She looked at Robbie, who gave her a confident nod before laying his fingers on the keys and playing the introduction.
Here goes nothing.
Emmett tipped his head back against the top of the couch as the television threw colours at him in the shape of a Twenty20 cricket match. He didn’t really like cricket, preferred watching the footy or basketball—even netball wasn’t too bad—but when the players smashed the ball into the crowd as if it were effortless, it held his attention.
Major cut across the living room from his post at the front window to jump up on the couch and rest his head on Emmett’s leg. Since Piper had moved in, Emmett had often found the animal waiting by the window for her to come home. There was something very warming about it, to know his best friend loved her just as much as he did.
Emmett scratched Major behind his ears. ‘She won’t be home till after ten, mate. She’s on a late shift.’
They’d been avoiding each other. Ever since that near kiss last week, it was like they’d run out of things to say to each other. Words just evaporated whenever they were in the same room, but that didn’t stop him from watching her every moment he got. Not in a creepy stalkerish way, he hoped. He was drawn to her, and wanted to make sure that she was okay. And damn, if she hadn’t been okay every time he’d caught sight of her. She was constantly wearing that smile and her laughter bubbled out more easily. She carried herself with a lightness that made it seem like she would break out into a dance. She may not be talking to him, but her voice still filled his house when she sang in the shower and hummed in his kitchen. He wanted so badly to tell her that he’d wanted to kiss her, but every time the words came to the tip of his tongue, he swallowed them back down with all the usual excuses. He wished Tobias was around for a drink and chat at the pub. Why’d he have to befriend the guy who took off at Christmas every year?
Emmett’s ringtone cut through the commentator’s excitement over another six by a young Queensland player and he muted the television before picking up his phone from the coffee table. Carter’s name flashed on the screen. Thoughts of kissing Piper fled his mind.
‘Hey, Carter,’ he said. ‘How’s it going?’
‘It’s not bad,’ Carter replied. ‘I was chatting with Piper this morning—’
Oh, damn. Would she tell Carter about the almost kiss? Or how he was a bastard afterwards?
‘—and she was the happiest she’s sounded in … well, to be honest, years. She said the hospital crew were great, she was making friends, living in your spare room with low rent, you’d made her join a choir and finally put the drama with Heath behind her.’
‘I didn’t make her join a choir.’
Carter laughed. ‘She told me all about the lists and the debacles of the gingerbread house decorating. But that’s the point, Emmett. Shetoldme. We haven’t spoken to each other for longer than ten minutes since she graduated uni. She’d always phone me back between shifts or on her way to things, and even when we were in person it was hard to get her to really open up. She was always so guarded. But this morning I had her full attention for over an hour, and she just sounded so genuinely happy. I never realised how much being with Heath and working in the city was like a black cloud hanging over her. If I’d known you keeping an eye out for her would make such a difference, I’d have bought her a Kombi and encouraged her to run away months ago.’
‘I’d like to take all the credit, but I really can’t,’ Emmett said, running a hand across his jaw. ‘It’s Rush Creek. This town has a magical hold on everyone who comes here. The people are amazing and the atmosphere is next level. She’s made some really good friends and I’m happy to have her here. Much safer than camping out in her Kombi in the free grounds that didn’t even have a proper toilet.’
‘I’ll say. You’ve been such a good mate, Emmett. I feel bad that we haven’t seen each other since your mum’s funeral. I know she meant a lot to you. I wish I’d been a better friend.’
Emmett sat forward. ‘Don’t do that. You checked in over the phone and reminded me that I wasn’t alone. That was what I needed until I could get my head on straight.’ He didn’t want to be reminded of their friendship right now. Not when he was still thinking of kissing his friend’s sister.
‘Fair enough. I guess I really just wanted to call and say thanks for everything you’re doing for Piper.’
‘You don’t have to thank me,’ he mumbled.Really, please don’t thank me.
Carter’s chuckle came down the line. ‘I’ll let you go. I’m just pulling up at the Westfield to find something for Indy for Christmas before I head back out to Euronga.’
‘Way to leave it to the last minute. Christmas is less than a week away.’
‘Took this long to think of the perfect gift.’
Emmett smiled and they said their goodbyes, but he couldn’t sit back on the couch. Christmas. He’d been so wrapped up in the gingerbread house saga that he hadn’t done anything about his promise to himself to give Piper the best Christmas ever. A fire burned in his belly as ideas popped into his head, a list of everything he would need to make it all happen writing itself. It was Thursday. He checked the clock. Nothing would be open in Rush Creek or in the neighbouring towns, but he had enough time to get into Townsville before the shops shut at nine. And a long drive to think of the ultimate present for Piper.
Chapter 11
‘Brooke Walsh, eight years old, came in because her cold is impacting on her asthma and she was wheezing. We’ve had her on oxygen overnight and Estella started her on a short course of steroids but would like to keep her until lunch to make sure she can maintain her oxygen levels,’ Maddie said as she and Piper led Greta and Audrey past the bed in the main ward, completing handover to the new nurses coming on shift to relieve them. Piper smiled at the little girl, who seemed happy enough watching cartoons on her mother’s phone. Her mother looked barely awake as she sipped her coffee in the recliner chair they brought in for parents. Not the best bed to sleep on by any means. They’d offered to sit with Brooke so Clare could go home and get some rest, but she had politely declined, not wanting to let her little girl out of her sight.
‘We also have Mr Bernie Merveler in for monitoring after he mistakenly took his wife’s heart medication instead of his blood pressure tablets in the early hours of the morning. So far there have been no negative side effects but Mrs Merveler has booked him in to get his eyes reviewed,’ Piper informed the nurses with a fond smile at the older man, who gave them a small wave before going back to his newspaper.
‘And finally Caleb Rifter, nineteen, who came in yesterday after a fall from his motorbike. Miraculously, he has no broken bones but there were concerns around a possible concussion. He has a small tear in the tendon in his left shoulder, which Estella has prescribed him some pain medication for but other than that, he is free to go home and rest.’ Maddie emphasised her last word, and Caleb gave a small chuckle.
‘I still have one good arm,’ he pointed out and Maddie shot him a withering glare that had Greta and Piper laughing. Caleb and Maddie were both long-term Rush Creek locals.
‘That’s it,’ Piper said when they made it back to the nurses’ station.
Greta nodded. ‘A busy night.’
‘Busier than usual,’ Maddie confirmed, winking at Piper, who had a different busy scale compared to the rest of them. They’d joked about the energy levels she’d been able to maintain, especially when Mr Nerveler had been wheeled in.