Chapter 1
Annie came just as Katniss was tucking the last of her clothes into the dresser, and Katniss's melancholy and exhaustion lifted a little, seeing her old friend. Medical school classmates, they'd formed a deep bond sharing a crappy apartment near the hospital during residency. But like so many things in life, that bond had stretched thin when Annie moved to New South Wales four years earlier, following a man she'd fallen in love with, a man to whom she was now married.
The years melted away as Katniss embraced her friend. "I didn't think I'd see you until Monday," Katniss said, and Annie laughed.
"Like I'd leave you alone in a strange town for four days, Kat." Annie's voice, lilting with the languid cadence of her South Carolina origins, was like a balm to Katniss, the familiarity so keenly felt. "I brought you the essentials." Annie thrust a bottle of red wine at Katniss, and a paper bag that by the scent contained Chinese take out.
"Bless you," Katniss groaned. "You're staying to share, right?" Annie grinned.
"The food anyway," she said, moving further into Katniss's new little home. "Afraid the wine is still a while away." She rested a hand on the swell of her belly, her face glowing with happiness and contentment.
Annie's upcoming maternity leave was part of the reason that Katniss was in New South Wales. In a bit of fortuitous timing, the day Katniss just happened to check Facebook for the first time in months was the day that Annie had been complaining about the shortage of doctors at the rural NSW hospital where she worked. A half-joking offer to come over and help out was met with a ream of information on the equivalency of Canadian and Australian medical training and requirements for foreign-trained doctors in Australia.
About a hundred application forms, a phone interview and a designation of substantially comparable later, Katniss had a shiny new provisional license to practice medicine in Australia and a six month contract in the emergency department of the Panem Hospital.
It had all come together so quickly, she hadn't had time for second thoughts.
"So what do you think of the town so far?" Annie asked, moving into the small efficiency kitchen and searching the cabinets for plates.
Katniss dropped the bag of food onto the tiny table that barely fit in the space and shrugged. "Didn't see much on the drive in. Google took me pretty much directly to the door."
"That's great, actually," Annie said. "I'm forever losing the signal and ending up in the bush."
The old friends talked and caught up over fried rice and Mongolian chicken, but Katniss was yawning before she'd even finished a single glass of wine. Three flights and a whopping 28 hours of travel time were taking their toll. "I should let you rest," Annie said, glancing at the slim watch around her wrist. Katniss tried to shrug off the concern, but she hadn't been this tired since residency, she'd even lost track of the days at this point.
Annie laughed, but not unkindly. "Four days won't be nearly enough to catch up on your sleep. Maybe start now, and I'll come around in the morning to take you to the shops."
After seeing Annie out, Katniss staggered up to the loft, which contained the bedroom and a small bath. She found sheets in a cupboard, a little stale but clean enough, and made the bed on autopilot, then turned to draw the curtains.
The window in her new bedroom faced the rear of the house, looking out over the back yard. Over the rear fence was another house, what looked like a mirror of her own, with the same windowed studio space at the back, though her neighbour seemed to be using it as a home gym, judging by the man she could just make out doing pull ups, his bare torso illuminated by the afternoon sun.
She was too tired, too scrambled to look away, instead pressing her nose against the window glass. She couldn't make out his face but there was no mistaking his strength as he easily executed twenty more pull ups without pausing.
When he dropped from the bar and walked to the wall of windows, the light caught his hair, crowning him in gold. A brawny blonde Australian beefcake right in her yard. Almost made up for the obscene rent.
Katniss closed the curtains a little reluctantly and fell into bed, wondering where she could buy a pair of binoculars.
o-o-o
The time change was a bitch.
Katniss found herself wide awake and climbing the walls at half past four in the morning, or what her internal clock insisted was dinner time. Her first day in Australia had been a blur of driving to the new town, finding the new house and messaging people back home that she'd arrived safe and sound. The visit with Annie had sapped the last of her energy and she'd passed out without even thinking about what she might need to get by. Now, 12 hours later, she was starving and standing in a darkened house with a completely empty pantry.
She set out into the predawn on foot, wondering if there was a 24 hour grocery or an all night diner in this little town
There wasn't.
The entirety of downtown Panem consisted of about five blocks. The tiny grocery store sat right in the middle of Main, but it didn't open for another three hours. Katniss sighed, but continued walking. A florist, a deli and a candy shop along one street. A bright yellow fire station at the end of the block. An adorable little tea room shrouded in darkness. And a bakery, light faintly glowing through the plate glass window.
She climbed the cement steps. The sign on the door said it didn't open until six, another 90 minutes. Katniss shuffled over to the large window and peered inside anyway. The glow came from somewhere in the back, but it was enough for her to make out the shop, mostly. Black and white checkered tile floor, wooden cabinets with shining glass fronts. She squinted, trying to read the chalkboard above the front counter. Meat pies? That sounded promising. She'd have to come back when—
"Can I help you?" Katniss nearly jumped out of her skin. She'd been so engrossed in the scene before her, she hadn't even noticed the door opening. "Easy," the stranger said, "didn't mean to startle you."
Katniss closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady her heart rate. A warm, yeasty scent wafted from the open door, threatened to weaken her knees.
"Sorry," Katniss said, finally looking at the man. He was average height, but broad shouldered, strong forearms crossed over a white apron, some sort of graphic tattoo peeking out from under the sleeve of his plain white tee. His smile seemed kind and his blue eyes twinkled under a mop of unruly ashy blonde curls. Were all the men in Australia blonde and unfairly attractive? "I, um. I was looking for an open store. Somewhere I could grab something to eat."
"You must be an American," blondie snickered. "There's nothing open overnight in the country."
Katniss scowled. "I'm Canadian," she snipped, and blondie held out his palms in supplication.
"Sorry," he said, "didn't mean to assume." Katniss deflated a little. She was hangry and tired and still fuzzy-headed from the travel and lack of sleep and none of that was Blondie's fault.
"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I just got in yesterday, or I think it was yesterday, and I have nothing at the house yet." She bit her lip, irritated that she'd shared that much with a complete stranger, then turned to go.
"Wait," he said. "I can set you up with some brekky."
"Oh, no, I couldn't," Katniss started, but her stomach grumbled loudly in protest.
Blondie smiled again, wide enough for a dimple to pop in his cheek, and opened the door wider. Katniss couldn't resist.
Inside, the yeasty smell mingled with the scents of cinnamon and dill. Katniss was almost dizzy with the delight of it. He left her standing in the centre of the shop while he tucked into the back, and she used the time to examine the rest of the interior. There was a small seating area, just three café tables with wrought iron chairs, and the walls were covered with paintings, landscapes of the local area she thought.
She was studying a particularly striking painting—a craggy finger of ancient rock extending into water so blue it was almost unreal—when he returned, moving to stand right behind her. She could feel his warmth and when he spoke almost directly into her ear in his low, lyrical accent, it felt intimate. Until his words registered. "Delicate Nobby reef," he said, and she bit back a snort of amusement. This place had the greatest names.
"It's beautiful," Katniss said after a beat where she was mostly successful at schooling her mirth. She turned to face him. The faint light caught his eyelashes, blonde too and impossibly long and lush, and she found herself, strangely, wondering how they didn't get all tangled up when he blinked.
"One of my favourite places," he said, his voice still hushed, his smile shy. Silence stretched between them, not uncomfortable, but electric and full of potential. "I, uh, here," Blondie said, thrusting a paper bag at Katniss.
Oh. Maybe not so comfortable after all if he was anxious to be rid of her.
"Thank you," she said, looking over his shoulder, trying to swallow the very inappropriate disappointment. She was only here for six months anyway, she had no business flirting with the local baker, no matter how handsome he was.
"Muffins," he said, rubbing the back of his neck, his discomfort now obvious. "Fresh from the oven."
"What do I owe you?" Katniss asked, fishing for her wallet. She had 100 Australian dollars in her wallet, extracted from the airport ATM, their physical similarity to Canadian dollars oddly comforting, even if their rendition of the queen wasn't a particularly flattering one.
"My shout," he said, and Katniss glanced at him in confusion. "On the house." He smiled again, more tentative than before, but just as beautiful.
Only after she was back outside, scampering down the sidewalk while almost inhaling the best chocolate muffin she'd ever tasted did she realize she'd never even asked the blonde baker for his name.