Chapter 7
CHAPTER
Anna laid the last of her groceries on the counter. ‘That’s it, I think.’
Behind the counter, shopkeeper Kelly was processing the purchases and packing them into a cardboard box. ‘Did you hear? We’re going to have a couple of firemen stationed here for a while.’
‘Are we? Is that because of the fire last week?’
‘Maybe. Apparently they’ll be looking at fire preps around the town. Helping people fireproof their properties. Recruiting and training more volunteers for the bushfire season.’
‘That all sounds good.’ Anna thought of the business card in her wallet and the man who had given it to her. She wasn’t sure if she hoped he would be the one assigned to the Ridge or not. ‘How do we know all this?’
‘Val, of course.’
‘Of course.’
Anna paid for her supplies and left the shop.
As she did, a group of people emerged from the Alpaca Emporium two doors down.
The emporium was a knitting and craft store, and served as a meeting point for visitors on their way for an alpaca bushwalk on the nearby farm.
The group, which included several children, were carrying shopping bags and chatting about their visit, which had obviously been a huge success.
Anna was glad. Farm owner Bree had only been in the Ridge about a year and had recently married the town’s real estate agent, Matt.
Anna had helped with the successful birth of rare twin alpacas at the farm and felt a connection with them that Bree in no way discouraged.
She often dropped in to visit the sweet animals.
Bree and her grandmother, Rose, who ran the emporium, were the closest things she had to real friends in the town. She might drop in to say hi to Rose.
A shocked cry came from the people ahead of her. A child’s voice: ‘Mummy. Look at that lady’s face.’ The little girl was pointing at Anna.
Had she not been holding a box of groceries, Anna’s reaction would have been to cover her cheek. Instead, she tilted her head forward and away, so her blonde hair fell over the left side of her face, hiding the scar.
‘Shh.’ A woman touched the child’s shoulder. ‘And don’t point. It’s rude.’
The little girl frowned, and the woman, presumably her mother, looked at Anna. ‘Sorry,’ she said, her eyes never actually meeting Anna’s as she looked away. The rest of the group all stared, then they, too, turned away in embarrassment. At least, that’s what Anna chose to think it was.
As they walked to the cars parked a little further down the street, Anna reached her own vehicle.
She opened the passenger-side door and dropped her box on the seat.
She slammed the door with a little more force than was absolutely necessary.
This was far from the first time something like this had happened.
And it wouldn’t be the last. That didn’t make it any less hurtful.
She’d come to Wagtail Ridge thinking a small town where everyone knew her would prevent days like this. And mostly she was right. Mostly.
‘Anna, would you like to come in for a cup of tea?’
Rose had emerged from the emporium. Her face was friendly and inviting as always, but the small frown between her eyes suggested she’d heard what happened.
‘Thanks, Rose. But—’
‘No buts. Come on in and join me for some tea. I have a new lemongrass and peppermint flavour which is lovely. And quite calming.’
‘I wouldn’t want to scare any more customers away from your shop.’ The bitter words were out before she could stop them.
‘Anna Prentiss. Stop that. I won’t have it. Now, come inside … Please.’
Anna followed Rose into the shop. Within a couple of minutes, she was seated at the big central table where the town’s knitting club met for tea and cake, a cup of steaming tea in front of her. She picked it up and sniffed. The smell alone was refreshing. She took a sip and felt the hurt slip away.
‘Thanks, Rose.’ She ran her fingers along her scarred cheek. ‘I usually don’t let it get to me. But every now and then.’
‘People can be awful sometimes.’
‘She was just a child. She reacted as a child would. It’s fine. I should be used to it by now.’
They sipped their tea in silence for a few minutes.
‘Have you ever thought …’ Rose stopped. ‘No. Sorry. Forget that I spoke. It’s none of my business.’
‘Plastic surgery?’ Anna smiled. ‘It’s fine. Yes, of course I have. It would be more plastic surgery, really. I had some after the original injury, and they said I could come back for more after the wounds had healed.’
‘And?’
‘It would be expensive and painful, and I wouldn’t be able to work for a while. There are some risks involved, too. I don’t want to put myself through all that. And I’m not certain how much better my face would look after the surgery. I might still frighten small children on the streets.’
‘Oh, Anna. I’m so sorry. I—’
‘Rose, believe me, it’s fine. You get used to it after a while. Now, I’d better get going. I have patients at the clinic to see to.’
‘Before you go, the knitters wanted me to ask you if you would come to the next meeting.’
‘I really don’t have the time for knitting. Or the skill. But thanks anyway.’
Bree had mentioned how often the knitting club had arranged for her and Matt to ‘accidentally’ be in the same place at the same time when they first met.
The matchmaking had worked out fine for her, but it wouldn’t be the same for Anna.
And there was really no one she wanted to ‘bump into’.
Well, there was Justin, but that wasn’t going to happen, and she didn’t want to be part of any matchmaking attempt, no matter how well intentioned.
‘Not to knit. After the fires, everyone was wondering if you could give us some guidelines for what to do with injured wildlife if it happens again. Or even pets.’
That was different. And important. ‘Of course. Let me know when the meetings are on and if I’m free, I’d be more than happy to drop by.’
‘Thanks.’
***
As she drove home, Anna let the plastic surgery idea wander around her head.
It was something she’d considered a few years ago, not long after the injured rodeo bull tore her face almost in half.
That wasn’t the only damage he’d done. The scars on her face didn’t actually hurt any more, but they had taken a different kind of physical toll.
They itched sometimes. And the skin was uncomfortable when it pulled tight if she smiled or laughed.
And she had to be extra careful not to get sunburnt.
There was an emotional toll, too, on days like today.
Days that stripped her of her confidence and left her feeling ugly and self-conscious.
The doctors had said they could make the scars less obvious, but after the months of physical healing, and even longer spent recovering her courage, the last thing Anna wanted to consider was more surgery.
Her heart pounded at the mere thought of walking back into that hospital, with its cold, sterile hallways and rooms that smelled of antiseptic and fear.
The doctors told her that people never remember actual physical pain.
That might be so, but she remembered being in pain.
Hour after hour. She remembered watching the bandages come off her face and seeing the shock in her parents’ eyes.
She remembered her own shock the first time she looked in a mirror.
Even now, on those few occasions when she looked at her face in the mirror, she saw the jagged line of black stitches, the bruising and the dark red line of damaged flesh.
She knew the stitches were gone and the wound healed, but that’s not what she saw.
Her hands were shaking as they gripped the wheel. She wouldn’t—couldn’t—go back.
The incident with the little girl wasn’t unique.
Kids weren’t afraid to speak their minds, but for some reason, their words hurt less than the words adults didn’t say as their eyes moved quickly away from her face.
It took people a long time to get used to her scars.
Sometimes they winced when they saw her.
As if they were the ones in pain. It was sometimes weeks before a new client could look her squarely in the face.
She knew they didn’t mean to be cruel. Their reactions were simple human nature and she couldn’t hold it against them.
When she’d first come to the Ridge, she’d faced those looks almost every day.
But since then, people had come to know her and they’d become used to the way she looked.
The scars didn’t shock anyone any more …
Or if they did, people knew how to hide it.
Instead of the scars, they saw the vet who had vaccinated a pet or saved an injured animal.
That was why she had chosen a small town as her hiding place. A hiding place that had become a home.
Another face rose unbidden in her mind. A handsome, smiling firefighter, who had looked her in the eyes without flinching.
Without turning away. Whose mere presence had made butterflies rise in wild flight inside her.
He had looked at her without shock or distaste.
But also without attraction. Would she be willing to face the surgery, in the hope that a man like that would smile at her in a very different way? The way men used to smile at her.
No. She would never want to be with a man who couldn’t love her as she was, scars and all.
But there was some temptation.
‘Don’t be a fool,’ she told herself out loud as she approached her clinic. ‘You were a pretty teenager. You had plenty of boyfriends at college. Even with the surgery, you would never be beautiful. So stop feeling sorry for yourself.’
There was a red station wagon parked near her native animal clinic and Anna was glad for the distraction. Carol had come to collect one of the animals that was ready to be released into the wild.
‘Come on in,’ she said after they’d exchanged greetings. Inside the clinic, the koala was dozing in its pen. ‘She’s ready to go now. Where are you planning to release her?’
‘She can’t go back where she came from. The fire took it all. There’ll be nothing for her to eat. But I saw some unburned areas not too far away from there, in a section that escaped the fire. I’ll take her there.’
Anna nodded. That made sense. Together they took the koala from her pen and put her inside the padded box that Carol always kept in the back of her car.
‘By the way,’ Anna asked as Carol moved to get into the car. ‘Did you ever get in touch with your son, Justin?’ She was proud that her voice was casual and showed no hint of her thoughts of only a few minutes ago.
Carol stopped in her tracks. ‘I tried. But he didn’t answer the phone.’
Anna was suddenly very ashamed. This was a difficult subject for Carol, but she had blundered in, just because she was attracted to someone who would never want her. Not that way. And now she’d hurt a friend who didn’t deserve that. ‘I’m sorry, Carol. It’s none of my business.’
‘No. No. It’s all right. I would like to talk to him. So if you happen to see him anywhere, please tell him that.’
‘I … I will.’
Carol nodded, got into her car and drove away without another word.