that kind of trust was broken for ever for her, but had he somehow slipped behind her defences?
It had to be stopped. Good grief...imagine how Jack would react? Any girl he would choose for a partner would probably be ten years younger than Harriet. He’d probably have a laugh about it with his mates if he knew and they’d make jokes about toy boys or cradle snatching. Call her a cougar, even?
Harriet could feel colour heating up her cheeks. The phone slid from her fingers and she pushed herself up out of the chair.
Not that she believed Jack would be cracking jokes with his mates, he was far too kind to do that. But he would be disturbed, that was for sure. He would find a way to ease off spending time with her and their training sessions would rapidly become just another memory.
She couldn’t let that happen. Not when at least one but possibly both of her goals were within touching distance.
Waiting till Saturday to mention today’s triumph was no big deal. If she needed to tell somebody else about it before then, she could ring one of her friends. Like Sam. Or Kate. Or even Luc, now living in Namborra with his wife Beth and stepson Toby. Anybody, as long as it wasn’t Jack.
‘Sleep tight, May,’ she murmured aloud. ‘See you tomorrow.’
* * *
It wasn’t the first time that Harriet had used her camera as a buffer between herself and other people but she hadn’t needed it this much since her early days of trying to get herself past that dark time when she’d been sure her life would never be the same again.
This was different. It was a buffer between herself and Jack more than anything. A barrier that she had no intention of stepping past.
He looked so happy in the midst of this family gathering. Right now, he was playing a noisy game of barefoot soccer with participants who ranged in age from his grandfather, who was a goalkeeper, to some small boys who couldn’t have been more than about five years old. A couple of dogs were determined to join in the fun and looked like they were presenting quite a hazard but
nobody seemed to mind.
There were other men who were in charge of the barbecues, including a spit roast. There were gales of laughter coming from a group of women who were setting out platters of food on one of the big picnic tables and shrieks of glee from toddlers who were being supervised in the shallows by some teenaged girls. A couple of young mothers were breastfeeding their babies under the shade of a tree.
A few members of Jack’s extended family had already been here when they’d arrived at the beach.
‘This is my friend, Harry,’ Jack had introduced her, as they’d gone past. ‘We’re going for a swim. Look after her bag, will you? It’s got her camera in it and she’s going to take some photos of the party later.’
And, as easily as that, she had been accepted and welcomed into the rapidly expanding group. They had no idea that this was a big step for Harriet. She’d been doing a lot of swimming in pools recently but this was the first time to tackle real surf since the time before her accident and she was nervous.
She was nervous of being in Jack’s company as well. What if he guessed any of the crazy thoughts that had been going through her head since she’d had that disturbing realisation that she had inappropriate feelings for her personal trainer?
At least he seemed blissfully unaware at the moment. He’d stood beside her as ankle-deep water had rushed over her feet and she’d hesitated before walking further into the waves and his smile had offered nothing but empathy and encouragement.
‘It’s a nice, gentle surf,’ he’d said. ‘And I’m going to be right beside you. We’ll swim out, catch a wave and body surf in, okay?’
Harriet’s voice had deserted her. She’d done this a thousand times before and loved the sensation of the water’s power rushing her back to shore but she also knew what it was like to get the timing wrong and to be pushed down and held underwater. How much strength you needed in your legs to get you back to safety.
And then Jack had reached out and taken her hand, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
‘You can escape from a helicopter underwater,’ he’d called, as he tugged her forward. ‘You’ve got this.’
Rescued by Her Mr. Right Page 7