by Emily Forbes
‘You’ve had a shaved head for as long as I’ve known you and how long’s that? Nine years? You don’t change things very often, do you?’
‘I guess not.’
‘So what was the calatyst? I mean the cat-a-lyst,’ she repeated, enunciating the word very slowly.
This was a story he normally avoided telling but he figured she was going through something much worse than the drama he’d experienced. She would probably understand—if she even remembered this conversation in the morning.
‘I was on holiday in Bali, on my way home from a surfing tournament, and I was getting around the island on a scooter. The Balinese are not known for their good road safety record and I was young with a foolish sense of invincibility so I guess I was an accident waiting to happen. I got cleaned up by a truck on a mountain road and ended up in hospital with a collapsed lung and a shattered knee. That and torn cruciate ligaments put an end to my career as a professional surfer.’ He spoke as though it hadn’t been an extremely dark period in his life. It had taken him over a year to accept the fact his surfing days were over. The only thing that had stopped him from losing hope altogether had been going back to uni and meeting Evie. ‘When I eventually got back to Australia and went back to uni I didn’t want to be reminded of what I’d lost every time I looked in the mirror.’ He’d lost more than his surfing career in the accident. It had also cost him his relationship with the first woman he’d ever loved. ‘My hair reminded me of surfing and Bali and the accident. So I shaved it off.’
Bella reached out and ran her hand over his head. ‘I think it suits you.’
Her hand was cool and soft against his skull and her touch sent a shiver of desire through him. ‘You’ve got lovely lips too. They look sho shoft.’ She was slurring her words ever so slightly and Charlie was mortified. Was she drunk? He couldn’t believe he’d got her drunk. She lifted her hand again and Charlie waited, certain she was going to put her fingers on his lips, but her hand fell to her side as though she had no control over it any more.
‘Didyouknow …’ she was mumbling now and her words were running together and Charlie had to concentrate to work out what she was saying ‘… I’ve only been kished oncebefore. I’d like to be kished properly.’
Charlie felt Bella lean her head on his shoulder as she finished speaking. Had she just said she’d like to be kissed? He peered down at her, waiting, listening for more. But there was no more. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was slow and deep. Was she asleep?
He shifted in his seat and turned to face her, moving his arm to wrap it around her so she settled against his chest, telling himself he was doing it because it would be more comfortable for her than bouncing around on his hard shoulder. He hoped she was sleeping because she was exhausted, not because she’d passed out. Out of habit and concern he counted her respirations and took her pulse. Both were normal and Charlie breathed a sigh of relief.
Bella’s handbag was lying on the seat between them and feeling only slightly guilty he opened it, looking for her phone. He scrolled through her contacts list, looking for Lexi’s number, hoping and praying she was home as he called.
Lexi was waiting at the front door when the limousine pulled to a stop. She raced over and yanked open the door. ‘What happened? Is she all right?’
‘She’s okay, she’s asleep. I’m hoping she’s just tired but …’ he winced as he finished the sentence ‘… she might be drunk.’
‘Drunk!’
A wave of guilt and embarrassment swept over Charlie. ‘I’m so sorry, she only had two glasses of champagne and she had plenty to eat.’
‘She’s not used to drinking—’
‘I know,’ Charlie interrupted. He knew this was his fault. ‘And I know she’s on antibiotics but I really thought she’d be okay.’
‘That wasn’t a criticism,’ Lexi said. ‘I was just going to say that the motion-sickness tablets she took tonight probably didn’t help.’
Charlie frowned. ‘What?’
‘She gets seasick,’ Lexi explained, ‘and she took a couple of pills for that before you picked her up.’
This was going from bad to worse. ‘Seasick? Why didn’t she tell me? I would have cancelled.’
‘That’s exactly why she didn’t tell you. She was so excited about tonight. It would have killed her if you’d pulled the pin.’
At least the extra medication explained why she’d been so affected by the champagne. The motion- sickness tablets would have dehydrated her more than normal and made her more susceptible to the alcohol. Perhaps he wasn’t as negligent as he’d feared. ‘We’ll need to get plenty of water into her to counteract the dehydration from those tablets. Do you want me to organise a drip?’
‘No. I’ll keep an eye on her,’ Lexi said, and Charlie wasn’t sure if she was implying he was incapable or irresponsible or whether she thought she couldn’t rely on him. He couldn’t blame her, he hadn’t given her a reason to think otherwise. ‘Can you bring her inside?’ she asked.
He scooped Bella up in his arms, surprised at how light she was, and followed Lexi up the stairs to Bella’s room. Even carrying her upstairs was no problem.
‘I’m really sorry, Lexi, are you sure there’s nothing else I can do?’
‘We’ll be fine.’
‘Her heart rate and respiration rate are normal but please ring me if you’re worried at all,’ he said as he scribbled his number on one of Bella’s sketch books, which was lying beside her bed.
There wasn’t anything else he could do. He let himself out of the house and climbed back into the limo for the trip home. He couldn’t believe he’d let this happen; he couldn’t believe he hadn’t taken better care of her.
CHAPTER SIX
CHARLIE woke frequently through the night, constantly checking his mobile phone to see if Lexi had called him, but there was nothing. As soon as the sun rose the next morning he was out of bed, too restless and remorseful to sleep. He wanted to check on Bella but, if she was sleeping, which he hoped she was, it was far too early for a house call. He needed to clear his head, he needed to get into the water.
Even though his knee injury had cut short his professional surfing career he was still able to bodysurf for fun, but the surf this morning was flat and not at all appealing so he hit the Kirribilli pool. At this early hour only the keen swimmers were in the water and he joined their ranks, slipping into the fast lane and swimming hard for close to an hour. Swimming normally gave him a chance to clear his mind but it wasn’t working today. Thoughts kept swirling around in his head. How could he have been so irresponsible?
There he was telling her an edited version of his life story while she was trying to combat seasickness. The tablets had certainly done their job, she hadn’t shown any signs of queasiness. He smiled as he finished another lap, thinking about how much Bella had managed to eat. With everything she’d eaten he couldn’t understand how the two glasses of champagne had affected her so badly. Perhaps she’d taken more tablets than she needed to?
But that didn’t exonerate him from his responsibilities. He should have taken better care of her. But he’d been both distracted by her and absorbed in her and he hadn’t been able to think clearly. She was virtually a stranger to him yet he felt as though he already knew her intimately through Evie. He was comfortable with Bella, he could be himself, just as he was in Evie’s company, and that was a novelty for him. He was able to let his defences down. He climbed out of the pool and towelled himself dry as he wondered what it was about the Lockheart sisters that struck a chord with him.
Out of habit he scanned the other swimmers, looking for familiar faces. Finn Kennedy was just getting into the pool and Charlie nodded in greeting as he headed for the change rooms. He saw Finn fairly regularly at the pool but they rarely stopped and chatted, Finn always seemed so intent on his exercise that Charlie didn’t like to delay him.
Charlie showered and changed quickly before leaving the pool. Sunday-morning traffic over the Harbour Bri
dge was just starting to increase as he walked out into the street and he looked up at the bridge as it stretched away overhead, spanning the water, before he turned away and headed back towards Mosman. To Bella.
The sun was high in the sky before Bella felt well enough to open her eyes properly and keep them open. Her tongue felt swollen and her lips were dry. She could remember Lexi forcing her to drink a glass of water every time she’d stirred in the night but still it felt as though her tongue was sticking to the roof of her mouth. She sat up, and she could see the indentation from Lexi’s head in the pillow next to her. She knew Lexi had slept there but she was alone now. She reached for the glass beside her bed as she tried to piece together what had happened last night.
She remembered dancing with Charlie, the feeling of his strong arms encircling her, making her feel as though her feet weren’t touching the floor, as though she was floating across the deck. She remembered having a half a glass of champagne as the yacht came into dock. She remembered stroking Charlie’s head.
Oh, my God, I didn’t really do that, did I? But she knew the answer. She could still recall just how his head had felt, the short regrowth soft and fuzzy under her hand.
She slid down in the bed, burying herself under her quilt. How would she ever face him again?
She supposed she wouldn’t have to. After last night he probably wanted nothing more to do with her.
She heard her door open. She couldn’t face anyone right now. Maybe she could just stay under the covers and never come out again.
‘Bella? Are you awake?’ Lexi’s voice was quiet. ‘Charlie sent you flowers.’
That got her attention. She pushed the quilt away from her face and peered out. Lexi was half-hidden behind a mass of sunny, happy sunflowers. Just seeing their cheery, yellow petals made Bella feel brighter.
‘He sent flowers?’
‘He brought them around this morning, while you were asleep.’
‘I thought he’d never want to speak to me again,’ Bella said. ‘I must have looked like a complete fool, passing out like I did.’
‘I think he thought it was his fault. He felt terrible because he’d been plying you with champagne.’
‘Hardly plying. I only had two glasses.’
‘I know. I told him about the motion-sickness tablets but I guess he still feels terrible,’ Lexi said as she put the vase of flowers on Bella’s chest of drawers. ‘There’s a card here,’ she said as she removed the card and passed it to Bella. ‘What does it say?’
Bella opened the little envelope and slid the card out to read the inscription. ‘Ciao, Bella, I’m sorry I didn’t take better care of you. Can I make it up to you on dry land? Charlie.’
Suddenly she felt a whole lot better. He hadn’t written her off, he was going to give her another chance.
‘Charlie! I’m glad I found you.’
Charlie turned around at the sound of Evie’s voice. She didn’t look pleased to see him, she looked mad. He’d been keeping a low profile until he could organise to make up for his faux pas with Bella but he had been expecting Evie to track him down and haul him over the coals for leading her baby sister astray. He’d spoken to Bella, he’d apologised, she’d blamed herself and they’d agreed to forget about it and try a second ‘date’. It would be something else from her wishlist but this time Charlie intended to keep to dry land.
Evie did not look happy. Not that he blamed her for wanting to tear strips off him. As far as he was concerned, he deserved it, but he still thought he’d try to minimise the fallout by apologising quickly. He held his hands up in surrender. ‘I know, I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.’
He watched as her expression changed from cross to puzzled. ‘What are you talking about?’ she asked.
‘I assume you want to give me a bollocking over what happened with Bella?’
‘No. She’s fine. She’s a bit embarrassed but she hasn’t stopped talking about what a great night she had, right up until she fell asleep. There’s something else I wanted to talk to you about. How well do you know Finn?’
‘Finn Kennedy?’
‘Of course,’ she replied in a voice that suggested he’d lost his mind.
Charlie shrugged. ‘As well as anyone can know him, I suppose. I see him at the pool a bit but we really only exchange greetings. He’s never been one to socialise much, not even with the surgeons. Why?’
‘I wanted to ask his opinion about Bella but he seems rather moody, more so than usual, as though he’s angry with the world and everyone in it. I didn’t know whether it would be wise, especially after what’s happened today. And I just wanted to get your take on things, see if you knew about anything that might be going on that could have put him in a bad mood. See if you think I’m going to get my head bitten off for even going near him.’
‘What happened today?’
‘He went missing in action.’
‘Finn did?’
She was nodding and she looked cross again but now it was obvious she was mad with Finn, not him. ‘I had a patient who came in with a penetrating chest wound and I was trying to find Finn. I thought being an ex-army surgeon he’d be the one to call in for a consult, but no one knew where he was.’
‘How’s the patient?’
‘We managed to keep him alive and he’s gone to Theatre but it’s very out of character and I’m a bit concerned. I need him to be on top of his game.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I need to ask him about Bella,’ she replied, giving him a look that very clearly said, Keep up! ‘And if he’s got problems of his own, I don’t want to risk it.’
‘Risk what?’ Now Charlie even felt like he was missing the bigger picture.
‘Would you let him operate on you?’
‘I thought Sam would do Bella’s transplant …’ He let his sentence tail off. He didn’t want to state the obvious, which meant assuming compatible lungs were found in time.
‘I was going to ask him if he’d assist,’ Evie explained, finally allowing Charlie to catch up with her train of thought. ‘Do you think there’s anything to worry about, given that he’s gone missing today and generally seems to be out of sorts, or would you let him operate on you?’
‘I haven’t noticed anything off. He might not be the most personable of people but he’s a damn good doctor. You don’t get to be Head of Surgery without being something a bit special.’
‘That’s what I thought but that was before he vanished in the middle of the day.’
‘If you want my advice, it would be to stay out of Finn Kennedy’s personal life. He may have had a perfectly good reason to take off in the middle of the day.’
‘Don’t you think he should have told someone where he was going? No one knew where he was.’
‘And I imagine that’s how he wants it to stay. You said yourself he doesn’t confide in anyone. He’s a loner and I think he likes it that way. I’m sure he’s fine and I’m sure that even if there is something going on with him, he wouldn’t let it affect his surgical skills.’
Charlie couldn’t understand her concerns. In his mind they were unfounded. As far as he knew, Finn had never disappeared from the hospital before and just because Evie hadn’t been able to track him down it didn’t mean Finn had gone missing. He could have told someone where he was, and perhaps Evie didn’t ask the right people in time.
But while he couldn’t understand her concerns, he could understand her logic in asking Finn to assist with the operation. While Charlie thought Sam was perfectly capable of performing Bella’s surgery without Finn’s help, Sam would need assistance and he guessed having two experts operating together was better than one. Whether or not Sam and Finn saw it the same way was something Evie would have to sort out, but until lungs were found it was all hypothetical and, in the meantime, Charlie had some plans of his own to arrange.
He had three days to organise his apology.
Bella hung her car keys on the hook and mixed herself a salt-replacement drin
k before wandering through to the conservatory. She’d had a long day at the hospital with several appointments all related to her transplant work-up and she couldn’t afford to get dehydrated. She was exhausted and her chest felt tight but she put it all down to a long and tiring day. Rosa had pots simmering on the stove and Bella could see trays in the ovens and the kitchen benches were groaning under the weight of several other dishes covered with foil or teatowels. She lifted one corner of a teatowel. This platter held smoked salmon, pâté and other antipasto assortments. Her stomach growled with hunger but she needed to rest for a bit. She’d kick her shoes off and sit down for a few minutes and then she’d come back and see if she could sample whatever yummy things Rosa was making.
The conservatory overlooked the garden and the harbour. As Bella entered the room her attention was caught by the sight of a white marquee sitting in the centre of the lawn. That hadn’t been there when she’d left the house this morning. It was the smallest of several her father had, and this one was sometimes used for garden parties. Bella wondered why it had been put up in the middle of the week. Initially all her attention was focussed on the tent and it wasn’t until Lexi spoke that she noticed she was in the room.
‘Good, you’re back.’
Lexi was sitting on one of the day lounges, feet curled up underneath her, flicking through a bridal magazine.
‘What’s going on?’ Bella inclined her head towards the garden and the marquee.
Lexi stood and tossed the magazine onto the table. ‘Where have you been?’ she said, ignoring Bella’s question.
‘At the hospital.’
‘I expected you ages ago. You’ll have to hurry now if you’re going to be ready in time.’
‘Ready in time for what?’ Bella had no idea what was happening. Was there a function she was supposed to know about that had slipped her mind? That would explain the quantity of food in the kitchen.
