Breaking The Playboy's Rules

‘You don’t need to decide today. You’ve probably had enough to deal with,’ he said, coming to her rescue once again. ‘But why don’t you come out to the base and have a look around? You can’t judge the job on an ancient television drama.’

‘That’s true,’ Grace added. ‘We work harder and we’re not all as good looking.’

‘Don’t scare her off, Grace,’ Harry said, laughing, and Emma relaxed. That was a sound she could get used to.

‘At least go and have a look, Em,’ Sophie encouraged her. ‘It’s not like you’ve got any other plans. You said you thought you’d stay for a while.’

Emma nodded. Soph was right, she wasn’t in a hurry to go home. There wasn’t anything to hurry back for. Her family was there, what was left of it, but they’d still be there whenever she returned. She’d left her job and she didn’t have another one waiting. She definitely wasn’t planning on going back to her old job, there were too many people there who knew her business. She was here for two more months and she didn’t intend to go back to London before that, which meant she really did need to come up with another option. And hadn’t she promised herself that if she survived the crash landing she’d look at returning to nursing?

‘You might as well have something to keep you busy.’ Sophie’s words echoed Emma’s thoughts.

‘It could be the perfect solution,’ Grace added. ‘Why don’t I get Irene to check out the volunteer situation? I’m sure there’s a loophole there somewhere.’

‘And in the meantime you could drive out to the base tomorrow to have a look. You’ll show her around, won’t you, Harry?’ Sophie sounded innocent enough but Emma recognised the gleam in her eye.

She chose to pretend not to notice. It seemed as if her life was being organised for her, at least for the next few weeks, but as she had no firm plans of her own there was nothing to argue about.

‘I’ll think about it,’ she said. After all, what harm could there be in just looking?

CHAPTER THREE

BUT she didn’t think about it any further until the next morning. She slept well, despite the events of the previous day, and when she woke the sun was already high in the cloudless, blue sky.

Sophie had left a note saying she’d walked to the hospital for her eight o’clock start but she’d left her car keys so Emma could drive out to the flying doctor base.

Did she really want to do that?

It couldn’t hurt to go and have a look, could it? It would be interesting to see the base and it didn’t mean she had to apply for a job. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. But when did she ever know? When had she ever had a plan? She’d tried a couple of times but her plans had a habit of going distinctly pear-shaped. Perhaps she was better off sticking to her usual style, which was pretty random.

She had a shower, made herself some toast, did the dishes, watered some of Sophie’s plants that looked rather thirsty and when she ran out of things to do she switched on Sophie’s computer, logged in to her emails and printed off a copy of her CV, which she’d stored online. Telling herself it didn’t hurt to take it with her just in case, it didn’t mean she wanted the job, she picked up the car keys and the map Sophie had left for her and headed out the door.

The drive across town—coming from London she couldn’t bring herself to think of Broken Hill as a city—along the almost deserted, dusty streets took the same amount of time as yesterday—not quite twenty minutes. Which was not enough time to work out what she intended to do once she got to the flying doctor base. She sat in Sophie’s car for another ten minutes until she realised she couldn’t remain there for the rest of the morning.

Viewed from the car park, the flying doctors building was modern and much larger than she’d expected. She walked through a pleasant grassed courtyard, pushed open the door and stepped into the cool, dark foyer. A sign in front of her directed her to head left for the museum or right for the shop and tours.

She hesitated, thinking the museum might be worth a look, but she knew that was just further procrastination. Harry had offered to show her around and if she could have him as her tour guide around the real-life base she didn’t need to look at the museum. She hoped he would be there and not off flying the plane somewhere. There was only one way to find out.

Emma stepped to the right and introduced herself to the lady behind the counter.

‘Harry told us to expect you. Can you wait here for just a second and I’ll fetch Irene,’ the woman said, before she disappeared through a swing door that was set into the wall behind her, leaving Emma staring after her.

The woman returned within a minute, followed by a short, round woman who was speaking to Emma before she’d even come through the door.

‘Emma, hello, I’m Irene, the base manager. It’s good to meet you.’ She reached out and grabbed Emma’s hand as she was talking and shook it vigorously. ‘Why don’t you come through to my office and we can talk about the job? I can’t believe our luck that you’re here and able to work.’

Emma tried to protest as she trailed behind Irene down a short flight of stairs and along a corridor. ‘I’m not sure that I can work,’ she said. She also wasn’t sure if she wanted to.

‘You can work on a volunteer basis,’ Irene told her. ‘Grace was right about that. So if you’re interested in a volunteer position, I’m sure we can work something out. Besides, if you’re in town for a while you’ll soon realise there’s not a lot to keep you occupied. You’ll soon get bored so you might as well work. Think of it as good experience.’

Emma could tell that Irene wasn’t a person who could easily be dissuaded once her mind was made up. This town seemed to be full of strong-willed people. She’d need to try a different tack or she knew she’d find herself signed up before the day was over.

‘I might not have the qualifications you’re after. I’ve never worked outside a hospital before.’

But Irene was not going to be put off. ‘Neither have most of our nurses when they first come to us. I was told you’ve got Emergency experience, is that right?’

Emma nodded as Irene led her into an office and closed the door. The office had one glass wall that overlooked a larger, open-plan office that appeared to be a communications centre. The walls were covered with whiteboards, charts and maps and there were several staff members at work within the room.

‘If you have emergency experience, I’m sure we’ll want you,’ Irene said as she indicated to Emma to take a seat. ‘Did you bring your CV?’

Emma was in shock. She had her CV in her bag but she hadn’t really expected to hand it over. She’d expected to have a relaxed tour of the facility with Harry! Nevertheless, she dug her CV out of her bag and handed it to Irene.

‘We’re desperate for nurses,’ Irene explained. ‘We’re already down one. Mary’s gone to Adelaide to look after her mum who’s undergoing chemo, and with Kerri about to go on maternity leave and Lisa with her broken arm, we’re going to be short two nurses. One we can cover, two is impossible. I’ve looked into the volunteering situation and that’s perfectly acceptable with the board so as long as your references and qualifications are okay. If that all pans out, you can consider the locum position yours.’

Emma didn’t know whether she should be flattered or terrified. She had no idea what she was getting herself into.

Irene leant back in her chair. ‘Now, I suppose I should let you ask me some questions. What do you want to know?’

Anything and everything, Emma thought. She had no idea how the flying doctor service actually worked or what they did other than what she’d seen on television, and from what Harry had told her last night it sounded as though the show might have been more fiction than fact.

Before she could work out which question to begin with she heard the sound of a door opening behind her and a familiar voice broke the silence.

‘Emma! I heard you were here. How are you? Have you recovered from yesterday?’

Harry.

Emma turned at the sound of his voice. It was just as deep and soothing as she remembered. It reverberated through her and despite the fact that Irene was sitting a few inches away Harry’s voice made her feel as if she was the only person he could see.

‘Yes, thanks, I’m good. A bit shell-shocked but that has nothing to do with yesterday.’

Harry laughed. ‘Irene has that effect on people. Has she convinced you to join us yet? She doesn’t like to take no for an answer.’

‘I got that impression,’ she replied.

Luckily Irene didn’t seem to take offence at being discussed like this. ‘Harry, do you think you could give Emma the grand tour?’ she asked. ‘Use your persuasive charms on her to sell the position?’

‘That’s why I’m here,’ Harry answered.

‘Good,’ Irene replied, and turned back to Emma. ‘You could go out on a clinic run tomorrow if you like. Why don’t you let me know what you think when you’ve finished with Harry?’ Irene stood and ushered Emma and Harry out the door.