years of experience. Not someone with the bare basics of a couple of intern years, who still held a textbook in one hand and a prayer in the other.
It was well known that the further a person lived from a major capital city the more their health was compromised by their lack of access to state-of-the-art health care. That was a given in Bandarra, but at least it still had a small hospital which meant it attracted more doctors than other outback towns. He intended to talk to the senior practice partner—that was the doctor who should be looking after Nonna, not the trainee GP.
Vineyards and orchards flashed past as he headed into town, the rich red loamy river soil contrasting intensely with the grape-green foliage of the ‘close-to-harvest’ vines. The familiar clutch of unease tightened another notch and his chest hurt the way it always did when he found himself back under Bandarra’s endless outback sky. His fingers whitened as he gripped the steering wheel overly hard and he concentrated on forcing away the demons that threatened to suffocate him. Pulling hard left, he deliberately avoided the river road, taking a longer route, a route that he could navigate with his eyes closed despite the fact he’d lived in Melbourne a very long time. Avoiding the river was the only way he was going to survive three to four weeks in Bandarra.
Visitors to the district were always amazed at how the pioneers had harnessed the power of the great Murray River and turned what should have been an arid and harsh land into the luxuriant and premier fruit basket of Australia. But back then the river had run with a lot more water and the current irrigators now faced a new set of problems that the pioneers had probably never envisaged.
Ten minutes later, Leo walked into the hospital and caught sight of the broad back of a male standing at the nurses’ station. He was wearing a white coat. Leo smiled—now that was more like it.
‘Excuse me.’
The doctor raised his head from the chart and turned his shirt-and-tie-covered torso towards him. ‘May I help you?’
The English accent surprised Leo but this doctor had a gravitas that Abbie McFarlane lacked, despite the Star Trek tie. He extended his hand. ‘Leo Costa, surgeon. Are you the Senior Medical Officer?’
‘No, but I’d be happy to introduce you.’ He shot out his hand. ‘Justin Willoughby. It’s brilliant that you’re going to be working here.’
‘No!’ Hell would freeze over before he’d work in Bandarra.
Justin started with surprise at his emphatic tone and Leo sucked in a calming breath. In Melbourne he was known for high standards but with an easy-going approach. He wouldn’t let a short time in Bandarra steal that from him. ‘Sorry, what I meant to say is, I’m Maria Rossi’s grandson and I’m just up here for a few weeks until things are sorted out with my grandmother. Then it’s straight back to Melbourne.’
‘Ah.’ Justin nodded but his expression remained disappointed. ‘Pity. Bandarra could do with a visiting surgeon. The SMO’s caught up in ED. This way.’ He inclined his head and started walking down the corridor.
Leo fell into step with Justin and followed him through double perspex doors into a compact emergency department. Screens were drawn around cubicles and a pretty nurse walked towards them.
‘Where’s the boss, Lisa?’ Justin asked.
‘Not far away.’
‘Leo, you stay here and I’ll bring the boss to you. Back in a mo.’
Justin disappeared, leaving Leo with the nurse, who gave him a none too subtle look of curiosity which finished with smouldering interest. ‘Hello. New to Bandarra?’
‘I grew up here.’The words came out stark and brusque and he immediately forced himself to return her friendly look with a flash of his trademark smile. A smile he used many times a day without even thinking because it was never wise to burn bridges. His smile had gained him all sorts of things and had got him out of a few nasty situations. Except for yesterday.
Yesterday had been an aberration. His cool had slipped slightly with Abbie McFarlane and he’d chalked it up to his shock about Nonna and being back in a town he tried very hard to avoid. But everyone made mistakes and thankfully no real harm had been done.
‘Were you a blockie?’ Lisa used the local term to describe people who grew fruit on land with irrigation rights.
‘My grandfather was.’
‘Oh, are you related to the Italians out by Wadjera billabong?’
The name plunged into Leo like a knife to the heart and he stiffened. Thankfully, Justin’s return ended the conversation.
‘Leo, I’d like to introduce you to our SMO.’
Leo turned with a welcoming smile on his face. A pair of questioning moss-green eyes hit him with a clear and uncompromising gaze. Eyes that slanted seductively at the corners. A burst of unexpected heat fired low in his belly, disconcerting him for a second before reality crashed in, wiping out all other feeling. Our SMO. Damn it, how could she possibly be the senior doctor?
You’ve forgotten Bandarra isn’t Melbourne. His father’s voice rang loud in his head and the full ramifications of what he’d done last night hit him like a king punch. He’d let the Bandarra demons get to him and had made an ill-judged call.
He pulled himself together and, with aching cheeks, smiled. ‘Abbie.’
Her mouth flattened. ‘Leo.’
A startled expression crossed Justin’s face. ‘So you two have met before?’
‘We met last night.’ Abbie tugged at the edges of a clean starched white coat which covered a plain round-neck T-shirt and a straight no-frills navy skirt. The hiking boots had been replaced by flat utilitarian sandals of nondescript brown.
Not a trace of make-up touched her face but, despite that, her lips had a luminous sheen that pulled Leo’s gaze and held it fast. What the hell was wrong with him? But he didn’t have time to second-guess his reaction—the moment had come for damage control. He forced a self-deprecating quirk to his lips and gave a European shrug of his shoulders. ‘I didn’t realise Abbie was the SMO. A major error on my part.’
Justin laughed, giving his boss a cheeky grin. ‘Poor Abs, if you were a bloke you could grow a beard to look older.’ He winked at Leo. ‘She might forgive you in time.’
Going by the implacable set of her face and the tight pull of skin over her cheekbones, Leo wasn’t so sure. Still, that didn’t matter because he’d pull in a favour and ask the doctor from Naroopna to take over. ‘May we speak in private?’
She matched his shrug and rolled her hands palm up. ‘Is there anything left to say? You made your position quite clear last night.’ Turning on her heel, she headed towards the perspex doors and thumped them open.
Ignoring the intrigued looks of the other staff, he walked with her. ‘I do have something to say.’
‘You surprise me.’ Her sarcasm radiated from her like heat haze. She unexpectedly turned left into an empty ward and then spun back, crossing her arms hard against her chest, pushing her breasts upward. ‘Look, Leo, I don’t have time for this; I have patients waiting. Are you flying in a private doctor or transferring Maria to Mildura or Melbourne?’
He
