and take Moby for a run.”
Matt took the machine next to her. All the treadmills were available, except the last, which was taken by a woman running intently without a glance for the newcomers.
“What do you do with Moby on the days when you’re working a long shift?”
“All our shifts are long, so I’m lucky that I live next door to a family of teenagers who adore him.” She spoke easily despite her speed. “Moby spends the afternoon with them when I am rostered on, and I pay the thirteen-year-old to take him for walks.”
Matt was somewhat relieved to find that Brigid was not a woman who treated her pet as an accessory, which could be put away when not in use.
“So did you grow up in Cairns?”
“No, I grew up in Sydney. It’s like a different country up here. Sydney is more restrained, more cosmopolitan. At least the private schools and university I attended were.”
Matt wasn’t surprised to hear that Brigid also came from a privileged background. There was an indefinable elegance and confidence about her. What intrigued him was that she seemed to have somewhat left it behind.
“Why come to Cairns?”
“God, that‘s what my father said,” Brigid laughed. “From his reaction when I told him about this job you’d think Cairns was the end of the earth. But I can practise some of the most interesting pre-hospital care in the world here. Because the distances are so long, what we do in getting medical care to outlying areas quickly, really matters.”
Matt could hear the genuine passion in her voice.
“I’ve got one more question but I’m wondering whether it’s cruel to ask while you’re running,” he asked, as he was very aware of the fast pace she was setting.
Brigid turned her head and shot him a cheeky grin, “Are you casting aspersions on my fitness?”
“Not at all,” Matt protested.
“Well they say the right pace is when you can talk with a little effort. So ask away,” Brigid said.
“Is rescue just a pit stop in a career on the rise?”
As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Matt surprised himself with the boldness of his question.
Brigid, however, seemed unperturbed.
“No, this is a job where I can grow. There are always new techniques to learn and unique situations to deal with.”
An escalating soundtrack of beeps signalled that their twenty-minute run was over.
Matt lifted his free weights and, out of the corner of his eye, watched Brigid on the legs machine. The way he constantly focused his gaze on her thighs was making him feel, frankly, like a voyeur. Normally he could concentrate on a woman as a person, but having closely watched her while she climbed, he was only too aware that the only thing shielding her long limbs was a thin pair of tights and small scrap of something. There hadn’t been anyone for a long time whose body had held him in such thrall. Why was he so attracted to the one woman, in the entire city, who was so clearly out of bounds?
Now relatively silent, Matt and Brigid rotated through their individual exercise routines. Matt couldn’t deny he enjoyed their moment of solidarity, in a smile they shared, when a fifty plus gym junkie started grunting loudly as he attacked the bench press.
“Nothing like a special Australian gym soundtrack,” Brigid dropped her comment in Matt’s ear as she changed equipment.
“I think that soundtrack’s more international than you think,” Matt whispered back.
Almost exactly an hour after they had entered the gym area, Brigid finished her exercise. Matt had been impressed, once again, by her fitness and the focus she brought to everything she did.
Collecting her water bottle and towel, Brigid turned briefly before heading out the glass doors. “See you back at work,” she called.
Matt nursed his beer as he sat alone at a bar counter and cursed his decision to come out. Top 40 music pumped loudly and another giggling group of eighteen-year-old girls stood too closely, bumping into him, in what
Matt took the machine next to her. All the treadmills were available, except the last, which was taken by a woman running intently without a glance for the newcomers.
“What do you do with Moby on the days when you’re working a long shift?”
“All our shifts are long, so I’m lucky that I live next door to a family of teenagers who adore him.” She spoke easily despite her speed. “Moby spends the afternoon with them when I am rostered on, and I pay the thirteen-year-old to take him for walks.”
Matt was somewhat relieved to find that Brigid was not a woman who treated her pet as an accessory, which could be put away when not in use.
“So did you grow up in Cairns?”
“No, I grew up in Sydney. It’s like a different country up here. Sydney is more restrained, more cosmopolitan. At least the private schools and university I attended were.”
Matt wasn’t surprised to hear that Brigid also came from a privileged background. There was an indefinable elegance and confidence about her. What intrigued him was that she seemed to have somewhat left it behind.
“Why come to Cairns?”
“God, that‘s what my father said,” Brigid laughed. “From his reaction when I told him about this job you’d think Cairns was the end of the earth. But I can practise some of the most interesting pre-hospital care in the world here. Because the distances are so long, what we do in getting medical care to outlying areas quickly, really matters.”
Matt could hear the genuine passion in her voice.
“I’ve got one more question but I’m wondering whether it’s cruel to ask while you’re running,” he asked, as he was very aware of the fast pace she was setting.
Brigid turned her head and shot him a cheeky grin, “Are you casting aspersions on my fitness?”
“Not at all,” Matt protested.
“Well they say the right pace is when you can talk with a little effort. So ask away,” Brigid said.
“Is rescue just a pit stop in a career on the rise?”
As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Matt surprised himself with the boldness of his question.
Brigid, however, seemed unperturbed.
“No, this is a job where I can grow. There are always new techniques to learn and unique situations to deal with.”
An escalating soundtrack of beeps signalled that their twenty-minute run was over.
Matt lifted his free weights and, out of the corner of his eye, watched Brigid on the legs machine. The way he constantly focused his gaze on her thighs was making him feel, frankly, like a voyeur. Normally he could concentrate on a woman as a person, but having closely watched her while she climbed, he was only too aware that the only thing shielding her long limbs was a thin pair of tights and small scrap of something. There hadn’t been anyone for a long time whose body had held him in such thrall. Why was he so attracted to the one woman, in the entire city, who was so clearly out of bounds?
Now relatively silent, Matt and Brigid rotated through their individual exercise routines. Matt couldn’t deny he enjoyed their moment of solidarity, in a smile they shared, when a fifty plus gym junkie started grunting loudly as he attacked the bench press.
“Nothing like a special Australian gym soundtrack,” Brigid dropped her comment in Matt’s ear as she changed equipment.
“I think that soundtrack’s more international than you think,” Matt whispered back.
Almost exactly an hour after they had entered the gym area, Brigid finished her exercise. Matt had been impressed, once again, by her fitness and the focus she brought to everything she did.
Collecting her water bottle and towel, Brigid turned briefly before heading out the glass doors. “See you back at work,” she called.
Matt nursed his beer as he sat alone at a bar counter and cursed his decision to come out. Top 40 music pumped loudly and another giggling group of eighteen-year-old girls stood too closely, bumping into him, in what
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