‘See your friends.’
He made it sound so simple—so normal. And it would look pathetic if she hung around the house for the entire weekend. Her brain quickly sorted through the possibilities. She supposed she did have a couple of friends she could visit—Louise and Max Alderton. They lived on a property, Willow Bend, only ten miles out. Louise was on the hospital board and somehow had sensed Darcie’s need for a no-strings kind of friendship.
She could give Lou a call now. She’d still be up. See if it was OK to visit. Maybe they could go for a ride... ‘OK. I’ll do that. Thanks.’
* * *
Next morning, Darcie couldn’t believe she’d slept in. If you called seven-thirty sleeping in, she thought wryly, sitting up to look out at the new day. The sun had risen, the temperature climbing already. Blocking a yawn, she stretched and threw herself out of bed. She had a holiday.
And she’d better remember there was a man in the house. Slipping into her short dressing gown, she sprinted along the hallway to the bathroom.
As she dressed, Darcie sensed something different about the place. A feeling of the house coming alive. And there was a delicious smell of grilling bacon coming from the kitchen.
And that could mean only one thing. Jack was up and around and amazingly he must be cooking breakfast. She hoped he’d made enough for two because she intended joining him.
As she made her way along the hallway to the kitchen, her newly found confidence began faltering. Perhaps she was being presumptuous. She didn’t expect Jack to feed her. She really didn’t.
But already her preconceived ideas about him had begun falling like skittles. He wasn’t strutty—just competent. And from what she’d observed, he seemed straightforward and she liked that. If he’d only made breakfast for one, then he’d tell her so.
She paused at the kitchen door, ran her tongue around the seam of her lips and said, ‘You’re up early.’
Busy at the cooker top, Jack turned his head and gave her a casual ‘Morning. How do you like your eggs?’
‘Um...’ Darcie’s mouth opened and closed. ‘Scrambled, I think.’ She joined him at the stove. He was turning sausages and the bacon was set aside in the warming oven.
‘Me too.’ He gave her a quick smile. ‘Will you do that while I watch these guys?’
‘Yes, sure.’ She looked around and saw a pile of groceries had been unloaded onto the benchtop. ‘Have you been to the supermarket already?’
‘I was awake early,’ he said. ‘Thought I’d do a quick swoop. I borrowed your car. I hope that’s all right?’
‘Of course.’ Darcie searched for a bowl and began cracking the eggs. ‘You must let Lauren and me pay for our share of the groceries.’
‘We can talk about that later,’ Jack dismissed. ‘Tomatoes for you?’
‘Yes, please.’ Darcie’s mouth began to water. All this home cooking was beginning to heighten her taste buds. ‘And I’ll make some toast. Did you get bread?’
‘I did. The baker had his front door open a crack. I gave him a shout, introduced myself and he obligingly sold me a couple of loaves.’
‘That’ll be Jai.’ Darcie found the wholemeal loaf and hacked off a couple of slices. ‘He and his wife, Nikki, relocated from Thailand. He makes gorgeous bread.’
Jack piled the cooked sausages onto a plate. ‘Should we keep some of this food for Lauren?’
‘Uh-uh. She’ll sleep for ages. And she’s vegetarian anyway.’
‘Oh—OK. Good for her,’ Jack said, though he sounded doubtful. ‘We won’t have continuous tofu to look forward to, will we?’
Darcie chuckled. ‘Tofu is the new meat. But she’s more a risotto person. Although she does a great grilled halloumi and courgette salad.’
‘You mean zucchini? Well, that sounds all right, as long as there’s a nice T-bone steak to go with it,’ he said with wry humour. ‘This is about ready. Should we tuck in?’
‘I’ll get the plates.’
‘I hope it’s up to scratch,’ he said.
‘Oh, it will be.’ Darcie was adamant. ‘You seem like an amazingly good cook.’
‘I was reared on a cattle property,’ Jack said, as they settled over their meal. ‘We all had to learn to throw a meal together, especially at mustering time. If you were given kitchen duties, you had to have something ready to feed the troops or risk getting a kick up the backside. Sorry...’ His mouth pulled down. ‘That sounded a bit crass.’
‘Not at all.’ Darcie dismissed his apology. ‘So, are there a lot of you in the family?’
‘I’m the eldest of five. Two brothers, two sisters. I recall some pretty rowdy mealtimes.’
And he made it sound so warm and wonderful. Darcie felt the weight of her own solitary childhood sit heavily on her shoulders. Meals on your own didn’t have much going for them. But that was her old life. She shook her head as if to clear the debris and firmly closed the lid on that particular Pandora’s box. She drummed up a quick smile. ‘So, happy childhood, then?’
‘Mmm.’ Jack hadn’t missed the subtlety of her mood change or her quickly shuttered look. But he didn’t want to be stepping on any of her private landmines. One thing he did know, he’d shut up about his happy childhood.
‘So, what are your plans for today?’ He’d already noticed her boots, jeans and soft white shirt.
‘I’m going riding.’ She filled him in about the Aldertons and Willow Bend. ‘You’ll probably meet Lou sooner rather than later. She’s on the hospital board and a great innovator.’
‘Excellent. As the sole MOs for the entire district, we need all the help we can get.’
They batted light conversation around for the rest of the meal.
‘You’ll find a set of keys for your use at the nurses’ station,’ Darcie said, as they finished breakfast and began clearing the table. ‘Including those for your vehicle.’
‘Thanks.’ He bent and began stacking the dishwasher.
Darcie blinked a bit. Heavens, he really was house-trained. ‘Natalie Britten will be the RN on duty and with a bit of luck a couple of our ancillary staff should turn up as well. There’s a list of numbers to call if there are any staffing problems.’
‘You like all your ducks in a row, don’t you?’
Darcie’s chin came up. ‘We’re running a hospital,’ she countered. ‘We have to make some effort for things to be orderly.’
‘That wasn’t my first impression.’ He smiled then, a little half-smile that seemed to flicker on one side of his lips before settling into place.
‘A tiny glitch.’ Darcie shrugged
