‘Apparently,’ his voice was low, gentle, sharing the bad news, ‘the longer it takes, the less likely it is that it will return.’ His voice dropped lower still, as if he was afraid of the answer. ‘Is there anything else I should know?’

She lifted her head. This was all a big, painful waste of time and emotion. ‘Nothing important.’ Maybe you should just … leave, she told him silently.

She felt like a bird that had just hit a window, drawn to the reflection but smacked off a hard surface. Hiding her pain, she forced a smile and stepped back from him. ‘Okay. You stay here, finish your tea, and I’ll talk to Mum and Mim about an expedition. Find you another fantastic experience of the outback before you go back to Alice.’

She pushed open the screen door and went down the steps to Granny Mim’s work shed. She’d glimpsed her mother through the window and she needed some comfort away from Zac.

When she ducked in through the side door, her mother and Mim were standing very close together at the workbench. They stopped talking when she came in.

‘What?’ She glared at them suspiciously.

‘Nothing,’ Mim said.

‘How are you?’ her mother answered at the same time.

‘I’m fine. I’d be better if you didn’t whisper about me.’

They shared a guilty look, then her mother said quietly, ‘We don’t know what we can do to help. We think it’s getting too much for you.’

Ava pushed the hair carefully off her forehead around the raised bruise and scar. Her mother had removed the sutures yesterday. She didn’t think she could carry on. ‘I think …’ She made a decision. ‘He can ask if he wants something, but I think he’ll leave soon. Maybe even tomorrow.’

Her mother sighed. ‘That’s what I think. Though your grandmother wants to tell him he loves you and see if he wakes up.’

Ava’s eyes pricked and she blinked rapidly. Fighting the sudden well of emotion that squeezed her lungs, she struggled to take the deep breath she needed to force away the tightness in her throat. Yes, they’d had something beautiful and now it was lost. Something precious that slipped further and further away every second.

She imagined discussing the proposal as if it were an interesting lab result. Oh, by the way … Then there was the proposal looking at Uluru from our hotel room. She wasn’t explaining that to Zac. She’d had enough trampling on her tender heart. ‘Please don’t do that, Mim.’