‘And you wanted him to?’

  ‘Yes.’ Piper’s voice was a whisper, as if admitting it aloud would mean she’d be struck down. ‘I really like him. I’ve had a crush on him since we were kids, but seeing him caring for patients, responding to emergencies, being gentle and strong all in the same moment, it’s more than a crush. I think I’ve caught real feelings for him. I love the banter we have in the kitchen, sharing space with him, laughing. I really did want him to kiss me so I would know that I wasn’t in this alone. But then his dog Major literally barged between us as he leapt for the gingerbread house—legit, not code—and the spell or whatever it was was as broken as that house was.’

  ‘Noooo!’ Maddie groaned. ‘I knew he had a thing for you. I don’t know how you two hot young things can be living under the same roof for as long as you have and not be rumbling in the sheets. It’s unnatural.’

  ‘Maybe he thinks it’d be too weird since we grew up together and he’s my brother’s best friend.’ She screwed her nose up. ‘That’s got to be it, because after he cleaned up the mess the house made and rescued Major from the chairs he was stuck in, he changed. He was grumpy towards the dog and when I asked if we would talk about, you know, what happened, he just got grumpier and headed out the door like he didn’t know what I was talking about. It can’t have been in my head.’

  ‘Definitely not! If a man holds your face to get something off instead of telling you to go look in a mirror or using a single finger for a quick swipe, he wants to touch you. And if he’s not pulling away as soon as it’s gone, he wants to kiss you.’

  Uncertainty dropped like a pit in Piper’s stomach. ‘I hope so.’

  ‘If you’re worried about him thinking of you as a kid sister then you need to make him see you in a new light. As the woman you are.’ Maddie clasped her hand, a mischievous gleam in her eye. ‘I have an idea—’

  ‘No,’ Piper cut her off, knowing exactly where Maddie was taking this. ‘I’m not lounging around in sexy pyjamas or hiding behind his door naked under a trench coat or anything that involves being someone more like you than me. I’ve heard your stories, and there’s nothing wrong with that for you, but I could never pull anything like that off.’

  Maddie frowned. ‘You’re no fun.’

  Gloria moved to the front of the group and clapped her hands three times. ‘Break’s over. Let’s move back into formation and turn your folders to “O Holy Night”.’

  Piper took another quick mouthful of water before she scurried back into line between Maddie and Anita. She flipped through the music before coming to the right song and blanched a little at the word in capital letters preceding the lyrics: SOLO.

  ‘Altos,’ Gloria called to their trio. ‘I need someone to nominate for a solo here. It’s for the first verse and chorus. Quick, before I choose.’

  Piper glanced at Anita.

  ‘Don’t look at me. I’m good in a group but would keel over by myself,’ Anita said.

  ‘Piper will do it,’ Maddie called out.

  Piper’s head whipped around to her supposed friend. ‘Why me?’

  ‘Because you have the best voice out of the three of us.’

  The nods around her were startling.

  Maddie tilted her head towards Piper and dropped her voice. ‘And this could be your chance to show Emmett the woman you’ve become.’

  She should’ve gone with the sexy pyjamas.

  ‘Wonderful,’ Gloria said, beckoning Piper forward. ‘Just like Frank did with “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen”, you’ll come out to the microphone on a stand in the middle of the stage and stay there for the entirety of the song. We’ll hear your bit first before moving into learning parts. I assume you know the melody.’

  Piper moved into position. ‘I know the song.’

  ‘Perfect. Just let Robbie know when you’re ready.’

  She cast an uncertain look back at Maddie, who gave her a double thumbs up. The folder shook slightly in her trembling grip. If she didn’t pull this off, not only would she embarrass herself in front of every member of the town she wanted to call home, but Emmett would only pity her. She’d had enough of that emotion from that man.

  She looked at Robbie, who gave her a confident nod before laying his fingers on the keys and playing the introduction.

  Here goes nothing.

  Emmett tipped his head back against the top of the couch as the television threw colours at him in the shape of a Twenty20 cricket match. He didn’t really like cricket, preferred watching the footy or basketball—even netball wasn’t too bad—but when the players smashed the ball into the crowd as if it were effortless, it held his attention.

  Major cut across the living room from his post at the front window to jump up on the couch and rest his head on Emmett’s leg. Since Piper had moved in, Emmett had often found the animal waiting by the window for her to come home. There was something very warming about it, to know his best friend loved her just as much as he did.

  Emmett scratched Major behind his ears. ‘She won’t be home till after ten, mate. She’s on a late shift.’

  They’d been avoiding each other. Ever since that near kiss last week, it was like they’d run out of things to say to each other. Words just evaporated whenever they were in the same room, but that didn’t stop him from watching her every moment he got. Not in a creepy stalkerish way, he hoped. He was drawn to her, and wanted to make sure that she was okay. And damn, if she hadn’t been okay every time he’d caught sight of her. She was constantly wearing that smile and her laughter bubbled out more easily. She carried herself with a lightness that made it seem like she would break out into a dance. She may not be talking to him, but her voice still filled his house when she sang in the shower and hummed in his kitchen. He wanted so badly to tell her that he’d wanted to kiss her, but every time the words came to the tip of his tongue, he swallowed them back down with all the usual excuses. He wished Tobias was around for a drink and chat at the pub. Why’d he have to befriend the guy who took off at Christmas every year?

  Emmett’s ringtone cut through the commentator’s excitement over another six by a young Queensland player and he muted the television before picking up his phone from the coffee table. Carter’s name flashed on the screen. Thoughts of kissing Piper fled his mind.

  ‘Hey, Carter,’ he said. ‘How’s it going?’

  ‘It’s not bad,’ Carter replied. ‘I was chatting with Piper this morning—’

  Oh, damn. Would she tell Carter about the almost kiss? Or how he was a bastard afterwards?

  ‘—and she was the happiest she’s sounded in … well, to be honest, years. She said the hospital crew were great, she was making friends, living in your spare room with low rent, you’d made her join a choir and finally put the drama with Heath behind her.’

  ‘I didn’t make her join a choir.’

  Carter laughed. ‘She told me all about the lists and the debacles of the gingerbread house decorating. But that’s the point, Emmett. She told me. We haven’t spoken to each other for longer than ten minutes since she graduated uni. She’d always phone me back between shifts or on her way to things, and even when we were in person it was hard to get her to really open up. She was always so guarded. But this morning I had her full attention for over an hour, and she just sounded so genuinely happy. I never realised how much being with Heath and working in the city was like a black cloud hanging over her. If I’d known you keeping an eye out for her would make such a difference, I’d have bought her a Kombi and encouraged her to run away months ago.’

  ‘I’d like to take all the credit, but I really can’t,’ Emmett said, running a hand across his jaw. ‘It’s Rush Creek. This town has a magical hold on everyone who comes here. The people are amazing and the atmosphere is next level. She’s made some really good friends and I’m happy to have her here. Much safer than camping out in her Kombi in the free grounds that didn’t even have a proper toilet.’

  ‘I’ll say. You’ve been such a good mate, Emmett. I feel bad that we haven’t seen each other since your mum’s funeral. I know she meant a lot to you. I wish I’d been a better friend.’

  Emmett sat forward. ‘Don’t do that. You checked in over the phone and reminded me that I wasn’t alone. That was what I needed until I could get my head on straight.’ He didn’t want to be reminded of their friendship right now. Not when he was still thinking of kissing his friend’s sister.

  ‘Fair enough. I guess I really just wanted to call and say thanks for everything you’re doing for Piper.’

  ‘You don’t have to thank me,’ he mumbled. Really, please don’t thank me.

  Carter’s chuckle came down the line. ‘I’ll let you go. I’m just pulling up at the Westfield to find something for Indy for Christmas before I head back out to Euronga.’

  ‘Way to leave it to the last minute. Christmas is less than a week away.’

  ‘Took this long to think of the perfect gift.’

  Emmett smiled and they said their goodbyes, but he couldn’t sit back on the couch. Christmas. He’d been so wrapped up in the gingerbread house saga that he hadn’t done anything about his promise to himself to give Piper the best Christmas ever. A fire burned in his belly as ideas popped into his head, a list of everything he would need to make it all happen writing itself. It was Thursday. He checked the clock. Nothing would be open in Rush Creek or in the neighbouring towns, but he had enough time to get into Townsville before the shops shut at nine. And a long drive to think of the ultimate present for Piper.

  Chapter 11

  ‘Brooke Walsh, eight years old, came in because her cold is impacting on her asthma and she was wheezing. We’ve had her on oxygen overnight and Estella started her on a short course of steroids but would like to keep her until lunch to make sure she can maintain her oxygen levels,’ Maddie said as she and Piper led Greta and Audrey past the bed in the main ward, completing handover to the new nurses coming on shift to relieve them. Piper smiled at the little girl, who seemed happy enough watching cartoons on her mother’s phone. Her mother looked barely awake as she sipped her coffee in the recliner chair they brought in for parents. Not the best bed to sleep on by any means. They’d offered to sit with Brooke so Clare could go home and get some rest, but she had politely declined, not wanting to let her little girl out of her sight.

  ‘We also have Mr Bernie Merveler in for monitoring after he mistakenly took his wife’s heart medication instead of his blood pressure tablets in the early hours of the morning. So far there have been no negative side effects but Mrs Merveler has booked him in to get his eyes reviewed,’ Piper informed the nurses with a fond smile at the older man, who gave them a small wave before going back to his newspaper.

  ‘And finally Caleb Rifter, nineteen, who came in yesterday after a fall from his motorbike. Miraculously, he has no broken bones but there were concerns around a possible concussion. He has a small tear in the tendon in his left shoulder, which Estella has prescribed him some pain medication for but other than that, he is free to go home and rest.’ Maddie emphasised her last word, and Caleb gave a small chuckle.

  ‘I still have one good arm,’ he pointed out and Maddie shot him a withering glare that had Greta and Piper laughing. Caleb and Maddie were both long-term Rush Creek locals.

  ‘That’s it,’ Piper said when they made it back to the nurses’ station.

  Greta nodded. ‘A busy night.’

  ‘Busier than usual,’ Maddie confirmed, winking at Piper, who had a different busy scale compared to the rest of them. They’d joked about the energy levels she’d been able to maintain, especially when Mr Nerveler had been wheeled in.

  ‘Go home, you two,’ Greta said, shooing them out from behind the desk. ‘Get some sleep before the big event!’

  Butterflies danced in Piper’s stomach. Christmas Eve was here and the bonanza was tonight. She was no longer counting down to singing in front of hundreds of people by herself in days, but in hours.

  She followed Maddie into the staff room and to the wall of lockers to grab her bag. ‘Remember Gloria wants us there early for a run-through of all the songs.’ Piper closed her locker harder than she meant to. ‘Seems a bit weird to sing through all of them only to sing them again moments later with an actual audience.’

  ‘We won’t really get a run-through in,’ Maddie said, hoisting her bag onto her back. ‘If the other years are any indicator, we’ll sing a maximum of three songs then Gloria will be called away because there’ll be a squabble over the tent for the sausage sizzle being too close to the face painting tent then two wise men will lose their beards and we’ll end up having to glue new ones together. Oh, and there won’t be enough ice for the drinks eskies. There’s never enough ice.’

  Piper laughed. ‘Sounds like I should bring whatever’s in the freezer at home. Keen to keep this interesting? I’m betting we make it through five songs.’

  ‘It definitely wouldn’t go astray and you’re dreaming. It’ll be no more than three.’

  ‘Loser buys the drinks?’

  ‘Deal. Better get your wallet ready.’

  ‘We’ll see about that.’ They waved to Audrey and Cara as they came into the staff room. ‘I’m aiming for eight hours of sleep when I get home so I don’t resemble a walking zombie tonight.’

  ‘I’ll bring my favourite concealer,’ Maddie said. ‘Could make any zombie look human.’

  Footsteps came down the hall and Emmett glanced over his shoulder to find Piper freshly showered, dressed in a bright blue polo shirt with Rush Creek Community embroidered on the breast and a pair of black pants that cut off halfway down her calf, showing off her long, lean legs. Emmett knew if she turned around, he’d see the words Christmas Bonanza wrapped around a couple of bells inside a wreath on her polo. It was the same design every year, only the colour changed, and damn, the blue looked good on her. Her dark hair was hanging down her back, with the front bits tied back like a braided crown, and candy cane earrings dangled from her ears. The closer she got, the faster his heart raced. She was wearing more makeup than usual and the gold sparkles on her eyelids made her dark eyes seem bigger and deeper, drawing him in, her perfume intoxicating him.

  He whipped his head back when her eyes connected with his.

  He was in trouble.

  ‘You’re leaving that a little late,’ she said. Emmett had only been home for an hour after his shift this morning and Piper had still been sleeping off her all-nighter. He hated that things were tense between them and that he was to blame for it. Hopefully, what he had planned would make up for that.

  ‘I’m almost done but this has to be the final one!’ Frustration seeped into his voice as he smacked the sieve with icing sugar in it over the gingerbread house. ‘I’m out of time and kits for a redo.’

  Piper tilted her head as she studied the new house. He knew what she was thinking. It wasn’t as good as the one Major knocked off the table, but it wasn’t one of the worst he’d done.

  ‘Maybe you’ll get extra points if you give it a name like the Leaning House of Ginger?’

  ‘I don’t even care anymore.’

  She laughed. ‘The Smarties definitely look better in that pattern.’

  He lit up like a glowworm’s butt. She’d noticed. ‘I’m not going to lie, it was painful. I only did it to make you happy, so I’m glad you approve.’

  Her cheeks pinkened in a way that made him feel proud to have put the colour there.

  ‘I do approve. I think you even stand a chance of winning because of it.’

  ‘I better. I may have asked Mayor Briggs who the judge was so I could invest in some serious bribery, but he remained tight-lipped. Guess I’ll have to win off my own merit.’

  ‘I guess you will.’ She smacked him playfully on the shoulder before heading into the kitchen. ‘I can’t believe that you, Emmett Coleman, would attempt bribery.’

  ‘I learned from the best, remember? I grew up with your brother.’

  Piper’s face turned thoughtful as she headed for the fridge. ‘You don’t need to remind me.’

  ‘What does that mean?’ He peered out the window to check that Major was still tied up outside—the dog had no self-control around gingerbread—then moved from the table to stand at the bench.

  She whirled around. ‘What do you see when you look at me? Who am I to you?’

  Emmett rested his hands on the bench, leaning forward as sweat trickled down the back of his neck into his shirt. ‘You’re Piper,’ he said, slowly. ‘You’re one of the people who has known me the longest. I mean, there’s not much I wouldn’t do for Carter, I still consider him my best friend and you’re his sister so—’

  Piper groaned loudly, cutting him off. ‘There it is. I’m Carter’s little sister.’

  Emmett’s eyes widened and he froze. ‘You’re more than that.’

  ‘Forget it, Emmett.’

  She spun around and wrenched open the freezer door, pulling out a bag of ice. Surprise that she’d fitted that in added to the mix of emotions swirling inside of him.

  ‘I’m heading up to the hall. We’ve got an early run-through, although Maddie reckons we won’t make it through all the songs before chaos erupts. I’m just going to walk down …’

  ‘I’m not needed until later, so I was going to drive down in a bit with this house. Why don’t you leave the ice and I’ll take it in the car, then I can drive you back when it’s all done?’ Did she want to be more to him? Was he making up this chemistry between them? Had he absolutely stuck his foot in his mouth by bringing Carter up? He needed to find words for all these questions, and he needed to find them now.

  She whirled around and quickly stuffed the bag back in the freezer with surprising ease. ‘Sounds good. See you later.’

  Move! Speak! Say something that matters! He pried his feet from the floor and followed her to the front door, where she was looping her shoulder bag over her head.

  ‘Piper, can we talk?’

  ‘I’m Carter’s little sister. Not much else to talk about.’