Sue MacKay - The Dangers of Dating Your Boss

‘Got two pairs?’ There was no point denying Jack’s good looks. That would only make people question her ability to see.

‘Guess you’ll need them more than me, since you’ll be working alongside him. Wonder what he’s like behind those looks?’

‘Imperturbable,’ she muttered. Gorgeous, funny, trustworthy, lovable Jack.

‘You already know him?’ Julie’s perfectly styled eyebrows rose as she continued to stare in the direction of the helicopter.

‘From the days when I was training to be a nurse.’ She’d spent seven months in Wellington, on her way from Nelson to somewhere else, which, on the death of her mother, had turned out to be Seattle. Her training had spread over four cities, and had to be the most erratic on record.

‘You weren’t an item? You know, had a doctors-and-nurses thing going on?’

They’d certainly had something going on, something very hot. Don’t forget the love. There’d been plenty of that too. But not enough to keep them together. What if she was incapable of loving someone enough to get through all the things that got tossed up along the way?

She shuddered, shoved that idea out of the way and said to Julie, ‘If I didn’t know how happily married you were, I’d be arranging a date for you with Jack.’ If he wasn’t already in a relationship with the stunning, lithe blonde Ruby had seen him with in a café four weeks ago. Blondie had been as close to Jack as sticking plaster, and he hadn’t been objecting. Ruby tripped on an uneven piece of concrete. Her knee jagged. She sucked air through her teeth and swore to be more careful.

Julie chuckled. ‘Looking’s fine. It’s the touching that gets people into trouble.’

Ruby winced. Didn’t she know it? Touching Jack had always led to a lot of up-close involvement, a conflagration, so there’d be absolutely no touching this time round. Huge problems lurked there that she wasn’t ready to face. Jack was her past, no matter how much she suddenly wished otherwise. She’d hurt him once, she wouldn’t do that to him again. Or to herself. She headed the subject to safer ground. ‘How come you’re here on a Sunday?’

Julie told her, ‘I’m taking tomorrow morning off so I can go on a school trip with my girls. There’s a pile of reports that need filing with the health department before Wednesday so here I am.’

‘I’d better get these bags sorted.’ Ruby reached the storeroom, exhaling the breath she’d been holding while studying Jack. The sight of him made her giddy, while being near him, being held in that embrace, had made her feel somehow complete. As only Jack had ever made her feel. Damn him. If she’d stayed in Wellington way back then she’d have saved herself a lot of anguish with her father. And she’d still be in a relationship with Jack.

Or would she? They’d both had a lot of personal issues to sort out that might’ve strained their relationship to the point it couldn’t survive. Could be they’d both needed to grow up. Ruby blinked. Definitely true of her. Not so sure about Jack. Did he still resent his father for leaning too hard on him for support? How strange that set-up had been. Parents were supposed to look out for their kids, not the other way round. But of course Jack had never gone into any detail about his family so she only had half the story.

Grabbing at airway tubes, she quickly topped up the bags, while musing on the past. Staying put in one place had been an alien concept for her. That she’d even considered stopping here three years ago spoke volumes about her feelings for Jack. But in the end the forces that had driven her relentlessly onward all her life had won out. Not even for the love of her life, Jack, could she have given up something that had eaten at her as far back as she could recall.

Julie stood in the doorway. ‘You planning on smashing those vials or what?’

Ruby looked at the replacement drugs she’d just rammed into their slots. ‘Guess not.’

‘Mr Gorgeous has got to you already, hasn’t he?’

Unfortunately, yes. ‘I’ll get over it. You wanted me for something?’

‘Can you translate Jason’s writing for me?’ Julie held a report form out to her. ‘Sometimes I wonder if medical staff do a 101 course in Scribble.’

‘Doctors say it’s because they’re always frantically busy.’ At least that was what Jack used to tell her.

Jack. Jack. Jack. Suddenly everything came back to him. Already there was no avoiding him. It was so unfair. She’d come here first, this was her job, her sanctuary. There were plenty of places out there for an emergency specialist to work. Why pick this one, Jack? Despair crunched inside her. It was hard enough getting her life on track and keeping it there, without the added difficulty of having to spend twelve hours a day with a man who knew the old Ruby. And who was going to struggle to believe the new version she’d made herself into—if he’d even take the time to get to know her again. And suddenly she really, really wanted him to.

Julie laughed. ‘That’s a cop-out. But, then, most people blame texting for their appalling spelling too. Lazy, I reckon.’ She turned for her office. ‘I’ve put the kettle on.’

‘Ta. I’ll tell the guys.’ Ruby cringed. A cop-out. Her father had come up with a million reasons for never coming to New Zealand to meet her, all of them cop-outs. If only she’d believed her mother, whom she’d badgered incessantly all her life for more information about the airman she’d imagined to be a hero. But her mother had only ever said Ruby was better off not knowing him.

As a child Ruby had waited for him to turn up bearing gifts and hugs. He would tell her he was home for good and that they’d have a happy life doing all the things her mother couldn’t afford to do. Not until she’d packed up her mother’s home after her death did Ruby learn her dad was American and had been in the US Air Force. Her parents had met when her father’s plane had stopped in Christchurch for a few days on the way to Antarctica.

Finally it hadn’t been too difficult to finally track down the man who’d spawned her. Reality had been harsh. The hero of her childhood had turned out to be a total nightmare. Her humiliation at her father’s lifestyle equalled her embarrassment at how badly she’d treated her mother over the years. Then had come the acute disappointment at the realisation she’d given up Jack for that man.

The Greaser—she no longer called him her father—was a good-looking man who’d used his abundant charm to marry into a fortune and produce offspring to keep everyone onside, especially his wealthy father-in-law, while he philandered his way through half his town’s women.

Outside, Ruby heaved one of the replenished packs up into the helicopter. ‘Kettle’s boiled.’ At last she’d get to eat that sorry-looking pie. Her stomach rolled over in happy anticipation.

Jack took the pack and strapped it into place. ‘We’re about done in here.’

She bent down for the other bag, grimacing as she lifted the heavy weight up.

‘Here, give me that.’ Jack reached down and took the load from her, his fingers brushing hers.

Instant heat sizzled up her arms. Clenching her hands at her sides, she spoke too loudly. ‘Thanks. It goes—’

‘Over there by the stretcher,’ Jack finished with a growl, his eyebrows nearly meeting in the middle of his forehead. His gaze appeared stuck on a spot behind her head while shock flicked through his eyes. So he’d felt the same sparks too. The sparks that made everything so much more difficult.

‘Glad you’ve got it sussed.’ It was important. If any equipment got put away in the wrong place, it could delay things in an emergency.

‘It’s not rocket science.’ A glint in his eye warned her he wasn’t happy with her telling him anything about the helicopter.

‘You didn’t used to be so touchy.’ But he had touched her often.

Jack dropped down beside her, and unsure of him, she tensed, waiting for him to bawl her out, ready to meet him head on. Instead he stole the breath from her by saying, ‘So, a paramedic, eh? Did you ever finish your nursing certificate?’

‘Advanced paramedic, actually.’

‘Sorry, advanced paramedic.’ His eyebrows rose. ‘That’s fantastic. I’m glad you qualified. You certainly have the smarts.’

She straightened a little at his compliment. ‘Yes, I did finish the year on the wards required to finalise my nurse’s practising certificate.’ She’d worked extremely hard to get all her qualifications. Not being satisfied with a pass, she’d aimed for the highest grades possible. That had been the first good turning point in her life. Jack could raise his eyebrows all he liked but he wouldn’t dent her pride in her accomplishments. ‘I trained on the ambulances in San Francisco. Then during the last four months there I took a rotation on the rescue helicopters, which stood me in good stead for this job.’ She’d found her niche. Nothing, nobody would make her give it up. Not a bung knee. Definitely not Jack.

‘San Francisco, eh?’ His tone was acid and he stared straight ahead as they walked towards the hangar and the staffrooms.

Beside him she grinned, refusing to be intimidated by his attitude. He might think he still knew her but, boy, oh, boy, he didn’t have a clue. She’d returned to Wellington, this time permanently. This was the first city in a long line of cities that she’d come back to. Might as well get some of the details out of the way, let him have his ‘I told you so’ moment. ‘I started in Seattle, then went to Vancouver. I really loved Canada but couldn’t get a job without a work permit. Back in the States I headed down to Kansas, LA, San Diego and finally San Francisco.’ She wasn’t going to enlighten him about her reasons for all that tripping around. Not yet anyway. Not unless they got past being mates. Which, right now, looked doubtful. Unfortunately .

‘When did you find time to fit in your training?’ Strong acid.

‘I lived in San Fran for two years, ample time to qualify. My nursing training put me ahead on the course when I started on the ambulance.’ And she’d focused entirely on her job, no sexy distractions anywhere in sight.

‘Two years in one spot?’ The acid sweetened up a little. ‘Did you ever come back here for a visit?’

‘No. Too busy.’ And, because they’d agreed their break-up was final, there’d been nothing, no one, to come back for.

‘Where are you living now?’

‘I bought a villa on Mount Victoria.’ Glancing sideways, she saw his eyebrows lift, his lips tighten, and she braced herself.

His words dripped sarcasm. ‘Don’t tell me you’re settling down? Not you. Come on, I bet you’ve still got that backpack in the corner of your wardrobe, waiting for the day you’ve had enough of Wellington.’

‘Long gone, fallen apart from overuse.’ Not a great testament to her reliability. But, ‘I’m renovating the house. It’s so out of date and colder than an iceberg now that winter’s here. The electricity and plumbing need completely redoing, not to mention the antiquated kitchen and a bathroom requiring a total refit.’ All of which were already guzzling up cash like a thirsty dog.

‘You haven’t exactly answered my question. How long do you think you’ll be around this time?’ His mouth was still tight, but his eyebrows were back in place. ‘You never showed any interest in owning a house. Too much of a tie, you reckoned, if I recall correctly.’

Which, of course, he did. But that had been aeons ago. And deep down she had wanted a home but fear of not being able to make a success of it had driven her to deny the need. What had she ever known about setting up a permanent home? Continuing to ignore his underlying disbelief, she said, ‘The villa’s eighty-nine years old, and showing its age. But I love it. There’s so much potential.’