Page 54 of Winter at Wishington Bay
* * *
‘I think she’s coming round.’ Muffled voices swam in my head and I tentatively opened one eye. Above me Nate and Flora were both hovering, concern written across both faces. I closed my eye then opened both together.
‘Hey.’ Nate’s voice was soft, and a gentle smile broke through the worry and despite knowing at some point I was going to have to deal with a flood of embarrassment worthy of Niagara Falls in full flow, I smiled back.
‘Hello.’
‘How are you feeling?’
‘OK.’ I made to push myself up and Nate was there immediately, helping me to a sitting position, stuffing another pillow behind me as I sat on my sofa, my legs out, covered by the soft blanket that normally lay across the back of it.
‘Shall I get you a drink, love?’ Flora asked.
I nodded. ‘Thank you, Flora. I’m fine. I’ll do it myself in a minute. Just need to gather my thoughts a sec. Who’s minding the shop?’
‘George. I rang him the moment Nate rushed into the shop with you in his arms.’ Behind Nate, she gave me a wide-eyed look and wiggled her eyebrows a couple of times. ‘I’ll go and make us all a nice cuppa.’ With that, she disappeared through to my tiny kitchen and I heard her getting mugs out of the cupboard and the kettle beginning to boil.
‘I fainted, didn’t I?’
Nate smiled. ‘Quite spectacularly.’
‘Oh, God.’ I dropped my head into my hands. ‘I’m so sorry. As soon as I saw the blood I knew it was going to happen. I’m so embarrassed.’
Nate’s hands closed softly round my wrists and tugged gently. Reluctantly I looked up. Letting out a sigh, I met his gaze. ‘Why couldn’t I have done it without an audience?’
Nate’s brow creased. ‘I’m very glad you didn’t or you would have hit the pavement pretty hard. Again.’
‘I’m rather covering myself in glory today, aren’t I?’
Nate smiled and gave my hands a squeeze before standing and relieving Flora of the drinks she’d just bustled in from the kitchen with.
‘Actually, I’m going to take mine down to the shop and just check on George, if that’s all right? I think Nate’s got everything in hand here.’ She gave me another cheeky wink. ‘I’ll pop the mug back later. Take it easy, sweetheart.’ Flora bent and gave me a quick kiss on the top of my head, squeezed Nate’s forearm and headed back downstairs.
Nate passed me my drink and took a seat on the coffee table opposite me.
‘Is my face a mess?’
‘Nope,’ he said taking a sip of tea. ‘Flora found me your first aid supplies and helped me clean you up while you were out. Bit of gravel rash and a small cut on your chin which was what leaked all over your glove.’ He nodded towards the kitchen. ‘She’s got them soaking in a bowl of something or other in the kitchen to get the blood out.’ At the mention of the word, I felt the room swim a little.
‘Sorry. I won’t say it again.’
‘It’s fine. Really.’
‘You look kind of green.’
‘It’ll go off. And thanks for cleaning me up. And for catching me and bringing me home.’ I raised my eyes to the ceiling and gave a small head shake.
‘What’s up?’
I let out a sigh. ‘It’s just embarrassing. Smacking my face on the pavement was bad enough and then I had to give a finale performance of fainting like some eighteenth-century heroine.’
‘If it helps, it wasn’t like that at all. More like someone dropping a sack of spuds.’
I wasn’t sure if that helped or not but it brought a smile to my throbbing face so there was that.
‘That’s better.’ Nate returned the smile.
‘So not a fan of the B word then?’ he asked, taking my mug from me as I reached forward, to place it beside his own on the side table. I glanced round. There were even coasters underneath them. Whatever his ex thought, I knew a lot of women would definitely file Nate under the ‘keeper’ category. There was a good chance I might even be one of those women but my head was too sore to think about anything like that right now so I focused back on what he was saying instead. Which was definitely harder than it looked.
