We couldn’t move him, so we had to make him as comfortable as possible where he was.
‘It’s okay,’ I said. ‘Help is on its way. Are you cold?’
His hands were shaking, and lips had a bluish tinge. He nodded. He had dark hair, flecked with grey, eyes like two cups of black coffee and grey bushy eyebrows.
I took off my coat and placed it over him. I looked inside his glove compartment and found a pack of tissues. Carefully I balled some up and placed it over his wound to stem the flow of blood.
‘I lost control. One second, I was driving, and the next I hit a patch of ice, and the car was careering towards that tree.’ He cast me a frightened look. ‘I woke up and this country lane was silent. No cars or people about. I got scared. I thought I’d die here, alone and cold. Then that little brown dog turned up out of nowhere. He knew I was in trouble. As soon as he started barking you arrived.’
I smiled as Humphrey was barking outside the car. ‘That’s Humphrey.’
‘He’s a clever dog.’
I smiled. ‘Naughty and clever.’
Ben opened the passenger door and stuck his head inside. ‘Help is on its way.’ He looked at me. I was shivering as it was icy cold, and my coat was keeping the man warm. Ben took off his coat and placed it around my shoulders.
‘My name is Derek,’ said the man, ‘I was on my way to meet my daughter for the first time.’
‘The first time?’
He nodded. ‘I didn’t realise I had a daughter until she tracked me down on Facebook a year ago. An old girlfriend of mine never told me she was pregnant with my child. She moved away and raised our daughter by herself for twenty-one years.’
‘Oh wow – that’s amazing you two have finally got in touch.’
He shook his head. ‘I should be there now but look at me. She will be waiting and thinking I’ve let her down.’ Resting his head against the wheel he let out a sob. ‘I didn’t want to let her down. I can’t believe I’ve crashed the car and now I can’t get to her.’
His emotion made my chest ache. I gave his arm a rub. ‘Hey, come on.’
The wail of the fire brigade’s siren could be heard in the distance.
‘Derek, please don’t get upset. We can fix this,’ I said. ‘Do you want me to get a message to her? I can go meet her for you.’
He looked at me. ‘Would you do that?’
‘What’s her name and where are you supposed to be meeting her?’
Ben and I stood as the firefighters rescued Derek from his mangled car. An ambulance also arrived, and they took the Derek to hospital. He waved at me as he was stretchered into the ambulance. Once they had driven off, I turned to Ben. ‘Will you take Humphrey back for me?’
‘You okay?’ He looked concerned.
I nodded. ‘There’s something I need to do for Derek.’
‘I’m sorry about calling you Little Miss Chaos. You were great back there. The way you spoke to that guy when he was trapped and frightened…’
‘You were not so bad yourself,’ I said, remembering his heroic arrival.
He took the dog lead and nodded as I hurried off towards the high street.
Outside the bakery café was a familiar figure in a bright pink puffa coat, jeans and trainers. It had started to snow. I sensed she was wishing she had a hood on her coat as she pulled up her collar. When I got closer, I could see she was dabbing at her eyes.
‘Layla,’ I called out, ‘I need to talk to you.’
Layla shook her head and began walking off in the opposite direction. ‘Not now, Rachel, I am a bit upset.’
I chased after her and grabbed her by the elbow. When she turned around, I could see she had been crying. Her dark eyes were swollen and pink. ‘People always let me down,’ she sobbed. ‘The guy who I was going to meet. He didn’t show up. Like the rest of them…’
Placing my hands on her shoulders I shook my head. ‘Derek was in an accident. He’s okay. They’ve taken him to hospital.’
