Jessica pulled her concentration back to the job at hand. Finding her bag and doing it quickly so she wasn’t homeless that night. With concern mounting, she watched as the carousel emptied one case at a time until there were none in sight. And no one still waiting empty-handed like her. Her stomach fell as she moved closer to the rubber slats. She peered through to see no more bags waiting to emerge. Anxiously her eyes darted about as she chewed the inside of her cheek again. It was becoming a habit she knew she had to shake. Looking out to the tarmac through the expanse of floor-to-ceiling windows, Jessica could see the bags for the next flight out of Armidale being loaded into the plane. The same plane in which she had arrived. It was a one plane airport. There was no more luggage being taken off. She had to accept her bags had clearly never made it onto the plane in Sydney. Or they’d made it onto another plane heading for God alone knew where, the idea of which was far too upsetting for Jessica to consider at that time.
The only possessions she had with her were the contents of her handbag, her laptop and some notebooks tucked inside her carry-on.
A rising sense of loss surged through her and almost brought her to tears. She had no belongings...not even a toothbrush...nothing and no one in the world belonging to her.
Jessica was once again reminded that she was alone. In a strange town far from the place she’d once called home.
* * *
Dr Harrison Wainwright stepped from the Armidale Airport terminal and into the now darkening car park. It was cold and crisp, the way he liked it. He had sorely missed the clean fresh country air. It was still damp from a light shower before they’d arrived and that made it even better in his mind as it more readily carried his favourite scents of hay and eucalyptus. He paused for a moment to fill his lungs like a man who had been starved of oxygen. Winter in Armidale was his favourite time of year and he didn’t try and mask his happiness. Los Angeles was not his type of town at any time of the year and six days breathing air heavy with smog was six days too many.
With the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper he had picked up at the airport that morning tucked under one arm, he steered his suitcase to the cab rank. Harrison was conscious of the lightness of his steps, despite having just had his foot run over by the pretty stranger inside the terminal. Perhaps more than merely pretty, he mused. Beautiful was closer to the mark, he decided as he allowed his mind to slip back momentarily to when he’d noticed the emerald hue of her eyes, the softness of alabaster skin and ash blonde hair that skimmed her shoulders. The windswept curls that framed her heart-shaped face.
But there was something behind her eyes that struck him and played on his mind as he waited for the cab. She was stunning in an almost hauntingly sad way. A little lost. She was not from around the town he called home. She must be travelling through or visiting.
He pushed the image of her face and the questions he had about the purpose of her travelling to Armidale from his mind. He was not going there again. Curiosity about a beautiful stranger in his town had completely changed the course of his life once before. And almost ruined it. Not to mention threatened his sanity over the years. He would never let himself travel that path again. He was finally closing that horrendous chapter and was ready to move on. It had been five years of something close to hell but he had emerged and would never let his heart rule his head again. He was finally happy... Well, his new version of happy.
With his chin jutted in defiance he waved down the cab that was approaching and banished the stunning stranger’s face from his mind. Finally, he was back home with the outcome he had so desperately wanted. And nothing and no one was going to steer him off course again.
With the custody papers in hand and the signed divorce papers on their way to him in the coming days, he would soon be officially a free man. It was as if a burden he had carried for so very long had disappeared overnight. Nothing could make him happier than the knowledge that now he could move on without the possibility of one day losing his son in a custody battle. No threat of his son living across two continents. No arranging proposed maternal visits that never eventuated. No more explaining to the five-year-old boy why his mother promised to visit and never did. He could finally look into his son’s innocent blue eyes and know Armidale would be their forever home. And Harrison Wainwright was determined to be the best single dad possible.
He pushed away the surge of anger that threatened to ruin his victory. He had what he wanted and he had to let the hurt and broken promises go. He was determined to release the sadness and disappointment that had consumed his waking moments for years. But Harrison was a realist and he knew it would take time.
Being in a relationship would never again be an option for him. From that day forward, it would just be Harrison and Bryce. There was no need and no room to invite anyone else in their lives. His house and his heart were full.
And he would never risk his son being hurt again.
CHAPTER TWO
‘EXCUSE ME, MISS. Can I help you?’
Jessica was so preoccupied she didn’t hear the male voice behind her. The empty luggage carousel mirrored her life more than she cared to acknowledge. The fact there was nothing to see consumed her attention. The sound of the aircraft engine starting finally forced her to glance over to the thirty-six-seat plane taxiing down the runway in preparation for take-off into the stormy early evening sky. Her missing bags meant she would not be sleeping in her favourite pyjamas that night. And that was assuming she was able to collect the keys to her rental property and actually had a bed for the night.
It was all a little overwhelming and she wasn’t entirely sure what she was going to do. That had been a regular state of mind for a while and completely out of character from the old Jessica. She had always known what to do, even as a teenager. Forget having a social life, she had her head in her textbooks, even on weekends. She’d excelled at school every year until the final year. Then she’d graduated top of the class with perfect end-of-year examination results that saw her in the top twenty students across the entire state of South Australia, which meant her higher education study preference of a medical degree was guaranteed along with being presented to the Premier at Government House. Straight out of school, Jessica Ayers had been on her trajectory to becoming Dr Jessica Ayers, Paediatric Consultant. She’d considered specialising in paediatric surgery and did head down that path and gained the skills but, after a year of surgical study, she’d decided that it was the interaction with children offered by the Consultant’s position that made her the happiest.
Over the years there had been few boyfriends to distract her. No jam-packed social calendar to compete with her study schedule. Nothing to prevent her from achieving her lifetime goal. Including her vision, from her very first day in medical school, of one day being Head of Paediatrics at a large teaching hospital. Jessica Ayers had been an unashamed planner.
But there were some things in life she couldn’t plan. Some things had just occurred without any decision-making by Jessica. Some of them were very sad, such as losing her father while she was still in high school so he never saw her graduate from medical school, and then losing her mother when she was thirty. At least she was grateful that neither had witnessed her fall from grace in dating a married man.
Now she was flying by the seat of her pants in regard to everything and anything...and she wasn’t very good at it.
‘Miss, I asked if I can help you.’
Jessica turned her attention to the uniformed older man standing behind her; his bomber-style jacket was emblazoned with the Armidale Airport logo.
‘My name is Garry; I’m with the airport. I’m assuming you’re still waiting here because your bag, or bags, didn’t arrive?’
She feared her distracted state might have given the appearance of being dismissive. She felt sure she was on a roll in managing to offend her adopted new town’s population one person at a time. Damaging one man’s foot and being
plain rude to another.
‘Bags—there’s two of them—and I’m sorry, Garry, I didn’t mean to be impolite.’
‘Think nothing of it. You seem a little frazzled. Have you been on a long haul flight and then a connection to get you here? A handful of our passengers came in today from Los Angeles. The Armidale Romance Writers group attended a conference in the US and four of them just came back. My sister-in-law is one of them, that’s why I know, and one of our doctors was over in America as well, not that he attended the romance conference,’ he said with a wry smile. He added, ‘It’s a country airport, what can I say, there’s not much gossip that gets past the ground staff here.’
‘Well, I haven’t flown too far at all. I’ve just done fifty minutes from Sydney so I definitely can’t blame my poor manners or distracted state on jet lag...’
‘You might not have done a long-haul trip but missing bags is a stress all of its own, so let’s see if I can help.’
Jessica wondered for a moment if she had entered some parallel universe. Was this town in country New South Wales the friendliest place on earth? This man was being so kind and helpful, just as the man, whose face was still etched on her mind, had been so gallant about her clumsiness. Immediately, she pushed away the image she still had of the first man, the one she’d run over, but she knew it was more than his appearance that was lingering. There was something about him that was not easy to forget, for some strange reason. But she had to do just that. She had to find her bags and get to her accommodation or face being homeless.
‘It’s been a long day and I have to get to the realtor by five-thirty to get the keys to my rental property...and I have nothing except these,’ she told him tilting her head in the direction of her carry-on and her handbag that she was holding up.
‘I must apologise that the rest of your bags didn’t arrive. It doesn’t happen too often, I must say, but that doesn’t help you. If I can have your name I’ll start the process to find them.’
‘Dr Jessica Ayers,’ she replied.
‘Nice to meet you, Dr Ayers,’ he said as he reached for the extended handle of her carry-on bag.
‘Please call me Jessica.’
‘Certainly, Jessica. Let’s get you over to check-in,’ he said, pointing to the other side of the terminal. He added, ‘I can get some more details and chase the bags up for you. If you can give me the baggage receipt that was issued with your boarding pass, I’ll call through to Sydney and make sure that your bags are sent here on the next flight, which is at eleven-thirty—’
‘That’s late but at least there’s another flight coming in tonight,’ Jessica cut in with a faint strand of renewed hope colouring her voice. Excitedly she handed over the documents he requested and then followed him from the departure and arrival lounges and in the direction of the main entrance.
The man’s brow wrinkled as he shook his head from side to side and with it swept away Jessica’s hope of a swift solution.
‘Unfortunately, your flight was the final one from Sydney today. There next one arrives at eleven-thirty tomorrow morning and I can have your bags couriered to your home,’ he said as he maintained a fast pace. He was a man on a mission and that gave Jessica some small level of comfort as she kept up with him.
‘My home? I have no idea if I’ll have one. I think my deadline to pick up the keys from the realtor is just about to pass.’
He raised his wrist and glanced at his watch as they reached the check-in counter. ‘It’s five-fifteen but a cab can have you into Armidale in ten minutes. Let me make a call to the agent and ask them to stay back in case you’re a few minutes late getting there.’
‘Do you honestly think they will?’ she asked, confident that in her home town of Sydney there would be somewhere between a fat chance and absolutely none that they would actually remain open for her. Their care factor about her having to find accommodation for a night would be around about the same—zero.
‘Do you have the business name?’
‘There’s more than one in town?’
Garry smirked and shook his head. ‘Armidale is actually a rural city and we have hot running water, traffic lights...and more than one real estate agent.’
Jessica felt quite silly. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘No need to apologise. You’re obviously a big city girl. Is this your first visit here?’
Jessica nodded sheepishly as she scrolled through her emails on her mobile phone until she found the realtor’s name. ‘Dunstan Boyd is the property manager—’ she paused as she squinted to read the fine print in the signature block on the email ‘—at...’
‘Boyd and Associates Real Estate,’ Garry finished her sentence.
Jessica dropped her chin a little and stared up at him curiously. ‘You know them?’
‘Yes,’ he told her. ‘My sister-in-law works there. Not that I thought you’d have any trouble anyway, and we do have some nice motels in town if there was a problem, but I can almost guarantee she, or one of her colleagues, will stay back and you won’t be homeless.’
Jessica drew breath and then emptied her lungs just as quickly with relief at Garry’s announcement. While she had nothing to wear and she would have to wash her underwear in the basin and dry it over the bath, she would at least have somewhere to do that.
‘Now, if you can give me your contact details, someone from the airport will call you tomorrow and arrange to have your bags sent to you when they arrive.’ He pulled a pen and paper from the pocket of his bomber jacket.
Jessica took the pen and paper and scribbled down her mobile telephone number, which he then tucked back in his jacket pocket as they walked outside to the cab rank.
‘It might be best sending them to the Armidale Regional Memorial Hospital,’ she told him as she tugged her jacket up around her neck. The air was even colder than when she’d alighted from the plane. ‘I’ll be there so they’ll be no one at home to collect them, that’s assuming you’re right and I have a home.’
‘You’ll have a home, Jessica. Don’t worry.’
There was an empty cab already there and no one else waiting. Garry opened the rear door of the cab for Jessica and she quickly climbed in the back as he leant in the open front window and spoke to the driver.
‘Can you please take this young lady to Boyd and Associates Real Estate, Twenty-nine Marsh Street.’
‘Sure.’
Flooded with a relief she’d thought impossible ten minutes previously, Jessica put the window down. ‘Thank you so much,’ she said as the cab pulled away from the kerb.
‘You’re very welcome.’
* * *
Garry was right; his sister-in-law’s colleague didn’t mind staying back and the cab driver waited while she rushed inside. The young man asked her for identification, had her sign two documents and then gave her the house keys and the keys to the rental car that had been left that morning in her driveway. Jessica had arranged for everything to be in the one place, and it was a glimpse of her previous attention to detail. Although twelve months ago she would have shipped clothes ahead and arranged for the local dry-cleaner to press and hang them in her closet and have the pantry and refrigerator stocked with low-fat food. The kind that Tom liked. Tom, the womanising, cheating bastard whose cholesterol levels she had worried about for the better part of a year.
But, thanks to said two-timing low-life, the Jessica of late was nowhere near that organised when it came to her personal needs. On the job, though, she hadn’t changed. She was as dedicated and focused with her patients as she had ever been.
‘Call me on my mobile if you have any questions. It’s a nice little house, clean, tidy and fully furnished, as you saw in the photos. I think you’ll like the street.’
Jessica was not about to be fussy. A bed and bath was all she needed right now, and a car for the morning to get her to the hospital.
‘I’
m sure it will be great and thank you again for staying back for me,’ she said as she held on tight to both sets of keys as if they were her lifeline.
‘Not a problem, happy to help.’
* * *
Half an hour later, with two bags of groceries on the back seat, the cab pulled up in the front of the darkened house. The amiable cab driver from the airport pick-up had kept the meter running while Jessica had signed the lease and picked up the keys, then stopped for milk, bread, oatmeal, fresh fruit and other staples, including bubble bath, a toothbrush and toothpaste from the small grocery store that stayed open until ten o’clock every night.
Her new role began bright and early the next day so she wanted to have a nice home-cooked dinner and an early night, followed by a reasonable breakfast. She knew that she would hit the ground running and had no idea if she would get a lunch break so needed to be prepared for a long day on her feet on the wards and potentially even in surgery if required. In a smaller hospital the roles and duties were sometimes less defined and far broader in nature than in the city hospitals and she had the surgical experience if called upon.
* * *
Jessica took a brief study of the street as the cab turned in. It was tree-lined and had a simple prettiness about it. Very country, she mused silently as she noticed the houses either side of the one she would call hers for the next six weeks were softly lit from the inside. Lights and probably open fires, she thought. Curtains were drawn but the glow could be seen from the street.
Jessica’s new temporary home had nothing to signify life at all. She wasn’t surprised. She couldn’t expect anything more than that. It wasn’t as if she knew anyone in town; there would be no one there to welcome her to the new house. It had been the same wherever she had been posted but generally she chose apartments close to the city hospitals to avoid the harsh reminder every night that she was arriving home to an empty place.
Mending the Single Dad's Heart Page 2