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“I’ll do that. You just take a deep breath. Miles is looking after him. Ollie was talking fine when I left them. Try not to worry.”
Two hours later, a nauseating antiseptic smell surrounded me as I sat in a hospital waiting room.
Aidan came running in with Allegra, Ollie’s older sister.
When he saw me, he came over and hugged me. “Thanks for saving him
“We were lucky to get the current. I just helped him along.”
“Miles told me everything. You saved him.” Aidan stared square into my face. “We’ll never forget this.”
He headed over to Clarissa and held her.
Her eyes were puffy and red. My heart went out to her, as I recalled my mother howling following Brent’s accident. We, too, had been in the hospital, pacing about. Only the news was bleaker. My brother never regained consciousness.
As the doctors wheeled Ollie away to be examined, I froze at his wide-eyed fear as he held his mother’s hand. He repeated that he couldn’t move his legs.
It was gut-wrenching to watch.
Since there was little more I could do, I left to call Miranda. Exhausted by the emotion of it, I had to convince myself that Ollie would be all right.
Miranda’s bright, cheery voice lifted my mood.
“Hey,” I said.
“You sound flat.”
“I’m just leaving the hospital.”
“Visiting your father?”
“Nope. Ollie had a surfing accident.”
“Oh god. Is it bad?”
“Well, at this stage, he can’t move his legs.”
“Hell.”
“Yeah. What are you up to?” I asked, looking for some cheer.
“I’m at Harry’s. I have to pick up Ava from your mom’s class in an hour.”
“You’re back to childcare?”
“Harry’s taken an extra shift. She needs the money, and now that I’m back here…”
“Why are you? I wish you’d take up my offer of the apartment,” I said.
“I know, and it’s so generous, but it’s better this way. It will give us time to get to know each other properly. And I don’t like free things.”
“It’s refreshing to meet someone who’s not after something. That’s why I like you.”
“Is that the only reason?”
I smiled at her disappointed tone. “Nope. There are quite a few other reasons.”
“Care to elaborate?”
