“Pandora, thank you,” said Scott as he placed his elbows on the bar top.
She placed the glass she’d just rinsed on the metal tray, ready to put in the glass-washing machine. “You’re welcome?”
As she had no idea what he was thanking her for she framed her response as a question.
“For being here for Jonas.”
“I think you have it mixed up. Jonas has been far more help to me than I have to him.”
Scott shook his head. “No, you’ve definitely helped him.” He clamped his lips shut when he spied Jonas walking toward them.
Pandora bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from asking Scott to elaborate on what he meant by her helping Jonas. If he meant working behind the bar, then it wasn’t an issue. She enjoyed the work, surprisingly. And she loved interacting with the people she served.
“Here you go.” Jonas handed the key to his brother.
“Thanks. I probably won’t see you in the morning. I’ll need to go home and get changed before I head to the hospital. Night.” He waved and headed off upstairs, leaving them alone.
“Does Scott live in Waratah River? I know he doesn’t live here, because I’m sure he would’ve been in more often than he has been.” She’d been surprised that Waratah River was a decent-sized town when she’d arrived at the hospital. But it shouldn’t have surprised her, considering it had the only hospital in the region.
“He’s got a place between here and Waratah. It’s a nice place, backs onto the Bunya River.”
“Well, that’s good that he’s sort of close to you.”
“Yeah. But he’s always busy. He says I work too much.” Jonas shook his head. “The guy is running the hospital while also taking on shifts. He’s the one who should get some more help.”
“The hospital didn’t seem understaffed.”
“I guess it’s not, it’s just I know Scott. As much as he’s proud to be the CEO, he’d much rather be hands-on with helping people. He’s a great doctor. In an ideal world, Ryan would probably work more at the hospital, but that would leave the town and surrounding areas without a doctor. He wouldn’t do that, and Scott wouldn’t let him.”
Pandora had previously had no idea of the issues small towns faced. There were so many hospitals in the city. Or medical centres that did more than just diagnose the common cold or other ailments. But out here, where help was limited, losing a doctor would be a disaster. “I suppose getting a doctor to move from the city to come to the middle of rural Australia is kind of difficult.”
“More than you know. It’s like if I hadn’t returned home at the right time. The pub may have closed and the previous owner would not have the retirement life he’s now enjoying.”
“And the town would have nowhere to meet and catch up with everyone. A loss of the connection that binds the town together.”
“Exactly.” Jonas glanced at his watch and he closed his eyes. She wanted to go over there and tell him it’s okay, that he could sleep in and everyone would be okay if he didn’t open when he normally did. But she kept her thoughts to herself. What she did do though, because she needed the contact as much as he did, was close the distance between them and hug him. Immediately his arms closed around her and she blew out a long breath, releasing all her built-up tension.
They stood there, wrapped in each other’s arms and it was the best feeling. No matter how much she fought it, the connection between them was building. When her sojourn in Bunya Junction came to an end, walking away from Jonas was going to be hard.
Chapter Twelve
The early morning birds chattered a rowdy welcome when Jonas stepped onto the back landing of the pub with his morning coffee. He’d got up later than normal, because when his alarm had gone off he’d reached over and pressed the snooze button.
The last few days had been long, and today wasn’t a day where he could afford to have a slow start, but he needed a little more sleep. When he’d gotten to bed the previous evening, he’d been so exhausted he thought the second his head hit the pillow he’d be lights out. Except when he closed his eyes all he saw was Pandora’s face as he pulled away from her hug. Her gaze soft and contented, a small smile lifting the corners of her mouth. He’d wanted to frame her face and kiss her until neither of them could breathe. Instead he’d whispered goodnight and walked to his office. Once he was sure enough time had passed for her to go upstairs to her room, he left his hiding place, turned the lights off and headed to his bed.
“Any more coffee?”
He turned, surprised to see Scott standing behind him. “Hey, I thought you were going to be heading off early.”
Scott grimaced. “Yeah I was, but I forgot to set an alarm. The hospital called, which woke me.”
“Everything all right there, you don’t have to rush back?”
“Surprisingly, no. When I said I’d be right there, they told me not to rush because one of the overnight doctors was looking for a little overtime and would take half my shift—if I was okay with it. I didn’t have any meetings scheduled, which was why I was working hands-on today.”
“And here you are, still here.”
“Yep, here I am. So … coffee?”
“There’s a pot in the kitchen. Milk in the fridge and sugar in the cupboard.”
“Excellent, I’ll be right back.”
Jonas turned back to the view of the trees. It was barely after eight in the morning, but for him it was almost midmorning. He would wager that Scott’s usual morning started around six, too. So while it may seem late for them, for others the morning was just beginning.
Scott returned and stood beside him. “There’s nothing like looking at trees swaying in the breeze, is there?”
“That’s very poetic of you.”
Scott shrugged. “Maybe, but it’s true.”
“Yeah, it is. It’s peaceful—and not a bad way to spend some time before the bustle of the day starts.”
“I could tell you weren’t comfortable with Ryan talking about you getting some extra help, last night. You’re the one who knows your limitations, not him or even me. Besides, I can’t really talk—I work as much as you do. Although who knows what the future holds,” Scott finished quietly.
Normally Scott wasn’t much to talk about what was going on in his professional life. Nor his personal life, in fact, so for him to be opening up was something. Jonas wasn’t going to shut him down.
“What’s happening? Are you going to be leaving Waratah?”
Wait, Ryan had talked about his foundation and the various services it was going to provide for the community, just the other day. Had he and Scott discussed the idea further and they were going to incorporate Scott’s scholarship idea as well? Scott wasn’t going to run it all, was he?
Or was Scott going to take over from Ryan and run the town’s practice and Ryan would work solely with his organisation?
“Are you going to join Ryan’s foundation?” he asked, voicing one of his thoughts.
“No. Nothing like that. I’m spending more time in the office at the moment, than I am with patients. I’m hoping that things will settle down and I can go back to an even balance of both.”
“Do you ever think about relinquishing your CEO role and going back to purely diagnosing and treating patients?”
“On the days when I’m drowning in paperwork—absolutely. But I have to admit that I don’t mind being in charge of the day-to-day running of the hospital. I can ensure that the decisions I make are the best, not only for the hospital, but for the people who I work with.” Scott sipped his coffee before continuing. “If they replace me and bring in someone who is more administrative than a medical professional, then they’re likely to start making decisions that won’t benefit the staff. They would have no idea, or practical experience, of what it’s like being in the trenches and how everything runs. Nor what the medical staff need the most.”
“I’ve never thought about that aspect. You make a good point. Ryan mentioned to me your idea
to help people in rural areas who are interested in medicine being able to follow their dreams.” Jonas ran his finger around the rim of his mug. “That’s such a fabulous idea. If you need any help with the funding side of things, let me know. I still have contacts in the industry, and names of former clients looking for tax breaks who may be willing to make contributions to the fund. Not to mention how best to structure it so the finances continue to grow.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it. It’s all in the planning stages at the moment. Everyone deserves a chance to achieve their life goals. I know we were lucky to have all the benefits we wanted. Not many people are as fortunate as us. I think it’s right to give back. And if I can help one person change their future then it will be worth it.”
He slapped his brother on the back. “You’re a good man, Scott Carruthers.”
“Takes one to know one.” Scott lifted his mug and drained the contents. “As much as I’ve enjoyed this, I need to get to work. Take care. And you know, I think the town would be okay if you closed one day a week. It’s your place now, you don’t have to keep running it the way old man Baxter did.”
“I know. Text me when you get to work.”
“Sure. Later, bro.” Scott slapped him on the back and walked back into the kitchen. The door shut and Jonas thought over his conversation with Scott, particularly his parting words.
Had he been continuing on with how the Baxters ran the pub and not making it his own?
Sure, he was pretty much doing the same thing they’d done. Although he’d made some slight changes. Ones that hadn’t affected the town or what they’d been used to. At the time, making the transition from the Baxters to him seamless had been his focus, so it had been easier to keep the status quo.
Was it time to really make the pub his own?
He would have to sit down and look at things and see if he could work out a way to make a day off possible. On the other hand, his Sundays were mainly free so he usually used that day to sleep in and then relax. His family probably didn’t see or know that. All they knew was that he was open seven days a week.
Not once had he felt burnt out in the last few years. The reason he was feeling out of sorts this week was more due to the guest he had and not his workload.
Pandora Sebastian had been a major distraction for him. A good one, though. Once he’d gotten his head out of his ass he’d enjoyed spending time with her. If only she didn’t have a job that tied her to the city. She probably needed to be close to an airport to be able to leave at a moment’s notice to go to a job in some far-flung place.
All the lectures in the world couldn’t stop the fact that he wished things were different, that he could somehow make her stay.
*
Pandora looked out the kitchen window and spied Jonas standing outside, coffee mug in hand. As she’d come down, Scott had been leaving. He’d given her a hug, surprising her with the action, but also promising that once he checked in with the hospital in Sydney to get an update on Ray, he’d let Jonas know so that he could tell her.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she wished she’d left it upstairs when she saw Laura’s name flashing on the screen. This was the first time Laura had called her since the weekend. It had just been her checking in via text occasionally. She hoped Laura wasn’t calling with some bad news or anything.
“Hi Laura, how are you?” She injected some perkiness in her voice that she wasn’t really feeling.
“You sound better—looks like this break was exactly what you needed. Which is great. Your continued publicity has actually worked in your favour. I’ve got clients that want to take advantage of all the hype.”
A ball of dread formed in Pandora’s stomach. While it was good to hear she hadn’t shot her career in the foot, she wasn’t sure she wanted to get back on the wagon so soon. How quickly after all the hype died down would these new clients decide they no longer wanted her? Regardless of whether she did a great job or not?
“You haven’t accepted any of them have you?”
Knowing Laura, she probably had her booked up from now until the end of time. That was what she’d done in the past, and Pandora had been more than happy to go from one job to another, with brief breaks in between. Now that she’d had some down time, no way did she want to keep up that pace. If she did, she really would have a breakdown. The one thing she’d learned through this whole episode was that she needed down time to appreciate the career she had.
“I’m waiting for more information from them. That should be coming today.”
Pandora blew out a breath in relief, but steeled herself for what she was going to say next and how Laura would react. On the long drives to and from the hospital she’d had plenty of time to think about how she wanted to manage her time in the future. Being more involved with her career and how it was handled was the most important one. Laura’s call right now was the beginning step in working toward achieving her first goal. “Right. When you get the information, can you run it past me before you accept? I know this isn’t how we’ve worked in the past, but it’s how I want to do things in the future.”
“Hmm.”
The silence stretched beyond a reasonable amount of time and Pandora’s nerves tightened until she thought they were going to snap in half. No way was she going to ask if Laura approved of this new process for accepting future modelling jobs. Why give Laura the opportunity to pan the idea before they’d even tried to see if it would work?
Pandora could hear the faint rustle of papers being shuffled around. Laura wasn’t collecting a dissolution agreement that she was going to email to her, was she?
“Well, if you were a new client of mine I’d be terminating our agreement, but as I said when all this happened—I like you, and you’ve been a good worker, not causing me too many issues. And, looking back over your career, I know you’ve been working nonstop for the last few years. So okay, I can do that. I can run things past you before I accept them.” What was with her sort of threatening and then not? Over the last few years Laura had been a constant presence. If her agent couldn’t accept what she wanted, even with her saying it was fine, then maybe it was time to terminate Laura’s contract.
“Thank you, Laura, I appreciate it. There’s something else I wanted to talk to you about.”
“What’s that?” A hint of impatience had entered her agent’s voice and she probably only had a few seconds before Laura ended the call.
“It’s the statement you issued. I’m worried that somehow the truth about it is going to get out. You know how the gossip rags are. They’re relentless and I’ve got so many comments from people who have lost animals saying they understand my feelings. I don’t like deceiving people.”
Laura sighed. Had she overstepped her boundaries by bringing this up again? Well, too bad, this was all about claiming responsibility over her career, it had to be brought up. Laura had to know what was being said, and that the fallout if the truth came out would be catastrophic. Pandora might not have any career left once the dust settled. Dammit, why hadn’t she canned the idea of a dead pet the second Laura talked about it? Because, for the first time in her career, she wanted it taken care of and hadn’t wanted to worry about the fallout from what she’d done.
It saddened her that her parents had basically abandoned her when she followed this career path. Even when she was named one of the new supermodels of the decade there hadn’t been a word from them. Although, if a scandal did break out over the lies in the statement, she was glad they had no contact anymore.
Not long after her first couple of campaigns had proven to be successful, she’d tried a few times to arrange a lunch or dinner with them. And every time they’d said they were too busy to meet with her.
When the purchase of her apartment had been finalised, she’d wanted to call them to let them know of her achievement. To prove to them that it didn’t matter that she hadn’t finished her degree. She’d created a career that gave her the type of financial security she’d neve
r dreamed she’d have. She had more money in the bank at the moment, than she ever would’ve had if she’d completed her business degree.
If she wasn’t modelling she’d probably be flitting from one job to another, never satisfied. But that wasn’t something her parents understood—or they didn’t want to. It had always been their way was the only way to move forward.
“Pandora, I understand what you’re saying and, as you know, my team, along with Mandy, have been monitoring the comments so it’s been brought to my attention. If we have to, we’ll come up with something that will placate the public. But the interest in you in the media is finally slowing down. Come next week, all of this will be forgotten and we can all put the episode behind us.”
“Fine, I’ll try not to worry and, well, if it comes out, we’ll deal with it and work out a reasonable explanation. I trust you and your team, along with Mandy.” With her free hand she crossed her fingers behind her back.
“Good. And so you know, if for some reason the truth comes out we’ll phrase it that it wasn’t your idea, but it came from our office.”
What? That was the last thing she thought she’d ever hear from Laura. Would she do this with a brand-new client? Or was it because of the future potential business Pandora could bring her that she was willing to take the fall for her?
God, she prayed it didn’t come to that. “I hope you aren’t saying you’re going to fire someone, because that would be totally unfair. Please tell me you won’t do that.” Pandora protested, hating the thought Laura would sacrifice someone in her office when it had been her idea all along. Maybe she should look at a new agent, because she didn’t want to be associated with someone as heartless as that. Yet, without Laura she wouldn’t have the career she had.
Oh, what a mess it had all turned into. All because she’d lost her cool. So very unlike her, but she couldn’t deny that, in a way, she was glad it had happened. If it hadn’t, she wouldn’t be where she was standing right now and she liked where she was, very much.
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