‘Sports podiatry is a passion of mine. I’ve been working in a fantastic unit within a large teaching hospital, where we offer a full spectrum of services for the athlete—including physical therapy and surgery, with an emphasis on biomechanics. My focus outside of essential surgical intervention was primarily on orthotic treatment directed to correct structural deficiency and muscular imbalance. But in general my goal is to return any patient, regardless of their profession, to their maximum level of function and allow them to re-engage in an active life.’
Heath agreed with all she was saying, but added, ‘I understand—I just hope you don’t begin to feel that this practice is not what you signed up for.’
‘No, I love what I do—and feet are feet, no matter what the owners of them do.’
Heath found her answer amusing, but he didn’t smile. He rarely did, and those moments were saved for his son. And there was still that unanswered question …
‘So tell me, Phoebe, if you love the hospital back in your hometown, you enjoy your work and your colleagues, why did you want to leave?’
Phoebe nervously took a sip of the icy drink. It was rich and flavoursome, just as good as he had promised … and she was stalling. ‘I needed a break from Washington,’ she finally responded.
‘A Caribbean cruise or skiing in Aspen would have been easier than relocating to the other side of the world. And if you were looking for alternative employers I’m sure there must be loads of options for someone of your calibre in the US. It’s a big country.’
‘I wanted more than a quick vacation or a new employer. It was time for a sea change.’
‘Like I said, there are a lot of places that would fit that bill on your own continent—and I’m sure with a lot less red tape than it must have taken for you to work Down Under.’
‘I suppose,’ she said nonchalantly, trying to deflect his interest in her reasons for being there, which did not seem to be abating easily with anything she said.
It wasn’t the Spanish Inquisition, but it felt close. Phoebe did not want to go into the details of her failed engagement to Giles. Nor her desperate need to escape from him and her mother to a place neither would find her. And there was no way he would ever hear from her the tale of the bridesmaids from hell bedding the groom. It was all too humiliating. And still too raw.
Heath was her temporary boss and he would be leaving once his father’s knee had healed. The less he knew the better. In fact the less everyone in the city knew about her the better.
‘Your father’s interest in harnessing the power of biomechanics and advanced medical technology to challenge convention and his ensuing breakthrough results were huge draw cards for me to come and work with him. And I wanted to know more about his collaborative approach to co-morbidities. Your father wrote a great paper on the subject of the co-operative approach to treating systemic problems.’
Heath sensed there was more, but he took her cue to leave the subject alone. He appreciated she had a right to her privacy on certain matters. Just as he did to his own. And there was no need for him to know too much, he reminded himself, as they would be working together for a relatively short time and then he would be leaving. Theirs would be a brief working relationship. Nothing more.
But, stepping momentarily away from being her very temporary boss, he had to admit Phoebe was undeniably beautiful.
Phoebe shifted awkwardly in her seat, not sure if Heath had accepted her response and they could move on. Unaware that her glass was empty, she casually took another sip through her straw. Suddenly the loudest slurp she had ever heard rang out. To Phoebe’s horror, apparently it was the loudest the people at an adjacent table had ever heard too, as they shot her a curious stare.
The sound echoed around the café. Phoebe’s eyes rolled with embarrassment. Only half an hour before she had passed out in his arms, revealed far too much of her legs, and now her manners were more befitting a preschooler. She wanted to find an inconspicuous hole and slink inside. Heath had such a serious demeanour she could only imagine what he was thinking. It was, without doubt, the worst first day on the job of anyone—ever.
‘I told you they make the best iced coffee. There’s never enough in my glass either,’ Heath said, his mouth almost forming a smile.
It was the first time, in the hour or so since they’d met, that she had seen him show anything even vaguely like a smile. And it was the most gorgeous almost-smile she had ever seen. Her heart unexpectedly skipped a beat.
Giles would have been mortified, she thought. He would have shot her a glare that told her she had embarrassed him. His body language would have reminded her that it was unladylike without saying a word. She would have felt his displeasure while those around would have had no idea. But Heath didn’t appear to react that way, and it surprised her. Apparently in his eyes it was not cringeworthy behaviour—or if he thought it was he certainly masked it well.
She felt her embarrassment slowly dissipate. Maybe it wasn’t the worst day ever after all. And that was confirmed when he continued the conversation as if nothing had happened.
‘So, how do you see this working arrangement? Are you happy to split your time with taking half of my father’s post-operative patients and the remainder to be new patients, along with a surgical roster?’
‘That sounds great to me. I’m fairly flexible—not a hard and fast rules kind of woman—so we can just see how it all works out, and if we need to move around within those parameters we can discuss it as it unfolds.’
Heath didn’t feel the same way at all. ‘You’ll learn quickly that I’m a rules kind of a man. I live by a number of them, and if I set something up then I like to stick by it. So I’d rather we made up our minds and set up now the way it will play out.’
‘I guess …’ Phoebe replied, a little taken aback by his rigid stance on their working arrangements. She had heard that Australian people were laid-back. Heath didn’t fit that bill at all. ‘But in my opinion most situations have both a teething period and a grey area. There’s generally room to manoeuvre and move around with some degree of compromise if you’re willing to look for it.’
‘Not with me. Once I’ve made a decision, it’s rare that I’ll shift my viewpoint. In fact it would take something extraordinary to make me change my mind.’
While she appreciated Heath’s honesty upfront, she thought she would pity whoever lived with him if they got the bathroom roster wrong. ‘Well, then, since it’s only for a month let’s go with your way. You undoubtedly know the practice and the patient load better than I do, so I’m happy to carve it in stone right now if that’s how it’s done around here.’
Heath appreciated her wit, but made no retort.
An hour later they were still at the café. Once they had agreed to their working arrangements Heath had dropped all other lines of questioning and given Phoebe the low-down on the city she would call home for a few months.
Despite the ease with which they spoke, Heath had still not had his questions answered about Phoebe’s motives for relocating. But he did know she was a lot more adaptable than he was. It made him curious, although he didn’t verbalise it.
With her academic record the surgical world was quite literally her oyster. There would be few, if any, practices or teaching facilities that would not welcome her into their fold with open arms. There was no ring on her finger, but he would not be arrogant enough to assume that there was no man in her life. If there was then he too must be as adaptable as Phoebe, and willing to compromise and let her travel to the other side of the world for work. He was not that type of man.
‘Adelaide is very quiet, I assume?’ she asked as she relaxed back into her chair and admired the artwork on the café walls.
‘Yes—a little too relaxed in pace for me. It’s very different from Sydney, which I prefer. I grew up here, but moved to Sydney about ten years ago when I finished my