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‘Very pretty too,’ Tilly remarked.
‘I hadn’t heard that part, but it never hurts to have a pretty doctor in the practice,’ said the older Dr Rollins. ‘So, Heath, do you think you two will get along?’
Heath considered the question and answered in his usual guarded tones. ‘I’ve read her transcripts and she has an impressive record—and the reports from the Washington hospital are great. We chatted yesterday morning at the café for a while, and she seems suited to the role.’
‘Yesterday morning? You mean you took her out after she fainted? Quick work, Heath. I’m impressed,’ said Tilly.
‘Phoebe fainted? Is she okay?’ Ken asked.
‘I didn’t take her out—we had a cool drink to talk about work and, yes, Dad, Phoebe’s fine. The heat just got to her but I’m sure we won’t have a repeat once the air-con is up and running again. You might like to consider renovating the building in the not too distant future.’
He’d added that to change an obvious subject direction that he didn’t like.
‘I could do you a rebuild,’ Paul chipped in. ‘Bulldoze and start again. Prime real estate there, and I’ve been saying for years the old building has had its day.’
Ken looked stony-faced at his son-in-law, to end that line of conversation, and then turned back to Heath. ‘So, when my newest employee is conscious and upright, is she pretty?’
Heath looked around the table and realised they were all poised for his reply. ‘Yes, she’s pretty.’
Tilly smiled a self-satisfied smile, while Ken nodded to himself and Paul winked at his wife.
Heath saw the looks they gave each other and lowered his voice so that Oscar wouldn’t hear the adults’ conversation. ‘Just because I made mention of Phoebe’s appearance, don’t think for a minute that I’m interested in her. It was a response to a direct question. Don’t try and set us up. I don’t need anyone in my life, and if you try anything you’ll be short one staff member. Me. I’ll be on a plane back to Sydney faster than you can blink. Neither Oscar or I need anyone else in our lives.’
‘Are you sure about that?’ Tilly asked with a brazen look.
‘Yes. You know how I feel. It’s been just Oscar and me for the last five years. No woman has come into our lives.’
‘I know, but now Phoebe has. And you’ve already broken one of your unbreakable rules with her. No woman shall meet your son. Well, she has and he seems to like her.’
Just then the doorbell rang, and Heath stood up and walked briskly past the Christmas tree that Tilly had decorated that morning. It was the second time he had walked past it that evening, and both times he had looked at it only briefly and then looked away without making mention of it. He was still not able to face Christmas and all the trimmings. He doubted he ever would again. There was nothing that could make him enjoy the holiday season. He had tried and failed. Christmas was just too painful.
As he opened the door Oscar ran over to join him.
‘Hello, Phoebe!’ Oscar called out excitedly before Heath had a chance to greet her. ‘Aunty Tilly has cooked lots of food, so I hope you’re hungry.’
‘Hello, Oscar,’ she replied, and smiled at his toothy grin and cheeky smile before he ran off, allowing her to lift her gaze to greet Heath. ‘Hello.’
Heath drew a deep breath. Phoebe looked gorgeous. She wore a deep blue halter dress. Her skin was pale against the fabric and looked like delicate porcelain, and her hair was falling in soft curls around her shoulders. Her beauty was not lost on him.
‘Hi, Phoebe—come in.’
He moved back from the doorway and as she stepped inside he couldn’t help but notice as she brushed past him that the back of her dress was cut low and revealed even more of her bare skin. His pulse instantly, and against his will, picked up speed.
‘Phoebe,’ Tilly said as she opened her arms to greet her dinner guest. ‘So lovely you could make it. It’s only casual, but I thought you could meet Dad and chat over a bite to eat since he was feeling a little left out.’
‘It’s my pleasure—thank you so much for inviting me,’ she said, and then, spying the huge Christmas tree, she couldn’t help but comment. ‘That is a gorgeous tree, Tilly. Christmas truly is my favourite time of year.’
The two women walked into the dining room and on their way Phoebe gave her hostess some chocolates she had brought as a thank-you gift. Heath followed, and after hearing the Christmas comment realised that he and Phoebe had less in common than he’d first thought. She was a professional woman, and he had hoped she wouldn’t be the nostalgic type. Apparently, he’d been wrong.
He couldn’t deny to himself that Phoebe was stunning, and in that dress desirable, but he wasn’t looking for a woman to share his life the way his family thought he should. And one night with Phoebe in his bed wouldn’t work any way he looked at it. It would only complicate his life on so many levels, and that was something he didn’t need.
As they entered the dining room, Ken was chatting with Paul.
‘The simple joy of enjoying a pale ale any time I like is my compensation for not being able to operate. But believe me, I would prefer to have the use of my gammy knee than to be sitting around all day,’ Ken said, then paused as he caught sight of Phoebe. ‘Please excuse my bad manners and not standing to meet you,’ he continued with an outstretched hand. ‘I’m Ken Rollins, and you must be Dr Phoebe Johnson.’
Phoebe stepped closer to Ken and met his handshake. ‘Yes, I’m Phoebe, and I’m very happy to finally meet you.’
Ken was impressed with the grip in her handshake. ‘For a slender woman you have a strong handshake. But then you’re a surgeon, so a strong and steady grip is a prerequisite for our shared field of medicine.’
Phoebe wasn’t sure how to react, so she smiled.
‘Please—sit down, I didn’t mean to embarrass you. And sit next to me. I want to hear everything about you that wasn’t written down on your incredibly impressive résumé. I’m sure there’s lots to know.’
‘Fire away,’ she managed to return as she took her seat at the table, hoping his questions would be broad enough to avoid the awkward moments in her recent history.
Tilly began handing the platters of food around and soon everyone was filling their plates, while Paul put the children’s food on their picnic blanket for them to share, then returned to join the adults.
‘So why Adelaide?’ Ken asked as he took a serving of Greek salad, ensuring there was plenty of feta cheese and olives on his plate.
‘The chance to work with you,’ Phoebe replied. ‘I read your most recent paper on improvements to prescribed orthotic devices to control motion and position of the leg during locomotion and I think your work is outstanding. The chance to have you mentor me was too good to pass up.’
‘Well, I must say that is lovely to hear, and I look forward to working with you once my knee is tickety-boo again,’ he told her, with a hint of pride in his expression. ‘So tell me about your family. I picked up from our correspondence that your father works at the White House.’
Ken reached for another shashlik and held the plate so that Phoebe could take one as well.
‘Yes, he’s an advisor to the President. He’s been in the world of politics for over nineteen years. He was in international banking before that.’
‘And you weren’t tempted to follow him into the political arena?’ Heath cut in.
‘Not at all. You see, you’re right—it’s an arena, and that’s why I wouldn’t do it. Sometimes it’s great, but at other times it seems like a fight to the death. I’d rather be repairing bodies than ripping apart political opponents and their policies.’
‘Touché,’ Ken replied with a huge smile.
‘Still, it must be an interesting lifestyle,’ Tilly commented. ‘Do you visit the White House often?’
‘Now and then. But my place is the other side of town, nearer to the hospital. I just hear about it when I visit or call my parents.’
‘I suppose it would be a little like the emergency department of a hospital—with everyone rushing frantically and everything code blue,’ Tilly replied.
Phoebe smiled at her. ‘You’re not too far wrong with that analogy. It’s like everything needs to be delivered or decided yesterday. I would most certainly go mad. My father, however, loves a challenge—he sees the big picture and the changes that need to be made for the disadvantaged and most particularly those with intergenerational problems.’
‘And your mother? What does she do?’ Ken asked between bites.
‘Anything and everything social. Fundraising committees, women’s political auxiliaries—pretty much anything that she believes helps with my father’s career. Along with her bridge club.’
‘So why did you choose medicine?’ Ken asked. ‘With a father in politics and, for want of a better word, a socialite mother, why did you choose to specialise in podiatric surgery?’
‘My best friend Susy’s mother had an accident driving us to school when I was fourteen …’ Phoebe began.
Feeling a little parched from answering all the questions, took a sip of her cold drink before she continued.
‘Anyway, she broke her heel and I was there when the paramedics took her by ambulance to the hospital. Susy and I had both been strapped in the back of the car and didn’t suffer even a scratch. I visited her mother in hospital a few times with Susy, and I became curious and started asking the nurses questions. Then one day her podiatric surgeon came in. I asked him all about the operation and he went into great detail with me and that was it. I knew what I wanted to do with my life.’
‘I’m impressed that you knew at such a young age—’
‘I think that we should let poor Phoebe eat,’ Tilly cut in. ‘She’s been grilled and she’s passed with flying colours, Dad, so now she gets fed and watered.’
They all smiled, and then chatted about themselves so Phoebe could enjoy the delicious dinner Tilly had prepared and also get to know the family.
Everyone but Heath told her something about themselves and their lives. Heath stayed quiet, and Phoebe noticed his jaw clench more than a few times as they talked about Oscar as a baby. It was obvious to Phoebe that it had been a difficult time for him. But why exactly she wasn’t sure, and they all clearly avoided the topic of Oscar’s mother.
‘Do you want to look at the stars?’ Oscar suddenly asked Phoebe as she sat waiting for Heath to bring a drink out to the patio, where everyone had moved after dinner to enjoy the balmy evening.
‘Do you have a telescope?’
‘No, but we can lie on the grass and look up and see them. That’s one of my favourite things to do at night. Grandpa knows lots about stars.’
Phoebe thought it was a lovely idea, and very sweet of Oscar to extend the invitation for her to join him. She stepped out of her shoes and followed him to a patch of lawn just near the patio, where they both lay down on the grass and looked up at the stars twinkling in the ebony sky. The cool ground beneath her bare skin felt wonderful.
‘That’s the saucepan. Can you see it? You have to draw a line between the big star—up there—and the others—just there—and it looks like a saucepan,’ he said, pointing his tiny finger straight up in the air. ‘And it has a handle too.’
‘I can see it,’ she responded as she looked to where he pointed.
They both lay staring at the perfect night sky and Oscar talked with lightning speed about everything his grandfather had told him. Phoebe was impressed with all he had retained, and his interest in astronomy.
‘Perhaps you might grow up and study the stars,’ she said. ‘That would make you an astronomer.’
‘I think I might visit them instead.’
‘So you want to be an astronaut?’
‘Yes. That would be more fun than just looking at them.’ Heath stood in the doorway to the patio and looked out at the two of them, lying in the dark on the lawn, talking. He had no idea what they were saying but he could hear their animated chatter. He felt a tug at his heart, thinking that his wife had missed out on doing just that. And that Oscar had missed out on those important long talks with his mother.
They had both been cheated. And even though his pain lessened with every passing year he wondered if Oscar’s would grow as he realised what he had lost.
“You know, Phoebe’s nothing like I imagined,’ Ken said softly when he saw Heath in the doorway with Phoebe’s drink.
Heath agreed with his father’s sentiments but he would not let him know. He wouldn’t let any family member know, for fear of them trying to make a spark ignite between them. He had found her to be sweet when they’d first met, sexy at the pool, and looking at her now, lying beside his son, he was discovering she was apparently maternal—but that wasn’t a combination he wanted. He preferred sexy with no strings attached, for one-night stands that could never break his heart. Or impact on his son.
‘I think we should probably get going,’ he said to his father. ‘I need to get Oscar to bed—and you as well, Dad.’
‘Don’t fuss about getting me to bed, son,’ Ken told him as he watched Oscar and Phoebe. ‘I’m quite enjoying the company and I’m not that old yet. But, having said that, I imagine young Oscar might be getting tired after a day out.’
‘Let him spend the night with us,’ Tilly offered as she stepped outside and was pleasantly surprised to see her nephew relaxing on the lawn with Phoebe. ‘Then we can get up early and have a swim before it gets hot. I think he’s a little lonely over at Dad’s. I can do some things with him that you—’
‘That I can’t do because they are things only a mother can do?’
‘No, Heath. Not even close,’ Tilly replied in a gentle tone. ‘You’re doing an amazing job with Oscar. He’s adorable and polite and I love him to bits—you know that. But it’s hard with you working long hours, and Dad can’t do anything while he’s laid up, so I thought I’d help out and do something fun while you’re stepping in for Dad. Stop being so hard on yourself.’
‘I’m not being hard—I’m a realist, and I think Oscar is out of his routine over here. He probably misses his nanny and preschool. Once he gets back to Sydney he’ll be fine again.’
‘I’m sure you’re right. But in the meantime let me have him for a day.’
‘Tilly’s enjoying having you both in Adelaide,’ Paul added. ‘And I’m sure she wants to make the most of it. It doesn’t happen often enough.’
‘Absolutely,’ Tilly agreed. ‘Check with Oscar and see if he’s up for it …’
‘Up for what?’ Oscar and Phoebe had left their observation spot on the lawn and walked up quietly without the others noticing.
‘A sleepover and a day with us tomorrow.’
‘Sure am—then I can go swimming with Aunty Tilly in the morning. Can I, Daddy, please?’
‘Well, I guess the decision has been made,’ Heath said, not having expected Oscar to jump at the idea of a sleepover so quickly. He’d thought they were joined at the hip, but perhaps that tie was loosening. And maybe he did need to let Tilly mother him now and then.
‘Do you want to sleep over too, Phoebe? And Daddy could too?’
Heath’s eyes widened in surprise at Oscar’s invitation to both of them.
Phoebe smiled. ‘That’s very kind of you, but I have to go home to my own bed and my pyjamas.’
‘I sleep in my T-shirt and jocks in summer,’ Oscar cut in, with a serious tone in his little voice. ‘You could do the same.’
They all smiled at Oscar’s matter-of-fact response—well, everyone bar Heath. He was still thinking about the void in his son’s life that was becoming more and more obvious. It was one that he’d thought he had managed to fill.
‘Perhaps another time,’ Phoebe said politely, thinking that there was no way she would be stripping down to her underwear for a sleepover with Heath.
Tilly tried not to laugh as she hugged her nephew and, looking at his food-stained T-shirt, she directed a request to Heath. ‘Could you drop off some fresh clothes tomorrow morning in case we want to go out?’
Still deep in thought, he responded, ‘Sure—as long as you’re sure it’s not too much trouble for him to stay?’
‘Not at all,’ Tilly said as she picked up Oscar and put him on her lap. ‘Early-morning swim for you and me, Oscar—and, Phoebe, if you’re not doing anything please come over and join us for a swim.’
Phoebe was surprised at how warm and welcoming the family was, and was very quickly feeling at home, but she declined, thinking that perhaps the offer was Tilly just being courteous.
Heath looked at his sister and then back at Phoebe without saying a word, then he kissed his son goodnight and walked out to the car. He was glad Phoebe had not accepted. She was becoming too close to his family too quickly. And starting to get under his skin a little too. He understood why she was a perfect fit for his family, with her down-to-earth personality, quick wit and sense of fun. He was also very aware that those same traits combined with her beauty were making her far too desirable to him. And he didn’t like it.
She could leave at any minute, and that wouldn’t be fair to Oscar. He didn’t want him to grow close to a person who would walk away. He needed to protect his son from that pain. And, more than that, he didn’t want their life to change.
‘I will see you in the morning,’ he called out before he drove away, with his father and Phoebe in the car.
The sun was setting as the three of them drove through the city to Phoebe’s home. Each one was thinking about the same thing. How quickly and naturally Phoebe was seeming to fit into their lives. Ken was thrilled; Phoebe was surprised—Heath was more worried than he had been in a very long time …
CHAPTER SIX (#uac37a972-452e-56b1-a828-7026e8ac2f2f)
HEATH WOKE AT four and lay staring out his window to the dark sky that was softly lit by a haze-covered moon. He knew the warm air outside would be heavy and still. He rolled onto his back and lifted his arms above his head and thought back over the previous two days, since Phoebe had fallen into his arms.
He didn’t want to be thinking about her—and especially not at four in the morning, lying in bed—but her face wouldn’t leave his mind. When Phoebe had been close to him—close enough for him to smell the scent that rested delicately on her skin and close enough to see the sparkle in her beautiful green eyes—he had struggled to remember why he didn’t want a woman in his life on any permanent basis.
