‘Really? Can hardly wait for the next instalment.’ He nodded. ‘You want help picking a present? Before I go to the supermarket?’
‘I’ve already ordered it. He wanted a wicket-keeper’s glove.’
‘Any suggestions on what I can get him?’ Cody looked hopeful.
She spoilt that straight away. ‘Nope. You’ll have to come up with something yourself. So, let’s take my car and I’ll drop you back here later.’
‘Sounds good.’
Hopefully some time that afternoon or tonight they’d get to talk about what had caused his abrupt mood change that morning. Because she really wanted to know. From his swift reaction to Tim, it was obviously something ingrained in him, what made him the man he was, and she needed to know more about this man who’d caught her when she wasn’t looking. So much so that she wondered if she might’ve fallen a little bit in love.
A little bit? Or a massive, heart-stopping lot? He wants a family, remember? She wasn’t likely to forget. But it seemed that hadn’t stopped her heart getting involved here. Which could become a problem.
‘I’ll come if you promise not to nag me about anything.’ His words were light but his eyes told her he was serious.
‘We’re not going to talk about what happened with Tim, then?’
‘No. We’re not.’
That stung. It seemed personal stuff was taboo. She’d gleaned a few bits of information here and there, but nothing deep and revealing. Was she prepared to talk about Darren and his change of heart over her inability to have children? Possibly. But then it was early on in their—their what? It wasn’t a relationship. Not yet. Probably never would be. A fling? As in, meet for sex and fun when there was nothing else going on in their lives? Or something more, that involved sharing meals and movies and her family parties? ‘Whatever.’ She shrugged, knowing she must sound like a petulant teen. There were a few of those around the place today.
Walking out to her car, they were both quiet. Harper was trying to move past her disappointment. She had no right to expect Cody to talk about private issues when she wasn’t prepared to be totally open with him. That didn’t mean she didn’t want to push the buttons that would make him tell all.
‘You’re over-thinking everything.’
She pinged the locks on her car but instead of sitting inside in the heat that had built up over the day she leaned against the door, her arms folded on the roof, her chin on her wrist, and eyeballed Cody. ‘I do that when I haven’t got any clues to work with.’
He mimicked her stance from the other side, his gaze firmly on her, as though he was weighing up what to say. ‘I’m sorry for the way I reacted this morning. It was a hangover from the past.’
Harper waited. That wasn’t enough of an explanation.
His sigh was loud between them as he gave in. ‘My close mate’s girlfriend got drunk and fell off a balcony into a garden, collecting some massive bruises on the way. She used it against Jack, saying he hit her. Fortunately, her timing was out. We were still on board the trawler tied up at the wharf at the time. As it was, no one believed Jack until someone came forward to say they’d seen the woman fall.’
‘That stinks.’ How could anyone do that?
‘It screwed Jack’s life. Some people couldn’t accept the truth and kept pointing the finger. He finally moved across the Tasman to settle in Perth.’
So he’d lost a close friend out of it all as well. ‘I think I can understand your comments to Tim now.’
‘But I should be toning them down? I get it. Sometimes I forget I’m not working amongst fishermen any more. He probably didn’t mean anything by it.’ He finally smiled. A tight, sad smile, but a smile.
Of course, that got him exactly what he wanted. ‘Get in.’
As she drove towards the sports shop where she’d ordered Levi’s present, her brain was busy thinking over the little that Cody had said. ‘What made you decide to become a nurse?’
‘Thought you were being too quiet,’ Cody muttered. At least he was still smiling. ‘You don’t give up easily, do you?’
‘I don’t see what’s wrong with asking that.’
His sigh hissed over his lips. ‘Nothing, I guess.’ He stretched his legs as far as possible, not far at all, considering how long they were. ‘Okay, no. I always wanted to be a nurse right from when I was at school.’ He stopped.
As she accelerated away from traffic lights, she asked, ‘So?’
‘I was a rebel, having too much fun with outdoor stuff to settle into more study. I was also intent on proving that the snide remarks suggesting I was a girl if I was going to be a nurse were wrong. What testosterone-laden teen isn’t going to react by proving how masculine he is?’ He grinned at her.
Harper chuckled. ‘There’s nothing girlie about you.’ She knew intimately. Whipping into a vacant parking space right outside her destination, she stopped the engine. How lucky was that? ‘Did you ever consider becoming a doctor?’
‘Briefly, but nursing always held more interest for me. Anyway, by the time I was ready to change careers, I’d spent too long doing a very physical job. The extra years and the huge hours studying for a medical degree would’ve stifled me.’
‘That makes sense.’ Then, ‘What happened to make you leaving fishing and go after your original dream?’
‘Let’s quit the questions, shall we?’ There was a hint of anger in his voice. His door opened and he swung his legs out.
‘I’m interested, that’s all.’ What was going on? The man was moody as all hell today. It didn’t seem to matter what she said, she got it wrong.
He glared at her over his shoulder. ‘Harper, drop it. I don’t need this.’ He stood up and closed the door with a little shove.
When she clambered out, she said, ‘Sorry. But it was a simple question, nothing more. All part of getting to know you better.’
‘You don’t know when to quit, do you?’ He blanched. Stepped back. Shook his head at her. ‘We’ll take a rain check on that dinner.’ Then he walked away, leaving her wondering what had just happened.
She watched him charge through the crowds of shoppers and office workers, heading back the way they’d come, his shoulders tight, his head forward. Did I really deserve that?
Maybe. He disliked talking about himself, yet she’d kept pushing. But she wanted to know Cody, as in everything about him. They were getting close, had spent that amazing weekend together; of course she wanted to understand what made him tick, why he reacted to situations like he did.
So how dared he speak to her like that? She didn’t deserve it; didn’t need him to bite her head off.
He’d said ‘a rain check’ for dinner. Did he thi
nk she’d be hanging around waiting eagerly for his next invitation? He could go take a flying leap. She didn’t do that for anyone.
CHAPTER NINE
HARPER PARKED AT work and shoved the door open, then grabbed it as a gust of wind blew through the car park. ‘Whoa.’ The image in her mind of her door bent back on its hinges was not pretty.
Not that there was a lot that looked good in there this morning. Cody had dominated her thoughts throughout the long night, and was still there now.
Her head throbbed with discontentment.
One weekend with Cody had not been enough. But she’d probably walk into the department and he’d be there with his smile, acting as though he hadn’t walked away from her yesterday. You wish. Was he a man who forgave easily? But then, what was there to forgive? She’d done, said, nothing out of the ordinary as far as she could see.
During those long hours of the night, she’d begun wondering why he’d reacted so angrily, so quickly, to what she’d asked. Every answer she came up with had no substance—because she didn’t know him well enough.
Out of the car, the wind caught at her hair, pulling strands loose from the band she’d wound round it earlier. Typical Wellington day—or so the rest of the country thought.
The roar of a motorbike told her that Cody had arrived. Should she wait for him and risk being snubbed? Or should she head inside and pull on her scrubs in readiness for another day?
Unwilling to be snubbed, she took the soft option. They had all day for her find out where she stood with him.
‘Hey, Harper,’ Cody said as she made her way to shift change-over.
‘Morning,’ she acknowledged, watching him walk to the changing room and wondering if that had been a friendly or not-so-friendly tone he’d used. Then thought, this is plain childish. Of me and him. She didn’t do childish. She often growled at the brats for that. Thank goodness they weren’t here to witness her slide from the rules. Right, she’d act as though yesterday hadn’t happened when Cody joined the group.
She didn’t get a chance to act in any way at all. An ambulance brought in two men from a truck that had gone over the edge of a bridge spanning the motorway. A serious spinal injury took all Harper’s concentration for the next hour and a half.