Free The Outback Heart by Fiona Palmer

year,’ said Tegan.
    ‘Wow. You do make a great couple.’
    Indi felt Tegan stiffen slightly, her head nodding slowly. ‘I guess.’
    Tegan turned and smiled at her. Indi wondered if she’d imagined the pained expression on her best friend’s face.
    ‘I can’t wait for Saturday. Should be a fun night. I have this fab dress you should wear.’
    ‘Oh, I don’t know, Teegs.’ She was about to decline when she remembered her earlier thought. ‘Actually, I haven’t got dressed up in ages.’
    ‘Now you’re talking.’
    Indi watched Troy as he chatted to Jasper. The muscles on his arms flexed as he gestured to the other side of the field. A slow burn began in her lower belly. Maybe she should get some lessons on how to flirt, too? Her flirty smiles just didn’t seem to be working.
    Jenny had already let half of the town know that Troy was single. Indi sighed, trying to expel all her crazy thoughts. Time to focus on football.

9
    2006
    TROY paused and leaned against the wall. Just walking from his room to the boarding house dining area had worn him out. This had been his life for the past few days, confined to his room. He’d been too sick to go to any classes, barely able to get around.
    ‘Troy, you tosser. Come on, we’ll miss out,’ said Freddie, his bright-red hair flopped across his forehead as he stopped beside him.
    Troy shook his head and pushed himself off the wall. ‘I don’t think I can make it.’
    ‘Yeah? You don’t look so flash.’ Freddie sounded concerned. ‘Actually, you’re kinda pale. Maybe you should go back to bed. Didn’t your mum just take you to the doctor?’
    ‘Yeah, she’s been staying in the city while I’ve been sick but they couldn’t find anything wrong with me. She’s booked me in with some other doctor,’ he managed to whisper. Breathing was hard; he felt like he was being suffocated. ‘She’s coming to pick me up just after lunch.’
    ‘Well, you look like shit now and you’ve hardly eaten all week.’
    Troy felt the room start to move. He reached out for Freddie as he fell.
    ‘Troy, are you okay? Troy?’
    Troy felt he was fading. The room was fading. Freddie was fading. Everything was slipping away.
    Somewhere he could hear Freddie calling out for help.
    ‘Troy? Good to see you’re with us. I’m Dr Matthew Brown. Do you know where you are? You’re in hospital. Intensive care. You will be feeling a bit groggy and weak, we’ve given you some sedatives.’
    Troy blinked at the doctor. He was in a bed, hooked up to machines. His body hurt and the room seemed so bright. He could hear a loud thudding, like a heartbeat. He tried to string some words together but nothing happened. His eyes shifted to the person holding his left hand so tightly. His mum was looking down at him with tears in her eyes. What was she doing here?
    ‘It’s okay, Troy. We’re here,’ said his Dad.
    Troy’s eyes scanned across to the other side of his bed.
Dad? How come they’re here and not in Geraldton? What’s going on? Am I dying? Am I dead?
    ‘Son, the drugs you’ve been given for the virus weren’t working.’ Troy had never heard his dad so quiet and gently spoken. His face looked more stressed than ever, the lines on his face like furrows in the paddock back home.
Thank god Dad’s finished harvest
, Troy thought.
    ‘That’s right,’ said the dark-haired doctor. ‘You have Viral Cardiomyopathy. Your heart was weak, very enlarged, and your vital organs were starting to shut down. That’s why you were so unwell. And the reason you couldn’t eat, or didn’t want to, was because your heart was enlarged and pressing on your stomach. You were shutting down there and then.’ The doctor paused to shake his head. ‘We rushed you straight into surgery. We’ve connected a device called an LVAD, a Left Ventricular Assist Device, to your aorta. It’s designed to support your heart.’
    ‘It was a long operation, honey, about eight hours,’ his mum said, giving Troy a weak