‘Right.’ She made a rude sound. Obviously, she was not taking his sincere compliments seriously. ‘You sound like an old man. How old do you think I am?’

He studied her dusting of freckles. Such smooth, unlined skin. The vibrancy that was inherent in her seemed to shine. ‘Twenty-five?’

‘Spot-on. So, five years since graduation, you get experience.’

‘True, but you don’t always get respect and deference. The staff at Alice love you. Jade came to see me and we talked about that crazy first night in the ER. She thinks the sun shines out of you.’

‘Bull.’ She tossed her head, still not taking her eyes off the road. He liked the way she drove. Just under the speed limit, both hands on the wheel, scanning ahead and watching for animals and potholes, yet she was relaxed.

‘They’re a good crew,’ she commented. ‘But that’s not love. They like me because I do the night duty they don’t want to do. And I know where everything is and how it works. That’s always good for making friends. I know how to troubleshoot the machinery and monitors and follow procedure and guidelines. I offer to help out when I can. It’s just common sense when you don’t work there all the time, and I read the communication book so I know what’s going on. It’s not hard.’

It’s the extra stuff, he thought. Communication would be important to her, and collaboration. Getting the best out of other people. Anyone who worked on their own or worked remotely in communities had to know how to communicate and collaborate and demonstrate respect for others. He couldn’t look away. He should turn his head, look out the window, but he couldn’t. Was he remembering or was he just thinking there had to be risks in her job with the isolation between outposts? Car trouble, weather issues, tiredness, travelling as a single woman. He wondered how long she thought she could do it for. The concept left him unsettled with wisps of a dormant, protective instinct he didn’t know he had.

She said, ‘I know they liked your work in ED and maternity as well, even if you don’t remember it.’

There was something about her that touched him. On a different level to anyone he knew. But he didn’t understand how he could have been so thoughtless, to expect her not to be hurt when he left Central Australia. A relationship between them would never work. What had he been thinking, trying to get involved with her?

Now, by forgetting her – even though he couldn’t help the amnesia – he’d hurt her, and that wasn’t his intention either. He was hopeless at not hurting women, wasn’t he? He’d hurt Roslyn in the worst possible way.