Page 65 of Five Things I Love About You

He rubs his head as though testing it out. ‘A damn sight better than I was this time last night. Not that I remember much about it.’

I swallow. ‘Do you… remember anything about the accident?’

He shakes his head. ‘Not really. I’d been out for dinner with a couple of colleagues and I was driving home. Then some idiot on a bike pulled in front of me and I swerved to avoid them and… the next thing I know I was in an ambulance.’ He shakes his head, exasperated. ‘I’m really not sure of the details, but I don’t suppose it matters. It could have been a lot worse.’

I force a smile. ‘Yes, that’s true. So how are your injuries?’

‘Well, my head feels okay. This eye’ – he touches it gently with his fingers and flinches – ‘is pretty sore but it’s just bruising. Apparently my neck brace is a precaution but they want me to keep it on for a day or two, so it’s mainly this arm which, thankfully, is only badly sprained and not broken.’ He shrugs. ‘I guess I’m lucky.’

I don’t say anything, and we lapse into silence for a moment, the sounds of the hospital humming around us.

I need to think of something to say, impress him. Sweep him off his feet. Sitting here staring at the floor is hardly going to make him fall in love with me. I’m about to ask him something about himself when he speaks first.

‘So, tell me about you.’

‘Me? There’s not much to tell really.’

‘Oh come on, Miranda, of course there is. What do you do for a living, what are your hobbies, where do you live? There’s always something to tell!’

‘Okay fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.’ I lace my fingers together. ‘I’m an English teacher, and I like reading – obviously – and I like running. I’ve got two kids but they’re grown up and living their own lives on the other side of the world. I’m divorced, have been for years, and I normally live in London but have moved to Newcastle recently to… for work.’ I trail off, not keen to dive too deeply into my reasons for moving here. If he knew the truth he’d run a mile.

‘You’re from London?’

‘Yes.’

‘Great city. I go occasionally for work.’ He studies me. ‘What have you been up to since you’ve been here?’

I squirm. I can hardly tell him the truth – that I’ve been looking for a man that I strongly suspect might be him.

‘I went skydiving for the first time the other day,’ I blurt.

His eyes widen. ‘I love skydiving!’

‘Do you? That’s amazing,’ I say, trying for surprised but more likely sounding sarcastic. But it’s clear it was the right thing to say because all of a sudden he’s animated, talking about the dives he’s done, about how he’s training to become an instructor, about the first time he ever threw himself out of a plane.

‘God, sorry, I’m just talking about me,’ he says. He leans forward. ‘So, how did you find it? Did you love it?’

‘It was pretty incredible,’ I admit.

He claps his hands together. The man in the bed beside him glances over, then away again. ‘I knew it! Everyone loves it once they try. It’s completely addictive.’

‘Well, I’m not sure about that. It was exhilarating, but I’m far too chicken shit to try it again.’

‘Oh you have to! Honestly, it just gets better and better every time you do it. The adrenaline rush. Let me take you. When I’m out of here, of course, not right now.’ He gives a wry smile and I notice how straight and white his teeth are.

‘Oh, I?—’

He shakes his head. ‘Sorry, that was very presumptuous of me. But you’ve probably noticed skydiving is the thing that gets me most excited. I have the world’s most boring job, so this is what makes me happy and I forget that not everyone is the same.’

‘No, it’s fine. I get it. I’d love to, you know, once you’re all fit again. Thanks.’

His face lights up, his eyes crinkling at the corners, dimples forming in his cheeks. ‘Brilliant.’ He sighs. ‘It was something my ex cited as one of my many faults.’

‘Skydiving?’

‘That, and the fact that she thought I loved skydiving more than I loved her.’ He gives me an impish grin. ‘I suppose I did in the end.’

I smile, unsure what to say.

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