Mending The Single Dad's Heart. Susanne Hampton

there.’

      ‘Do you honestly think they will?’ she asked, confident that in her home town of Sydney there would be somewhere between a fat chance and absolutely none that they would actually remain open for her. Their care factor about her having to find accommodation for a night would be around about the same—zero.

      ‘Do you have the business name?’

      ‘There’s more than one in town?’

      Garry smirked and shook his head. ‘Armidale is actually a rural city and we have hot running water, traffic lights...and more than one real estate agent.’

      Jessica felt quite silly. ‘I’m sorry.’

      ‘No need to apologise. You’re obviously a big city girl. Is this your first visit here?’

      Jessica nodded sheepishly as she scrolled through her emails on her mobile phone until she found the realtor’s name. ‘Dunstan Boyd is the property manager—’ she paused as she squinted to read the fine print in the signature block on the email ‘—at...’

      ‘Boyd and Associates Real Estate,’ Garry finished her sentence.

      Jessica dropped her chin a little and stared up at him curiously. ‘You know them?’

      ‘Yes,’ he told her. ‘My sister-in-law works there. Not that I thought you’d have any trouble anyway, and we do have some nice motels in town if there was a problem, but I can almost guarantee she, or one of her colleagues, will stay back and you won’t be homeless.’

      Jessica drew breath and then emptied her lungs just as quickly with relief at Garry’s announcement. While she had nothing to wear and she would have to wash her underwear in the basin and dry it over the bath, she would at least have somewhere to do that.

      ‘Now, if you can give me your contact details, someone from the airport will call you tomorrow and arrange to have your bags sent to you when they arrive.’ He pulled a pen and paper from the pocket of his bomber jacket.

      Jessica took the pen and paper and scribbled down her mobile telephone number, which he then tucked back in his jacket pocket as they walked outside to the cab rank.

      ‘It might be best sending them to the Armidale Regional Memorial Hospital,’ she told him as she tugged her jacket up around her neck. The air was even colder than when she’d alighted from the plane. ‘I’ll be there so they’ll be no one at home to collect them, that’s assuming you’re right and I have a home.’

      ‘You’ll have a home, Jessica. Don’t worry.’

      There was an empty cab already there and no one else waiting. Garry opened the rear door of the cab for Jessica and she quickly climbed in the back as he leant in the open front window and spoke to the driver.

      ‘Can you please take this young lady to Boyd and Associates Real Estate, Twenty-nine Marsh Street.’

      ‘Sure.’

      Flooded with a relief she’d thought impossible ten minutes previously, Jessica put the window down. ‘Thank you so much,’ she said as the cab pulled away from the kerb.

      ‘You’re very welcome.’

      * * *

      Garry was right; his sister-in-law’s colleague didn’t mind staying back and the cab driver waited while she rushed inside. The young man asked her for identification, had her sign two documents and then gave her the house keys and the keys to the rental car that had been left that morning in her driveway. Jessica had arranged for everything to be in the one place, and it was a glimpse of her previous attention to detail. Although twelve months ago she would have shipped clothes ahead and arranged for the local dry-cleaner to press and hang them in her closet and have the pantry and refrigerator stocked with low-fat food. The kind that Tom liked. Tom, the womanising, cheating bastard whose cholesterol levels she had worried about for the better part of a year.

      But, thanks to said two-timing low-life, the Jessica of late was nowhere near that organised when it came to her personal needs. On the job, though, she hadn’t changed. She was as dedicated and focused with her patients as she had ever been.

      ‘Call me on my mobile if you have any questions. It’s a nice little house, clean, tidy and fully furnished, as you saw in the photos. I think you’ll like the street.’

      Jessica was not about to be fussy. A bed and bath was all she needed right now, and a car for the morning to get her to the hospital.

      ‘I’m sure it will be great and thank you again for staying back for me,’ she said as she held on tight to both sets of keys as if they were her lifeline.

      ‘Not a problem, happy to help.’

      * * *

      Half an hour later, with two bags of groceries on the back seat, the cab pulled up in the front of the darkened house. The amiable cab driver from the airport pick-up had kept the meter running while Jessica had signed the lease and picked up the keys, then stopped for milk, bread, oatmeal, fresh fruit and other staples, including bubble bath, a toothbrush and toothpaste from the small grocery store that stayed open until ten o’clock every night.

      Her new role began bright and early the next day so she wanted to have a nice home-cooked dinner and an early night, followed by a reasonable breakfast. She knew that she would hit the ground running and had no idea if she would get a lunch break so needed to be prepared for a long day on her feet on the wards and potentially even in surgery if required. In a smaller hospital the roles and duties were sometimes less defined and far broader in nature than in the city hospitals and she had the surgical experience if called upon.

      * * *

      Jessica took a brief study of the street as the cab turned in. It was tree-lined and had a simple prettiness about it. Very country, she mused silently as she noticed the houses either side of the one she would call hers for the next six weeks were softly lit from the inside. Lights and probably open fires, she thought. Curtains were drawn but the glow could be seen from the street.

      Jessica’s new temporary home had nothing to signify life at all. She wasn’t surprised. She couldn’t expect anything more than that. It wasn’t as if she knew anyone in town; there would be no one there to welcome her to the new house. It had been the same wherever she had been posted but generally she chose apartments close to the city hospitals to avoid the harsh reminder every night that she was arriving home to an empty place.

      She still had her terrace home in Surry Hills, an eastern suburb of Sydney, that she kept as a base but, since Tom had spent two or three nights a week there during their year-long relationship, she chose not to actually live there any more. She would fly in and out and collect her belongings between assignments. One day she would sell it but she hadn’t set a time frame for anything much in life.

      Jessica was just glad that she had a key to her rental home and would soon be soaking in a hot tub. The thought of steaming bubbles infused with lavender brought a much-needed calm to her.

      The cab driver pulled the carry-on from the boot of the car as Jessica made her way up the driveway, pulling her coat up around her ears against the bitterly cold air. The sensor light switched on as she approached the front porch, showing her the facade of her accommodation. It was very homely and looked freshly painted. It was grey with white shutters and a red wooden front door. Either side of the red door was a topiary tree in a square cement pot and in front of the door was a mat emblazoned with Welcome. She was relieved to see the small hatchback rental car was parked under the carport, as she had requested. The colour matched the front door. The garden was simple but sparse with mostly lawn and an edge of low native bushes. There was nothing that looked demanding of her time and that also made her smile. Jessica was not a green thumb so took comfort in the fact she could just engage with a mowing service a few times during her stay and leave the rest to Mother Nature.

      ‘I can take it from here. Thank you,’ Jessica said as she put the key in the door. Turning back to the cab driver, she gave him cash to cover the fare and a little extra.

      ‘Are