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‘That’s a long time to camp without a proper toilet or shower.’

She pinned him with her stare, her jaw more pronounced. ‘I can shower at the hospital and I’m no stranger to a camp toilet.’

‘I have a spare room at my place. You can have it and the main bathroom for as long as you need.’

‘Thanks, but I’ll pass. Connie has everything I need.’ Her tone was defiant, just how it used to be when they were kids and Carter was trying to explain why she couldn’t tag along with them.

‘You can’t stay here in a van. Packing and setting up every day. What are you going to do when you’re on an evening shift? Set up in the dark?’

‘I’ve managed so far and I’ll continue to manage for as long as I need to.’

‘What about in the rain? Or the thunder and lightning? I’m telling you, storms this far north spring up out of nowhere and hit with a force that’s brutal enough to roll you over faster than you can blink, or wash you and your Kombi clean down the creek, leaving no trace. And we’re in cyclone season. We may not be on the coast, but they hit us just the same. You can’t stay out here. It’s unsafe.’

Her eyes flared with anger. ‘What makes you think you have the right to tell me what I can and can’t do? I didn’t drive two thousand kilometres, alone, just to be bossed around by a man I haven’t seen in ten years.’

His eyes narrowed and he folded his arms across his chest. ‘Whydidyou move so far away?’

‘None of your business.’ She copied his posture, crossing her arms, and Emmett couldn’t help but notice the way it shifted her breasts up in her low-cut singlet. His irritation mounted. He shouldn’t be noticing those things about her.

‘Be realistic, Piper. You can’t camp forever.’

‘Says who? I’m not some ten-year-old kid you can just boss around, Emmett. You haven’t changed at all.’

Frustration ate at the restraint keeping his impulse to throw her over his shoulder and carry her to his house in check. He knew how stubborn she could be and the tiny part of his brain that wasn’t angry recognised her point. She wasn’t a kid anymore.

He swiped her phone from the camping table and put his number in it before hitting save. ‘I’m not happy about this. You keep that door locked at night and if you have any trouble at all, big or small, day or night, you call me, and I’ll be here.’

‘Like I’d call your grumpy arse.’

‘Don’t call me and you’ll see how much grumpier I can get.’

She pressed her mouth shut and inclined her head as if he’d issued a challenge she was rising to.

He cursed silently and put her phone back on the table. ‘I’ll see you later. Come on, Major.’

The German Shepherd was at his side immediately and they stalked away from Piper’s campsite.

‘Bye, grumpy arse.’

He rolled his eyes and refused to look back. She always had to get the last word in. That hadn’t changed.

Emmett opened the passenger door, letting Major curl up in the footwell, his favourite place, and headed around to the driver’s seat. Before sticking the key in the ignition, he pulled out his phone and scrolled through the list. Thankfully, Carter had protected his phone number and still had the same one since he left Euronga.

He pressedcalland waited.

‘Emmett? Mate, it’s been ages! How’s it going?’

Emmett grinned at his oldest friend’s voice. ‘Life was a hell of a lot quieter before today.’

‘What’s happened today?’

‘Went to drop a patient off at the hospital and who should be the new nurse on shift?’

Silence came through the line, raising Emmett’s suspicion.

‘Piper. It was Piper.’

‘Piper’s in Rush Creek?’