Chapter 24
CHAPTER
It was almost dark by the time the wreck was cleared and the road was safe again. Just as the tow truck prepared to drive away, Justin reached into the cab of the battered four-wheel drive and pulled out a brightly coloured collection of silks.
‘What’s that?’ Ben asked.
‘They’d been to some show. These are the ribbons that bull won. With injuries like that, I doubt he’ll be winning any more. I thought the owners might want to have these.’
Justin and Ben gathered the warning lights and put them back into their vehicle, along with the rest of their gear.
Ken was getting ready to leave too. ‘Thanks, guys. I appreciate the help.’
‘No problem,’ said Justin. ‘All part of the job.’
They shook hands and Justin slid behind the wheel of his vehicle. He waited for Ben to join him. The tension that had been growing between them when they came on the accident was gone, replaced mostly by exhaustion. It wouldn’t take much to bring it back.
‘What do you say we go for a beer after we get back?’ Ben asked.
‘I’ve got paperwork to do.’
‘Can’t that wait until tomorrow?’
‘Probably, but I’d rather get it done now.’
‘After the paperwork, then?’
‘All right.’
Ben didn’t wait for the paperwork. Before Justin had finished filing his report, his brother had set off, promising to get him one in.
Justin watched him leave, fingers paused on his keyboard.
Ben’s laptop sat unopened on the coffee table.
Not so long ago, Justin would have been worried that Ben was spending too much time playing stupid computer games.
Now, he would be grateful to see Ben settle down to play as he used to, rather than head for the pub.
Soon, they’d pack up and head back to Tamworth, where hopefully Ben would calm down.
As for Justin himself—he wasn’t quite so eager to leave.
He still wasn’t sure about this renewed relationship with his mother, except that he wanted to give it a try.
Seeing her had awakened a longing for home and for family.
Family other than his muddle-headed, short-tempered crazy twin who was the other part of himself.
Another family connection might be a bit more balanced.
He would never let his brother down, but sometimes it was a bit hard being the sensible one.
Justin cast his eyes to a side bench, where the silk show ribbons sat in a protective plastic bag.
He needed to get those to the bull’s owner.
He could have left them with Ken, but the owners would no doubt be spending some time at Anna’s surgery as their animal healed.
If he took the ribbons there, he could leave them with her.
It was as good an excuse as any to visit her.
To try to get past that horrible date. If she was willing.
He slammed his laptop closed. If he took the ribbons out there now, perhaps she would come to the pub with him for dinner. The locals all knew her, so that would be easier on her than a restaurant full of strangers. And maybe he could get his brother to back off the animosity a bit.
He reached for his car keys and the bag of show ribbons.
As he was about to turn onto the road leading out of town and towards the vet surgery, a familiar car caught his eye and instead, he turned towards the store.
He parked next to Anna’s ute just as she emerged from the store with a couple of bags of groceries.
‘Hi.’ His instinct was to help her with the bags, but he knew that wasn’t the sort of thing Anna appreciated. Instead, he opened her car door so she could load the bags into the back seat.
‘Hi.’ She leaned against her car, waiting for him to go on.
‘How is the patient?’
‘Very sore and sorry for himself.’ She smiled. ‘But he’s going to be all right. He’ll have to stay at the clinic for a few days. Rick says he’ll drop by every day to help me care for him.’
‘I’m glad to hear it. That was a pretty amazing thing you did, saving him.’
He watched Anna’s face. A mixture of pride and relief and a hint of the fear she must have felt played across her lovely features.
She took a deep breath. ‘Thanks. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do it. You know, after …’
He did know. Part of his training as a senior firefighter was to understand the effects trauma can have on people, even the people who had willingly accepted the danger of their actions.
He’d seen it in his colleagues on a couple of occasions.
He saw it now. ‘You should be proud of yourself,’ he said softly.
She shrugged. ‘All in a day’s work. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to say?’
There was the slightest tremor in her voice.
He understood that as well. A reaction to the adrenaline of the rescue.
As long as she was needed, someone like Anna would fight with every ounce of her strength.
Keep going until she succeeded or failed.
The time after the event was the hardest, when realisation and sometimes shock set in.
‘No. You don’t have to pretend that wasn’t hard for you. Say whatever you want to. I’ll still think you are amazing.’ He meant every word.
***
Anna’s hands started to shake a little less. The smile on her face became a little more real. And as she looked into Justin’s handsome face, the quiver in her belly went from the after-effects of shock to something else entirely.
‘Thank you.’
The pause that followed was not the awkward silences Anna had so often felt. It was, well, comfortable.
‘I was wonder—’
‘If you don’t—’
They laughed as they spoke on top of each other. Justin signalled for her to speak first.
‘I was wondering if you were doing anything tonight?’ she said. ‘Or if you might like to, I don’t know, grab a beer or some such?’
‘And I was wondering if perhaps you would like some company tonight?’
Anna smiled and nodded. ‘I don’t mind being alone at all. Not even after what happened today. But I think I do want company. The right company.’
‘I hope you mean me.’
‘I might.’
The smile that lit Justin’s face was the most joyful thing she’d seen for days.
‘The fire station isn’t much. Just a temporary residence. But I’d be happy to try to cook something for you there, if you would prefer a quiet night to the pub.’
‘Now that’s the best offer I’ve had all day. I’ve got a bag full of groceries in the car. How about I come to the station with you and I rustle us up something to eat?’
‘Sold!’
The kitchen at the fire station was, at best, basic, but Anna decided the evening wasn’t about fancy food.
Her grocery bags contained the makings of a simple salad and some lamb chops.
Enough for two when she added some chips from Justin’s freezer.
There was beer in the fridge. Conscious that she was driving home at the end of the evening, Anna drank slowly.
They ate the meal at a table near the open door that looked out onto the trees behind the station—all cut back as a suitable firebreak.
‘What made you become a firefighter?’ she asked.
‘The cool uniform. And the girls,’ Justin joked. Then his face became serious. ‘My brother and I left home very young. Things with our mother weren’t good and our father was long gone. We got labouring jobs, short-term and seasonal stuff, wandering around the bush.’
‘Waltzing with Matilda?’ Anna said.
‘Nothing that romantic. No one was going to write songs about us. We were simply lost. Then, at one of the towns, there was a bushfire. Everybody left whatever they were doing to fight it. It was a pretty big one and soon there were RFS teams from all over the region fighting with us.’ Justin paused.
Anna could almost see the memories passing before his eyes as he stared out into the darkening trees.
‘Three houses were lost, but no one was hurt. When that fire was under control, I felt a sense of purpose. Pride, even. Something I hadn’t felt before.
So I joined up. Most of the RFS are volunteers and for a while, I was, too, then a full-time job came up and I took it. ’
‘Your brother?’
Justin gave a half-smile. ‘My baby brother went where I went. We’ve been doing that since we were kids. He was always getting into trouble and I got him out of it as best I could. When we left home, he was pretty messed up, so I looked after him.’
‘Messed up?’
Justin got to his feet. He deposited their plates in the sink and returned with more beer. ‘Sorry. It’s not my story to tell. He’s pretty sensitive about it. But that’s what broke our family apart. Still is, in a way.’
‘I’ve known your mother for a couple of years. She seems nice. Really cares about the animals she rescues.’
A shadow appeared in the open doorway. ‘A lot more than she ever cared about us.’ Ben came into the room, his steps uncertain and weaving. ‘So this is why you didn’t come to the pub.’
‘Sorry, brother. I bumped into Anna and she offered to cook dinner.’
‘Did she? Well, isn’t that nice. How many times did our mother do that—after she’d put herself in danger just to save some animal? I always thought it was her way of making up. Is that what this is?’
‘Ben …’ There was warning in Justin’s tone.
‘No, no. Don’t mind me.’ Ben staggered to the fridge and helped himself to another beer, although clearly he’d already had far too much. ‘Don’t let me spoil your evening. I can go sit on my bunk.’
‘I was just leaving.’ Anna leaped to her feet. ‘As well as that bull, I have some other live-in patients. I have to be up early to look after them before the surgery opens.’
‘Don’t leave on my account.’ Ben held up his hand in a conciliatory fashion.
Anna didn’t believe him for a minute. The way he looked at her, drunk or not, told her everything she needed to know. She wasn’t about to become the reason for the brothers to fight.
‘I should be getting back,’ she said.
Justin didn’t say a word, only nodded and got to his feet. He walked beside Anna as she returned to her car.
‘I apologise for my brother,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry the evening ended like this. I’d better go and sort him out.’
‘He’s a grown man,’ Anna heard herself say. ‘Maybe it’s time you let him sort himself out.’ The words were much harsher than she had intended, but once they were out, she couldn’t call them back.
She got into her car and drove away. When she looked in the rear-view mirror, Justin was gone.
No doubt back inside to put his drunk brother to bed.
It wasn’t how she had hoped the evening would end.
She’d thought that maybe this one time she’d found someone who could see past her scars.
Maybe Justin could, but that wasn’t enough.
Although Anna was an only child, she knew what was said about identical twins, how close they were.
Nothing could come between them. Not even a woman.
And certainly not one who looked like her.
She turned onto the main road and drove out of town.