hope you enjoy it, then,’ he told his daughter.
‘I hope so too, and if nothing else I’ve got a few months of warm weather ahead,’ she said, trying to remind herself of the only benefit she should be considering.
‘Try feeling sorry for your father. I’ll be shovelling snow at some ungodly hour in the morning. Perhaps you should get some sleep, sweetie. Your flight would have been taxing, and the high temperatures will add to that.’
‘It was a little tiring, but I think …’ Phoebe paused as she heard the beeping of a text message come through. ‘Can you hold for one minute, Dad? I think I got a message …’
‘Sure, honey.’
Phoebe pulled the phone away from her ear and saw a number she didn’t know. She recognised it as local and read the message.
Phoebe, it’s Tilly. I know it’s late notice, but would you be free for dinner tonight around seven at my place? Dad will be here and he’d love to meet you. And I would love to chat properly. Heath can pick you up.
An invitation to have dinner with the family was something Phoebe hadn’t expected and she felt her errant heart race a little with the prospect of seeing Heath again. She knew it was crazy but her response to seeing him again made it obvious she may have a battle ahead. It clearly wasn’t going to be as easy as telling herself the facts. She couldn’t look out of a car window and ignore her reaction. She had to look inside of herself and face the fact that Heath was awakening feelings that she thought she had packed away when she had decided to focus on her career. Suddenly butterflies began to quicken in her stomach.
She didn’t answer the text immediately as she quickly made plans in her head. She couldn’t decline as that would be rude. And she wanted to meet Ken. With her breathing still a little strained, she resolved to get a taxi there on the pretext of saving Heath the trip—when she was only too aware it was to avoid the closeness of him in the confines of his car.
‘I’m back,’ she said, trying to concentrate once again on the conversation with her father. ‘How’s Mother?’
‘She’s fine. At her yoga class and then off to have a manicure, I think—or maybe it’s to have her hair done. I can’t remember. My day’s been taken up with a new healthcare bill that the President wants to pass through Congress. It’s a struggle, but you know me, I’m always up for a challenge.’
‘Always—and you’re so good at it.’
‘Thanks, but the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree. Look at you. Going to the other side of the world after what you’ve been through is quite the challenge too.’
‘Hardly going to change the world here—and you did all the work. I really do appreciate you arranging everything. The house is wonderful, and it’s stocked for a hungry army. Thank you so much.’
‘You are more than welcome—but, speaking of an army, I’d better go, honey,’ her father cut in. ‘Urgent briefing with the Secretary of Defence at six a.m. tomorrow, so I’d better get some sleep before I head out in the wee hours of the morning with salt and a shovel to clear the driveway.’
‘Okay, Dad. Love you.’
‘Back at you—and I hope you have fun, whatever you do.’
Phoebe went into her room and collapsed into the softness of her bed, dropping the mobile phone beside her. She decided to take a shower and think logically about the invitation before rushing in. Perhaps she should decline and meet Ken another time. Perhaps she should avoid Heath in a social situation. Keep it purely professional the way it should be. Stepping under tepid water, Phoebe washed her hair, and by the time she had rinsed out the conditioner she had come to the conclusion that she had to stop over-thinking the situation.
Oscar’s remark had thrown her, and Heath’s attitude had been a little patronizing, but he was right—he had known the way to her home. And she hadn’t. Perhaps she had been a little defensive for no reason other than to push him away.
Her head was spinning and it wasn’t the heat. Her house was wonderfully cool.
‘Get a grip, Phoebe Johnson. Stop creating false drama where there is none. Heath Rollins is not interested in you. It’s dinner with Ken’s family and that’s it. Almost business. And Oscar was way off the mark. He’s only a child, and no judge of what married couples really sound like. You have nothing to worry about. Heath Rollins is not looking for love any more than you.’
So she accepted the invitation … with the proviso that she would catch a cab.
‘PHOEBE SEEMS LOVELY,’ Tilly said as she placed a large bowl of homemade potato salad on the dining table, where Heath, Oscar, Ken, her husband Paul and her two daughters were seated, waiting for Phoebe to arrive.
Heath watched as Paul, a tall man with an athletic build, by trade an engineer who directed huge construction teams, struggled to keep his tiny girls from climbing down from their booster chairs and heading back to their toys. He was clearly losing the battle, and one of them took off across the room, so he surrendered and set the girls up with a picnic blanket on the floor, added some toys and invited Oscar to join them.
Tilly was a wonderful cook, who never liked to see anyone leave hungry, so she had grilled a selection of chicken shashlik, vegetable patties and gourmet sausages from her local butcher, along with her famous potato salad and a Greek salad.
‘Can someone please remind me why she’s coming to dinner? She’s here to work—not join family gatherings, surely?’
‘It’s called being hospitable to a stranger in town, Heath. And she’s lovely, as I said.’
‘Yes, she’s nice.’ Oscar seconded his aunt’s opinion of Phoebe as he stood up and strained to reach for a slice of bread from the table.
Smiling, his grandfather slid the plate closer to him to make the task easier.
‘You met her too, Oscar?’ Tilly asked as she brought cold drinks to the table.
‘Yes, at the pool,’ Oscar responded as he sat down with his twin cousins again, a big slice of bread in his hand. ‘And we drove her home and she and Daddy talked a lot.’
‘So you all went to the pool together, then?’ Tilly addressed her question to Heath, her eyes smiling.
‘I took Oscar to the Burnside pool and Phoebe happened to be there,’ he responded defensively.
He had experienced more than a few attempts by his sister to matchmake over the years, and he intended to quash this attempt immediately. He wasn’t buying into her supposedly casual conversation that would no doubt lead to something more like an interrogation over his love-life if he allowed it.
‘So, of all the pools in Adelaide, a woman who knows nothing of Adelaide just happened to choose that one?’
Heath’s silence was his answer.
‘So everyone has met the doctor I hired except me?’ Ken asked. ‘Well,
