Page 33 of Reckless

“Do I want to know how you drilled a hole in yourself?” I sighed. “Come on inside.”

Button John followed me into the clinic, chatting happily about the DIY project he clearly had no business doing. The wound wasn’t deep, and it was no longer bleeding, but I cleaned it carefully, dressed it, and gave him a tetanus booster.

“Thanks, doc. I’ll bring you an extra crab!”

“I’d prefer it if you brought me a Medicare card,” I said.

He wrinkled his nose and shrugged, and I made a mental note to see if someone from Services Australia could actually come over to Dauntless and do some sort of recruitment drive, if not for the islanders, then for me. My clinic was a government one, and the government liked checks and balances. Someone in an office on the mainland would want to know why I was down an ADT booster when there was no corresponding Medicare claim for services, and “that’s just how things work on Dauntless Island” wasn’t going to get me far.

Most people, especially the younger ones, must have had Medicare numbers since they’d been born in mainland hospitals, but it would be a hell of a battle getting them to actually use them. I wondered if I should ask Red Joe for advice. From what I’d noted at the council meeting last night, the people listened to him. I would have to seek out his thoughts on the whole Medicare situation and see if he could help ease the way with the rest of the islanders.

“Any appointments for today?” Button John asked as he poked the dressing on his arm.

“Nothing scheduled,” I said, which I’d already learned wasn’t unusual. I expected a few people would turn up though—someone usually did. Tall Tom had said at the council meeting that he’d drop me off some tomatoes, and I hoped that would give me the chance to offer him a health check. I also wanted to visit Anna Hooper today, just to see how she was doing.

And maybe I’d visit Robbie’s farm, to check in on him as well. He’d hate that, I had no doubt, but I could tell him I was there to order extra eggs or something. I could live exclusively on omelettes for a while, surely? Or learn to bake or something.

Jesus. So much for Jack Frost, the hardarse dom with ice in his veins. Neal would be laughing so hard at me right now, coming up with flimsily transparent excuses to visit my⁠—

My what?

Well, that was most of the problem right there, wasn’t it? Robbie wasn’t my anything.

“Doc?” Button John asked. “You were a million miles away there for a second.”

“Sorry.” I balled up my gloves and dropped them in the bin. “I had a late night last night and didn’t sleep well. What were you saying?”

“Oh, just that I won’t be able to clean on Wednesday,” Button John said blithely. “Me and Young Harry always go over to Newcastle on Wednesdays, so if there’s anything you need, you can order it and let us know and we’ll pick it up.”

“Oh,” I said. “I can’t think of anything offhand.”

“We go every week,” he said. “We pick up tourists too, if there are any, and drop off anyone on the mainland who wants to go. We usually get a few passengers on this run too, because they can catch this month’s barge back on Thursday.”

I jolted, thinking of Robbie and his monthly trip to Newcastle, and what he usually did there. Would he be as reckless now I’d shown him a different way of getting what he needed? I wanted to⁠—

I wanted to tell him not to go, but I had no right to say that to him. It was pure selfishness to think I could demand something like that from him when I couldn’t offer him anything at all in return. My marriage to Neal had taught me that.

No. I wouldn’t go and see Robbie today.

I didn’t need more eggs, and I would never learn to bake, and Robbie Finch wasn’t my anything.

Chapter 11

ROBBIE

It was still dark when I walked down the jetty on Wednesday morning to meet Young Harry Barnes and his boat, a thirty-five foot timber cruiser that was almost as old as he was. It was in better shape, though. Button John hung over the rail as I approached.

“Here he is!” he called out.

I hauled myself up onto the deck. “No other passengers today?”

“Just one,” Button John said.

I ducked my head to enter the cabin, and discovered the other passenger was Elias Dinsmore. Elias was a big man with a mean look to him. He didn’t socialise much with the rest of us islanders, even compared to me. He was sitting in the cabin with one of his dogs at his feet. It had a lump on its side and another one on its head. They looked like the sort of tumours old dogs sometimes got.

I nodded at Elias and sat down opposite him. He didn’t nod back.

“Is that dog gonna shit in my boat?” Young Harry called from the wheel.