Murwillumbah where the one obstetric GP has retired. The idea would be to take over his practice for a few weeks but really they’d want me to see if it is still viable as a maternity unit. It’s pretty much a midwifery-run unit and almost in Queensland. If I go, would you want to come or stay here with Mrs White?’
‘Is she staying here?’ Georgia looked startled and he wondered why.
‘She will do if you do!’ Georgia had more need of Mrs White with Elsa than he did.
‘I’m a big girl. You have to stop looking after me, Max.’
‘You’re my wife,’ he said. In truth, he did very little and would love to do more, but she valued her independence and the other thing, the one he tried not to think about but kept him awake at night, needed time.
‘In name only,’ she said.
Bingo. That was the crux, Max thought, and the devil answered. ‘We could change that.’
She laughed. ‘I’m two years older than you. That would be taking advantage of you.’
‘Yes, please, madam.’They both smiled but Max didn’t feel amused. She really didn’t get it. Probably never would, But now wasn’t the time to push it, even though it would be so easy to lean over and kiss those laughing lips of hers.
Down, boy, he warned himself. ‘Seriously, Georgia. You may be older by year or two, but not in the ways of the world.’ That was what he said. What he thought was, Can’t you see I want all of you and I’m trying to stay away?
‘Anyway,’ he said, ‘my aunt left me an old house overlooking Byron Bay, which she bought when she went through her arty phase. I thought I’d stay there and commute to Meeandah.
‘The house is run down but if you’re bored you might be interested in organising to have some work done on it. A gardener comes once a fortnight and the house itself gets springcleaned every couple of months so it will be perfectly habitable.’
She frowned. ‘I appreciate your confidence in my interior decorating skills but I don’t need amusement, Max, I need to rebuild my life so I can regain my independence.’
He knew she expected them to part after the twelve months, she’d told him so several times, and he’d deliberately put no pressure at all on her about his own growing feelings.
Perhaps if he spent more time with her she’d decide he was the catch of the season. What a joke. She’d confirm what he had always known that he didn’t have much to offer her.
He couldn’t have children and she was a great mother and should have lots of children.
He wasn’t used to such negative thoughts and lack of self-confidence and if this was what falling in love did, he wasn’t impressed.
He’d just have to put up with the agony in the slim chance that she’d realise they would deal very well together in the long term.
‘Why don’t we go for a drive on Sunday in the Hummer?’ he said to change the subject. ‘My poor baby hasn’t had a rough-up for a few months now and Mrs White has offered to mind Elsa for a few hours.’
She glanced at him quickly and then away. ‘Fine,’ she replied, though she sounded surprised.
It wasn’t roaring enthusiasm. She’d said fine, so he’d work on it from there.
He hadn’t been out for a while and it would be interesting to see whether Georgia was a bushbashing girl or not. Tayla certainly hadn’t been.
‘What are you smiling at?’
He looked up at her. ‘I was thinking about the one time I took Tayla out in the Hummer and she had hysterics as soon as I turned off the main highway. She liked sitting up above all the other cars with people watching on the main road.’
‘That would be the part I’d hate most.’
‘Wait until you see what she can do.’
‘Should I regret agreeing?’
He raised his eyebrows suggestively. ‘We’ll see.’
Max loved having Georgia beside him in the Hummer. They took a short drive into the hills that first day and the rough fire trail he’d chosen carried them deeper into the forest in a slow incline towards the trig point at the top of the hill.
The overhanging branches slapped the side of the vehicle and Georgia laughed with delight as they bumped and crashed their way through the bush.
‘I’m impressed, Max,’ she said, laughing at him as another huge frond of prickly lantana swished down the side of the paintwork. ‘You really do take your baby offroad and rough her up. You’re not just a show pony.’
‘I’ll give you show pony,’ he threatened, and turned down another trail that seemed even more overgrown than the last but then cleared and opened out to a rocky outcrop overlooking the valley floor.
When Max turned off the engine, bellbirds pinged their songs in the scrub and the rustle of lizards could be heard, scuttling away from the now invaded open ground.
‘You were lucky this wasn’t a dead end.’ Georgia gazed around in delight.
‘Technically it is. But call me lucky,’ he said, and then pulled the map from the door. ‘Actually, I cheated.’
‘Pretty cool navigating anyway,’ she said and, undid her seat belt. ‘Can I get out?’
‘Absolutely. Do you want a hand to climb down?’
‘No.’ She pretended to frown at him. ‘Thank you. I’m a big girl.’ Max watched her jump from the cab and he climbed out himself with a grin.
This was another side he hadn’t seen of Georgia. She glowed with vitality and enthusiasm as she crunched her way across short grass and small boulders to lean, a little recklessly, he thought, over the edge.
On the other side of the canyon a waterfall fell hundreds of metres to the valley floor and the twisting sliver of a silver river at the bottom.
Max came up next to her, ostensibly to share the view but really to grab her if she overbalanced, and when she looked across at him her eyes sparkled as she took in the magnificent views.
Max smiled back indulgently at her. He was falling deeper and deeper in love with this woman every minute and he was beginning to think she wasn’t as immune to him as he’d thought.
‘There’s nobody within miles and miles of us, is there, Max?’
‘Nope,’ he said. ‘All this within an hour from home.’
‘Elsa would love it.’
‘We’ll bring her next time.’ Max looked forward to more days like this. His family—if only it were really so. ‘No doubt she has her mother’s adventurous heart.’
‘I love it. I love the Hummer. I love the bush.’ She looked around eagerly. ‘Thank you for bringing me today, Max. I needed a total change and this is
