acting a bit strange.’ Kell shrugged. ‘So maybe you should hurry up your smoko and go and get Ross.’
Abby glanced over to Bruce, doubting anything short of a nuclear missile would hurry him up, but as Kell carried on chatting in his laid-back voice she did a double-take.
‘If the baby is coming, Ross will want to be there.’
‘She’s in labour?’ Abby gasped, but Kell just gave a vague shrug as Bruce noisily supped at his tea.
‘Well, Shelly insists she isn’t, but if you ask me she isn’t far off. She’s been cleaning like a woman possessed this morning, and now she’s pacing up and down like a tractor turning the soil.’
‘And from that you assume she’s in labour?’ There was a slightly sarcastic edge to Abby’s voice, which she quickly fought to correct. After all, it wasn’t Kell’s fault he didn’t know what he was talking about!
‘I’m just saying I’d be happier if Ross was here, and that as much as Shelly refuses to admit it, I think she’d be happier, too,’ Kell added, with all the authority of a man who’d no doubt single-handedly delivered a zillion calves! ‘She’s supposed to be flown to Adelaide in the morning.’
‘When’s she due?’ Bruce asked, slurping his drink in such a disgusting fashion Abby felt like putting her hands up to her ears.
‘Three weeks tomorrow, but they’ll take her to Adelaide in case the baby comes early.’
‘Do all pregnant women go to Adelaide?’ Abby asked, curiosity getting the better of her. Though she only half listened to the answer, sure these two bush buddies wouldn’t have a clue about maternity arrangements.
‘Just the complicated ones.’ Kell gave a knowing nod and Bruce scratched his head.
‘It’s upside down, isn’t it?’
‘Breech,’ Abby said, trying to keep the note of superiority out of her voice. ‘She probably won’t need a Caesarean section, but it’s better to be on the safe side. Breech deliveries can be complicated.’
‘Is that right? Rightio, then.’ Taking his cue, Bruce threw the dregs of his drink onto the ground and took another moment or two to replace his lid and cup. ‘I’d better step on it. Will you be all right? I mean, if Shelly really is about to have the little tacker, do you want me to give anyone a call?’
‘Good idea,’ Abby said approvingly, then snapped her mouth closed as Kell overrode her.
‘Oh, we’ll be right.’ Kell shrugged again. ‘But more to the point, Shelly will kill me if I go summoning the troops. I’ll catch you later, then, Bruce.’ As Kell turned to go Abby stood there bemused for a moment before calling him. ‘What about my luggage?’
‘Bruce will bring it in later when he drops Ross back. I’ve only got the bike.’ Gesturing to a massive brute of a motorcycle parked in the middle of nowhere, he didn’t seem to notice or, more pointedly, chose to ignore Abby’s gasp of horror.
‘But my computer…’ Her voice trailed off as Kell gave her a curious look.
‘It will be fine. Bruce will only be gone an hour or so. No one’s going to take it.’
Maybe not, but if Bruce went and fell asleep at the controls, which Abby reasoned wouldn’t exactly be far off from where he was now, not only would all her drug rehab research go up the shoot, she’d be stuck in this God-forsaken place without the internet, and heaven forbid, the chance to email every last one of her family to tell them about the worst career move in history.
‘I’d like my computer, please.’ Standing her ground, Abby watched as Kell gave her another quizzical look, combined with another brief shrug.
‘Whatever you say. Hey, Bruce!’
Ambling his way over, Abby watched as the two men exchanged a few words, no doubt moaning about the little princess who needed all her gadgets. Well, let them moan, Abby thought fiercely, she needed her computer, it wasn’t exactly a big thing to ask!
‘Here you go.’ Handing her the black bag, Abby mumbled her thanks, her eyes travelling behind him to the large white building.
‘The clinic’s bigger than I thought.’
That was the understatement of the millennium. For weeks now Abby had been having visions of a tiny tin shack, with a rickety sign bearing a red cross on the outside. Maybe it was the word ‘clinic’ that had caused her misconception, conjuring up images of a halfway house, a holding bay until real help arrived, but the very white, very large building she was looking at now looked suspiciously like a hospital.
Kell nodded as Abby carried on staring. ‘It’s getting there. Half of it is still under construction, but it’s coming along. I’d take you round for a quick tour, but Ross asked me to keep an eye on Shelly. I can take you in, though. Clara’s on duty, she’ll be only too happy to show you around.’
‘That’s fine,’ Abby said quickly, suddenly overcome with nerves at the prospect of meeting everyone. ‘I’ll wait for the doctor.’ Her words came out horribly wrong, superior and condescending, but thankfully Kell didn’t respond, just climbed on the bike. It wasn’t as if he’d be up on the intricacies of hospital hierarchy to be offended by her words, Abby consoled herself, making a mental note to be a bit more diplomatic.
‘Do you want me to hold your computer for you?’ Kell volunteered as Abby eyed the bike suspiciously and lifted one very wary leg. ‘Would that make things easier?’
‘Thanks.’ He slipped the carry strap over his shoulder and waited patiently, a slight grin on his lips as Abby struggled to mount, her cheeks still burning from the mess she had made of his polite offer to introduce her. But it wasn’t only embarrassment and the thought of climbing on the brute of a thing that was giving Abby palpitations, it was the realisation that she had no hope of getting on, straddling the thing and riding the couple of kilometres or so to the homestead without touching Kell. Or more pointedly, without touching the vast expanse of naked skin that she simply couldn’t seem to tear her eyes away from.
She wanted to ask him for a helmet, to point out the dangers of riding a bike without one. How dammed irresponsible they were being and how awful it would look in her obituary if an emergency doctor was killed riding a bike without one.
But what would be the point?
All that would achieve would be to make her look even more neurotic. Still, if this was how they got about here, she was going to make damned sure she bought one for herself, order one from the internet if she had to.
At least she had her computer.
‘Whoops.’ Midway through starting the engine, he stopped. Climbing off, Kell opened the back box Abby was leaning on and took out two of the offending objects. ‘Better to be safe. Ross would never forgive me if I killed the new doctor on her first day here.’
The annoying thing was, now that she’d got what she’d only seconds ago wanted, Abby had no idea what to do with the blessed thing. Oh, she could get it on, and hopefully it was the right way around, but the straps on Kell’s helmet had clipped together easily, whereas hers…
‘Here.’ He was standing next to her, clipping together the connection
