The hand on his shoulder was warm and firm and comforting. ‘Don’t be. You’re in shock, and I’d be just the same if it was Daisy or one of the kids. How do you take your tea?’
‘Coffee, for a start, black, no sugar—and if you put a ton of sugar in it, I’ll pour it on the grass, so don’t even try.’
Ben grunted and got to his feet without bothering to comment. ‘Have you eaten today?’
‘Not since seven. I didn’t manage to get lunch.’
Too busy trashing what was left of his relationship with Liv...
‘Right. I’ll get you something to eat, as well. Stay here.’
He didn’t think he had a choice. He was seriously unsure his legs would hold him if he tried to get up, and he swallowed on another wave of nausea.
Shock, he realised numbly. He was in shock, as Ben had said, but Liv was alive, Sam was looking after her and if he was as good a doctor as he was a sailor, she was in safe hands.
All he could do was wait.
* * *
So this is what it’s like in a scanner, she thought, but she felt curiously detached, as if it wasn’t really happening to her.
It didn’t take long, and then she was wheeled back to the ED, lying on her back staring at the ceiling as it whizzed past and feeling disorientated. She knew the route well, but she’d never seen it from this angle. Weird.
They went through several sets of doors, and came to rest at last in Resus. She was glad they’d stopped. Her head was spinning and even the slight jiggle of the trolley along the smooth corridors had made it hurt more.
‘OK?’ Sam asked, smiling down at her, and she tried to smile back but it felt like a pretty poor effort and she just wanted Nick.
‘I think so. My head aches a bit.’
‘It will. You’ve had quite a bump, Liv, but nothing’s broken and there’s no evidence of a brain injury. You might be pretty sore for a while, though, but your spine’s OK and so’s your pelvis, so we can get rid of all this stuff and someone’ll come and clean you up a bit and then I’ll get you moved out of Resus.’
‘What happened to my clothes? I don’t remember anyone taking them off.’
‘We cut them off you,’ he said, frowning slightly. ‘When you were brought in.’
‘Oh.’ She thought hard, but came up with nothing. ‘I didn’t register that. I suppose you had to. Where’s Nick?’
‘I don’t know, but when I find him he’s going to ask me questions and I gather from Ben that you’re not together any more, so do I have your permission to talk to him about your results, or would you rather I didn’t?’
Her results? ‘Yes—yes, of course. If you don’t tell him he’ll only ask me anyway so you might as well.’
Sam chuckled. ‘That sounds like him. OK, I’ll go and find him while we get you sorted. He won’t be far away.’
* * *
He was in the relatives’ room where Ben had left him when Sam came in. He tried to get up, but Sam put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him gently back down. It wasn’t hard. His legs felt like jelly and he thought he was going to be sick again.
He opened his mouth to ask how she was, but he didn’t need to, Sam got there before him.
‘She’s OK, Nick. She’s doing all right.’
He let his breath out in a rush and crushed the sudden urge to cry. ‘No brain injury?’
Sam sat down beside him and shook his head.
‘No. Not as far as we can see but we’ll watch that. Her CT was clear, her X-rays didn’t reveal any fractures, but she’s got a small cut on her scalp which I’m going to glue, and she’s going to have some colourful bruises. There’s the odd superficial graze from contact with the ground, of course, and she’s going to be sore, but all in all she’s got away with it pretty lightly. Assuming there’s no silent head injury waiting to show itself, she should be fine in a day or so but she might be a bit concussed. She’s got a headache, so I want to keep an eye on that, but it’s probably a bit of whiplash.’
He nodded, swallowing. ‘Can I see her now?’
‘In a minute. I’ll get someone to take you to her as soon as she’s ready. I’m going to keep her on fifteen-minute obs for a while, and I’m probably going to admit her overnight, just in case. She didn’t seem to remember we’d cut her clothes off, but that might just be shock. She was still in the neck brace so she might not even have realised what we were doing, but I don’t want to make assumptions and miss anything.’
Nick tried to smile. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t let you. I’ll be right there by her side and I’ll be watching her like a hawk.’
‘Good. I’ll let you know when she’s ready. Oh, and the police want to talk to you about the accident. I’ll get them to come and see you now. Don’t move.’
* * *
It seemed to take an age before the police were finished with him, but finally he was able to go and see Liv. She was in a bed in the small observation ward, her lashes dark against her pale cheeks, and she looked so frail and vulnerable that his heart wrenched. It could so easily have been so much worse. It might yet be...
The chair creaked as he sat down, and her lids fluttered open and her head turned towards him.
‘Nick?’
He stood up and moved to her side, gripping the cot sides on the edge of the bed as he stared down at her ashen face. A bruise was coming out on her cheekbone, blue against the pale skin, and he swallowed hard. ‘Yes, it’s me, Liv. Is that OK, or do you want me to leave?’
‘No, stay with me, please?’ Her hand fluttered, and he reached down and slipped his fingers through hers and they curled around his and clung.
‘How are you feeling?’ he asked, aware of how gruff his voice sounded but unable to do anything about it.
She shrugged slightly, and winced. ‘Sore?’ she said, sounding weak and tired and nothing like his Liv. ‘I’ve got a banging headache and everything’s feeling a bit tender. Sam said I was lucky not to break anything, but it doesn’t feel lucky from where I’m lying.’
‘It’s lucky,’ he said fervently. ‘Trust me, it’s lucky. I watched that car hit you, and for a minute there—well, whatever. If I hadn’t followed you—’
‘Nick, it wasn’t your fault I stepped out in front of it.’
‘Don’t, Liv. I don’t want to think about it. It’s all I can see as it is, and it was my fault, I should have listened to you and let you go.’ He lifted her hand to his mouth and pressed a long, lingering kiss to the back of her fingers. ‘Is there anything I can do for you, anything I can get you?’
‘A taxi?’ she joked weakly. ‘Not that I can go anywhere. They cut my clothes off.’
He frowned. ‘They had to, Liv. They had no idea what injuries you had, and anyway, hitting the tarmac won’t have done them any good. And as for the taxi, you’re going nowhere,’ he said firmly. ‘Sam’s talking about admitting you overnight for observation and I think it’s a good idea.’
‘No-o. I don’t want to stay in,’ she moaned softly. ‘It’s so noisy here. I just want my own bed.’
‘OK. Maybe later. I’ll talk to Sam,’ he murmured to stall her, although he knew darned well what Sam would say, and so, apparently, did she.
‘My parents used to do that,’ she said, her voice tailing off. ‘I’ll ask your father. I’ll see what your mother says. All