Page 75 of Never Gonna Happen

‘Take me down to the water first,’ he said.

Emily stood up and pushed the wheelchair through the crowd, manoeuvring it down the hastily constructed wooden ramp without landing him face first in the sand. She took the rubber matting slowly so it didn’t jolt around too much, putting the brakes on when the wheels were in the water. Nobody followed them, and it felt blissful to have a few minutes alone to watch the moon glittering over the water. Tiny waves lapped over her bare feet, which had finally gone brown after a month of carefully managed time in the sun.

‘I know this has been a bit of a nightmare,’ said Jamie. ‘But I’m really glad we came.’

Emily bent down so he could see her. ‘Me too. Can we come back one day?’

Jamie gave her a smile that made her stomach do somersaults, exactly as it had when they’d first met. She realised how much she cared about him but felt too scared to say it.

‘I’d really like that,’ he said, cupping the back of her neck as he pulled her in for a kiss.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Despite the first-class seats and the calm, efficient attention of the cabin crew, Emily had never known a night drag on for so long. While the rest of the plane slept, she kept an eye on Jamie, waking him up every hour to help him change position or take his medication, and asking him about any unusual pain or discomfort. In between she watched a couple of movies, neither of which she paid much attention to. Mr Hunter woke up about four hours before landing and ordered Emily to leave him in charge. She put her eye mask on, stretched out on her flatbed seat and passed out in minutes.

Their flight landed on time at 0530 UK time, and the Gatwick ground staff were waiting on the air bridge to transport Jamie through the airport in his wheelchair. Leon was at the arrivals gate, having stayed in a hotel at the airport the night before, and Emily let him give her a much-needed hug. With him was Darren, the paramedic who would drive Jamie home by private ambulance, and he quickly whisked away the wheelchair to get him settled in for the journey.

The weather was wet and windy and it made Emily’s chest hurt as they left Gatwick and turned north for London rather than south for Brighton. It was only an hour to Chichester from here, where breakfast and her crappy bed in her mum’s abandoned craft graveyard would be waiting. But instead they drove for three hours back to Bowford Manor, Emily’s mood mirroring the dark, heavy clouds.

Anna was waiting outside the front door when they arrived, wrapped in a black wool coat that made her look like a malevolent crow. The ambulance was a few minutes behind, so Mr Hunter said his goodbyes before hurrying out of the cold, reminding Emily that he didn’t need her until this afternoon. While Leon unloaded the bags, Emily watched as the ambulance trundled down the drive and parked up behind the Audi.

She moved to open the sliding side door, but Anna stepped in her way. ‘I’ll take things from here,’ she said, like some kind of nightclub bouncer.

‘But I . . .’ said Emily, outraged.

Anna turned her back on Emily and opened the door. ‘Welcome home, Jamie. I’ve made some breakfast for you; I’ll drop it over in half an hour and do your unpacking.’

Jamie looked exhausted. ‘Thanks, Anna.’

‘Leon, can you show Jamie round to the pool house,’ Anna continued. ‘It’s all ready for him.’

Leon nodded and climbed into the passenger seat of the ambulance.

‘Everything’s in hand now, Emily,’ said Anna, her tone icy. ‘You should get some rest.’

Jamie reached out and took Emily’s hand. ‘Anna’s right, you’ve been up half the night, you must be shattered. I’ll see you later.’

Emily nodded and chewed her lip, not wanting to make this situation all about her. Right now all that mattered was Jamie.

‘OK, I’ll pop over at lunchtime.’ She smiled and waved as the ambulance drove away.

‘He’s in good hands now,’ said Anna, a slight emphasis on the word ‘good’. ‘His physiotherapist will be here tomorrow.’

‘His physiotherapist?’ said Emily. ‘We didn’t . . .’

‘Jamie’s friend Louisa is coming to help,’ said Anna. ‘I believe they’ve been messaging while you were away. She’s an expert in this kind of rehabilitation, so she’ll be staying in the stable apartment for the time being.’

Emily’s mouth hung open, her vocal cords paralysed with shock.

‘You should go home at the weekend,’ said Anna, turning on her heel and stalking back into the house. ‘You look terrible.’

Emily plodded up the stairs to her room with her suitcase, feeling like she was wearing concrete boots. Her head felt foggy and jumbled, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this exhausted. She tried to compute the news that Louisa was arriving tomorrow and work out if it was next-level malice from Anna, or actually the best solution for Jamie’s recovery. She remembered him telling her about Louisa’s job, how she worked with soldiers injured in Afghanistan. Maybe she was the ideal person to get him back on his feet and Anna had his best interests at heart. Or maybe the evil cow had seen an opportunity to stick the knife into Emily and grabbed it with both hands. Probably it was a bit of both, but it still hurt to think about it.

She unpacked her clothes, putting her bikini and sarong and summer dresses in the back of a drawer as an icy wind rattled the window frame; she wasn’t going to be needing them for a while. Then she messaged Kelly and the family WhatsApp to let them know she was back safely and turned off her phone. Finally, she wrapped herself in the blanket Leon had knitted her for Christmas, then lay on the bed and fell asleep.

When Emily walked over to the pool house at lunchtime, Jamie was up and about and practising navigating the small space on his crutches. He seemed pleased to see her, and it was clear that Anna had gone to every effort to make the space more accessible for him. There was a new ramp up to the front door and a couple of handrails had been fitted in the wet room, along with a plastic chair so Jamie could sit down and have a shower. Emily wondered if she’d consulted with Louisa over what he would need and felt an irrational stab of jealousy.

They chatted about nothing much for a few minutes, until it became abundantly clear that Jamie wasn’t going to mention Louisa without some prompting. ‘Anna said that Louisa is coming tomorrow,’ she said casually, checking inside the pool house fridge to make sure it was fully stocked.