Christmas at Coorah Creek (Choc Lit) by Janet Gover

this. People coming and going, without due regard for … well for anything really. It appeared the people here were as foreign as her surroundings. And there were obviously things she had yet to find out; relationships and where Scott fitted in to the picture.
    She shook her head. She’d feel better after a bath – or rather, a shower. There was no bath in her tiny bathroom. She took a couple of steps towards the bedroom and paused. Turning, she placed a chair under the knob of her door. She had no idea who this Jack was. If he was going to put a lock on her door, that was all to the good, but she didn’t want him wandering in to do it while she was in the shower.
    About an hour later, feeling much refreshed with clean skirt and shirt and teeth, she set out in search of the hospital office. It wasn’t that hard to find. The hospital wasn’t very big, and she could hear voices.
    ‘Katie, come in,’ Jess said when she spotted her loitering outside the office door.
    ‘We were just chatting. Ken Travers, this is our new nurse, Katie.’
    The middle-aged man was tall and thin, with receding hair and the slightly haunted air that Katie instantly recognised. This was a patient.
    ‘Hello,’ she said.
    ‘Ken and I are just setting up his next appointment,’ Jess said. ‘He’ll no doubt be pleased to have a real nurse here again, instead of putting up with my inexpert help.’
    ‘Jess, you’ve been great,’ the patient said with a smile. ‘And welcome Katie. We are very glad to have you.’
    With that he left.
    Jess closed the appointment book as she watched him leave. Then she turned her attention to Katie. ‘It is so good to have you here. I help Adam when I can – but I’m a pilot and he needs a real nurse.’
    Katie remembered the young mother’s words the night before. Jess had helped deliver her baby. They certainly did need a real nurse.
    ‘What happened to your last nurse?’
    To Katie’s discomfort, a shadow of grief fell over Jess’s face. Her eyes dimmed for a minute and she appeared lost in memory. Then she spoke in a voice that was infinitely sad. ‘Sister Luke was our nurse for a long time. She was a medical nun. She and Adam were very close and when she died, Adam refused to look for a new nurse for a long time. Then he hired a couple, but they didn’t work out. It takes a special kind of person to work all the way out here. But,’ Jess took a deep breath and the sadness left her face, ‘I’m sure you’ll be great. Adam was up all night with a patient, and he’s sleeping now, but I’ll show you around.’
    The hospital was small, but very well equipped. Jess explained that the money came from the Goongalla Uranium Mine – the town’s main employer. There was a small and immaculate theatre where minor surgery was performed. Anything major and the patient was flown to the nearest big hospital at Mt Isa. The half-unpacked box of Christmas decorations sitting in the reception area was testament to the fact that the patients’ needs came first. At least, that’s how Katie chose to interpret it.
    ‘You’ll encounter all sorts of things here,’ Jess warned. ‘I could hardly believe it myself when I first arrived. You’ll have to be ready to turn your hand to almost anything. We can’t just call for extra help if the going gets tough. There is no-one else, just this community.’
    ‘Do you like it here?’
    ‘I love it,’ Jess said warmly. ‘It’s a unique place … full of interesting people. In fact, why don’t you come and meet some of them this evening? We can grab a counter meal at the pub and introduce you around.’
    ‘Okay.’ Katie wasn’t sure exactly what a ‘counter meal’ was, but she knew about eating in pubs. She had often eaten at the centuries old London pub near her home. She imagined Coorah Creek’s pub would be very different, but she was willing to give it a go.
    ‘But first things first,’ Jess added. ‘I need to get you introduced to the