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helplessness… Even when he’d visited the sick kids in the children’s hospital, Gareth had always felt uncomfortable, and even sorrier for the poor tykes forced to remain when he left. The colourful bedding and the decorations on the walls of the kids’ wards still failed to cover up the fact that hospitals sucked.
    Just when Gareth had made the decision to go looking for Emily again, the doors swung open and she came staggering back to him, her face deathly pale. But she didn’t come back into his arms. Emily stopped a few feet from him, her shoulders drooping, weariness etched in her pale face, the scarred tissue that marred one side of her cheek and neck. The pink and brownish, damaged skin was more prominent than usual. There were dark shadows under her eyes, and her fidgeting and reluctance to meet his gaze alerted him that something was wrong.
    “Em, what is it? What’s wrong? Did you see your Dad? You were gone so long I started to get worried. Is Mac okay?” He reached for her, but she pulled away before he could touch her.
    “Dad’s asleep, tubes and wires jutting out of him everyplace. I was too afraid to touch him. They’re moving him to ICU now, said to give them ten minutes to get him settled. You didn’t need to stay, Gareth. I thought you might have gone already—just came back to get my jacket. I left it on the chair over there.”
    Emily was pointing to a chair in the far corner of the stark, cold room, still refusing to look him in the eye. Gareth could not believe that she had really thought he would leave. What had she been thinking? He wouldn’t leave her to deal with something so terrible alone. Never. But something had changed in her. His Emily was gone again, and the new Emily was back. The one who had pushed him away.
    But not this time. This time Gareth was going to fight harder, fight to stay with her.
    “Of course I wouldn’t leave. I want to see Mac for myself. God, Mum and Dad are both worried sick. I want to be able to tell them I’ve seen him and that he’s okay. They both wanted to come to Sydney, but they need to stay in Gunnedah. They’re looking after both farms now, at least until Mac gets better. Mac is my friend too, you know, Em, and so are you. I would never leave you to deal with this alone. I can’t believe you think I would.”
    “I just thought, after the phone call and all, that you might be needed elsewhere. I don’t want to interfere in your life. I’m guessing you have training and stuff, people to be with…”
    Gareth didn’t know whether to be angry with Emily or just drag her into his arms. She looked so lost, so confused, so tired, and she was saying such stupid things. Did she not know him at all?
    “I don’t have anywhere to be but here with you and Mac. The coach has given me the next few days off. There are no people who are more important to me than the Mackenzies. Well, maybe Mum and Dad as well—but Em, I’m here for you, baby.”
    Gareth watched as Emily’s gaze slowly rose to meet his. He could tell that there was something else, some flicker of doubt left in her pretty little head, but he would remove it eventually. This time, he was not giving her any chance to push him anywhere. He was staying.
    “C’mon, let’s grab some coffee. When did you last eat, baby?”
    “I don’t remember. Yesterday, sometime,” she said, waving her hand as if it were of no concern. “Don’t think I could eat anyway.”
    “Well, let’s just find the cafeteria and see what happens. I could use a strong coffee about now, anyway.”
    Gareth was pleased that it didn’t take much coercion on his part to get Emily to eat some food. Getting her to sit still while she ate it—well, that was another matter. She was terrified to be away from her father, worried that something would happen in the ten minutes it took her to wolf down a dried up ham sandwich. He grabbed an unappetising-looking roll with some indistinguishable piece of curled up meat on