‘Correct.’ He ran his hands through his hair. Roughed it up very nicely, Ava thought, with a tug of attraction.

‘Weipa proved to be a steep learning curve and a good reality check from all the sympathy that hung around my own hospital. I went back to Sydney for a few nights and then I was on a flight out to Alice for a month while my house sale is going through. It was Roslyn’s dream home and it’s far too big for me on my own. The plan is to return a new man and start a new life. That’s it.’ He looked at her for a moment and shrugged, then turned on the engine.

Then he’d met her, Ava thought. Of course he was still going back to Sydney in a month. His intention to not form any lasting relationship with her made a little more sense now. She should have the same sense. He had given her more than enough to chew over, and maybe regret she’d come back with him. ‘I’m sorry for your loss.’

‘Thank you.’ He pulled out into traffic and drove the short distance to the hotel. In no time, he was slowing the car for the hotel entrance.

He parked and switched off the engine, and they gazed at each other. His story sat between them like a heavy mist they were trying to peer through. Funny how sure she was that on the other side of that mist there could be glorious weather.

Well. Ava scooped her handbag off the floor. It was too late to wish she hadn’t come, and being out of the car and in fresh air would help. ‘Breakfast?’

‘Please.’

They left the car and walked together towards the main entrance. After a small silence, strangely not awkward as it should have been, she said, ‘I hope one day you’ll tell me about Weipa. That’s one of the places where I’d like to do a stint, and they say it’s an amazing flight into the town.’

He laughed without amusement. ‘I hope you’ll tell me about your world out here, too.’ He gestured behind them. ‘But shouldn’t you be criticising me for being an uncaring husband? Cheating on my just-buried wife?’

She shook her head. ‘That’s not my call. Out here we promote the “don’t judge others” habit and I agree.’ Then she stopped and he paused too. She held his gaze. ‘From the little I know of you, you’re not a cold person, Zac. Not someone who’s uncaring about your wife’s recent death.’ She raised her brows. ‘You might be conflicted about what we did.’ Wicked thoughts swirled in her brain, and no doubt in her eyes, and she flicked him a very brief smile, then started to walk again. ‘But you’re not cold.’