Page 16 of Last Dance, Second Chance

“Look,” said Nathan. “You’re a professional dancer, you know how important it is to eat properly, how vital it is for your body to get energy from food so that it can perform, and most importantly in this case, heal. It’s not easy for you to prepare food, so I’m offering to get you some. Nothing fancy. I’m not suggesting I prepare you a full English, but I have Weetabix and I have bread which I am willing to toast for you. Which would you like?”

“Weetabix, please,” said Jessica gratefully. Truth be told, she was hungry.

“I’ll be right back with your order, milady,” Nathan said, bowing as he shuffled backwards out of the room.

He soon returned with Jessica’s breakfast.

“Here you go. I’ll be off, then. I’ll see you at lunchtime. Here’s my mobile number in case you have a problem.” He handed her a piece of paper with his handwriting on. “I usually have it turned off during clinic, but if there’s an emergency, call the surgery. I’ve put that number on there as well.”

“Thank you, Nathan,” said Jessica.

“No problem.” He gave her a surprisingly shy smile before he left.

* * *

Jessica got up after she’d eaten her cereal. She managed to attempt a shower of sorts with her plastered foot sticking out of the shower door. At least I’m over my jet lag, she thought wryly as she struggled to ease a pair of shorts over her foot. She’d be limited to shorts, dresses and skirts while she was wearing her boot — lucky it was summer. Carrying her dirty bowl and mug out was not going to be easy while using her crutches she realised. She managed the mug, at least, hooked around her little finger.

She hadn’t had a chance to look around Nathan’s house the night before. She hadn’t even seen the outside properly as they’d arrived in the dark. She opened the bedroom door into the hallway. The next door along led to a sitting room, and the kitchen was at the back of the house. The dogs heard her come out and she could hear them moving about excitedly so she went straight in to see them.

She entered the kitchen warily in case one of them bumped her foot, but though the dogs were clearly thrilled to see her, they seemed to understand that she was fragile and wasn’t to be jumped around. A large window above the sink looked out over Nathan’s garden, which was complete with a potting shed at the end. Jessica opened up the back door to take a closer look, letting the dogs out in front of her.

By the house was a patio with a rusting barbecue and some plastic chairs stacked in a corner; beyond that, a scraggy lawn stretched down to the shed and what looked like an apple tree at the far end. The whole garden was enclosed by a high wooden fence. The sun was already hitting the patio nicely. It was a pretty spot, but seemed a bit neglected and like no one ever really bothered to use it.

She came back inside and heard her phone beep from back in her bedroom. If she wanted to see who was messaging her, she’d have to hobble back in there. She should have thought of that and brought her phone out with her. She could just leave it, but it might be Nathan, and she didn’t want him to worry if she didn’t answer. She’d have to be more organised if she was to move around as little as possible, at least for the first couple of days of her recovery.

Going back along the hall, she looked up the staircase, but couldn’t make out much of what was up there. She wondered what Nathan’s room was like.

Even if he hadn’t told her, it would have been clear he’d not lived here for long: there weren’t a lot of personal items up on the walls, for example, and everything was very clean and new. Like he’d started completely afresh, she guessed.

She made it to her bedroom, followed closely by both dogs, and picked up her phone. The message was from her mum: Hello, love. We’re having a lovely time. Andrew did a barbecue in the garden last night and we’re going to Penrith Castle today. Dad’s asking how Monty is. Is he behaving himself?

Jessica sat down on the bed and debated what to reply. She didn’t want to lie to her parents, but she knew if she told them what had happened, they’d want to drive straight back to be with her. She was suddenly filled with gratitude for Nathan. Even the last hour had shown how much she would have struggled alone all day with Monty in a house with the only loo upstairs. Nathan might be at work now, but he was able to walk Monty for her and she was certain he’d make sure she was fed tonight. And most importantly, if she needed him, she knew she could call and he would be back within a few minutes. She had absolutely no doubt of that. How funny to trust someone so completely when she knew so little about them.

Monty’s fine, and he’s made a new friend, she typed. Then she added, Glad you’re having a lovely time! Say hi to everyone from me!

There. She hadn’t lied. She wasn’t sure that was the solution for the whole of the rest of her parents’ holiday, but it would have to do for now. The dogs looked at her expectantly when she got up. “I can’t take you guys for a walk — look,” she said, waggling her plastered foot at them. “But I’ve left the back door open for you so you can go and lie in the sun if you want.”

Jessica’s foot was aching a lot now. She debated going into the sitting room and getting comfortable on the sofa in there, but she was on the bed already so she shuffled onto it properly, propping up some pillows behind her. She could watch something on her iPad. Or at least she could if she’d remembered to get it out of her suitcase before she’d got comfy. This was frustrating. She really didn’t make a good invalid.

* * *

Nathan leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes, pleased to have a few minutes of peace to gather his thoughts. It had been a busy morning in the surgery, but none of his patients had presented anything too taxing, and so he was actually five minutes ahead in his clinic. He’d decided to take a quick break before calling the next patient in.

It was probably a good thing that he hadn’t had much time to think that morning, he reflected. If he had he would have to admit to himself just how insane his actions of the previous day had been.

Yes, he felt terribly guilty about Dennis’s part in Jessica’s accident, but he knew most people would consider he’d more than redeemed himself by taking her to the hospital. No one would expect him to have her as a guest in his house for the next week and a half, especially when they hadn’t seen each other for over twenty years.

And the last thing he wanted after what he’d been through was an attractive woman in his home. He’d moved to Bowerbridge for a fresh start. He needed time alone to heal. He’d planned to focus on work, spending his free time with Dennis.

But there had always been something special about Jessica Stone. He’d been smitten from the moment he’d seen her teaching the other girls in their class how to twirl in the school playground. And it seemed nothing much had changed. Except that she was a bit grumpier now. Although that wasn’t really fair; anyone would be grumpy in her situation — she was in a lot of pain and had had a major disappointment. He supposed there was a chance she wouldn’t be returning to New York, or at least not for quite a while. How patient would her ballet company be with her if her foot took a long time to heal?

Somehow, he suspected Jessica Stone was going to be disrupting his life for a lot longer than just nine more nights.

* * *

Jessica was pleased to hear Nathan’s key turn in the lock of the door at ten past one.

She’d left the bedroom door open so the dogs could come and go to the garden, but they’d spent most of their time sleeping by the side of her bed, except when Monty had decided to investigate her loo, causing her to use swear words she hadn’t even been aware she knew as she hurried to stop him from helping himself to the water.

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