Page 18 of The Long Walk Back

Cooper nodded, finishing his meal quickly as his gaze darted to the boy. As Rita passed by his table again, Cooper reached for her arm.

‘What’s the deal there, anyway?’

Rita looked from him to the boy, and back again, a conflicted look on her face. One thing Rita wasn’t, was a gossip, but as she looked at Cooper again, she seemed to make an agreement with her own conscience, and she sat down in Kate’s seat.

‘That’s her boy, right there.’ Cooper’s head snapped back to the lad, a boy he had thought long dead. Now as he looked at the lad’s stubborn profile, jaw flexing, he could see it. See Kate in him, from the bow of his lips to the curve in his nose. ‘There was an accident, when she was serving overseas. The poor mite will never walk again, and he hates the world and his mother for it.’

So that was why she was here. It made some sense now, why a talented woman like her would want to be here. She was here to help her son. Cooper finished his food. He squeezed Rita’s hand once, and she gave him a sad smile.

‘Rita, you still got some of that chocolate cake left?’

Rita gave him an ‘atta boy’ wink and scuttled off to the kitchen.

Cooper set the slice of cake on the table. The ceramic clinked on the Formica surface. He stuck a fork into the top of the moist, gooey piece of heaven.

‘Hi,’ he tried.

The boy didn’t even flinch, he just kept looking out of the window. Following his gaze, he saw two of the guys from the gym playing hoops outside, taking it in turns to throw the basketball into the net.

‘Hello?’ Cooper ventured, careful to keep the deepness of his voice to a low rumble. Nothing. The men outside continued to play, their shoulders and upper arms glinting in the sunlight, showing their exertion. Cooper watched them awhile too, their easy play seemingly taunting the two people staring from behind the glass. Observers of life in all its simplistic glory. Cooper looked to his right and saw that the boy was now observing him from the corner of his eye, looking him up and down.

‘The leg, right?’ he asked. The boy’s eyes snapped to his, his face still showing no emotion. He has her eyes, he thought with a jolt. It was like looking at Kate, blue eyes full of suspicion, fear, sorrow. He found himself wishing he could take all that away, for them both.

He tapped his thigh. ‘It’s okay, it doesn’t hurt.’ Not much now, anyway. Apart from the nights I wake up bathed in sweat, agony pulsing from the leg that isn’t there any longer.

He pushed the plate a little closer. ‘That’s for you. I have to go now, Dr Harper is helping me get better.’ The boy stiffened at the sound of his mother’s name, and Cooper’s brow furrowed. What was the deal with those two? ‘I’ll leave that with you. It’s pretty good.’

Cooper went to leave the dining room, calling at the kitchen door on his way out. Rita was scrubbing down the surfaces, and she smiled when she saw him.

‘Any joy?’ she asked kindly, bringing him two neatly wrapped Tupperware containers. He took them with a nod of thanks.

‘Nope, not really – unless you count eye contact.’

Rita looked at the boy and raised her eyebrows. ‘Well, I’ve been trying to fatten that boy up for weeks, but it’s not me who got him to eat the cake now, is it?’

Sure enough, when Cooper glanced across, there he was. Eating cake. Rita squeezed his shoulder.

‘I know that Kate is supposed to help you, but I see it a little differently.’ She came round to his side and dipped to plant a kiss on his stubbly cheek. He rolled his eyes, but was touched by the gesture. ‘I think that you can all do a lot to help each other.’

She patted the boxes sat on his lap. ‘Now get gone with you, I have cooking to do, and you have a hungry woman waiting for you.’

He flashed her a look, shocked at her choice of words. She swatted at him with a tea towel hanging from her waist. ‘Oh, come on, don’t be a shrinking violet. You’re not dead yet you know.’

Cooper thought about her words all the way to the rehab room. Not dead yet.

Kate looked up at the ticking clock. Cooper was late, and she didn’t even have the energy to care, let alone hunt him down and drag him to therapy. She looked at the file in front of her. She didn’t even have any work to do. In her old job, there would always be lots to do, even after the last patient had been stitched up. Paperwork used to drive her crazy, but now she would be glad of it, would welcome it even. Having one patient was unfamiliar territory, and having one patient as stubborn as Captain Cooper, with their complicated history, was alien. Jamie flashed into her mind, and she physically winced at the memory. What on earth was she going to do? She knew she couldn’t carry on like this, but there was no way out. Every day was the same. Till now. Now, she had the comments and penetrating stares of her patient to deal with.

The squeak of the door heralded the arrival of someone in the room. A masculine hand came into her point of view, pushing two plastic containers onto the table in front of her.

‘I got Rita to bag your lunch, and I snagged some of her excellent cake too.’

Kate smiled thinly, taking the lid off the salad. She tucked in, using the cutlery wrapped in a napkin that Cooper held out to her.

‘Thanks, I was pretty hungry. I don’t want the cake though.’ She pushed the container aside, back towards him. He shrugged, and taking off the lid, he stuck a spoon into the soft top layer of the dark slab. ‘No worries, I’ll just leave it here. I’ll make a start while you eat, just in case the Trevornator shows his face.’ He went over to the weights, picking some up and getting to work. Ten minutes later, he chanced a sly glance across at the good doctor and found she was taking a spoonful of the dessert. Smiling to himself, he carried on working. Like mother, like son.

10

FOUR MONTHS EARLIER

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