Page 35 of Prognosis Irreconcilable Differences

Goddamn it! She should never have invited him in to her house that night. Should have slammed the door in his face and gone back to bed. Should have known he’d be trouble.

With a capital T.

Shep greeted her at the door with as much exuberance as a twelve-year-old golden retriever with ageing hips could muster. She dropped to her knees, buried her face in his long white coat and promptly burst into tears.

‘Oh, Shep, I’ve done something totally idiotic,’ she murmured.

Shep whined and licked her face and Jacqui hugged him closer. ‘Come on, boy,’ she said after a few minutes, pulling herself out of the mire of self-pity. ‘Let’s go for a walk.’

Shep wagged his tail and gave an enthusiastic bark, and Jacqui laughed, ruffling his head.

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They spent a lot oftime together over the next two days. In fact, Jacqui had a great time catching up with everyone. Word soon got out, and people from all around the district called in to the practice for a yarn — sick animal or not.

There was something soothing about being surrounded by people who loved her and work that fulfilled her. The ache in her chest was still there, but she was laughing. Living.

During the day, anyway.

But there was nothing to distract her during the long hours of the night. Not even her fury at Nathan helped with the acute loneliness. It had only been a few weeks, but she’d quickly grown used to sleeping with him again. Waking next to him. Being roused in the middle of the night by his touch at her hip, his lips on her neck.

Their years apart had lulled her into complacency over the potency of the feelings Nathan could arouse. And it was a wake-up call she wished she’d never had.

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Lightning cracked acrossthe sky late Saturday afternoon, and the roiling surf pounded angry fingers against the beach as Jacqueline made sure all the windows were closed. She could see the gnarled old trees along the shoreline bending like mere saplings. They were in for a hell of a storm.

The weather had been crazy for months now, and the ground was still boggy and the creeks and rivers still swollen from the deluge the weekend Nathan had forced his way back into her life. Roads and bridges had been washed away, property damaged, stock lost. Another soaking now would add to the area’s woes.

When the storm finally hit, it didn’t disappoint. It unleashed its fury in a swirling, seething, growling maelstrom. Heavy rain pelted down and Jacqui, for one, was pleased to be curled up in her lounge room with a cup of tea, a good book, and Shep warming her feet.

When the knock came half an hour later she went to investigate with an eerie sense of déjà-vu. Shep barked from the top of the stairs, wagging his tail as she opened the door.

To a grim-faced Nathan.

Jacqui’s heart gave a huge kerthump! Nathan was here. He looked a little haggard, but at least he was dry this time, despite the deluge.

‘What is it with the weather around here? If it keeps this up the bridge’s going to go under again.’

Jacqui’s grip tightened on the doorknob. He’d come to chat about the weather? ‘What do you want, Nathan?’

‘You’ve been avoiding my calls.’

The urge to hurl herself into his arms warred with the desire to slap his face. ‘I told you in my note I’d be back tomorrow.’

‘I came to make sure.’ She was wearing her red cotton gown and, Nathan doubted, not much underneath it, and the desire to touch her, to pull her close, was strong. But he had erred badly the other night, and she was glaring at him as if he was the enemy. Or at least as if she was going to slam the door in his face.

‘There was no need.’

He took a step forward into the house, forcing her to take a step back. ‘Humour me,’ he said dryly.

Shep barked, and Nathan pushed past her, bounding up the stairs to greet the dog.

‘Do come in,’ Jacqui muttered.

He leaned forward to receive a sloppy smooch from Shep, and his faded blue jeans pulled interestingly across his butt. Her heart contracted. She followed him up the stairs, torn between devouring him with her gaze and beating her head against the wall. She really had it bad.

‘Cup of tea?’ Jacqui asked, sailing past him as he made himself at home on the very couch where he had lain naked a handful of weeks ago. Shep climbed up on the chair with his old master, and placed his head along Nathan’s thigh.

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