The Vet from Snowy River by Stella Quinn

CHAPTER

24

Josh saw Vera’s face, looking as beat down as he felt, before she backed away through the crowd. He went after her, and caught the tail of her jacket by the clocktower in the centre of the park.

‘Vera.’

She turned, and he froze when he saw the tear tracks down her cheeks.

‘Honey. Are you okay?’

With a squirming pup in her hands, she made an unsuccessful effort to wipe her face. ‘Oh, Josh. I’m not the one whose home was just on fire. Don’t worry about me.’

He moved in front of her and took the yellow dog, tucking him into the large pocket of his jacket with his brown brother. ‘It’s bad at the front, in the clinic, but the back stairs and the apartments aren’t even wet. It’s awful, but the fire brigade were able to put it out and it’s not a tragedy. Are those …’

He almost didn’t want to say it. The messages Vera had been throwing in his direction had been kind of confusing, and she was beginning to mean too much to him for him to get this wrong. ‘Are those tears for me?’

She pulled up the apron she was still wearing and wiped her face with it. ‘I’m not sure,’ she mumbled. ‘I just cry these days, and often I don’t even know why.’

He reached for her and felt no resistance as he brought her up against him. She smelled like plum crumble and tomato relish and about a dozen other delectable things, and he rested his hand on her neck and just held her for a moment. ‘I’d be okay with it if they were,’ he said.

A pup let out an annoyed don’t-squash-me yip and she pulled away from him. ‘I’m sorry. I always seem to be saying that, don’t I? Seeing you and Hannah there, together, surrounded by just about everyone in Hanrahan, and everyone was hugging each other … it made me a bit teary, that’s all.’

‘Don’t you have family, Vera?’

She gave a half nod. ‘My aunt.’

‘No-one else?’

‘No.’

He ran his hand down her arm. ‘Lucky you moved to Hanrahan then. We take care of people here. Even when they’re not sure they want to be taken care of.’

Her eyes widened. ‘Is that what I am to you? A stray who needs to be taken care of?’

Woah. Where had that come from? He hooked a finger into the apron strap that rose from her breast to her neck and tugged on it until she was a breath away. ‘Not at all. You are a thorn in my side, Vera. A dream I can’t wake from, a feeling I can’t shake. Have you not figured that out yet?’

He could feel the shiver riding her skin, and he let his finger rest on the collarbone visible above her blouse. His home and business were just on fire, he had nowhere to sleep, his dog was about to be taken from him, and yet all he seemed to want at this exact moment was her.

A sigh escaped her. ‘I wish I could be the dream you want me to be, Josh. I really do.’

She was pulling back, and her eyes had grown bleak.

‘Problem is, you get too close to me and you’re going to work out I’m more of a nightmare. I’ve wrecked enough, Josh. Don’t let me wreck you, too.’

‘You don’t think you’re sounding a little melodramatic?’ he said, as gently as he could.

‘No,’ she said baldly. ‘Look, there are crates in the back of the café if you need something to keep the pups in. Help yourself. I have to go.’

She stepped into Paterson Street and disappeared into the shadows up Curlew, and he let her go. Whatever was going on in Vera’s life, she wasn’t ready to share it. Yet. Luckily he had plenty of practice with being patient.

The crowds had dispersed by the time he’d found a suitable crate, tucked the rescued pets into the tray of his ute, seen Hannah off to her friend Kylie’s for the night, organised a room for himself at the Hanrahan Pub, and had a last brief from Lorraine, the acting chief of the local Rural Fire Brigade.

Graeme jangled his car keys beside him, his offer of a nearby shed where the animals could be housed for a few days too welcome to refuse. ‘You want to follow me over in your truck? Alex will be here for a while yet making sure nothing’s simmering away on the ground floor. You and I can get the menagerie sorted.’

‘Thanks, man,’ he said. ‘You sure you and Alex don’t mind playing surrogate dads for the night?’

‘Of course not. I have no idea what to feed them, but I can pour water into a bowl like a boss.’

‘They’ll be fine for tonight. I’ll collect them tomorrow and deliver them back to their owners. Gracie at the pub is letting me keep Jane Doe and her pups with me. If Alex isn’t cool with minding them overnight, you let me know.’

‘Mate, relax, it’ll be fine.’

Relax. As though that would be possible. His thoughts hadn’t been this churned up since he’d cracked his piggy bank to buy two one-way tickets on the bus out of Hanrahan for him and his pregnant schoolteacher girlfriend.

That building that currently had smoke pouring out of it represented everything he’d strived for in the years since. And the woman who’d just walked away from him in his hour of need? What did she represent, exactly?

He was damned if he knew. Or why he cared so much.