Tilting his head slightly to one side, he said, ‘I hope you haven’t regretted that. You were so determined I thought nothing else would do.’ Was there a hint of annoyance in that? Surely, he wasn’t thinking she could’ve moved to Kamloops to be with him instead?
‘Not once. Because it was easier on Mum being where she could reach me at all times, I continued working in the emergency room until Dad died three years ago.’ After her dad had gone her restlessness had become impossible to live with and that’s when she’d gone in search of adventure.
‘I heard about your dad. I’m sorry.’
‘He lasted longer than expected.’ Dementia was so tough. ‘It wasn’t nice towards the end.’ A familiar sadness rubbed at her. She hated that it had been a relief when her father had left them, but he’d have detested what his life had been reduced to if he’d been aware.
‘Dave told me. I would’ve come to the funeral but thought it might be inappropriate.’ Hunter watched her too closely.
She nodded once. It would’ve been. ‘How is Dave?’
‘Married with two kids, living in Kitsilano. Happy as a pig in mud.’
Was everyone from her past moving to Kitsilano? ‘Lucky guy.’ She’d always got on well with Dave but after Hunter had left town, she’d deliberately stayed clear of his best friend. Seemed easier than being reminded about him all the time. ‘Two anklebiters, eh? Who’d have thought?’ Dave being the focused, suit type at one of the country’s leading banks didn’t seem the man to change dirty diapers or calm a crying toddler to sleep. Guess some people shifted focus when needed.
One day she’d like to have children. If she ever again went out with a man long enough to establish a loving relationship. Which wasn’t exactly her life plan at the moment. Possibly never would be. Two failed relationships had kind of opened her eyes and brought caution to the fore.
‘His wife would agree with you. She pinches herself every morning.’
Did Hunter want a family? He used to say he did. But then he used to look happy. Her skin tightened. He’d said we, remember? He might already have a brood. It was none of her business. She had to remember this was Hunter, a man she’d once loved, and now didn’t. Though there was no denying how often she’d wondered if he still lived in the Okanagan, and if he’d continued training as a paramedic or had returned to his original career as a nurse. She’d be patient and who knew what she’d learn over the coming days?
As long as she remembered the past had to remain where it belonged, she’d be safe from the little vibe of heat trickling through her right now. Dropping the talk of family, Brenna answered his earlier query. ‘I like the challenges of rescue work. Landing in a field one day, dropping into the bush on a wire cable on another, bringing in a mum and her baby from an outlying sound in a storm.’
‘Seems like you’ve become an adrenalin junkie.’
‘It’s a way of using up excess energy.’ The one thing she was never short of.
‘Brenna, we’re on,’ Andy called from beyond the door. ‘There’s been a car versus bull out near Richmond.’
Relieved, Brenna placed the coffee jar back on the shelf and brushed past Hunter, aiming for the door, trying not to suck up a noseful of his scent. But he still used that spicy aftershave, the one she’d introduced him to as a birthday present during their first year together. Thank goodness she no longer sprayed the fragrance she’d worn back then over her skin every morning. That would be too much.
‘Let’s go,’ she snapped. Her head was pounding, and she needed to be busy.
Hunter followed, grabbing the pack she indicated with a tip of her head. She was running hot and cold with him. This was unknown territory. How did a person act towards the man she’d loved with everything she had after he’d walked away so long ago?
‘You want me in the back?’ Hunter asked as they approached the chopper.
‘Take your pick.’ She leapt aboard and stowed her bag before sinking onto a seat, clipping safety belts in place and donning a helmet. ‘Hey, Andy, how was your weekend?’
‘You missed a great party, Brenna. Like seriously great.’
‘Them’s the breaks. Anyway, we had quite the shindig at Whistler after the last race. Lots of ice cream and hot chocolate.’
Hunter joined her, pulled on his helmet, looking confident and relaxed, apparently not afraid to face the monkey in the small space. ‘You’re into ski racing now?’
‘Not quite. Photographing the participants is my thing. Which often means going as fast as the racers. I’m the doctor for a local school team and end up with more photos than broken bones at competitions.’ When Hunter’s eyes widened Brenna shrugged helplessly. This situation was spooking her. Made that morning’s traffic woes a doddle. Hunter was sitting beside her. Unreal. A deep breath and she spoke into the headset mouthpiece. ‘Andy, have you met Hunter? He’s covering for Patch.’
‘Welcome aboard, Hunter.’ The rotors were spinning, and the engine noise was increasing rapidly. ‘We’ll talk later.’
Brenna creased her brows together, clasped her hands in a tight fist on her lap and spilled the question that was itching like a hornet sting, ‘Why Vancouver?’ Why Kitsilano when there were lots of suburbs to choose from? ‘You get run out of Kamloops?’
He grimaced. ‘Not quite.’ Then his gaze met hers. ‘I’ve got through the last years by keeping the idea of returning here at the front of my mind.’
That bad, huh? Her heart melted a little for him. Then it froze up again. Had he not once thought how this might upset her? Obviously not. Then again, ask her an hour ago how she’d have felt about Hunter returning to her city and she’d have shrugged and asked, ‘What’s the problem?’
They’d first met in Vancouver General’s ED while working with a badly haemorrhaging patient. She’d been in her last year as an intern, gearing up to specialise in emergency medicine, and he had been tossing up where to go next. Hitting it off instantly, with sparks flying and the temperature rising, Hunter had asked her out for a drink at the bar next door where hospital staff flocked every day, and they had become inseparable overnight. Literally.
It had been wonderful. Until the day he’d received the call from his mother and had had to get home fast. End of relationship. End of story. Except now he was back on her turf, looking amazing. So strong, yet wary, sexy yet—Sexy. Her teeth ground together. ‘Sounds like you have unfinished business here,’ she muttered around the sudden yearning clogging her throat. That wouldn’t be her.
‘It’s more about being somewhere I’m comfortable. Some place I can make things work for both of us.’
Brenna’s face tightened at the reminder he wasn’t alone. The yearning slowly abated, and she began to focus on what she was here for. Pressing the button on her mic, she asked in a monotone, ‘What are the details, Andy? I didn’t get the brief.’ Too busy trying to ignore the fact she had to work with Hunter.
‘Three male teens in the car, going to the skating rink for hockey training. Rounded a corner and smacked into a bull that’d escaped from the field. The beast took out the right front of the car. An ambulance is there, along with the fire crew, who are cutting the vehicle apart so you can retrieve the lads.’
‘Messy,’ Hunter commented, sitting a little straighter, immediately focused on what lay ahead. ‘There’ll likely be blunt force trauma injuries for the two in the front seats. Are we the only air base responders?’
Andy answered, ‘The second crew’s warming up. They won’t be far behind us.’
‘You’d better be landing on the road,’ Brenna muttered. ‘There might be more bulls wandering around in the field.’ She wasn’t a big fan of cattle, or any livestock. A city girl through and through, she preferred sheep on a plate as chops, and her beef definitely as steak, medium rare.
‘I’ll see what I can find.’ Andy laughed.
Looking at Hunter, she gri
maced. ‘You’ll be in your element.’ Having grown up in the country, he’d have no fear of animals with hard heads.
‘I learned to be cautious around cattle after my quad-bike accident.’
‘Here we go,’ Andy told them. ‘Looks like the beast’s been put out of its misery.’
Glancing down, Brenna noted the large animal on its side at the edge of the road, none of the emergency personnel taking any notice of it. Relief sneaked under her skin. Total focus was what mattered, and not on a bull. Nor on the temporary paramedic.
At the car wreck Brenna appraised the situation and listened to the ambulance officer’s observations. The teens looked too young to be driving but according to a fireman two of the boys were seventeen.
‘We’ll see to the front passenger,’ Brenna told Hunter. He’d taken the brunt of the impact. ‘Carl and Nick will see to the driver when they arrive. The ambulance crew will continue with him until they get here, then take care of the boy in the back. His injuries aren’t so serious and a road transfer’s possible.’
Hunter squatted down beside the lad she’d indicated as their patient. ‘Hello, there. I’m Hunter and this is Brenna.’ Hunter’s and her names in one sentence. She shivered. ‘We’re here to look after you. What’s your name?’
‘Johnny.’
‘How old are you, Johnny?’ Brenna asked. How alert was the lad?