Page 33 of A Brambleberry Manor Christmas
I nod. ‘Thank you.’
‘But is that true? Did you just have a wobble? Or was itsomething more than that?’
I sigh. ‘It’s complicated, Flo. And I can’t…I don’t think Ican talk about it right now.’ I glance up. ‘Sorry.’
She brushes away my apology. ‘You just take your time,pulling yourself together, okay? And I’ll go in and start clearing up in thekitchen.’
‘Thanks. You’re an angel.’ I attempt a smile.
‘Yeah. Just call me Gabriel,’ she quips. ‘Will you be allright out here?’
I nod. ‘You go in. It’s freezing and you’re not wearing acoat either.’
She disappears inside and I stand there, not knowing what todo. I can’t face going back in, just in case I happen to bump into anyone. Ineed to go home.
I lean back against the cold stone wall, still numb withshock. My head is reeling at the terrible coincidence that’s plunged me rightback into the dark pit of despair I’ve spent the past twelve months trying toescape…
*****
When Harvey had his fatal heart attack, it rocked myentire world. But it wasn’t just because I’d lost my partner of almost fiveyears.
What made things a million times worse was thewayinwhich I lost him…
The day it happened, I’d arranged to meet Harvey at an oldhaunt of ours, a pub called The Beehive, where we used to go in the early days,when we first got together. I wanted to talk about our future together, butHarvey had proved impossible to pin down, always coming in late, ‘too tired’ totalk.
At last, I’d got him to agree to meet me in The Beehive. Isuppose I had a flimsy hope that if we met somewhere that had good memories forboth of us, we’d naturally remember the happy times. And maybe we’d be able to rekindlewhat we once had.
Looking back, it was a ridiculously sentimental idea on mypart – a plan that was doomed to fail – but of course I didn’t realise that atthe time.
As I drove there, I was running through in my head what I’dsay to him. And I almost didn’t notice Harvey’s car parked outside a bungalow onmy route, in a village a few miles from The Beehive. It was the ambulance parkedat the side of the road that attracted my attention first. I slowed down as twoparamedics emerged from the bungalow with someone on a stretcher and loaded thepatient into the ambulance. A blonde woman ran out behind them, wearing justher dressing-gown.
I drove past the scene. And that’s when I saw the car thatwas parked in front of the ambulance.
My heart lurched. It was Harvey’s car. What was it doing parkedthere?
Shocked, I stopped so suddenly by the kerb that the driverbehind me honked really loudly, and my stress levels shot skywards. There was anewsagent’s on the opposite side of the road. Maybe Harvey had stopped and gonein there to buy a newspaper?
The ambulance drove away and I got out of the car and wentacross to the newsagent’s to check if Harvey was in there. But he wasn’t. And that’swhen it hit me.
Could it have been Harvey on the stretcher?
I got back in my car and raced after the ambulance, catchingup with it just as it arrived at the hospital entrance. I abandoned the car andasked the female paramedic who the patient was, explaining I thought it mightbe my partner. When I saw it was Harvey, I was numb with shock, but I raninside with them and they showed me where to wait for news.
I sat there, dazed, unable to believe what was happening.And then a doctor was walking towards me, a grim look on his face, and I justknew – even before he said anything – that Harvey hadn’t made it.
The female paramedic came out and spoke to me. Sheintroduced herself as Mishti and she was really lovely, telling me that Harvey hadsuffered a massive heart attack that rendered him unconscious, and he’d died inthe ambulance.
‘Are you all right?’ Mishti asked. ‘Can I phone someone foryou? The lady who called for an ambulance, perhaps?’
I stared at her. ‘Sorry…who?’
She looked puzzled. ‘Oh, the woman we spoke to…at theaddress we attended? Forty-five Hayden Park Avenue?’
Hayden Park Avenue. The bungalow. Where the woman ran outafter Harvey in her dressing-gown.
My head was spinning. ‘No, no, I’ll be all right.’
‘Are you sure? Come on, sit down. I’ll get my colleague,Mike, to call you a taxi, shall I? Because I don’t think you should be drivingright now.’
