Christmas at Coorah Creek (Choc Lit) Read Online Free Page B

She could see a small kitchen through an open doorway to her left.
    ‘We have to go now,’ Nikki said. ‘Doctor Adam and Jess will be back in a couple of hours. You’ll like them. They delivered Anna together.’ She kissed her child’s head, and the young man beside her almost glowed with pleasure as she did.
    Katie watched them leave, her head in a spin. She closed the door behind them and leaned back against it. The sheer emptiness of her new living quarters suddenly crashed down on her like a ton of rocks. She was a million miles from home, hot and dirty and exhausted. She was about to spend Christmas without her family for the very first time and she doubted there was so much as a kettle and cup in the kitchen for making a cup of tea. To top it all off, she was a nurse in a place where – the girl’s words suddenly sank in – a pilot helped to deliver a baby.
    She had gambled her whole future on this job. Had she made a terrible mistake?
     

 
    Chapter Five
     
    Pub or garage? Scott was pretty certain he didn’t want to go into either. He’d really rather go back to the hospital and spend some more time with Katie. At least she had seemed happy to see him. And her smile was a far more pleasant prospect than what awaited him.
    Garage or pub?
    He pulled his car up in front of the pub. Through the windows, he could see someone moving around in the bar. In his rear view mirror, he could see the garage. No sign of movement there.
    There really wasn’t any choice. He’d been an angry teenager when he’d stormed out of Coorah Creek, but there were people who would remember him. The publican’s wife was one of them. She had good reason to remember him. He winced slightly at the memory. If he walked into the pub, news of his return would fly through Coorah Creek like a storm.
    He had to go to the garage and face what was waiting for him there before word of his return made matters a whole lot worse.
    It took a lot of willpower to reach for the door handle.
    He crossed the street, but instead of walking into the garage, his steps took him a little further to a side gate that led directly to the house next door. Between the scrubby bushes, he could see that his old home had changed; become poorer and more ill kept, with its peeling paint and rusty tin roof. The gate was rusty too. He did not move to open it.
    A dog barked.
    Scott searched the unkempt garden as the animal barked again. It was a rough, weak sound. Surely not …
    The Labrador came into view. She was moving slowly and limping a little, pausing every few seconds to bark in Scott’s general direction. She was old. So very old. Finally she arrived at the gate and stared up at him through rheumy eyes.
    ‘Candy, old friend. Do you remember me?’ Scott dropped to a crouch and reached his hand through the bars of the gate. The dog lifted her head as if to bark, and then hesitated. She lowered her nose to sniff Scott’s outstretched fingers. Slowly her tail began to wag and she licked his hand.
    Scott felt tears prick his eyes. His few good memories of Coorah Creek all seemed to involve his dog. Abandoned as a boisterous half-grown pup by some passing vehicle, she had come into a lonely boy’s life and made it just that little bit less lonely. She had loved him – unconditionally as dogs too. And he had loved her back because there was no-one else to love. Leaving her behind when he left had almost broken him. But taking her had been impossible.
    He’d never expected Candy to still be here. To still be alive after all these years. Her eyes were foggy and her muzzle was almost completely grey, but for such an old dog, she looked quite well. She’d obviously been cared for.
    And she remembered him.
    ‘So, are you just here to see the dog, or were you planning to come to the house?’
    Scott closed his eyes for a few seconds, as if by doing so he could still avoid this confrontation. The familiar voice was not as strong as it had once been. But the anger