She was grateful for his help and his discretion. She followed him out of the drying room into a passageway. He didn’t seem bothered by the fact that he was carting over fifty kilograms of her baggage. He didn’t appear to be under any strain at all. His long-legged stride ate up the corridor and Sophie had to hurry to keep up with him.
‘You’ve missed lunch but the cook will rustle something up for you as I’m sure you’re hungry, and then I’ll give you a tour of the station,’ Gabe said over his shoulder. ‘Unless you need to rest, in which case I’ll show you straight to your room.’
The aroma of freshly baked bread wafted along the corridor, teasing her taste buds. ‘Something to eat sounds good,’ she said, surprising herself. She had lost her appetite since Danny’s death and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d actually felt like eating. But suddenly she was starving.
Gabe turned and pushed open a door. He backed into a room and when Sophie followed she found herself in the mess hall. The kitchen equipment ran along the back wall to her left. Massive serving stations filled the centre of the room and several long communal tables were arranged between the serving area and the far wall. Sophie’s eyes were drawn to a series of enormous windows on the far wall and she forgot all about the smell of freshly baked bread. She forgot she was in the kitchen. She forgot Gabe had brought her here to eat. She forgot she was hungry.
The view through the windows drew her across the room. The windows looked out over the icy plateau and across the blue waters of Vincennes Bay, and she couldn’t resist a closer look at the harbour. She’d only caught a quick glimpse of the station’s landscape as Alex had delivered her to the red shed and she was drawn to the contrasting colours of the buildings, the ice and the water. The views were glorious.
Half a dozen armchairs with plump cushions were positioned in front of the windows and she could just imagine curling up in one and staring out across the ice. It would be a constantly changing landscape, depending on the weather conditions, and more than likely would be enough to keep her occupied for hours.
‘It’s incredible, isn’t it?’ Gabe stood beside her.
She nodded and spoke in a whisper that seemed to fit the majesty of the view. ‘I can’t believe I’m going to live here for the next few weeks. At the end of the earth.’
Gabe was smiling at her. ‘Just wait until you see Mother Nature in all her glory. It’s beautiful today when the sun is shining but if there’s a blizzard it will seem as though someone has pulled a snow curtain over the windows. Every day is different and at times the weather can, and does, change in a matter of seconds. It’s a beautiful but inhospitable landscape and, while you’re welcome to explore it, it’s imperative we make sure you’re equipped to deal with it. I’ll organise for Alex to give you some survival training as we can’t let you out there until we’re sure you’re ready, but right now I think the first order of business is getting you fed.’
Gabe introduced her to Dom, the station chef, who served her a bowl of minestrone with freshly baked rolls still warm from the oven. Sophie’s stomach rumbled as she quickly gathered her brown, shoulder-length curls into one hand, pulling them into a ponytail before securing it with an elastic band that was around her wrist. She flicked her hair back over her shoulder, picked up her spoon and dipped it into the soup. She bent her head and tasted it.
‘Mmm, this is fabulous, thanks, Dom. I think I’ll make you my first friend.’
She lifted her head and beamed at Dom and Gabe was stunned at the way her smile lit up her face and changed her from an attractive woman into a beautiful one. How did he get her to smile like that at him? He’d been mesmerised, watching her tie her dark curls back into a ponytail—he had always loved how women could so deftly change their hairstyles—but watching her play with her hair couldn’t compare to watching her face light up with a full smile. She had two dimples, one in each cheek, and the sudden flash of the matching pair completely blindsided him. She was a gorgeous woman even if, in his opinion, she was too thin. Seeing her tuck into Dom’s soup was a relief.
He knew that Sophie’s husband had been tragically killed only a few months ago and he’d had reservations about the Australian Antarctic Programme sending her down here so soon after the accident, but he’d been told that she’d passed all the tests and that they didn’t have any other options. She was the best choice, they’d said, and he just had to hope it worked out. The only trouble was that if things didn’t go according to plan, she became his problem, not the AAP’s. He was the one in charge down here. He was the one left to sort out any mess. But seeing her eat relieved some of his apprehension. That was one less thing to worry about. Maybe she was naturally thin or maybe she’d lost weight after her husband had died, but at least she was eating.
To distract himself from thoughts of her dimples, he transferred her bags to her room while she ate, before returning to help settle her into the station. Their first stop on the way to her room was the storeroom.
‘This is our version of a supermarket, and you can help yourself to anything in here that you need,’ he told her as he waited for her to select linen, toiletries and other essentials from the shelves. ‘This floor of the shed is primarily living and rec space. We have a gym, a climbing wall, an activity centre, a library, lounge and a cinema, so there’s plenty to keep you occupied for any downtime. Everything of importance as far as your role is concerned is housed in the red shed. The other sheds are for stores, machinery, that sort of thing, although there is an area set up in one shed for those who like painting or woodwork or photography, etcetera. I’ll show you that another time. The medical centre and your room are down this way.
‘This is your donga,’ he said as he pushed open yet another door, this one leading into a bedroom. ‘And the medical centre is across the corridor.’
Sophie followed Gabe into her room. It was far from spacious. Her bags were taking up most of the free floor space, leaving just enough room for the two of them to stand side by side. The air in the room felt charged and she had a sense of anticipation but she tried to tell herself it was just the circumstances, the excitement of her new surroundings, and had nothing to do with the man standing next to her. But she was aware of how much space he took up, and as there was no room for her to move she stood beside him as she checked out her quarters.
As small as it was, it contained all the essentials. There was a single bed with built-in furniture—a tiny desk, a wardrobe and plenty of shelves and under-bed drawers for storage. It reminded her of boarding school.
‘I know it’s pretty basic but this is actually one of the dongas that has been recently refurbished. And we don’t want to make it too comfortable because we want people to get out of their rooms and socialise—it’s important in this isolated environment—but we realise people do need some privacy. You’ll have internet access for emails, etcetera, but no video calls. The password and log-in details are here on your notice-board,’ he said, as he pointed out a scrap of paper pinned to a board above the desk. ‘All the dongas have single beds. That’s not to say there aren’t South Pole romances, we’re not trying to deliberately make things difficult, but space is at a premium.’
‘I don’t think a single bed will bother me,’ she said, knowing it was of little consequence to her.
‘My room is next to yours. I also want to be close to the action but most of the accommodation is on the upper level. Now that most of the summer staff has left, I can arrange to move you upstairs if you’d prefer.’
‘No.’ Sophie shook her head. ‘It makes sense for me to be close to the medical facilities.’ She was the only doctor at the station so she needed to be close by, but she was also oddly
