felt that all too familiar ache of inadequacy as she overheard the exchange. Maybe she should do something about her hair, she thought, tucking a wayward strand behind one ear. A few highlights, maybe even a trim, or even a new style would give her ego a much-needed boost. Not that she’d noticed a hairdresser’s anywhere in town. Culwulla Creek was hardly the place to prepare for a Miss Universe line-up, Kellie realised, but a girl—even a girl living in the dry dusty outback—needed a lift now and again, didn’t she?
‘I think she’s just what this town needs,’ Julie said. ‘Tim and Claire will be delighted to know they chose exactly the right person to fill the position.’
‘The flying doctor’s just landed,’ Bluey announced as he popped his head around the door. ‘Do you want me to come with you and hold your hand, Jules?’ he asked. ‘I’ve got nothing planned for the next few days.’
Julie gave him another scornful look. ‘That’d be the blind leading the blind, wouldn’t it?’
Bluey grinned boyishly. ‘You break me up, Jules.’
Kellie looked at Matt, who was smiling at the exchange. It wasn’t a broad smile by any stretch of the imagination but it was enough to make his dark blue eyes crinkle up at the corners and his normally rigid mouth relax. Kellie couldn’t help thinking how sensual it looked without its tightened contours.
He turned and caught her staring at him and his smile instantly faded. ‘Is there something wrong, Dr Thorne?’ he asked.
Kellie met his gaze. ‘No,’ she said, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed under his frowning scrutiny.
He held her look for a tense moment. ‘Excuse me,’ he said. ‘I have a patient to see to. I’ll let you get back to your socialising.’
Kellie couldn’t help thinking there was a hint of criticism in his tone. He made it sound as if she had nothing better to do than sit around and drink cocktails with the locals while he got on with the job of being the only reliable, hard-working doctor in town. ‘I’d like to come with you to the airstrip,’ she said with a little jut of her chin. ‘I need to learn the ropes and now is as good a time as any.’
He looked as if he was about to disagree, but perhaps because of the assembled group nearby he appeared to change his mind. ‘All right,’ he said, letting out a sigh that sounded like something between irritation and resignation. ‘Follow me.’
CHAPTER FIVE
KELLIE thought the airstrip looked even smaller than when she had arrived there only hours earlier. The arrivals building was no bigger than a suburban garden shed, and the red gravel runway looked too small for a car to brake suddenly, let alone an aircraft.
Before the plane had landed a team of locals had performed the mandatory ‘roo shoo’ which involved a couple of cars driving up and down the strip to clear away any wildlife such as kangaroos, emus or possums. Kellie could see one or two of the drivers standing chatting to the pilot as she and Matt approached.
Once Julie was settled on board, Brian King, the pilot, Nathan Curtis, the doctor, and Fran Bradley, the nurse, quickly introduced themselves.
‘It’s great to meet you,’ Fran said with a friendly smile. ‘I know of a few women out on the land who’ll be glad to know you’ve joined the outback clinic team.’
Kellie swallowed as she looked at the aircraft. ‘Er … yes, I’m sure it will be heaps of fun …’
‘Dr Thorne isn’t too keen on flying,’ Matt said with an unreadable expression.
Kellie glowered at him. ‘I’m sure I’ll get used to it if it’s not too rough.’ She turned back to the nurse. ‘I had a scary trip back from a rotation I did in Tamworth a few years ago. We had to make an emergency landing when one of the engines failed. A few of the passengers were seriously injured. I’m afraid I’ve been a bit of a coward ever since.’
Brian smiled reassuringly. ‘We’ll do our best to keep you safe out here,’ he said. ‘We don’t take unnecessary risks. I’ve only had to make one emergency landing in twenty years of flying in the outback.’
‘That’s very good to know,’ Kellie said, with another nervous glance towards the plane which, in her opinion, looked like it wouldn’t look out of place in a child’s toybox.
Julie was soon loaded on board and everyone stood back as the engine turned over in preparation for take-off. On the way back to his car Matt stopped to chat to Ruth. ‘Are you sure you’ll be able to manage Julie’s boys?’ he asked with a concerned pleat of his brow.
‘I’ll be fine,’ Ruth assured him. ‘They’ll keep me on my toes, no doubt, but it will be good for me. Take my mind off things.’
‘Can I help in any way?’ Kellie asked. ‘It’s not as if I’m not used to handling boys and I don’t start at the clinic until next week.’
‘If you’d like to, that would be lovely,’ Ruth said. ‘Julie’s house is on Commercial Road, number fifteen, I think it is from memory—no one really bothers with numbers out here. Anyway, it’s the house next door to the old community centre.’
‘I’ll find it,’ Kellie said with a confident smile.
Matt opened the car door for Kellie once Ruth had driven off. ‘You may have had plenty of experience handling your brothers but I can assure you Julie’s boys are something else. They’ve been running wild for years. I’ve had each of them for patients with every injury imaginable. How one of them hasn’t been killed before now is little short of a miracle.’
Kellie waited until he was behind the wheel before asking, ‘How old are they?’
He frowned as if searching his memory. ‘Ty is fifteen, Rowan fourteen and Cade is twelve.’
‘And how old is Julie?’
‘She’s not long turned thirty-one, I think.’
Kellie lifted her brows. ‘Gosh, she did start young. She was, what, just sixteen when she had the oldest boy.’
‘Yes, but out here that’s not unusual,’ he said. ‘I have several patients who are teenage mothers. It’s tough on them as they can’t really get out of the cycle of poverty without an education to fall back on. They end up having a couple more kids and living on welfare for years on end.’
Kellie couldn’t help thinking of how different her life had been in spite of her mother’s untimely death. She at least had been able to complete her training even while juggling her father’s and brothers’ needs. She hadn’t really realised until now how lucky she was to have done so. She could so easily have chosen another path, like so many others did in times of grief and trauma.
‘Ruth told me about your fiancée,’ she said after a lengthy silence. ‘I’m sorry … I didn’t realise how tough this weekend must have been for you.’
All the air inside the car seemed to be sucked out on the harshly indrawn breath he took. ‘It’s fine,’ he said. ‘I’m over it. Life moves on. It has to.’
Kellie glanced at his white-knuckled grip on the steering-wheel and wondered if that was entirely
