Page 103 of Stockman's Stormcloud

‘Oh, look, it’s the cat.’ It was Charlie coming through the main entrance, where Mr Purrington leaped into his open arms. ‘Hello, little fella. Hello, Sophie.’ Charlie tipped his hat at her in an old-fashioned gentlemanly way.

‘What brings you here?’

‘Got my check-up thingy for my heart. Hey, you work here, can you just tick that sheet to say I showed up, then I can go back to the pub, and you can tell Bree to pick me up from there?’

‘Nice try, Pop.’ It was Bree who’d walked in behind him. ‘I’m going to sit here in this hallway, guarding the front entrance, while you see the doctor.’

‘I’m fine.’

‘I know you are. It’s just a check-up. Be sure to ask the doctor if you need a refill on any of your pills.’

‘Charlie Splint?’

‘Here.’ Bree waved at Doctor Mannen, who was reading off a folder by his office doorway. ‘Let me know if he’s not behaving, doc.’

‘Will do.’ Doctor Mannen gave Bree a friendly wave. ‘This way, Charlie.’

‘Can I bring the cat with me, doc?’

‘Sure. I’ve got catnip in my desk drawer for him.’

‘Thanks, doc.’ Charlie then said to Sophie, ‘If you everneed anyone to babysit your cat, I’m your man. Come on, Mr Purrington, this way.’

‘Careful, Charlie may recruit me to kidnap that cat and sneak it back out to the station.’ Bree grinned as she pulled out her tablet and sat in one of the hallway’s visitor chairs and began reading.

Sophie stood there, unsure of what to do or say. But then a thought popped into her head: Dex listened to Bree, and maybe Bree had the power to stop Dex from fighting, which meant being nice to the redhead.

‘I can feel you watching me.’ Bree didn’t even look up from her tablet.

‘I—’

Bree put down her tablet and looked up at Sophie, full of disdain. ‘Is there something I can help you with?’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘For what?’ Bree narrowed her eyes at Sophie, as if seeing straight through Sophie’s false apology.

When Sophie should make amends, and Bree was smart enough to spot a con.

‘For, um…’ She paused, to brush down her nurse’s uniform with a need to come clean. ‘For being jealous over you and Dex.’

‘I honestly can’t see how you’d even entertain such a thought.’

Sophie shrugged. ‘My ex—the one before the gambler I left—was friends with my best friend. They got so close they ran away together. I have such lousy luck with men.’ The realisation only made her heart ache.

‘So the gambling guy was the rebound guy?’

‘Dex told you, huh?’

‘Dex was trying to work you out. And I get why you thought Dex and I…’ Bree paused to rub her forehead, while inhaling deeply. ‘Look, how do I say this delicately without adding fuel to this entire situation?’

Bree then calmly crossed her hands over her tablet resting in her lap. ‘I grew up on a cattle station, which is a male-dominated environment. Besides my grandmother, I was the only other female out there, so I’ve always been one of the guys. Yet every time I put on a dress to come into town,’ she said, flicking at her dress, ‘without fail, one of the stockmen would say they’d forgotten I was a girl until I put on a dress.’

‘I get it.’

‘Do you?’ Bree lowered her head, not challenging her in the least. ‘I have more mates who are males than I know females. Which is easy when the population ratio in this town is about twenty men to one female. Do you understand what I’m saying?’

‘Oh, I never realised that.’

---