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Her phone rang ‘Conor?’ Nope The screen showed Kelli

‘Are you all right, girlfriend?’

Ta work’

‘Now I know there’s so’

Calnancy is taking its toll and ith everything else that’s gone down these past days I’ out for him’

‘You’re sure? I can come around at the end of shift’

Sniff ‘Don’t you dare Co to be responsible for you ht to Queenstown’

‘Okay, if you promise you’re okay’

‘Promise’ Hopefully Kelli hadn’t heard the crack in her voice But in case she had, Ta up Now she’d lied to her best friend, but for all the right reasons She wasn’t subjecting Kelli to another round of her heartbreak

Shuffling down the bed, Tamara pulled the sheet over her head and pretended to sleep

Monday took for ever to arrive Not that Ta her cheekbones and the shine gone fro was up between her and Conor But working with patients to distract her ay better than hiding in her flat There was only soshe could do and she’d done it all by midday Friday

‘A in an elderly lady frohbour,’ Michael told her ‘Can you take this one?’

‘Cubicle three,’ she acknowledged ‘Hoas your birthday?’

The ed by, barely faster than the weekend had Every turn she made, she fully expected to see Conor with a patient or reading patient notes or typing details into a patient’s file or saze came up blank and her heart rolled over to belt her ribs He was in Sydney and she missed him so much it was a permanent ache

While she’d been in the shower yesterday, Conor had left ahis voice was her only solace while at the saue stirred her deeply, tormented her and reduced her to tears every tie Not that she needed to hit replay

‘Hey, Tamara, heard you were off work on Friday Hope you’re not ill I’ve made appointments to look at rental properties near the hospital next week Will keep you posted Oh, and you won’t have a proble work at Sydney Hospital Catch you’

The actual words did nothing to co between the to his voice

Conor had left her Sure, they’d get together over Sebastian, but that wasn’t the same That wouldn’t satisfy her hormones, feed her desire, make her happy

‘Tamara, your patient’s arrived in the aed her

Cripes Concentrate ‘Onup frorab the counter

‘Are you sure you should be back at work?’

‘Didn’t eatNeither was three-day-old salad Hitting the supermarket was top of her to-do list after work today The only thing on the list

‘Nearly three o’clock and home time,’ a nurse eventually told her with sympathy in her tone

‘Great’ Home Alone

At ho of heat-and-eat meals that didn’t excite her taste buds but should keep baby happy, she ranate tea and sat with her feet up on the couch and the TV filling the eround noise

On her lap lay a courier parcel with Judy’s handwriting scrawled over the address section A bigger package than the last one, it had been sitting on her doorstep when she’d staggered up the path

Should she even open it, considering she and Conor were no longer together? But Judy was still Sebastian’s grand As was her mum

Putting the parcel aside, Ta to the endless ringing, she kept up a line of Please, please, please

Finally, ‘Hello?’

‘Don’t hang up This is important’

Click

Write to her Let her hold your letter, see your writing Conor’s advice wove around her, hter

Did he have a point? Before she could overthink what she was doing, she scrawled two pages of news to herto Sydney and sealed them in an envelope

Then she picked up Judy’s parcel and used her teeth to tear a hole big enough to push her finger through and rip it wide open A teddy bear with one ear reattached with black thread and a leather patch stitched onto its front landed in her lap Pressing it against her face, Tamara took a deep breath and smelled childhood and possibly Conor

Soon the fake fur was saturated with tears, and still she clung to the bear A letter had fallen out of the packet too

Dear Tamara,

I hope you don’t s, but I’ve waited so long for this day I can’t hold back Tell me to stop if you don’t want any more parcels