Page 39 of Not in a Million Years

‘Sure thing.’ Daniel pushed open the car door, swung his long legs out and stood.

The outdoor heat blasted immediately into the air-conditioned interior, and with it all my apprehension came flooding back. Sniping at Daniel had been a distraction, I realised – a way of avoiding thinking about the unthinkable.

I recalled Ash’s words: ‘not in actual danger’. That could mean anything – anything from being up and about charming the nurses and complaining about the food, to being kept on life support but not about to actually die. Until they switched it off, obviously.

The car door thunked closed behind Daniel. For a moment, I was alone in the cool, silent interior, not wanting to move. Learning how badly Andy had been hurt lay in front of me; I wanted not knowing to last as long as it could. Then the passenger door swung open, and Daniel extended a hand to me. I didn’t need help getting out of the car, but I took it anyway.

‘Come on, Kate. Sooner we get in there, sooner we’ll know the score.’

I clambered out into the scorching heat, sweat immediately beading on my forehead. The tarmac surface of the car park radiated the sun’s heat back upwards into the brassy sky. I took a deep gulp of air, but it was so warm it felt like inhaling through muslin.

‘Daniel,’ I said quietly. ‘I’m scared.’

‘Of course you are.’ He beeped the remote-controlled key, and I heard the doors click locked. ‘Me too. But you’re scared of everything, so it doesn’t count.’

I glared at him furiously for a second, and then laughed. He reached out and slipped his arm round my shoulder, gently pulling me close into something that wasn’t quite a hug, but almost was. It was the closest we’d ever been to each other, and the strength of his body felt so comforting I had to resist the urge to bury my face in his chest and have a good old cry.

I didn’t of course. I just leaned my cheek against his firm bicep for a moment, then pulled away.

‘Thanks,’ I mumbled. ‘I’m pathetic, I know.’

He smiled – that gentle, tender smile I’d seen when he’d looked at the mother cat and her babies.

‘Not pathetic. Just human. Let’s go – we’ve got this.’

Shoulder to shoulder, we walked into the blissfully cool lobby of the hospital. Whatever had led to Andy being brought here, I thought, he’d apparently hit the jackpot. The place was space-age modern and spotlessly clean. Smiling staff in blue-and-green uniforms whisked about in a manner that appeared efficient without being rushed. The smell of excellent coffee wafted from a nearby café.

Daniel and I approached the front desk, ready to do the Google Translate thing on our phones. But the woman behind it spoke fluent English, and listened to our story with wide, concerned eyes.

‘Of course,’ she said. ‘Let me check for you. Your friend will be happy you’re here.’

She tapped the keys on her computer, her lips pressed together in concentration, then picked up her desk phone and dialled, speaking rapidly in Turkish.

‘My colleague from orthopaedics will be with you shortly. Please take a seat.’

Daniel and I moved to a plush, sage-green sofa and sat down.

‘Orthopaedics,’ I said. ‘So he’s broken something.’

‘Could be worse,’ Daniel replied. ‘At least she wasn’t calling her colleague from the morgue.’

‘Daniel! You can’t say that.’

‘I can now I know he’s alive and I don’t have to think it any more.’

I realised then how much effort it must have taken him to hide his own fears, to stay strong and support me through mine. And I realised how comforting his steady presence had been, preventing me from spiralling from worry to panic, which I could so easily have done if I’d been alone.

But before I could articulate any of this, or find words to thank him for being there, a tall, handsome man holding a tablet hurried to the front desk, conferred briefly with the receptionist, then turned towards us, a warm smile on his face.

He approached us with his hand extended, and we both stood and shook it.

‘Hello, my name is Hakan Yilmaz,’ he said, ‘and I’m the senior nurse in the orthopaedics department here.’

Daniel and I introduced ourselves.

‘The surgeon in change of Mr Sinclair’s case is operating right now, but when he’s free, he will be able to give you a full update on his condition,’ Hakan said. ‘But meanwhile, I’m sure you want to see your friend, yes?’

‘Oh, yes please,’ I said.

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