Page 38 of Life After Me

Autumn

Ruth

Bloody roadworks. They must have hit a water pipe or something, because the route I was going to take to my next appointment looks more like a stream than a road.

It was closed to traffic, so I had to detour.

I thought I knew roughly where I was, but it wasn’t my area, and nothing really looked all that familiar.

I was at the bottom of a hill, and I couldn’t really remember any hills in the area.

I was lost and running late, and I hate being late.

It’s one of my pet peeves — people not turning up on time — but with my patients it seems beyond rude.

It’s not as if they have the time to waste like other people do.

If I called the office, there was a chance Mike might be able to get to MrBlakeley’s sooner than I could.

He wouldn’t have to get through the traffic I’d been trying to navigate.

I glanced down at the clock, trying to work out how much time I was losing, when I saw the flash in my mirror of another car approaching far too quickly. Time jerked into slow motion and my breath caught in my throat. I had no room to escape what was fast becoming the inevitable.

The sickening crunch echoed through my car and made my bones creak as I jolted forward and was snapped back by my seatbelt.

At first, all I could think was ouch , and a few really choice phrases about idiot drivers.

My shoulder and hip ached where the seat belt had grabbed me, trying to keep me from harm.

Then my training kicked in. Yes my shoulder throbbed, but it didn’t feel any worse than a bad jar, and I didn’t think I’d damaged my collarbone past bruising from the seatbelt. All in all, I’d been pretty lucky.

I climbed out of the car with a wince and went to check on the other driver. Before I reached the window I could already make out panicked mumbles.

The other driver was a man, and he was fighting against his airbag with bloody hands, while moaning what sounded like prayers. He was begging God to not let something happen again. He was half-dazed and starting to panic.

‘Are you all right?’ I peered through the window. ‘Can you move? Where are you hurt?’

‘Umm...’ His voice was choked and his eyes were watery, and his face was smeared with blood. The airbag must have deployed with enough force to snap his hand back into his own nose.

I yanked the door open. ‘Look at me. Are you all right?’

His eyes snapped into focus. ‘Umm... yes, I think so.’

‘Can you move?’

‘Probably.’ He tried to stem the blood from his nose with his fingers. ‘I’m so sorry about this. It’s all my fault.’

‘Worry about that later. I need to get something from my car. Are you all right to wait here?’ I didn’t want him slipping into panic again.

‘Yeah.’

‘Sure?’

‘I’m fine.’ He started to move.

I pushed him gently back against the seat. ‘Just sit still for a minute.’

I tried to open the boot. Come on, I wiggled the handle and yanked at the lid, but all I managed to do was break a nail.

Bugger. I flung the back door open, and briefly turned back to the guy who’d hit me.

‘Just a minute.’ I flashed him what I hoped was a reassuring smile before clambering into the back of my car, hitting the release button for the back seat and folding it down flat.

I wriggled halfway through the gap, groping blindly until my fingers closed around the handle of my work bag.

I snapped the latex gloves on with the ease that you only get after years of practice and turned back to the other driver. ‘Right, let’s get you sorted.’

‘Do you do this often?’ He eyed me nervously.

‘What? Drive around with a full medical kit in case some guy runs into me and breaks his nose? More often than you’d think.’ I grinned at his confusion. At least he seemed calm now. ‘I’m a nurse.’ I pressed a wad of gauze gently to his nose. ‘Hold this here.’

‘Thanks.’

‘Don’t thank me yet. This next bit might hurt.

’ I eased my fingers over the bridge of his nose gently.

He grimaced, but stayed still as my fingers felt across his cheeks and checked the rest of the bones in his face.

When he opened his eyes, I was shocked by how dark a brown they were against the smeared blood.

‘Fingers.’ I positioned them on his nose. ‘Squeeze here and lean forward a bit. Once it stops bleeding we can get you out.’ I picked up his other hand in mine and gently fingered the knuckles.

‘Well, what do you think?’

‘It doesn’t look like you’ve broken any bones. I don’t think you’ll need anything more than a quick clean, some ice and painkillers.’

‘Good. Thanks for this.’

‘Don’t worry about it.’ I leaned back against the open door. ‘Like I said, this is what I do. But legally, I should tell you to go to the hospital and get your face and hand X-rayed by someone who can officially rule out any breaks.’

He shrugged and flexed his fingers. ‘I think I’ll trust your judgement on this one. But shouldn’t I be leaning back? Isn’t that what you do with nosebleeds?’

I shook my head. Why do people always think that? ‘I thought you were trusting me? Do you want to choke on your own blood?’

‘No, not really.’

‘Then stay put.’

‘All right.’ He nodded. ‘Not that I’m complaining, but shouldn’t you be yelling at me and demanding insurance details by now?’

‘I suppose I should, but I don’t think you’re in any condition to run away right now. Besides, yelling at you while you’re still bleeding seems a bit unfair. It’s not like you hit me on purpose, is it? It’s just a stupid accident, why make it anything more than that?’

His face paled and blood started to drip over his fingers again as he lost his grip.

‘Are you all right? Are you feeling dizzy?’ I grabbed his wrist, but his pulse was strong and steady beneath my fingers. ‘Did you hit your head?’

‘No, no, I’m all right.’ He waved away my concern. ‘It’s just...’

‘Just?’

‘Bad memories.’ He took a shaky breath. ‘I was in a... bad accident just before the new year. I think this has freaked me out a bit.’

‘Oh, well this one wasn’t too bad. Come on, let’s get you out.

Then we can try and fix this whole mess.

’ Once he was out of the car and perched on the bonnet, I had a chance to properly look at my car.

He’d managed to hit me on the corner and had caved in the wheel arch and part of the back. No wonder the boot hadn’t opened.

His car looked worse. The bumper was half hanging off the front, at least one of the lights was broken and the bent metal looked like it was digging against the wheel.

Looking at the damage, and the glass glittering on the floor, I realised how lucky we’d both been.

It could easily have been much, much worse.

I flashed the guy another reassuring smile. It wasn’t too bad, and he seemed shaken up. ‘Not too bad. What do you think happened? Were you distracted or something?’

‘No. I definitely hit the brake.’ He looked confused. ‘It seemed to jam. I don’t know what happened. The brakes were working fine before.’ He started to move, but I stopped him.

‘Bad idea. You should avoid bending down too much for a few hours. Keep the pressure on your nose. I’ll have a look.’ I leaned back into his car and twisted to reach into the footwell. After a few seconds my hand brushed against something round and papery. What on earth?

‘Umm, I think I’ve found the problem.’ I held it up. ‘It’s a bulb of some sort.’

He murmured something I couldn’t make out, then cleared his throat and tried again. ‘Daffodil. It’s a daffodil bulb.’ A smile crept across his face and he started to laugh, but he winced and stopped almost immediately.

‘Yeah, things like that are going to hurt for a bit.’ I wondered what the daffodil bulb meant to him and why, of all things, it would make him laugh now.

‘I really am sorry about this.’ He took the bulb from me, and I couldn’t help noticing the way his thumb stroked it gently. ‘I guess this is where we exchange insurance details and stuff?’

‘Yeah. I guess it is.’ I dug a pen and pad out of my work bag and scribbled down my details.

He peered at it before holding out a hand. ‘Hello Ruth Newlyn, I’m David.’

‘Hey.’ I smiled back at him. ‘Nice to meet you.’

* * *

Jenn

Oh, I really hadn’t meant to hurt David. I’d never deliberately hurt him. I just hadn’t realised he would hit her so hard. I feel terrible about it.

But if I’m completely honest, I can’t help smiling just a little bit.

David’s not hurt badly, he’s just a bit battered and bruised.

Everything is working out even better than I had planned.

My car, well David’s now, is in a pretty bad way.

Some other drivers pulled over and helped him to move it to the side of the road, but it was nowhere near drivable.

Ruth made a couple of quick calls, and stayed with him until the tow truck arrived. She said that it was her medical duty, and she couldn’t leave David while he was still upset, but I’d like to think it was more than that.

They chatted for the hour that it took for the tow truck to turn up, and Ruth gently helped him wipe the blood from his face until he looked almost normal again, apart from the swelling.

She was really kind, and sweet. If I’d met her under any other circumstances, we might have become friends.

But even though this was all my idea, and she made David smile, I’m struggling to like her.

I’m still David’s wife, and seeing him laughing and smiling with another woman like this hurts.

Even if it is what he really needs and what’s best for him.

Even though I’m the one who introduced them, I struggle not to see Ruth as something of a threat.

I know I shouldn’t think of her that way, but I find it really hard not to.