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‘Only if you don’t know what devils they can be when they’re awake,’ Emma told him, although seeing her children sleep always tugged at her heart.
‘I suppose,’ he murmured.
The whispered words seemed to linger in the air, although they had been spoken as Marty left the room. His tone had been tinged with something she couldn’t identify—sadness?
Regret?
She knew from his footsteps he’d walked out onto the veranda and much as she’d have loved to have a shower—or at least check for mud—before she faced him, she knew she had to follow.
Had he a reason for being here?
Was it to do with her?
‘You look as if you had a good time,’ her father said, running his eyes over her farm-stained clothes.
‘The boys just loved it.’
She looked from her father to Marty, who, she rather thought, was also taking in her appearance.
‘Did you want to see me?’
Silly question—what if he said, no, he’d just called in to see her dad.
Although her father had already drifted off, no doubt back to the garden that was becoming a passion with him.
‘I did,’ Marty said, and, no, her heart didn’t skip a beat! ‘I know it’s a bit short notice, but the Mid-Coast chopper has offered to cover our area tomorrow and I’d like to do a winch refresher session. I know you’re up to date with your winch protocols but our aircraft is new to you and it’s possibly a different winch to one you’ve used before. We’ll all be involved and if we can get through it in the one day—maybe even the morning—we’re right for six months.’
He paused, as if waiting for some response, but Emma was too busy hiding the dread she always felt about winch work to answer him. Why it still happened when she was extremely proficient at it she had no idea.
‘All the crew do six-monthly refresher training,’ Marty continued, ‘but we’ve got out of sync, so if we can all do it together, it’ll save having special days for one or two crew members.’
He obviously needed an answer, so Emma managed a nod, then, realising that might be a little wishy washy, went for a word.
‘Super!’ she said, though it was far from how she felt and was not a word she could recall using before that moment. ‘What time and where?’
‘Seven, at the base. Best to get started before the wind gets up. We’ll just do a lift and lower for each of us and if we’ve time a quick carry, just clip on and lift then down and unclip.’
He grinned and added, ‘Pilots included.’
As if that made it better! Those men threw themselves around in the sky as if it was their playground. Dangling on a rope—well, a wire—thirty, forty, fifty feet above the earth wouldn’t bother them at all.
‘I’ll be there,’ she said, then thought of something.
‘Can I go first?’
She didn’t add, because it would be stillest, instead using the boys as an excuse.
‘That way I can get back and spend most of the day with the boys.’
‘You could bring them,’ the ever-helpful Marty said. ‘They might like a flight.’
‘No way!’ Emma told him, aware of the blood draining from her face at the thought of the boys in a helicopter. Helicopters crashed…
* * *
With a promise he’d see her at seven, Marty departed, but not before wondering just how nervous Emma was about her children.
She’d certainly seemed shocked at the thought of him taking them for a ride, though he knew small boys usually loved being airborne.
Did she worry herself when she flew?
Dislike flying?
If so she’d hidden it remarkably well on the trips they’d already taken together.
Although winch training was always a test of a person’s mettle. For someone who didn’t like heights or flying, it would be a nightmare.
She wasn’t due for a refresher—he’d checked her CV and knew she had a couple of months to go—but life was so much easier if they could all do the refresher in one day and with the offer of cover from the Mid-Coast team, it seemed too good to pass up.
But he’d keep an eye on her…
The unspoken words elicited a groan from deep inside his body. Metaphorically or not, he needed to see less of Emma, not more, and keeping an eye out for her?
Definitely seeing more!
It was because he was between girlfriends that he was attracted to her. It had to be that. Nothing to do with the way her eyes would twinkle at him when she laughed, or the pinkness that came into her cheeks when she was embarrassed, or the earnest way she always thanked him when he did the smallest thing for her…
This feeling of attraction was very different somehow.
