Page 19 of Sunny Sundays at Primrose Hall

Tom grimaced.

‘Not sure. Sounds as though he could be in a pretty bad way to be honest with you.’ Tom pulled his lips tight, shaking his head. ‘Look, are you sure you’re okay?’ he said, gesturing to thepub. ‘I should never have left you in the lurch like that. He wasn’t giving you a hard time, was he?’

‘Oh, my God, don’t worry. Kyle just wanted to talk. I understand perfectly.’ Well, she did now. It explained why Tom had been in such a hurry to leave. ‘Do you want me to come with you?’

‘No, I’m not sure how long I’ll be down there for, or what to expect, but I’ll let you know how Jackson is once I’ve found out a few more details. Let me drop you off at home first,’ he offered. ‘I’ll be driving past your place.’

Sophie looked over her shoulder. There was no sign of Kyle, but she really didn’t want him knowing where she was living.

‘If you’re sure it’s not a problem?’

‘Absolutely not. It would make me feel better too.’ He leant forward and kissed her gently on the cheek, wrapping his arms around her, a gesture from one friend to another, but to Sophie it felt wholly intimate and made her body react in a way she could never have expected. Most of all, she felt a surge of sympathy and concern for Tom, knowing how worried he would be about his brother.

‘Send my love to Pia and Jackson, won’t you?’ she said, climbing out of the car a few minutes later. ‘I’ll be keeping everything crossed for them both.’

15

Pia held her breath walking into the hospital bay in the emergency department, knowing that she had to hold herself together, more for Jackson’s benefit than her own. Still, nothing could have prepared her for the sight waiting for her as the curtain around Jackson’s bed was pulled back by a nurse. Pia visibly gasped, barely recognising the man she loved beneath the plethora of tubes and machines he was attached to. He was flat on his back with a neck brace on, a bandage around his head, and what could be seen of his hair beneath was caked with blood. The remnants of blood could be seen around his eyes and face too.

‘Oh, Jackson!’ Her hand flew to her chest as she felt an overwhelming surge of love, seeing him lying there all battered and bruised. She leant down tentatively, hardly daring to touch him in case she caused any more damage. She kissed him gently on his forehead. ‘Hey, Jackson? Are you all right?’

It was a stupid question, she knew. He looked broken, shattered, but she was hugely relieved when one of his eyes opened to look at her, his face contorting in pain as he forced a smile.

‘I’m dandy,’ he said, through a grimace. ‘Alive, that’s the main thing.’

‘Yes! And thank God for that,’ she said, her gaze running the length of his body, taking in what was left of his black leathers, which had been cut from his body to reveal his messed-up legs. An image of him from earlier that day popped into her head. He’d been on his way out of the hall, heading for the back door of the kitchen. He turned to look at her with one hand on the door handle, his dark hair curling on his collar and a big grin on his face. She thought how handsome he looked in his motorcycle gear. ‘Be careful!’ she’d called after him, the reminder now making her stomach churn.

‘Look,’ she urged him now. ‘All of this can be sorted. Please don’t worry, Jackson, you’re in absolutely the right place and you’re going to be fine, I know it.’

Jackson sucked on his lips and gave a nod of his head. Of course, Pia knew no such thing, and she suspected neither did Jackson. She was almost too frightened to know the extent of his injuries. Her imagination had already provided the worst-case scenarios.

‘What have the doctors said?’ she ventured.

‘Not a lot. I’ve had some scans and X-rays so we’re just waiting on the results of those.’

Pia took hold of Jackson’s hand and very gently ran a finger along his jawline with her other hand.

‘Are you in a lot of pain?’

‘Yep. Although they’ve pumped me full of painkillers so I’m hoping they might kick in soon.’

Pia’s heart squeezed at seeing how uncomfortable he was. He was putting on a brave face for her, but she suspected she was failing miserably at keeping up a positive front from her end. She had to keep turning away, on the pretext of checking something,anything, so that he wouldn’t be able to see the tears collecting in her eyes.

‘What on earth happened?’

She didn’t want to bombard him with questions, but she was struggling to understand how he could have left the hall earlier that day, full of his usual confidence and assurance, and then be reduced to this pitiful state within a few hours.

‘I was riding through the back lanes, over on the opposite side of the valley, when this car came from the other direction on the wrong side of the road.’ He spoke slowly, struggling to articulate what had happened, his words punctuated by flinches of pain.

‘Don’t worry.’ She held up a hand to stop him. ‘We don’t need to do this now.’ What had possessed her to ask? He’d gone through enough already today. The last thing he needed was to revisit those awful moments of his accident. There’d be plenty of time for those kinds of conversations later, but Jackson shook his head, determined to go on.

‘The guy was speeding, I reckon he must have been doing at least 60mph, far too fast for that stretch of road. I tried to steer the bike out of his way, but…’ He snapped his eyes closed, reliving the moment of impact. ‘I didn’t have time. He clipped the front of the bike and I came flying off straight over the handlebars. I think I must have rolled over a couple of times because I ended up in a ditch a long way from the bike.’

He closed his eyes again and Pia felt helpless, unable as she was to take away the pain and horror of what he’d been through.

‘Christ, the bike… Do you know what kind of state it’s in?’

She looked at him, aghast. Was that all he was worried about? She shook her head. It was the least of her concerns.

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