The Accidental Guest
Page 9
As Gina pulled out her phone, Hannah gazed across the grounds towards the car parks. She listened as Gina flirted with Ross on the phone. At least one of them had been lucky today. But then a figure caught her attention. She shielded her eyes, squinting into a low sun that had finally broken through the clouds to throw sparkles across the white lawns and trees of the hospital gardens. She grabbed Gina’s arm.
‘Is that… Is that him?’
Gina followed the direction of Hannah’s gaze. ‘I don’t think so…’
‘It is!’ Hannah cried, ‘It is him!’
Gina looked again. ‘I’m not sure… if it is he has someone with him.’
That detail hadn’t escaped Hannah’s attention, but without conscious thought, she began to track towards him, Gina following.
‘What are you doing? He’s got someone with him!’
‘So?’
‘So, leave them be.’
‘I want to know. I have to know that it is him.’
‘Why? If it is, that’s good, right? It means his family have come to collect him.’
‘Yes… But I need to be certain.’
Gina let out an impatient sigh. Hannah was just about to call out to him when she checked herself.
‘It’s not him,’ she said, the disappointment and relief flooding through her in such conflicting measures that she couldn’t tell which emotion was winning. ‘It’s not him at all.’
‘Hurray for that,’ Gina said. ‘Can we go and meet Ross now?’
‘I suppose we should.’
But then Hannah saw a lone figure pushing through the doors of the main hospital. He was clutching a plastic bag, cautious on the snowy path, but there was no mistaking him this time. Hannah stopped on the path, Gina turning with a questioning look.
‘There he is,’ Hannah said, in a voice so quiet she wondered why she felt the need to keep it down.
‘Here we go again…’ Gina said, and she followed in Hannah’s footsteps as they made their way back. Tom stopped, and turned back to the hospital doors.
‘What’s he doing?’ Gina asked, and then all became clear. Hannah and Gina paused, and watched as he was joined by a statuesque looking blonde woman. She was dressed simply and elegantly, in a navy, ankle-length tailored coat and suede boots, her hair pinned up in a neat twist. She took the bag from him and then gestured to a car park in the opposite direction to the one he was facing, before taking his hand. She led and he followed.
‘Get behind this tree!’ Hannah hissed, and yanked Gina by the arm.
‘What the hell…?’ Gina yelped as Hannah almost pulled her off her feet.
Hannah had suddenly felt guilty and a little bit seedy, like a weird stalker spy, and she didn’t want him to see her here – not like this.
‘I thought you wanted to see him,’ Gina said.
‘I did, but he’s with someone.’
‘So what’s different this time? A minute ago when we had the wrong guy you wanted to chase after him.’
‘And you said I shouldn’t.’
‘Well, I’ve changed my mind. I haven’t come all this way for you to hide behind a tree.’
‘I just can’t… it’s probably his wife.’
‘Possibly. But unless you’re planning to throw your bra at him I don’t see what difference it makes.’
‘It just doesn’t seem right, that’s all.’
Gina sighed as Hannah peered around the tree. Tom and the blonde woman were almost out of sight. Gina’s phone bleeped.
‘Ross is waiting for us,’ she said. ‘He’ll be thrilled to learn that he drove us all the way to Millrise for nothing.’
‘He didn’t. We came to see whether Tom was alright and it looks as though he is,’ Hannah replied, her tone defensive, though she knew what Gina meant. She just didn’t want to be reminded of what an idiot she’d been.
*
The journey home had been quieter for Hannah. She listened to Gina and Ross laughing and joking and wished she could join in, but she couldn’t. She didn’t begrudge them their fun, but her own mind was racing. What the hell had she been thinking chasing after Tom like that? What had she thought was going to happen if she’d found him alone? Why was she behaving so irrationally?
When they arrived back at Hannah’s little house, Gina put the kettle on and left Hannah to her thoughts as she made them both hot drinks. A few minutes later Hannah was curled up on the sofa, staring into space. While Jess, it transpired, had taken herself up to the spare bedroom to continue a furtive conversation with a boy she vehemently denied she was dating, Gina handed Hannah a steaming mug of hot chocolate.
‘It’ll warm you up,’ she said as she dropped onto the sofa bedside her with a mug of her own. ‘Was it a nice dream?’ she asked.
Hannah looked across at her. ‘What do you mean?’
‘The one where your Prince Charming fell from the sky?’
Hannah gave a rueful smile. ‘It was that obvious?’
‘Sort of. I can’t say I blame you. He was pretty yummy.’
‘And he saved my life.’
‘You saved his first.’
‘I suppose so…’
‘Perhaps it wasn’t his wife. It could have been his sister… Or a cousin… or –’
‘Holding hands?’ Hannah cocked an eyebrow at her. ‘If they weren’t married they were something close to it.’
Gina sipped her chocolate. ‘Probably best to let it go then.’
Hannah nodded. ‘Yeah, probably.’
There was only one problem with Gina’s suggestion… Hannah didn’t think she could.
To be continued…
About the Author
Tilly Tennant was born in Dorset, the eldest of four children, but now lives in Staffordshire with a family of her own. Tilly is married to Mr Tennant (not that one, though a girl can dream). After years of dismal and disastrous jobs, including paper plate stacking, shop girl, newspaper promotions and waitressing (she never could carry a bowl of soup without spilling a bit), she decided to indulge her passion for the written word by embarking on a degree in English and creative writing, graduating in 2009. She wrote a novel during her first summer break at university and has not stopped writing since. She also works as a freelance editor, and considers herself very lucky that this enables her to read many wonderful books before the rest of the world gets them.
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Also by Tilly Tennant
Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn
The Man Who Can’t Be Moved
Mishaps and Mistletoe (the inspiration for the Mishaps from Millrise series)
Mishaps in Millrise – Parts 1-4 Omnibus
And writing as Sharon Sant
The Memory Game
Dead Girl Walking
The Sky Song Trilogy:
Sky Song
The Young Moon
Not of Our Sky
Runners