Katie opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was a pristine white ceiling, with halogen spots dotted evenly along its length. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she slowly turned her head to the right. Immediately a stab of pain went through it and she involuntarily closed her eyes. When the pain subsided, she opened her eyes again and took in the surroundings. There was a heart monitor right next to her, obviously connected, along with a drip that snaked into the back of her right hand. Her eyes travelled passed that and on down to the sight of her leg in a large plaster, propped up on a pillow at the end of the bed. Katie wiggled her toes and was pleased to see them move in response, although the action caused another sharp stab of pain along the leg itself.
She gingerly shifted her head to the left and saw that, as far as she could make out, she was more or less intact. She closed her eyes again and tried to remember what had happened. It had all been so quick. She remembered looking at the screen of her phone and noting that it was Jodie calling…..and then nothing.
“I see you're awake then?” a friendly voice said.
Katie turned to see a nurse who had placed a temperature gauge on the end of her finger and was checking the readout.
“What happened?” Katie managed to croak.
“I'm afraid you were involved in a tussle with a motorcycle…..and the motorcycle got the better of you. But don't worry, you've only broken your leg and banged your head. Everything is fine. Now, how's the pain?”
“Only my head really.....but not too bad.”
“OK, we'll give you another quick dose of painkiller. It may make you drowsy, but that's fine. You just lie back and get some sleep.”
“What about work and stuff. People will be worried.”
“Don't worry. You were on the phone to your friend and she rang your work. She's just arrived by the way. Are you up for a visitor?”
“That would be great, thanks.”
“I'll let her know. She's only outside.”
With that, the nurse left the room and a few moments later a distraught Josie burst in.
“Bloody hell, McGovern. Are you trying to cram all of life's experiences into a couple of months or what?”
Despite the throb in her head, Katie smiled.
“Well, I like to keep things moving on, you know that.”
“What happened? I've been so worried. One minute we were talking and then there was this enormous thump and then nothing. They said you were hit by a bike and your leg is messed up a bit.....they had to operate apparently…..but it’s OK now and the bump on your head was only glancing.”
Josie took a deep breath as the nurse returned to administer some more drugs. She smiled.
“This will help the pain.”
“Thanks.” croaked Katie. Her throat felt as dry as a piece of sandpaper and she looked to one side to see if there was some water.
“Help us with a drink Josie,” she said.
Josie picked up the glass and held it to Katie's lips as she sipped gently.
“I rang your work and spoke to Sue. She sent her regards and said not to worry about your work.”
“I accepted the job offer today, Jos.” said Katie. “I was only going to wait for the official letter before handing in my notice. It looks like I'm going to be taking sick leave instead.”
Katie suddenly felt sleepy and her eyelids drooped.
“Sorry, I think I'm going to be boring company,” she muttered.
“No probs. I'll just go and get some mags and stuff for you.....” Josie's voice trailed off as she got up and walked to the door.
Katie heard her mutter to someone but could not discern the words. The next moment she felt another presence beside her. She turned her head and tried to focus but found it difficult.
“Katie. Katie. It’s me, Peter.”
“Peter? Peter? What are you doing here?” Katie managed to reply.
“Sue sent an e mail round and I saw it and came straight over.”
It took Katie several moments to decipher this news. At last she spoke.
“But why? The last time we spoke, I think I told you to fuck off.” Katie whispered.
“Oh Katie, I've been such a tosser....and I'm sorry about that momentary lapse in my normal cool and suave approach to women. When I saw the email, I just knew I had to get here to see you.”
“That's nice,” was all Katie could muster before slipping off to sleep.
Josie's return interrupted him. She stopped and regarded him quizzically.
“Hi there. I suppose you must be the one and only Peter Jarvis. We've heard a lot about you recently.”
“All good, I hope,” replied Peter lamely.
“No, not all, to be honest, but enough to know that you could be an important part of Katie's life if that's what you want. She's a very special friend you know,” added Josie, trying to inject a note of fierceness into her voice.
“Well, you probably know by now that I'm probably not very good at the relationship thing, despite everything else. But I do know a good thing when I see it…..and I think Katie is a very good thing.”
“Good. I'm Josie by the way, one of Katie's best mates.”
She took Peter's hand and shook it.
“Peter Jarvis, but I guess you know that. Look I must be off. If you are here when she wakes up, tell her hi. I'm not sure she will believe I was here at all unless she gets reminded.”
“I will. I'm sure we will see each other again.” replied Josie smiling.
When Peter had left the room, Josie watched his retreating back and saw one of the nurses give him a double take and then smile to one of her colleagues.
“Oh dear, Katie. What have you got yourself into?” she thought wistfully.
Almost exactly an hour later, Katie stirred. She turned her head and the first thing she saw was Josie sitting in the comfy chair beside the bed, thumbing through the latest copy of Hello! magazine.
“Oh Josie, I had such a weird dream. You-know-who was here, holding my hand and whispering sweet nothings.”
“Maybe it wasn't a dream my dear.....not sure about the sweet nothings but Peter was certainly here. Seemed quite concerned about you as well. And you were right, he is definitely Hunk of the Month!”
“Are you serious? He was here? I mean, why? What did he do? What did he say?”
“Ah, so many questions and so few answers. He said he had been a fool and as soon as he heard about your accident, he just had to rush straight over. Seems like he wants to renew your relationship!”
“Oh my god.....and look at me. Looking shit, feeling shit.....and just resigned from his company.”
“Oh, look on the bright side. If he sees you like this and still fancies you, then you have to be doing something right. And as for the resigning thing, forget it. He's probably glad you're leaving.....makes any follow up work so much easier.”
Katie closed her eyes and couldn't help smiling to herself. Maybe this was an opportunity to see each other again…..he must want to if he had bothered coming to the hospital. She found herself wishing that she knew whether or not he was going to come back.
“How are you feeling?”
“Not too bad considering. My leg and head ache, and I need to brush my teeth and have a shower, but apart from that.....not too bad.”
“You'll be back on your feet in no time and then you can get on with life. New job.....new man…..”
“Stop it Josie. You don't know how he really feels.”
“Oh, come on Katie! He was here wasn't he? Big boss of large public company bothers to come and see lowly employee in hospital? Get real my dear and just accept the fact that he's into you! I saw the look on his face…..all gooey eyed and pathetic. The man's got it bad!”
“Do you think so?” Katie replied before realising she sounded like a love torn teenager. She tried to inject a note of casualness into her voice. “Oh, whatever. We'll see.”
“Got to go babe. I'll come in tomorrow and I'll let the others know you're in fi
ne shape and that they had better watch this space for interesting developments. Shame you had to get knocked down to bring everything to a head though. Still…..never mind. See ya.”
With that Josie breezed out of the room and the nurse came back in.
“Everything OK? Do you need anything? How's the pain now?”
“I'm OK thanks. Can I have something to eat soon? I feel starving…..and I'm going to need the toilet soon.” replied Katie.
“No problem. I'll bring you something for that and I'll send the catering people around as well.”
“Thanks.”
Katie lay back on the pillow and sighed. What a total cock up! So why did she feel so happy? So absurdly, ridiculously happy? Josie was right. There was no way in the world Peter would have come to the hospital unless he cared and what had he said as he bent over her? That he had been a fool…..and he had…..but she was still not sure where things were and she wished he was there to talk.
Katie had been asleep for an hour or so when she felt someone in the room. She opened her eyes and saw Sue slink into the chair beside the bed.
“Hello Katie. How on earth are you? My god, you gave us all a shock. You go out for lunch and end up in hospital.”
Now fully awake, Katie managed to gasp out. “God Sue, thanks for coming in. You needn't of. I'm fine - really,” she added as she saw Sue look at her face and then down to her plastered leg.
“Well, I'm here to say that you don't need to worry about a thing. We've got everything covered so you can hit the ground running when you get back.”
“Oh Sue, I was going to tell you tomorrow anyway. I don't think I'm going to be coming back. Things have been really weird lately.....well you know that, and I've been offered another job. I had decided to take it as I was coming back to the office.”
“My god Katie, you can't leave us! I mean I know I've been a bit crabby in the last few days but that's nothing. Who has offered you a job? One of our rivals I bet.” She paused, obviously fishing for the information. Katie could not tell if she was really upset, or angry.
“I can't really say at the moment but I was going to hand in my notice today anyway. Sorry.”
“Can't really blame you I suppose. Hope it’s a good job.....we'll certainly miss you.”
Katie could not help feel Sue was being hugely hypocritical. Only a few days ago, she had been hinting that Katie should perhaps “move on” and here she was wringing her hands. Katie supposed that her leaving would solve a few problems, whatever they actually were.
Still, she bit her lip and said nothing. There was no real point in having an argument and she certainly did not have the strength for it.
At that moment someone else came to the door. Sue looked up in surprise and then astonishment.
“Peter, hi. What are you doing here? I mean.....why have? Anyway it's good of you to come and see Katie....” she ended up lamely.
Peter bounded into the room, seemingly unperturbed to see Sue.
“Hi Sue…..and how's the patient? Feeling a little better perhaps?”
Katie had given up trying to control or second guess anything that was happening to her and, despite her heart giving a huge jump (it was probably showing on the monitor above her bed), managed to smile.
“Much better thanks,” was all she said, hoping against hope that Sue would take a cue and go.
“Well, I must be off....thanks for our little chat Katie and I'll wait for the nod from you to say anything. Hope you feel better.”
With that Sue disappeared out of the door. Peter watched her go and then turned back to Katie with a quizzical expression on his face.
“What's all that about then? Anything I should know about?”
“Oh I was just telling Sue that I am resigning. I have another job to go to.”
Katie watched Peter's reaction carefully. If he had known about her offer, he gave a very good impression of being surprised.
“Wow, that's great! Not with one of the competitors I hope.”
“Well, it is actually, but why does anybody care about that?”
“Uhmm. I'm not sure how they would feel about one of their sales people going out with the CEO of their biggest rival,” he said with a grin.
Katie's breath stopped in her chest. He was at it again…..the sheer arrogance. She took a deep breath and spoke as forcibly as her voice would allow.
“Look, I hate to disappoint you but we are not “going out” as you put it. You've given me the total run around for the last week or so. You came into my life, blow it inside out, exited my life, knocked drunk on my door and then expect me just to lie down and think of England. Well, I'm not going to.”
Katie lay back on the pillow, suddenly realising how rough she must look. All she really wanted to do was to have a shower, and then sleep for about a week.
Peter paused and took a breath.
“Look, listen to me for a second. I know I've been a fool and behaved like a total schoolboy. It was pathetic and stupid and why I did it I'm not so sure. But one thing I do know is that I want to see you again - and not in some restaurant in Europe at breakfast time.” Peter stopped and stared intently at Katie.
“I can't promise where it will end up, but at least we will have tried…..what do you say?”
Katie looked at his searching eyes and was overcome with emotion. Despite what had happened she felt an overwhelming feeling for this man and wanted more than ever to get to know him properly.
“Well. I don’t know really,” she paused.
“OK. I'm not sure if this pathetic grovelling is quite sufficient and my friends have told me that men like you are always schoolboys when it comes to serious relationships because you actually really just love your mothers still and will never change.” Katie took a breath.
“However, I suppose I could give you the benefit of the doubt…..just this once though. Let me get better and up on my feet again and then we'll go out on a proper date.”
“Great, fantastic. Is there anything I can get you? Are you being treated OK?”
Katie smiled. What a change!
“I'm OK thanks, given the circumstances.....but I really need to use the bathroom. Sorry that's very un romantic”
Peter smiled and stood up.
“I'll leave you be. I'll come in again soon to see how you are.”
With that, he leant forward and gave Katie a quick kiss on her lips. Despite her condition, she felt a jolt of electricity shoot through her and knew he had felt the same. They smiled at each other and she watched him turn and leave the room without a backward glance.
CHAPTER 17
“Your drink, Miss,” the barman said as he placed a bubbling glass of champagne on a mat in front of Katie.
“Thank you,” she responded as she reached out and brought the glass to her lips. The liquid was effervescent and cold and slipped down her throat, creating a little chill that sent a tremor through her bones. She replaced the glass on the bar mat and looked around her.
It was a luxurious bar by anyone's standards. The comfy chairs that were dotted around were reassuringly expensive looking and the rest of the clientele were quietly engaged in quiet personal conversations with each other.
Katie looked out to the sea and beyond, marvelling at the journey she had undertaken over the last six weeks. Her five day stay in hospital had passed surprisingly quickly considering, probably helped by a constant flow of visitors and well wishers. She remembered thinking that it was a shame she had to have an accident to realise how many people she knew and cared for her, both from work and her personal life.
True, the conversation with Hugo about their future, or lack of it, had not been easy, but he had taken the news like a man and wished her well. Her new employer had, good to their word, issued a formal offer that she had accepted over the telephone. They also postponed her starting date by four weeks to allow her to recover fully.
This was what she was now trying to do in a wonderful resort in Thailand where she ha
d been for a little over a week. Her leg was healing well, the plaster having been taken off just before her trip, and walking with a cane was not such a problem. She had not had any complications as a result of her head injury and was almost back to her old perky self, despite some occasional headaches that she had been assured would soon disappear.
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