Page 82 of My Kind of Happy

‘You’re welcome, good luck!’ Lucas shouted back.

The man pulled on a motorcycle helmet and my stomach gave an involuntary lurch; parked a few metres away at an angle to the kerb was a gleaming black and silver bike.

‘Cute isn’t he?’ Lucas joined me at the window, leaning forward to get a better look.

‘Hmm.’ I forced myself not to turn away and tried to ignore the waves of fear inside me. ‘Good luck to him. I hope she says yes.’

Lucas sighed dreamily. ‘How could she refuse?’

There was a black Range Rover parked in front of the bike. Suddenly the red brake lights came on followed by the white reverse lights. My heart began to pound.

‘What’s that car doing?’ I gasped.

The car began to creep backwards towards the motorbike. The biker waved his arms at the driver. But the driver evidently didn’t see anything because the car kept on coming. My heart was in my mouth as I heard the crunch of metal. The car stopped with a screech of brakes. The biker stared in horror at the mangled remains of his bike.

And then I was running. I was outside on the pavement banging on the driver’s window.

‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ I yelled. ‘Don’t you look behind you before you reverse?’

The door of the car was flung open and I had to jump out of its way. A blonde woman wearing huge sunglasses looked at me coolly and then brushed past me.

‘Are you OK?’ she asked the biker, joining him at the back of her car.

He was squatting down looking at his bike in dismay. ‘I’ve had better days.’

‘But you’re not injured.’ The woman sagged with relief, resting her hands on her thighs. She was wearing jeans, a strappy top and high heels.

‘No thanks to you,’ I yelled. ‘If he’d been on that bike, you could have killed him.’

‘But thankfully he wasn’t,’ said Lucas, appearing by my side. He put his arm around my shoulders, trying to console me.

But I’d gone too far to be soothed. All the anger, the terror and the grief inside me bubbled up to the surface and I shook free of him.

‘He is about to propose to his girlfriend. His whole life ahead of him and you, you just casually reverse your massive car into him. You could have wiped out that life like that.’ I snapped my fingers in her face.

‘I’m fine, honestly.’ The biker removed his helmet, he was pale and shaky. ‘But thanks for your concern.’

‘Get a car, please,’ I begged him. ‘For her, for your girlfriend so she doesn’t have to live in fear of you having an accident.’

‘I’ll bear it in mind,’ he said grimly.

‘Oh please,’ muttered the driver. ‘What a drama queen.’

Her flippant tone sent my fury into overdrive.

‘You haven’t even said sorry,’ I spluttered, squaring up to her. ‘At least apologise to him.’

She drew herself up tall and whipped her sunglasses off. Fierce brown eyes burned into mine.

‘No one has been hurt and quite frankly this is none of your business.’ She took a step forward and prodded my chest. ‘You are mad.’

‘You’re right there,’ I replied furiously. ‘In fact I’m livid. I’m calling the police.’

‘Back off, lady,’ she hissed.

‘You, you … monster!’ I gasped furiously.

‘OK, petal, let’s get you inside,’ said Lucas firmly, gripping my arm.

Someone else appeared and took my other arm. It was Rosie. Between them they bundled me back into the shop where Scamp was waiting anxiously for me.

Rosie made me hot tea laced with sugar and Lucas stroked my hair.

‘Want to talk about it?’ he asked once my sobs had subsided.

I shook my head. How could I explain what I didn’t even understand myself? I knew it was irrational, this fear I had of motorbikes. I’d always felt safe on the back of Freddie’s bike but all my happy memories had been wiped out by the enduring image I had of his last, fatal ride. I hadn’t even seen it for myself: I hadn’t needed to; my imagination had created it for me and I couldn’t envision a time when I’d ever feel any differently.