‘I DON’T want to sound like a cliché, Annie, but give it more time.’
Annie wrinkled her nose at her friend’s advice. ‘Time-shmime. What I need is a change.’
‘A change? Annie! Your apartment burnt down, you split up with Adam and cancelled your wedding, your dad’s company is in financial difficulty and now you’ve moved into a new apartment. Isn’t that enough change?’ Natasha asked incredulously.
She sighed. ‘It wasn’t the kind of change I was hoping for.’
‘I know,’ Natasha soothed. ‘How are you going with the boxes? Finished sorting them out yet?’
Annie looked around her new apartment and sighed into the telephone receiver. ‘No.’
‘Want me to come and help? Brenton’s just arrived home from the hospital so he can supervise the children with their homework tonight.’
‘It’s a tempting offer but I think I’ll just wade through things slowly.’ She opened a box and peered inside. Ribbons and trophies from her childhood were packed haphazardly with nursing reference books and kitchen utensils. ‘Besides, both you and Monty—’ she used the high school nickname for Natasha’s husband ‘—have gone above and beyond the call of friendship during the past few months.’
‘OK, but you call me if you need anything.’
‘I will.’ Annie rang off and replaced the receiver. Sighing again, she opened another box which contained more medical books and reached inside. ‘Ugh, this is a heavy one,’ she muttered, using both hands to lift the reference book out. She felt something soft brush the edge of her fingers and, looking down, saw an enormous brown huntsman spider about to crawl onto her hand.
‘Aagh!’ She screamed and catapulted the book across the room where it landed with a heavy thud between two more boxes. ‘Eww, eww, eww.’ Her skin was creeping and crawling and when she saw the spider climb the side of another box to hide inside, she shivered uncomfortably.
Hopping over boxes and miscellaneous items that were lying around, she headed for the door. ‘Eww, eww, eww.’ As she wrenched down on the doorhandle, she accidentally bent her thumb backwards. ‘Ow, ow, ow. Oh this isn’t happening, this isn’t happening,’ she muttered as she cradled her hand against her. Whimpering, she knocked on the door of the next apartment, hoping the person who lived there was braver than she was when it came to spiders.
Looking down at her thumb while she waited, she gently checked the range of motion. ‘Ow,’ she whimpered again. The door opened and she looked up into a pair of the bluest eyes she’d ever seen.
‘Can I help you?’ The man’s voice was gruff and impatient.
Annie’s mind went blank and her jaw sagged open as she shifted her gaze away from his eyes to briefly encompass the rest of him. He was dressed in a pair of blue surfing board-shorts, his brown chest bare.
‘Er…’ she started, and then cleared her throat. Come on brain—work! ‘Um…I’m Annie…from next door.’ She gestured to her apartment and then whimpered again as she remembered her thumb.
‘Have you hurt your hand?’
‘Oh, no. It’s OK. Just bent my thumb back.’
Without warning, he reached for her hand and peered closely at the digit in question. Annie was surprised at the contact from this handsome stranger, his touch warm and tender as he moved the thumb slightly around. ‘Doesn’t seem broken.’ He let it go as abruptly as he’d taken it. ‘Was there anything else? I was just about to take a shower.’
‘Oh!’ The image of this man standing beneath the cooling spray of a shower did nothing to help her present state of tonguetiedness. ‘Uh…well, I won’t keep you…’
‘Fine.’ He started to close his door.
‘But I have a spider in my apartment,’ she rushed on. ‘And I was kind of wondering if you wouldn’t mind…’ She shrugged. ‘You know, getting it out…for me…please?’ She raised her eyebrows hopefully.
He took a set of keys off the wall before closing his door and stalking into her apartment. ‘Where is it?’
‘Well…’ Anne could feel the creeping, crawling sensation return. ‘It was on my book but after I threw it across the room—’
‘The spider?’
‘Eww. Yuck. I threw the book with the spider on…it.’ She screwed up her nose as she pointed to where the textbook lay, the hard cover making a steeple on the ground, the white pages in the middle now slightly crumpled.
He walked over and picked up the book, making sure the pages were straight. ‘So that’s what that noise was. Sounded as though you were dropping bricks. Medical and surgical nursing, eh?’ He placed the book on top of an unopened box. ‘Where did the spider go after you’d hurled it—and your book—across the room?’
‘It…’ Annie shivered again ‘…crawled up that box.’ She pointed, keeping well away. Her dark-haired saviour opened the flap on the box.
‘Ah, there he is. Probably more scared of you—’
‘Than I am of him. Yeah, yeah, I know. I don’t have anything against him—’
‘Except that you want him out of your apartment?’
‘Exactly.’
He straightened and looked around the room. He picked up a piece of paper before walking into the kitchen and coming back with a glass. Annie grimaced, vowing to throw the glass out as soon as he’d finished.
‘Open the door to the stairwell.’
Annie rushed to do as he ordered, glad she didn’t have to watch him catch the wretched thing. Moments later, he came out of her apartment and she shuddered as he walked past with the spider trapped between the paper and the glass. ‘Eww, eww, eww, eww, eww,’ she muttered, closing her eyes.
‘Go in front of me and open the outside door,’ he instructed. Annie opened her eyes and raced down the stairs as though her life depended on it. She opened the door, looking the other way as he passed her again and took the spider to the row of native trees which grew between their apartment building and the house next door.
She couldn’t bear to look. ‘Here you go,’ he said, holding the paper and glass, minus its occupant, out to her. Annie grimaced and shook her head. ‘Throw them away?’ he asked and at her nod he deposited them in one of the bins.
‘You probably should have recycled that glass but…I do understand.’
‘You do?’ She was surprised. They walked back up the stairs to their apartments, Annie sneaking glances at the defined muscles of his back.
‘I have three sisters and all of them react to spiders the way you do.’
Annie laughed. ‘My hero.’ Outside her apartment door she held out her hand to her neighbour. ‘Thanks again. I really do appreciate it.’ When he simply smiled but didn’t shake her hand, she frowned a little.
‘I don’t want to hurt your thumb.’
Annie looked down at the digit in question. ‘Oh, yeah. I’d forgotten.’
‘It’s obviously not hurting any more.’
‘Just aching…a little.’ She smiled shyly, unable to believe she was standing here with a relative stranger discussing her thumb. ‘Should be fine.’
‘I take it that you’re trained in the medical profession? Either that or you use heavy nursing texts instead of dumbbells.’ His words were dry but she noted the twinkle of teasing in his eyes.
‘Or maybe I use them for hurling spiders across the room.’ That got a smile from him—small though it was. Annie started to feel even more self-conscious, standing in the middle of the hallway. His shoulders were so…broad and when he smiled like that, her stomach did flips and her knees went weak. ‘Would you like to come in for a cool drink?’ The second she offered, she remembered the only thing cool she had to drink was tap water. ‘No.’ She tapped her forehead with her hand. ‘Sorry. I’ve just remembered I don’t have anything cool to drink.’
He peered around her open door. ‘You don’t have any furniture either. Planning to sleep in one of those boxes tonight?’
‘Hmm.’ She gave him a thoughtful look. ‘Now, there’s an idea. I was wondering what I was going to do.’ He raised an eyebrow at her words and she laughed. ‘I have a futon in the bedroom. My apartment burnt down a few months ago,’ she added by way of explanation.
‘But you managed to save your belongings?’ He gestured to the mound of boxes.
‘I’d…um…already packed them up and moved them…elsewhere when the fire happened.’ Annie looked down at the ground, trying to control her thoughts. Now was no time to be thinking about the past.
‘That was fortunate.’
‘Yeah.’ She bit her lower lip, hoping her emotions wouldn’t overpower her.
‘Was it a painful break-up?’ His insightful question was asked quietly and Annie brought her gaze back to his. How did he know? Unless…
‘Been there yourself?’ she enquired just as boldly.
He forced a smile. ‘Let’s not go there.’
‘My sentiments exactly. Well…thank you for rescuing me.’
‘My pleasure. Let me know when you find the other one.’
‘Other what?’
‘The other huntsman.’
‘What?’
‘Huntsmen always have a mate. Ever since the Ark—they travel in twos.’
‘Ewww.’ She squirmed again. ‘You mean there’s another one in my apartment!’
Her neighbour laughed at her expression and for a moment, she took comfort in that deep, rich sound. ‘Relax. He’ll be more frightened of you—’
‘Yeah, yeah.’ Annie impatiently waved his words away and frowned at the stack of boxes waiting to be unpacked, feeling quite ill. ‘I wonder if I can just throw all that out and buy new stuff,’ she mumbled thoughtfully.
Another rich chuckle emanated from the man beside her and she realised she really liked the sound. Her gaze flicked to his chest before quickly meeting his eyes again. ‘No need to go that far. Why don’t you leave the unpacking until you get more furniture?’
‘Can’t. The furniture is being delivered tomorrow, which is why I need to sort a lot of this stuff out tonight.’ She sighed heavily.
‘What time is it being delivered?’
‘Who knows? They said morning, which could mean anything.’ She shrugged. ‘I won’t be here anyway.’
‘I suppose you want me to keep a lookout for them?’
‘No. No. Not at all. A friend of mine has the morning off so she’s offered to come over.’ Annie shrugged, feeling a little self-conscious about telling this half-naked stranger more about her life than he probably wanted to know. ‘My shift got changed at the last minute.’
‘Nurse?’
‘No. I used to be.’
He nodded. ‘That explains the textbooks.’
‘I’m a doctor now.’
‘A doctor,’ he repeated, his dark eyebrows raised in surprise. ‘I suppose you work at Geelong General hospital.’
‘Yes.’ Annie lifted her chin and straightened her shoulders. Was there something wrong with what she did for a living? Adam had initially been intrigued by her job but then he’d come to resent it.
Hayden liked the way her dark eyes flashed with defiance and felt an unwanted twisting in his gut. Had someone dared to criticise her career choice in the past?
Annie thought back to the way her neighbour had tenderly examined her hand and she narrowed her gaze. ‘Why?’ She asked slowly. ‘Do you work there?’
‘I start on Monday.’
Annie’s jaw dropped open slightly before she grabbed hold of her senses and forced her mind to work in an orderly and rational manner. Even before she asked the question, she instinctively knew the answer. ‘Orthopaedics?’ She held her breath.
‘Yes.’
Her mouth went dry. There was only one person starting in the orthopaedic department on Monday and that was her new boss—Professor Hayden Robinson.
‘Do I presume by the pained look on your face that you work in Orthopaedics?’
Annie smiled at his words. ‘It’s not pained…just…amazed. I mean, what are the odds?’
‘True.’
They both stood, staring at each other. The moment stretched into an uncomfortable silence. Annie’s stomach churned with uncontrollable butterflies as she continued to gaze into those hypnotic blue eyes. Her brain refused to function properly and although she knew she should say something to snap them out of it, she couldn’t for the life of her think what.
‘I need to go.’ He stepped back and put the key into the lock.
‘Yeah.’ She cleared her throat and took a step in the opposite direction.
He unlocked his door and pushed it open. ‘See you on Monday, neighbour.’ His smile was one that went directly to her heart, piercing it with giddy schoolgirl laughter.
Annie choked the laugh down and forced a polite smile. She knew she should move but couldn’t. She watched him move into his apartment and close the door. The smile faded and it took another half a minute before she could force her legs to work.
Her new boss was her new neighbour!
She went back into her apartment and checked the time. It was only seven o’clock so she picked up the phone and dialled Natasha’s number.
‘You’ll never guess who my neighbour is,’ she said into the receiver a few seconds later. She told her friend about the close encounter with the spider and how her neighbour had come to her rescue. She also learnt that Brenton had found a huntsman spider when they’d been transferring the boxes to the new apartment.
‘So chances are you found the mate this evening.’
Annie felt a little disappointed that she wouldn’t be calling on her sexy neighbour to help her out.
‘Anyway,’ Natasha continued, ‘what’s he like?’
‘Tall, dark and very handsome,’ Annie said with a laugh. ‘Oh, but I made him throw the glass out. I’m sorry, Natasha—I’ll buy you and Monty a new set to replace the ones I borrowed, but I just couldn’t keep it. The thought of washing it…eww.’ She shuddered.
‘Who cares about the glass?’ Natasha replied. ‘Tell me more about Professor Robinson.’
Annie sat cross-legged on the floor and leaned back against the wall. ‘He has broad shoulders and a nice chest.’
‘You saw his chest!’
‘He was naked—from the waist up,’ she added quickly.
‘Why? What had he been doing?’
‘How should I know? All he was wearing were board-shorts and a light sprinkling of sand. Swimming? Running on the beach? How should I know?’ she repeated.
‘Did you count the grains of sand?’
‘No! Stop teasing.’
‘Why? He sounds like just what you need.’
‘I do not need another failed relationship. I’ve had enough of those to last me a lifetime. Besides, his tastes probably run to the gorgeous supermodel type.’
‘You don’t know that.’
‘Yeah, well, most men like that.’
‘Brenton doesn’t.’
‘Have you looked in the mirror lately, Tash? You are the gorgeous supermodel type. I’m not.’
‘Stop it. Stop it right now,’ Natasha demanded. ‘I tell you, all the guys you’ve dated in the past have done an excellent job in destroying your self-esteem. You’re a beautiful, intelligent woman, Annie, and I’m not just saying that because I’m your friend. Have you looked in the mirror lately?’
‘Yes.’
‘And what do you see?’
‘A woman with boring, uneven brown eyes, a crooked nose, a mouth that’s too big and ears that look pointed if my boring brown, out-of-control, short, curly hair doesn’t cover them. And to top it all off, I’m not exactly tall.’
‘You’re five foot four, Annie. That’s not short.’
‘Feels it.’
‘If that’s really how you see yourself, then you’re looking in the wrong mirror, my friend, because I see someone completely different. Your face has character and I love the story about how you broke your nose.’
‘Character. Right. That’s just another way of saying I’m ugly.’
‘You are not and I don’t want to hear you talking like that. Annie…you’re beautiful.’
‘Yeah?’
‘Yeah. I’d give anything to have your natural curls and so would a lot of other women. You are generous, nurturing and clever.’
‘So why don’t the men I date stick around?’
‘Maybe they’re intimidated by your brilliance?’
‘Yeah, right.’ Annie laughed but it ended on a sigh. ‘I’m going to be forty soon, Tash. Forty! I just want to get married, have children and be happy.’
‘And you will.’
‘When?’
‘I don’t know but give it some time. It’s only been three months since you called off the wedding.’
‘Since Adam called off the wedding, you mean.’
‘You told me it was a mutual agreement.’
‘Yeah…but he voiced the idea first.’
‘But you were thinking it, you even told me as much. Anyway, I’m not suggesting you get serious with Mr Gorgeous-Next-Door—’
‘Professor Gorgeous-Next-Door to you.’ Annie tried to inject a bit of humour into the conversation.
‘Whatever…But…I don’t know, use him as a mental diversion.’
‘A mental diversion? Are you listening to yourself?’
‘Must be Brenton’s bad influence.’ Natasha laughed. ‘Look. Every woman needs a transitional man and I just—’
‘Are you crazy? In three days’ time, he’ll be my boss!’
‘As women, we focus our minds on problems far too conscientiously. We get so wrapped up in things, nuances, gestures, innuendoes. You were the one wanting a change—all I’m suggesting here is a change in mental thought. You don’t need to follow through with anything, just allow yourself some private little…I don’t know…’
‘Fantasies?’ Annie supplied.
‘Flirtations,’ Natasha said firmly. ‘Sometimes, just the idea that someone else might be interested in you can go a long way to restoring self-confidence. Do you follow? It might help to just lighten your thoughts and that way you might start sleeping a bit better at night.’
‘How did you—’
‘You lived in our house after the fire, Annie. Even though you were doing shifts, I know the signs of a restless sleeper. I used to be one years ago, remember?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Think about it,’ Natasha ventured. ‘I have to go. It’s time for Rachael and the twins to go to bed so I’d better go kiss them goodnight.’
‘Give them one from me.’
‘Will do. Speak to you tomorrow. Bye.’
After Annie had replaced the receiver, she stayed on the floor, thinking over what Natasha had said and finally decided her friend had a point. Perhaps what she needed was a little mental diversion. It wouldn’t be anything serious and it certainly wouldn’t mean anything.
The sound of water running came through the walls and she remembered her neighbour saying he was about to have a shower.
Her neighbour!
Professor Hayden Robinson!
She rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes, focusing on the sound of the shower. The water cascading down over his crop of dark hair, plastering it to his head. The way he would lift his arms to wash the sand and salt from his hair, his blue eyes hidden beneath his eyelids. The soapy bubbles, sliding down his neck, over his broad shoulders, across his rigid abdomen and down towards—
‘Whoa!’ Annie sat forward and opened her eyes. ‘Whoa, girl!’ She realised her heart rate had increased and that her mouth was dry. Why had she listened to Natasha?
She rose from the floor and stalked into the kitchen, stepping firmly over the boxes and obstacles in her way. Reaching for one of the five remaining glasses she’d borrowed, she shoved it beneath the tap and filled it with water.
‘You do not need to fill your head with silly and childish schoolgirl fantasies—especially about your boss!’ she scolded herself before drinking the water. ‘You have an early morning so finish getting organised and get to bed.’
With a firm nod she did just that, wishing she’d borrowed the radio Natasha had offered. Instead, she sang some of her favourite songs as she went through each box…very carefully, sorting them out into categories which would make it easier once the furniture arrived.
As she lay down on her futon almost three hours later, Annie felt pleased. She hadn’t found another spider so felt more comfortable about going to sleep. She’d accomplished a lot and tomorrow she had yet another busy shift ahead of her, but as she closed her eyes and started to drift off to sleep, she couldn’t stop the images of her tall, dark professor from entering her dreams.
Annie had been on duty for three hours and it felt like for ever. She’d done a ward round, set two fractured arms, organised surgery for a patient with a fractured femur and now her pager was beeping again. Just as well it wasn’t a clinic day or she’d be completely frazzled.
She headed for the nearest in-house phone, answering her page. The extension was for the hospital switchboard. ‘Dr Beresford.’
‘Annie, Natasha’s on the line for you,’ the switchboard operator said.
‘Thanks.’ Annie waited while she was connected. ‘Hey, Natasha.’
‘Oh, Annie, I have some bad news.’
‘What’s wrong?’ The urgency in her friend’s voice made her feel uneasy.
‘I’ve been up all night long with Rachael. She’s been vomiting and now the boys are complaining of stomachache as well.’
‘How’s Lily?’ Annie asked after their sixteen-year-old daughter.
‘She slept over at a friend’s last night so hopefully she’s fine. I’m expecting her home in a few hours’ time.’
‘Monty’s not sick?’
‘No, but he’s due on at the hospital soon and—’
‘And you can’t take sick kids over to my apartment to wait for the furniture to arrive,’ Annie finished for her.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be. It’s not your fault and, of course, you must keep them comfortable.’
‘What will you do?’
‘I’ll ring the furniture store and see if they can give me an idea of when they might deliver.’
‘They never do.’
‘I know but I’m hoping. I might be able to sneak home during my lunch-break but as I’m due in Theatre soon, I have no idea when that might be.’
‘How about your new neighbour? Professor Robinson.’
‘No way!’ The thought of asking the professor to supervise her furniture seemed a little too intimate for her liking. ‘I’ll call the superintendent at the apartments. He’s a nice, agreeable man. I’m sure he’ll be able to help out.’
‘I’m really sorry, honey.’
‘It’s fine. Go and take care of the kids and I’ll check later to see how they are.’ She rang off and sighed heavily as she hung up the receiver. Why couldn’t her life be simple? Just for a few minutes? Everything always seemed so…complicated.
She rang the furniture store and received the usual answer—they couldn’t say when the delivery truck would get around to her place. Next, she rang the super and was relieved when he said it wouldn’t be a problem.
As she breathed a sigh of relief, her pager sounded and she groaned. Well, at least she’d had half a millisecond of peace. She noted the number was that of Emergency Theatres which meant her fractured femur patient was ready for her attention.
The operation was routine but twice during her theatre stint her pager beeped. The scout nurse called through to the number, informing them that Dr Beresford was in surgery. After the operation, Annie sat down to write up the notes while the nurses worked around her.
‘I’m looking forward to meeting him,’ one nurse said.
‘A friend of mine, who used to work with him at Perth General, said he’s gorgeous.’
‘Really? When does he start?’
‘Monday.’
Annie didn’t usually listen to gossip but sat up a little straighter when she realised they were talking about Hayden Robinson.
‘Excellent. Is he single?’
‘Divorced.’ The nurse was speaking in a low tone filled with excitement at passing on the gossip.
‘Better and better,’ the second nurse said with glee.
Annie stood and closed the casenotes. ‘Thanks for your assistance during the operation,’ she said to the nurses.
‘Not a problem, Annie.’ They both smiled before continuing with their tasks and their conversation. She walked out of the room and went to Recovery to deliver the case-notes and check on her patient.
Everything was fine and as she headed for the changing rooms, one of the gossiping nurses came out. ‘Annie! You forgot your pager. It’s just beeped again.’
‘Oh, gee, thanks a bunch,’ Annie joked. ‘The thing hasn’t stopped beeping at me all day.’
‘Hey, your fault for becoming a doctor. I’m sure it never beeped that much when you were nursing.’
Annie smiled and shrugged. ‘Guess I can’t have everything.’ As she headed out of Recovery, she checked her pager. Three different numbers. One extension was the ward, the other was A and E and the third was a mobile phone number she didn’t recognise. She frowned, trying to think who it might be. She headed for the ward and answered the questions of the clinical nurse consultant. After that, she headed for Monty’s office.
‘You paged me?’ she asked, strolling right in without bothering to knock.
‘Hey, Annie.’ Brenton sat behind his desk and finished filling in a form.
‘How were the kids when you left?’
‘Rachael had stopped vomiting, Joshua took over and Chris was starting to look quite green.’
‘Oh, poor Natasha.’
‘I’ve called Lily and told her to stay at her friend’s place for a bit longer. Luckily, Aunt Jude came back from overseas a few weeks ago so at least Tash won’t be on her own.’
‘Let’s hope you don’t get it.’
‘I think Tash might already have been exposed but we’ll see what happens. Rachael only appears to have been sick for twenty-four hours and I’ve had quite a few people in through A and E this morning with similar symptoms.’
‘Terrific.’ Annie’s tone was despondent. ‘Now,’ she sighed, ‘I believe you paged me?’
‘Yes. You forgot to fill in some paperwork regarding one of the fractured arms you set earlier this morning.’
‘Sorry. That was when the patient with the fractured femur came in.’
‘Never mind. I just thought I’d increase your paperwork.’
‘Gee, thanks, mate.’
‘No problem. I know how much you love it.’ He grinned at her. ‘So…Tash tells me you have an…interesting neighbour.’
‘Oh, don’t you start.’
‘What’s he like? Tash said you thought he was good-looking.’
‘Don’t you and your wife have any secrets?’
‘Nope.’
Annie grinned back at him and shook her head. Her pager beeped. ‘I just want to hurl this thing through a window,’ she muttered as she checked the number. Brenton laughed and Annie frowned. ‘It’s the same number as before. Do you know this mobile phone number?’ She recited it to her old friend but he shook his head.
‘Only one way to find out,’ he said and pushed the phone on his desk in her direction.
‘Thanks.’ Annie dialled the number and waited to be connected.
‘Hello.’ The deep voice on the other end of the line was brisk.
‘This is Dr Beresford. I believe you were paging me?’
‘Annie?’
‘Yes?’ She listened cautiously, trying to figure out who it was.
‘It’s Hayden Robinson.’
‘Oh.’ Eyes wide in surprise, she felt a tingle flood through her body. What on earth did he want?
‘Your furniture has arrived and the delivery men want to know where you want things put or they’ll just dump it anywhere they like. Also, do you have anything besides instant coffee? The movers were thirsty,’ he added by way of explanation.
‘Where’s the superintendent?’ She ignored his remark about the coffee.
‘He had to go.’
‘What!’
‘What’s wrong?’ Brenton asked.
‘I can help out,’ Hayden continued, and for a second she thought she detected a hint of humour in his tone. ‘At least that way things won’t be left in the middle of the floor.’
‘You’re in my apartment?’ she asked incredulously.
‘Yes. The super left me in charge.’
‘Excellent,’ Annie mumbled gruffly. ‘Fine. Look…’ She checked her watch. ‘I’ll be there in five minutes.’ She replaced the receiver and momentarily covered her face with her hands. Taking a deep breath, she looked at Brenton. ‘Listen, Monty, I have to step out for about twenty minutes.’ She quickly told him what was going on.
‘Well, that was nice of Professor Robinson to help out like that.’
‘Yeah, right. Page me if you need me. Everyone else has.’ She was turning to leave his office when he stopped her.
‘Annie.’ He threw her a set of keys. ‘Take my car. It’ll be quicker than trying to get a taxi.’
‘Thanks, mate.’ Annie rushed out to the doctors’ car park and headed for Brenton’s Jaguar XJ6. Exactly four minutes later, thanks to green lights all the way, she parked the car in the guest parking spot at her apartment building, just as the furniture delivery truck drove away.
‘Great.’ She climbed out of the car and locked the door. Taking the stairs two at a time, she rushed to her floor, noticing all the apartment doors were closed—including hers. ‘Great.’ Digging in her shorts pocket for her keys, she shoved one into the lock and opened the door.
There, in the middle of her living room, dressed in shorts and casual cotton shirt was Hayden Robinson. He seemed oversized, like an out-of-proportion cartoon character, in a room that was now filled with furniture. Arranged furniture, she realised. Things weren’t all jumbled up as she’d imagined but instead everything was tastefully arranged. She couldn’t have done it better herself.
Her gaze flicked around the room quickly before settling on Hayden once more. He’d looked up when she’d opened the door and she realised, belatedly, that he was holding something in his hand. A photo frame.
She looked down at his feet where one of her boxes had been knocked over, several items having fallen out onto the carpet, unravelling themselves from the protective paper. She recognised the one Hayden held in his hand. It was a silver frame with colourful love hearts around the border. It was the frame that currently held a picture of Adam. When they’d broken up, she’d relegated it to a bottom drawer but hadn’t found the time to change the photograph.
Hayden looked at her—accusingly. She frowned, unsure why. He held out the photo frame so she could see the picture of the man she’d been engaged to.
‘Why do you have a picture of my cousin?’