Read Online Wishing for a Miracle by Alison Roberts - Free Book Online Page B

advertising a new message were coming thick and fast. An ambulance was being dispatched to a three car pile-up. Someone else was reporting an NFA from another scene. No further assistance was required there because it was a DOA rather than the cardiac arrest that had been called in. A crew patched through advance notice of a critically ill stroke patient they were transporting to a receiving emergency department and a vehicle was being sent to a rural area to be on standby while the fire service dealt with a house fire.
    Busy but nothing out of the ordinary. Julia had her fingers crossed that a call wouldn’t come in the next little while. Long enough for them to visit Ken and see how he was getting on. And long enough to find out why Mac seemed to have withdrawn again.
    Not as much as he had the other night, travelling back from the train crash but enough to worry Julia and chip away at this morning’s relief when it had seemed like they could get past any awkward aftermath of that kiss. His message had been received loud and clear. They were a good team and that was all, but they’d never had this odd tension between them before. Silences that became loaded so quickly.
    And Mac had made a tentative step towards friendship this morning, hadn’t he? She could reciprocate and maybe that would be enough to fix things properly.
    â€˜So…’ Having made the resolution, Julia impulsively reached out to turn down the volume of the radio. ‘Fair’s fair, Mac.’
    He shot her a wary glance.
    â€˜I mean, I’m feeling at a disadvantage now. Like I haven’t had my turn.’
    The look was a frown this time. ‘I’m not following you. What have I had that you haven’t?’
    â€˜Information.’
    â€˜Such as?’
    â€˜Well, you know a lot more about me than I do about you.’
    Mac was staring into the side mirror, watching for an opportunity to change lanes. ‘Not that much.’
    â€˜Enough,’ Julia said firmly. She switched off the tinyvoice at the back of her mind that was suggesting she might be making a mistake here. ‘It’s my turn,’ she continued. ‘I want to know about you.’
    Mac was still concentrating on his driving. He changed lanes twice and then indicated an upcoming turn but Julia was watching his face just as carefully and she saw something in the softening of his features that suggested her interest might not be unwelcome. That encouragement was more than enough to switch off that annoying little voice.
    â€˜You know heaps,’ Mac said. ‘How old I am, where I come from, where I did my training. How I like my coffee.’ He gave her just the hint of a crooked smile. ‘All the important stuff.’
    Julia laughed, shaking her head. ‘That last one’s going to come back and bite you, mate. And I’m not talking about work stuff. I’m talking about the kinds of things friends might talk about. We are friends, aren’t we?’
    Friends. It was such a nice, safe word. She could definitely detect a lessening of any tension in the atmosphere now.
    â€˜You want to talk about football? Wrestling, maybe?’
    Julia’s breath hitched. No, not wrestling. ‘That’s boy stuff,’ she said dismissively. ‘I’m talking family. Like what you know about me. Brothers, sisters, ex-wives…that sort of thing.’
    Oh…God! What on earth had made that come out? This wasn’t the time to diffuse tension by cracking stupid jokes.
    Mac looked as startled as she was herself. ‘You want to know about my ex-wife?’
    Julia swallowed. ‘You have one?’
    A tiny pause and then a huff of sound that had an unmistakably ironic twinge. ‘No.’
    She had to laugh again, to hide the flash of…what was it, relief? Elation? Something entirely inappropriate, anyway. This was supposed to be a joke. Something light that would make Mac smile.
    â€˜That’s