Playing for Love (Summer Beach Vets 1) - sweet vacation romance by H.Y. Hanna Page A

quarantine requirements would be crazy, especially for a short stay. Anyway, I looked up and saw this Beagle walking towards me across the sand and I thought for a moment that I was hallucinating.”
    “He was lucky that you found him. Not just for the paw, but a lot longer in the sun and he could have become seriously dehydrated out on the beach.”
    She looked at him curiously. “Do you have a dog?”
    “I did, growing up. I had a mutt that was adopted from the local shelter. His name was Boomer. A sort of cattle dog cross. Nutty as a fruit bat but brilliant at rounding things up.” Craig shook his head, chuckling. “He lived to fifteen, which was a bloody good age. I’d love to have a dog now, but I work such long hours, it wouldn’t be fair.”
    “Couldn’t you have the dog with you at the hospital?”
    “Maybe,” said Craig. “But I don’t think Jandals, our resident clinic cat, would be very happy!”
    Sara was about to reply when the food began to arrive and she soon stopped thinking about anything but eating all the delicious things placed in front of her. Craig had ordered crispy calamari to start, with chilli mayo and lemon wedges, accompanied by a platter of house-baked sourdough bread and a trio of dips. He had also ordered a bowl of marinated South Australian olives and a salad of butter lettuce, avocado, and cherry tomatoes, tossed in a balsamic vinegar dressing.
    Then came the mains: Sara’s was pan-fried barramundi with grilled tiger prawns, roasted baby potatoes, and sautéed asparagus and zucchini. Craig had gone for the chargrilled rib-eye steak with red wine jus , sweet onion mash, and garlic mushrooms. There was also a bowl of “hand-cut chips” to share. By the time Sara raised her head from her empty plate, she could barely move.
    “Oh my God…” She sighed, leaning back in her seat. “That was incredible. But I think I’m going to need a forklift to get me back to Ellie’s place.”
    Craig laughed. “You haven’t even had dessert yet.”
    “No… no dessert for me,” protested Sara. “Really, if I eat anything else, I’ll burst.”
    “Okay, how about a coffee then?” Craig said, signalling to Kylie.
    By the time the waitress had cleared the table and the coffees had arrived, Sara was feeling slightly less like a beached whale. She smiled at Kylie as the waitress placed a cappuccino in front of her.
    “You want a bickie with that?” asked Kylie.
    “Biscuit,” Craig explained at Sara’s quizzical look.
    Before Sara could answer, Kylie went back to the kitchen and returned a moment later with a plate of dark brown rectangles.
    “Here.” She pointed to the plate. “Got to try these. Can’t come to Oz and not have Tim Tams.”
    “Oh, Tim Tams!” Sara cried in delight. “Yes, I bought a packet at the airport. The girl there was telling me what a… er… ‘Aussie’ classic they are.”
    “Too right,” said Kylie, nodding. “And you’ve got to do the Tim Tam Slam.”
    “The Tim Tam Slam?” Sara looked at her, bemused.
    Craig was laughing openly now. He waved Kylie away. “I’ll show Sara how to do it.”
    Once the waitress was gone, Sara turned to Craig expectantly. “Well?”
    “You sure you want to do this?” He grinned.
    Sara nodded.
    “Okay, you bite a bit off diagonal ends of the biscuit and then you stick one end into your coffee and you suck it up through the biscuit, like a straw. As soon as you feel the liquid touch your lips, you flip the biscuit round and eat it in one mouthful.”
    Sara looked at him. “You’re kidding.”
    “No.” He shook his head, his blue eyes twinkling. “That’s the Tim Tam Slam. It’s practically a rite of passage for us Aussies.”
    “Okay…” Sara returned his smile. “I’m game.”
    She picked up one of the biscuits and carefully nibbled a bit off each end, diagonally. Then she leaned over her coffee cup and dunked the far end into the hot liquid. She pursed her lips around the end close to her and sucked