Intensive Care: Escape to the Country by Nicki Edwards Read Free Book Online

Planning a move to the country isn’t something you should just do on a whim.”
    “I agree with your mum, Kate. I know you love watching all those British Escape to the Country type shows on TV, but actually doing it is another thing entirely.”
    “Dad, I’m so tired of living in Sydney. I need to get away. I don’t know, maybe a change of scenery and a change of pace is what I need.”
    “But why so far away?” Elizabeth complained. “Surely you could have found a job on the outskirts of the city. Why do you have to move to the country? I don’t even know where this Birrangulla place is.” Kate heard the beginning of a whine in her mum’s voice.
    Her dad let out a sigh and Kate saw the look her parents exchanged.
    “A tree change is something I’ve always dreamed of,” Kate said.
    “Well it’s the first I’ve heard of it,” Elizabeth huffed.
    “I think you’re romanticizing the whole thing, Katie darling,” Michael said. “I think you’ll find it’s not all acres of rolling green hills and paddocks full of horses. This is Australia remember, not England. Moving to the middle of woop woop where you don’t know anyone won’t be as easy as you seem to think. It’s hard for an outsider to fit in, especially when you’re an outsider from the city.”
    Kate knew her dad had her best interests at heart but she didn’t want to listen to his negativity. She tried to reason with them. “It’s not like I’ve even been offered the job! This is only a first interview. I just want to go and check it out, that’s all. You both know it’s not like me to be spontaneous. I’ve spent the last three years just doing whatever Marcus needed me to do while he established his career and look where it got me.” Kate lifted her hands and shrugged her shoulders for emphasis. “Maybe it’s time for me to take a chance and do something for me for once.”
    “How about I come with you?” Michael suggested, standing up. “It won’t take me long to get dressed and ready.”
    “Oh Dad.” Kate reached up and gave him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. “I need to do this on my own.”
    She placed her empty bowl in the sink, rinsed it and placed it on the rack to dry, ignoring the looks she knew her parents were giving her behind her back. She grabbed her car keys and bag and headed for the door.
    As she sat behind the wheel of her car she took a deep breath. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. She entered the address of the hospital into her GPS, chose her favorite playlist and settled back into the comfortable leather seat, prepared for the long drive ahead of her. Remembering her promise to her dad to stop every two hours for a break, she pulled away from the curb and waved out the open window at her parents who were standing side by side on the front porch watching her leave. The first rays of sunlight were just appearing on the eastern horizon as she headed west.
    Over an hour later, Kate was well and truly sick of following the taillights of the cars in front of her. The bumper to bumper movement of vehicles was frustratingly slow and on more than one occasion large trucks had cut in front of her, too close for her comfort. When she finally negotiated the peak hour traffic and had navigated her way through the outskirts of Sydney, she started to relax.
    The sun steadily began to rise overhead and Kate found herself driving through hills dotted with expensive homes, hidden among gum trees high up on either side of the steep mountains. As she drove along winding roads that weaved between majestic gum trees, she was transfixed by the Australian countryside. The farther away she drove, the more Kate started to admit to herself that she was having second thoughts. Just as her dad had predicted, it felt as though she was driving toward the middle of nowhere.
    The kilometers flew by, drawing her closer to the unknown. She’d driven past horses standing in paddocks, their rumps to the wind. Sometimes in groups of