Emergency Response (9 page)

It was almost three hours later before the flying doctors retrieval team arrived and took Bev and Brian to Perth. When the three nurses convened back at the hospital, they discussed it over cups of coffee, unable to believe how lucky Bev was. One millimeter in the other direction and she could have lost the whole limb.

By four o’clock Mackenzie was back at home, had showered and was planning what to cook for dinner when her phone rang. She glanced down and smiled. It was Nathan. As she swiped her finger across the screen to answer the call she asked herself why her heart was beating so erratically.

Two hours later Mackenzie pulled on a white cotton halter-neck sundress ready for her first big night out in town. She was only going to the pub for a counter meal with Nathan, and was probably overdoing things in the fashion stakes, but she didn’t care. She hadn’t had a chance to wear anything other than shorts and T-shirts or scrubs since she’d arrived and it felt nice to dress up for a change – even if her version of dressing up simply meant a cheap Target dress and a pair of rubber flip-flops on her feet.

After looking after Bev and Brian Henderson earlier that day, Mackenzie was now looking forward to checking out their pub. Known by the locals simply as “Hendo’s,” the Center Pub was one of three busy hotels in town. Not ironically, it was located in the central part of the town.

Mackenzie had fond memories of hours spent during university in an English-style pub in Sydney. She and her fellow nursing students spent most nights at the pub, eating cheap counter meals, drinking beer and playing endless games of pool to pass the time instead of studying.

Since arriving in Iron Ridge, even though she’d barely stepped outside in the sun for longer than the five minutes it took her to walk between the hospital and home or home and the shops, she’d somehow acquired a fabulous tan. She’d also lost weight with all the walking she was doing, and against the white of the dress, her shoulders actually looked fabulous. She couldn’t ever remember feeling so good about her appearance. She pulled her long straight hair out of the elastic band and let it fall loose around her shoulders. Dabbing her favorite Estee Lauder fragrance behind her ears, she stared at herself in the mirror. When was the last time she’d gone to so much effort for a guy?

*

“You look hot,” Nathan said when Mackenzie walked through the front doors of the pub seven minutes later.

She
felt
hot. “It’s still stifling out there.” She tucked a strand of hair behind one ear and touched the nape of her neck. She should have worn her hair up.

Nathan leaned in closer so he didn’t have to shout over the sound of the music blaring through the pub’s sound system. “I meant you look
hot,
hot,” he said. “It’s nice to see you wearing a dress.” He inhaled deeply. “And you smell nice too.”

He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek and something fluttered deep in her belly. No guy had
ever
called her
hot
or made her insides go mushy like that. She shook her head. She had to stop reading things into every comment he made. If she didn’t do something to make this infatuation with him stop, it would lead to disappointment.

While she tried to think of a smart comeback, a group of men appeared. One of them slapped Nathan on the back. His bushy beard, tattoos and yellow high-visibility shirt pegged him instantly as a miner. “Mate! So this is your new girlfriend, eh?” he asked.

Nathan glanced at Mackenzie but she wasn’t sure how to interpret the look he gave her. In the back of her mind she vaguely registered the man’s question. Had they referred to her as Nathan’s
girlfriend
? Mackenzie’s stomach flipped and flopped back over itself again.

“Ah, yeah guys, this is my sister’s friend Mackenzie,” Nathan said. “She’s one of the new nurses at the hospital.”

Disappointment went through her, landing like a stone in the bottom of her stomach. He hadn’t introduced her as
his
friend. She pasted a smile on her face and greeted the men pleasantly in return. At least now she knew where she stood with Nathan. He was only being friendly because she was one of his sister’s friends so there was no point getting her hopes up.

Another man spoke up. “Nurse, eh? So you would have heard about Hendo’s wife? Bev?” All the others turned to look at him. “Apparently she got flown off to Perth today after a massive fence post went through her leg.”

Eyes widened as the man embellished the story with details he was making up on the spot. Nathan glanced at Mackenzie and she shook her head.

“A fence post might be exaggerating the story slightly,” Mackenzie interrupted. They all turned to look at her then and she blushed, feeling uncomfortable being the center of attention. “She’s fine. A garden stake went through her calf but it looks worse than it is. She’ll have surgery in Perth and be back here before you know it.”

“Just as bloody well,” another man said. “The pub wouldn’t be the same without Brian and Bev runnin’ it.”

“Who’s cookin’ tonight then?”

“Dunno. As long as they whack a heap of chips on the plate with my steak, I don’t care.”

“You ready to order then?”

The men wandered off toward the bar, leaving Mackenzie and Nathan standing in the middle of the pub.

“Are you hungry?” Nathan asked.

“Not especially.” Mackenzie stared at him. For some reason he looked pale. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Just all that talk about Bev makes me feel a bit queasy.”

She touched him gently on the arm. “Oh Nathan, she’s fine.”

“Well I’d feel better if I didn’t have to picture her with a fence post sticking out of her leg.”

Mackenzie laughed. “I promise not to mention it again.”

“Have you ever played pool?” he asked, changing the subject.

She shrugged. “A few times.”

He glanced behind her. “The table’s free. Want to play before we eat?”

“Sure. How about loser pays for dinner?” she suggested with a smile.

Nathan chuckled and instantly looked more relaxed. “Sounds like a challenge to me. Are you sure you’ve got enough money, because I’m a growing man and I’m starving! I could eat a horse!”

Mackenzie laughed. “Not sure about the growing man bit! I’m sure you probably stopped growing in your twenties.” She opened her wallet wide and tilted it in Nathan’s direction, eyebrows raised. Leaning toward him, she nudged him with her elbow. “Oh, look. I’m all out of money, sorry. Guess that means I’ll just have to beat you!” She closed her wallet with a smack and smirked at Nathan.

Nathan threw his head back and laughed at her. “You have no idea who you’re up against!”

Neither do you!
Mackenzie thought with a smile.

“I’m the Iron Ridge pool champion.” Nathan proudly pointed to a whiteboard where his name was on the top of a handwritten list.

“Well then,
champ
, how about you break first?”

While Nathan set up the balls on the pool table, Mackenzie placed her wallet, keys and phone on one of the high barstools beneath a window and wandered over to the selection of cues on the wall. She spent a few minutes pretending to choose a cue, when in reality she was watching Nathan as he pulled balls from pockets and set them up on the green felt-covered table. After he finished he came to her side.

“Can you help me choose the right stick?” she asked with mock innocence. “I’m not sure which one is the right size for someone as short as me.” Mackenzie tilted her head to one side and fluttered her eyelashes at him in a mocking flirtatious way. She pretended to weigh the cue in her hand. “This one feels kind of heavy.”

Nathan laughed. “Somehow I get the distinct feeling you might be teasing me!”

Mackenzie chuckled. “Maybe.” She handed him the cue. “This one’s got your name on it anyway, so I guess I’ll take the other one here.” She indicated a smaller cue in the rack. She pulled it out of its position and inspected the tip before holding it out in front of her. She brought it toward her eyeline and checked it was straight.

“Looks all right to me.”

“How about you break first then?” Nathan said, handing her the white ball.

Mackenzie shrugged. “Sure, if you don’t care.”

“I don’t mind at all.”

Mackenzie took the ball, walked around the table and stood at the other end, opposite him. She placed the ball gently on the table, directly opposite the triangle of colored balls at Nathan’s end. Bending down over the table, she positioned her cue and then paused.

“Would you mind moving please?” she asked sweetly, standing up again. “It’s rather distracting having you stand there watching me like that.”

Nathan grinned and mumbled something under his breath before moving to one side. By now the guys had ordered their meals from the serving window and made their way back from the bar, beers in hand, to stand around the edges of the room to watch them. She overheard Nathan declaring loudly that Mackenzie Jones was about to buy his dinner.

Ha! I’ll show him!
Mackenzie splayed her fingers on the green cloth and placed the timber cue in the V between her thumb and forefinger of her left hand, sliding it backward and forward to get the feel for it. Bending down again, she aimed her cue low on the breaker ball.

“Need me to help you?” someone called out.

“No thank you.” Mackenzie kept her head low. She wasn’t about to be put off. “I’m fine.”

“I’d be more than happy to show you a different way to hold a stick,” another man called out with a loud laugh. Mackenzie heard Nathan warn him to be quiet. She ignored them all. She was used to smutty remarks from some of the patients she’d treated over the years. Innuendo was wasted on her – comments like that were water off a duck’s back to a nurse.

Mackenzie pulled her cue backward and then pushed it forward as hard as she could. The white ball flew toward the other balls, making a loud cracking sound and sending all the balls flying across the table. A yellow ball went smacking straight into a pocket and she resisted the urge to cheer. She straightened, waiting for the rest of the balls to come to a complete standstill. They were spread nice and evenly around the table, just as she had planned.

“Your turn,” she told Nathan, smiling at him with saccharine sweetness.

“Nice break,” he said, eyeing the remaining balls on the table.

She shrugged and grinned at him. “Beginner’s luck.”

“Jeez, you can hit pretty hard,” one of Nathan’s workmates called out from his vantage point near the window. “Not bad for a girl.”

“For a
girl
?” she asked, turning to stare at him. “What are you saying exactly?”

“Er, nothing,” he stammered. “Um, can I buy you a beer?”

“No thanks. I’m working tomorrow. But you can buy me a lemon, lime and bitters,” she said. She turned back toward the table and watched as Nathan pocketed his first ball.

For the next ten minutes they swapped places, moving around the table, bending low and sending balls flying across beneath the overhead lights. Each turn they pocketed balls, rarely missing shots, until it came down to the last ball. The black eight. It was Mackenzie’s turn.

“So, to make it clear, if I get this in, you lose?” she asked. “Which means you buy my dinner.”

Nathan nodded. “I’m pretty sure you know the rules, Kenzie, but yes, to clarify, if you miss and then
I
get it in,
you
lose and buy
me
dinner!”

“And you keep your title of pool champion,” Mackenzie said with a laugh, trying to keep her tone light. She tried to ignore the flutter in her chest at the use of her nickname.
Kenzie.
She liked the way it sounded coming from his mouth.

“Yes.”

“Hm. So you’d lose face if you lost to a
girl
?”

Nathan held his hands up in surrender, raising his cue high in the air. “You’ve already proven you’re not a beginner. I don’t know who taught you to play, but you obviously know what you’re doing. No way am I going to say anything about you being a girl. Somehow I don’t think it would be worth it – you might never talk to me again. I said the wrong thing to you once before and I don’t intend to make that same mistake again.”

The way he looked at her caused something inside Mackenzie to take flight. She suppressed the urge to do a happy dance. He was
definitely
flirting with her. She glanced at him again but he’d somehow managed to paste a deliberately blank expression on his face and it was now unreadable. He pointed back toward the table and she had to drag her eyes away from him.

“Take your shot, Kenzie. If I lose, I promise I’ll take it like a man.”

Mackenzie laughed. “What exactly does that even mean? If you lose you’ll stalk off and sulk in the corner with a beer in your hand?”

Nathan joined in her laughter. “I promise you I won’t sulk. But you still have to beat me. Come on, take your best shot.”

Mackenzie stepped up to the table and bent over, aware her backside was facing Nathan. Her sundress was short and he would be getting a good eyeful of the back of her legs. She forced herself to stop worrying whether or not her butt looked too big.

The pub was crowded now and most people stood around watching the game of pool between them. A few women had joined the crowd, but the men still far outnumbered them. Maybe that was why Nathan was showing so much interest in her – there weren’t many women to choose from. She dismissed the thought and made herself concentrate on the pool table.

Once more Mackenzie placed her fingers on the green felt and felt the cool cue sliding across her skin. She didn’t feel anywhere near as confident as she was pretending to be. There was no way, without a miracle, she’d be able to pocket the ball. She was good, but not that good. She pulled back and then gently let the cue slip forward through her fingers. The white ball slowly headed toward the black ball, barely touching one side and sending the black ball slowly sideways toward the pocket she’d been aiming for. She held her breath. The angle was perfect. She was going to win! The ball stopped against the side of the table, millimeters short of the pocket, and she exhaled in frustration. Nathan would easily be able to get the ball in now.

“Looks like you win,” she said.

“I haven’t got it in yet.”

“If you don’t get that ball in, I’ll know you
let
me win. And I don’t want to win by default.” She glared at him as she spoke. She was serious.

Nathan leaned across the table and she watched his eyes flash toward her face and then back down at the two balls on the table. With a quick flick of the cue, he sent the white ball slamming toward the black ball. She held her breath again as the black ball dropped into the pocket, followed instantly by the white ball. The startled look on Nathan’s face said he hadn’t expected
that
to happen.