As she surveyed the carnage of the birthing room, she could see blood from the mother’s post-birth haemorrhage pooled on the bed and dripping on the floor. A few drops had splashed on the TV screen that was suspended from the roof of the unit. Still, she thought, as she tried to be as gentle as she could in rubbing the new mother’s abdomen, at least I can rejoice in the now firm uterus below my fingers. Ava glanced at Zac and nodded with relief. ‘There’s no further bleeding.’

Ava couldn’t help reflecting on the emergency situations she’d spent with Zac in the past eight hours. And here they had another good outcome, despite the gory mess of the room. But that was a minor issue. The room would scrub clean and mum and baby were safe.

She remembered other places where she hadn’t been so blessed with instant expert help like Zac. It was so important to have cohesive teamwork come into play when there was an unexpected haemorrhage after a birth.

This time they’d been lucky, and the last quarter-hour had been tense but ultimately rewarding. She watched Kareena, a strong Mutitjulu woman from the community near Ava’s family station, snuggle her new son. Ava had known Kareena since they were chubby toddlers, and Kareena’s grandmother knew Ava’s through their shared mukata, or needle-felting, classes, so their history and rapport had helped keep the new mum and her support women calm during the drama. Even the shock in Kareena’s mother’s eyes had begun to fade into pride and excitement.

While she shifted to take Kareena’s pulse, she watched Zac as he talked to another doctor who’d also responded from ED. My, hadn’t seeing Zac at work been an eye-opener on her laughing lover of the night before. He had been easygoing but firm with the inebriated footy players, so gentle and kind with an elderly couple, and cleverly relaxed with a frightened toddler. But she couldn’t help noting that now, five hours after she’d last seen him in ED, his eyes read absolutely shattered. She felt the lack of sleep herself, but he seemed as if he had no reserves, and she wondered about that. Most people had reserves, and he’d only just arrived.

She had her own problems. The hardest part was pretending she didn’t know or care about him. She looked away. It wasn’t so easy to stop that subliminal awareness she felt when he was near.

She turned to help Kareena’s baby settle at the breast, careful not to interfere, but her mind lingered on Zac. If what had been between them had all ended yesterday, she wasn’t going to chase him.