Jessica was so preoccupied she didn’t hear the male voice behind her. The empty luggage carousel mirrored her life more than she cared to acknowledge. The fact there was nothing to see consumed her attention. The sound of the aircraft engine starting finally forced her to glance over to the thirty-six-seat plane taxiing down the runway in preparation for take-off into the stormy early evening sky. Her missing bags meant she would not be sleeping in her favourite pyjamas that night. And that was assuming she was able to collect the keys to her rental property and actually had a bed for the night.

It was all a little overwhelming and she wasn’t entirely sure what she was going to do. That had been a regular state of mind for a while and completely out of character from the old Jessica. She had always known what to do, even as a teenager. Forget having a social life, she had her head in her textbooks, even on weekends. She’d excelled at school every year until the final year. Then she’d graduated top of the class with perfect end-of-year examination results that saw her in the top twenty students across the entire state of South Australia, which meant her higher education study preference of a medical degree was guaranteed along with being presented to the Premier at Government House. Straight out of school, Jessica Ayers had been on her trajectory to becoming Dr Jessica Ayers, Paediatric Consultant. She’d considered specialising in paediatric surgery and did head down that path and gained the skills but, after a year of surgical study, she’d decided that it was the interaction with children offered by the Consultant’s position that made her the happiest.

Over the years there had been few boyfriends to distract her. No jam-packed social calendar to compete with her study schedule. Nothing to prevent her from achieving her lifetime goal. Including her vision, from her very first day in medical school, of one day being Head of Paediatrics at a large teaching hospital. Jessica Ayers had been an unashamed planner.

But there were some things in life she couldn’t plan. Some things had just occurred without any decision-making by Jessica. Some of them were very sad, such as losing her father while she was still in high school so he never saw her graduate from medical school, and then losing her mother when she was thirty. At least she was grateful that neither had witnessed her fall from grace in dating a married man.

Now she was flying by the seat of her pants in regard to everything and anything...and she wasn’t very good at it.

‘Miss, I asked if I can help you.’

Jessica turned her attention to the uniformed older man standing behind her; his bomber-style jacket was emblazoned with the Armidale Airport logo.

‘My name is Garry; I’m with the airport. I’m assuming you’re still waiting here because your bag, or bags, didn’t arrive?’

She feared her distracted state might have given the appearance of being dismissive. She felt sure she was on a roll in managing to offend her adopted new town’s population one person at a time. Damaging one man’s foot and being plain rude to another.

‘Bags—there’s two of them—and I’m sorry, Garry, I didn’t mean to be impolite.’

‘Think nothing of it. You seem a little frazzled. Have you been on a long haul flight and then a connection to get you here? A handful of our passengers came in today from Los Angeles. The Armidale Romance Writers group attended a conference in the US and four of them just came back. My sister-in-law is one of them, that’s why I know, and one of our doctors was over in America as well, not that he attended the romance conference,’ he said with a wry smile. He added, ‘It’s a country airport, what can I say, there’s not much gossip that gets past the ground staff here.’

‘Well, I haven’t flown too far at all. I’ve just done fifty minutes from Sydney so I definitely can’t blame my poor manners or distracted state on jet lag...’

‘You might not have done a long-haul trip but missing bags is a stress all of its own, so let’s see if I can help.’

Jessica wondered for a moment if she had entered some parallel universe. Was this town in country New South Wales the friendliest place on earth? This man was being so kind and helpful, just as the man, whose face was still etched on her mind, had been so gallant about her clumsiness. Immediately, she pushed away the image she still had of the first man, the one she’d run over, but she knew it was more than his appearance that was lingering. There was something about him that was not easy to forget, for some strange reason. But she had to do just that. She had to find her bags and get to her accommodation or face being homeless.

‘It’s been a long day and I have to get to the realtor by five-thirty to get the keys to my rental property...and I have nothing except these,’ she told him tilting her head in the direction of her carry-on and her handbag that she was holding up.

‘I must apologise that the rest of your bags didn’t arrive. It doesn’t happen too often, I must say, but that doesn’t help you. If I can have your name I’ll start the process to find them.’

‘Dr Jessica Ayers,’ she replied.

‘Nice to meet you, Dr Ayers,’ he said as he reached for the extended handle of her carry-on bag.

‘Please call me Jessica.’

‘Certainly, Jessica. Let’s get you over to check-in,’ he said, pointing to the other side of the terminal. He added, ‘I can get some more details and chase the bags up for you. If you can give me the baggage receipt that was issued with your boarding pass, I’ll call through to Sydney and make sure that your bags are sent here on the next flight, which is at eleven-thirty—’

‘That’s late but at least there’s another flight coming in tonight,’ Jessica cut in with a faint strand of renewed hope colouring her voice. Excitedly she handed over the documents he requested and then followed him from the departure and arrival lounges and in the direction of the main entrance.

The man’s brow wrinkled as he shook his head from side to side and with it swept away Jessica’s hope of a swift solution.

‘Unfortunately, your flight was the final one from Sydney today. There next one arrives at eleven-thirty tomorrow morning and I can have your bags couriered to your home,’ he said as he maintained a fast pace. He was a man on a mission and that gave Jessica some small level of comfort as she kept up with him.

‘My home? I have no idea if I’ll have one. I think my deadline to pick up the keys from the realtor is just about to pass.’

He raised his wrist and glanced at his watch as they reached the check-in counter. ‘It’s five-fifteen but a cab can have you into Armidale in ten minutes. Let me make a call to the agent and ask them to stay back in case you’re a few minutes late getting there.’

‘Do you honestly think they will?’ she asked, confident that in her home town of Sydney there would be somewhere between a fat chance and absolutely none that they would actually remain open for her. Their care factor about her having to find accommodation for a night would be around about the same—zero.

‘Do you have the business name?’

‘There’s more than one in town?’

Garry smirked and shook his head. ‘Armidale is actually a rural city and we have hot running water, traffic lights...and more than one real estate agent.’

Jessica felt quite silly. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘No need to apologise. You’re obviously a big city girl. Is this your first visit here?’

Jessica nodded sheepishly as she scrolled through her emails on her mobile phone until she found the realtor’s name. ‘Dunstan Boyd is the property manager—’ she paused as she squinted to read the fine print in the signature block on the email ‘—at...’

‘Boyd and Associates Real Estate,’ Garry finished her sentence.

Jessica dropped her chin a little and stared up at him curiously. ‘You know them?’

‘Yes,’ he told her. ‘My sister-in-law works there. Not that I thought you’d have any trouble anyway, and we do have some nice motels in town if there was a problem, but I can almost guarantee she, or one of her colleagues, will stay back and you won’t be homeless.’

Jessica drew breath and then emptied her lungs just as quickly with relief at Garry’s announcement. While she had nothing to wear and she would have to wash her underwear in the basin and dry it over the bath, she would at least have somewhere to do that.

‘Now, if you can give me your contact details, someone from the airport will call you tomorrow and arrange to have your bags sent to you when they arrive.’ He pulled a pen and paper from the pocket of his bomber jacket.

Jessica took the pen and paper and scribbled down her mobile telephone number, which he then tucked back in his jacket pocket as they walked outside to the cab rank.

‘It might be best sending them to the Armidale Regional Memorial Hospital,’ she told him as she tugged her jacket up around her neck. The air was even colder than when she’d alighted from the plane. ‘I’ll be there so they’ll be no one at home to collect them, that’s assuming you’re right and I have a home.’

‘You’ll have a home, Jessica. Don’t worry.’

There was an empty cab already there and no one else waiting. Garry opened the rear door of the cab for Jessica and she quickly climbed in the back as he leant in the open front window and spoke to the driver.

‘Can you please take this young lady to Boyd and Associates Real Estate, Twenty-nine Marsh Street.’

‘Sure.’

Flooded with a relief she’d thought impossible ten minutes previously, Jessica put the window down. ‘Thank you so much,’ she said as the cab pulled away from the kerb.

‘You’re very welcome.’

* * *

Garry was right; his sister-in-law’s colleague didn’t mind staying back and the cab driver waited while she rushed inside. The young man asked her for identification, had her sign two documents and then gave her the house keys and the keys to the rental car that had been left that morning in her driveway. Jessica had arranged for everything to be in the one place, and it was a glimpse of her previous attention to detail. Although twelve months ago she would have shipped clothes ahead and arranged for the local dry-cleaner to press and hang them in her closet and have the pantry and refrigerator stocked with low-fat food. The kind that Tom liked. Tom, the womanising, cheating bastard whose cholesterol levels she had worried about for the better part of a year.

But, thanks to said two-timing low-life, the Jessica of late was nowhere near that organised when it came to her personal needs. On the job, though, she hadn’t changed. She was as dedicated and focused with her patients as she had ever been.

‘Call me on my mobile if you have any questions. It’s a nice little house, clean, tidy and fully furnished, as you saw in the photos. I think you’ll like the street.’

Jessica was not about to be fussy. A bed and bath was all she needed right now, and a car for the morning to get her to the hospital.

‘I’m sure it will be great and thank you again for staying back for me,’ she said as she held on tight to both sets of keys as if they were her lifeline.

‘Not a problem, happy to help.’

* * *

Half an hour later, with two bags of groceries on the back seat, the cab pulled up in the front of the darkened house. The amiable cab driver from the airport pick-up had kept the meter running while Jessica had signed the lease and picked up the keys, then stopped for milk, bread, oatmeal, fresh fruit and other staples, including bubble bath, a toothbrush and toothpaste from the small grocery store that stayed open until ten o’clock every night.

Her new role began bright and early the next day so she wanted to have a nice home-cooked dinner and an early night, followed by a reasonable breakfast. She knew that she would hit the ground running and had no idea if she would get a lunch break so needed to be prepared for a long day on her feet on the wards and potentially even in surgery if required. In a smaller hospital the roles and duties were sometimes less defined and far broader in nature than in the city hospitals and she had the surgical experience if called upon.

* * *

Jessica took a brief study of the street as the cab turned in. It was tree-lined and had a simple prettiness about it. Very country, she mused silently as she noticed the houses either side of the one she would call hers for the next six weeks were softly lit from the inside. Lights and probably open fires, she thought. Curtains were drawn but the glow could be seen from the street.

Jessica’s new temporary home had nothing to signify life at all. She wasn’t surprised. She couldn’t expect anything more than that. It wasn’t as if she knew anyone in town; there would be no one there to welcome her to the new house. It had been the same wherever she had been posted but generally she chose apartments close to the city hospitals to avoid the harsh reminder every night that she was arriving home to an empty place.

She still had her terrace home in Surry Hills, an eastern suburb of Sydney, that she kept as a base but, since Tom had spent two or three nights a week there during their year-long relationship, she chose not to actually live there any more. She would fly in and out and collect her belongings between assignments. One day she would sell it but she hadn’t set a time frame for anything much in life.

Jessica was just glad that she had a key to her rental home and would soon be soaking in a hot tub. The thought of steaming bubbles infused with lavender brought a much-needed calm to her.

The cab driver pulled the carry-on from the boot of the car as Jessica made her way up the driveway, pulling her coat up around her ears against the bitterly cold air. The sensor light switched on as she approached the front porch, showing her the facade of her accommodation. It was very homely and looked freshly painted. It was grey with white shutters and a red wooden front door. Either side of the red door was a topiary tree in a square cement pot and in front of the door was a mat emblazoned with Welcome. She was relieved to see the small hatchback rental car was parked under the carport, as she had requested. The colour matched the front door. The garden was simple but sparse with mostly lawn and an edge of low native bushes. There was nothing that looked demanding of her time and that also made her smile. Jessica was not a green thumb so took comfort in the fact she could just engage with a mowing service a few times during her stay and leave the rest to Mother Nature.

‘I can take it from here. Thank you,’ Jessica said as she put the key in the door. Turning back to the cab driver, she gave him cash to cover the fare and a little extra.

‘Are you sure you don’t need me to help you get everything inside? You have shopping too.’

‘No, I’m fine to do it myself but thank you for offering.’ Her response was genuine and ingrained. She could manage on her own. She didn’t need a man to help her. Jessica Ayers was more than capable of taking care of herself, despite everyone being so kind since she’d arrived. The friendliness of the locals was almost making her feel at home. Under different circumstances, in another lifetime, she might have even thought it would be a lovely place to live. But everywhere was temporary to Jessica now.

The driver nodded, put the fare in his pocket and, blowing warm breath on his cupped hands, walked briskly back to the cab. Along with not needing his help, Jessica hadn’t wanted to delay him any longer. They had chatted during the brief trip and she had discovered it was the end of his shift. He was heading home to his wife and newborn baby boy after he dropped her off and she appreciated he had already waited for her to do the shopping.

With the front door open, the light from the porch illuminated the interior of the house enough for Jessica to find the inside light switch. She quickly found out the freshly renovated house was as simple and tidy inside as it was out. And there was a faint hint of fresh paint and furniture polish but neither were overpowering.

‘New start for us both, hey,’ she muttered as she carried the shopping bags inside and closed the door on the cold night air and went in search of a heater, a bath and her bed.

An hour later Jessica emerged from the bathroom with her freshly washed hair piled inside a makeshift white towel turban. The central heating had warmed up the house while she had been under the shower. She had decided a soak in a bubble bath could wait as she saw there was a hairdryer in the first drawer, along with samples of shampoo and conditioner, and clean hair might distract from the clothes she would be wearing on her first day on the job. And, much to her joy, she had found a thick white bathrobe folded on her bed. Nice touches, she thought, and decided to make good use of all of them.

If at least her hair looked clean and tidy she hoped everyone might overlook the fact she was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. Thank goodness it wasn’t summer as the T-shirt she wore underneath was a gift from the plumbing service that replaced her hot water tank and their marketing slogan—If you want clean pipes, look no further—would not have been well received. Ordinarily she would never have travelled in such casual clothes, let alone considered going to work in them, but she had been pushed for time to get to the airport that afternoon and decided to stay in the clothes she had been wearing to run errands in the morning. And with the missing suitcases and no shops open, other than the grocery store, she now had no choice.

Jessica walked around the house and found it was clean, tidy and had a nice ambience to it. The furniture had character, as opposed to some of her previous rentals that had generic flat-pack-style furniture that had an impersonal motel feel. This house was homely and had recently undergone a freshen-up. All the furniture was in good condition but eclectic in style and age and she suspected it had belonged to others before it came to rest there, and that felt nice. A country home filled with furniture that came with history. One that she assumed would be country-style sweet, not sordid, as she considered her history to be.

Brushing aside thoughts of her past, Jessica made herself dinner and washed the dishes by hand. There was a dishwasher but it would have been a waste to turn it on for one dish, one glass, a knife and fork and two small pans. Besides, she had nothing much to do other than dry her hair and head to bed. She didn’t have to spend any time at all deciding what to wear on the first day of her new job—missing luggage had seen to that.

* * *

‘Are you going away again, Daddy?’

Harrison closed the story book and gently put it on the nightstand beside the bed as he looked down lovingly at his son snuggled next to him. ‘No, Bryce. Daddy’s not going anywhere.’

‘So, when I wake up you’ll be here? You won’t get on a plane and go away again?’

The innocent questions tugged at Harrison’s heart and he knew immediately he’d done the right thing in fighting for custody. For the right to keep his son safe in Armidale with those who loved him. Those who had since the day he was born. And always would.

‘I’ll be right here when you wake up and then I’ll take you over to Granny and Grandpa’s house.’

‘For breakfast?’

‘For a second breakfast, as Granny always likes to make something special for you before school,’ Harrison said as he edged off the bed and, pulling the covers up to Bryce’s ears, he ruffled his thick black hair.

Bryce giggled. ‘I hope she cooks pancakes.’

‘I do too,’ Harrison said as he kissed his son’s forehead, turned off the light and walked quietly from the room, safe in the knowledge that Bryce was right where he needed to be...and nothing and no one would ever put that at risk again.

* * *

The alarm clock ensured Jessica woke on time and found her underwear had dried on the coat hanger she had hung on the shower rail. The house had remained toasty warm overnight and she felt unusually relaxed as she lay under the warm covers surveying the room in the daylight that was creeping through the gaps in the heavy curtains. The walls were a very pale blush, so pale that she hadn’t even noticed the night before and had thought it to be cream, but now she could see the hint of colour. It was also in the bedspread and the throw cushions that Jessica had placed on the armchair the night before. There were two framed prints, both of birds, and the furniture was made of oak, including the bedhead.

For a rental, it was quite lovely, she thought as she climbed from under the covers. She could have slept in a little longer as she had over an hour before she was due at the hospital but, as always, she wanted to arrive early. She also wanted to call the airport and remind them to send her bags to the hospital the moment the plane touched down, so she could change into something more suitable as soon as possible.

A quick shower and an equally quick breakfast of oats with blue gum honey and a cup of tea followed by an equally quick phone call to the airport saw Jessica lock the front door of her home thirty minutes later. She had checked directions on her phone the night before. When she rented the house, she was made aware that it was less than ten minutes from the hospital. But then in a town the size of Armidale most homes were only that distance from where the hospital was located.

As she stepped outside into the cold morning she couldn’t help but notice the scent of the country air envelop her. It stopped her in her tracks for the briefest moment. The perfume from the large eucalyptus tree in the neighbouring yard travelled on the chilly breeze. There was no smog, no smell of heavy early morning traffic or industry. The fresh, naturally scented air was one of life’s simple pleasures that she hadn’t realised she had been missing.

Until that moment.

She wondered if there was anything else that this country town might remind her that she had been missing. A year of relatively short-term placements arranged by a national medical locum agency was beginning to grow old for Jessica, but she was scared to stop. Scared to consider other options. A sense of safety came from having the decision of what to do next made by a third party. And the security that came from not forming relationships, other than with colleagues, sat well with Jessica. While there was a sense of emptiness that couldn’t be ignored, she decided that was better than the pain of heartache that came from getting close and having it fall apart.

Moments later as she drove along, with a little nervousness stirring in her stomach as it tended to on the first day in a new role, she tried to avoid looking down at her clothes. She cringed as she caught sight of her jeans, sweater and grey and lime-green runners and prayed her bags would arrive from Sydney that morning as promised.

* * *

‘I’m Errol Langridge. It’s so lovely to meet you, Dr Ayers, and, speaking on behalf of the Board of the Armidale Regional Memorial Hospital, we’re thrilled to have you on staff, albeit for a short time.’ The older, impeccably dressed man shook Jessica’s hand gently but for the longest time. His clothing had a country feel in the blue and white check shirt and chambray trousers but the quality of both was evident. And the sincerity of his words shone through the smile in his pale blue eyes. ‘Quite a coup for us, if I do say so myself. Not often that we have a temporary position filled by someone as experienced as yourself. Short contracts are usually taken up by those straight out of medical school.’

‘I’m very happy to be here, Professor Langridge,’ Jessica replied, well aware of the status of the older doctor. She had noted his title on the letter he had sent to her when she’d accepted the role. ‘And please, Jessica is fine by me.’

‘And you must use Errol. Equality for both sexes, plus it makes me feel less than my sixty-eight years if you use my first name.’

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