Page 84 of Perfect

I twisted back towards the drugging sound of his voice. “Yes?”

“You asked me if there was anything I needed before you go?” He said, his eyes on mine.

“Yes, anything?” I nodded. My eyebrows were raised with reassurance.

My heart soared at his words and as requested, I moved towards him, leaned in and pressed my lips against his gently to seal the end of our conversation with a goodnight kiss.

He was smiling with his eyes closed as I left his room and I felt much happier than when I had entered it.

Thirteen

Over the next couple of weeks, Connor’s recovery was surprisingly swift. Ella and Tom came by a handful of times and even Nate dropped by which surprised me. I wouldn’t have labelled him as the caring type. I was thankful that Connor had so much support from the village.

I had war wounds of my own, deep ugly bruises on my neck from Carter’s hand. I covered them with a scarf, not wanting to worry my dad or Connor.

Dad explained that Carter had been sent back to prison and had been heavily fined for breaking the terms of his restraining order. I truly hoped we never saw the man again. The terror I had experienced during that night still played in my mind.

What also made it worse was the constant reminder that I had given the address of the farm to Carter. The police couldn’t confirm anything as the man had used what they’d called a burner phone, but I of course knew the truth. My note about the call from the ‘fake’ bank was still on the fridge, a constant reminder of my fuck up. I couldn’t bring myself to take it down.

I told Dad before the police of course and I asked if he’d let me tell Rachel myself. I did and with a million apologies. She was good about it to be fair and Dad just reiterated that younevergive your address out on the phone unless you are certain who is calling. Rachel did say that he would probably have found them eventually but from the pinched look on her face, I knew she was still upset.

Due to the failure on my part, I made an extra effort with everyone.

Rachel and I buzzed around the house together, taking turns to take food up to the patient, whoneverseemed to get full. I was blown away by how much he actually ate. He also wasn’t the easiest person to wait on and switched into one of his dark moods at the drop of a hat.

The Doctor visited and re-prescribed Connor’s usual medication but he wasn’t allowed to take it until he was off the heavier painkillers.

Everyone was doing their bit and my mother even sent a get-well card to Connor which I could tell Rachel appreciated. I’d started to speak to Mum about him on our regular catch-ups and she must have realised that I cared for him.

Mum was in a good place also, which gave me less to worry about. The first Mrs Williams was more her old self and had started seeing Phil officially. She’d even reduced her drinking or at least that’s what she said.

After almost three weeks since the fight, Connor was on his feet again and desperate to go back to work but my dad wouldn’t let him. Light exercise had been suggested due to a scan revealing that Connor had two cracked ribs. It had been explained that he had to be patient and allow them time to heal on their own. Connor hadn’t responded too well to the news of course and had done the exact opposite by starting to clear out a storage area in the main barn. Dad said he wanted to make it into a gym, which I agreed was a great idea, then Connor could stop making sneaky midnight trips to the hay barn to beat the crap out of a seed bag.

One morning Ella came around. She was hovering in the yard as I left the house, it was a bright sunny day and I needed to feel the sun on my skin. I’d just been texting my mum and pocketed my phone as I saw her.

“Hi. Connor’s up and about now but I’m not sure where he is,” I said breezily.

“I came to see you actually,” she replied, instantly putting me on edge.

I played ignorant and batted down that feeling of uncertainty. I sure hoped she hadn’t come to gossip about the fight.

Maybe I needed to take a chill pill, she may have wanted to offload about her ‘complicated’ life which may or may not have involved a past with Connor.

A penny dropped.Or did it?

‘Complicated’, there was that word again. It was Ella who had said it! I couldn’t remember at the pub, but as I saw her, that word popped into my mind. It was the same way Ryan had described his currentfemaleproblems. I batted the thought to the side, the guy must have been ten years older than Ella, wouldn’t that be considered gross?

I inwardly rolled my eyes at myself and peeled my tongue away from the roof of my mouth.

“OK, cool, well I was going for a walk if you want to come?” I invited, motioning to the path which led to the fields. Rachel had mentioned baby lambs that I just had to see.

Ella nodded and fell into step beside me.

“So how is the patient today?” she questioned, pushing her hands into her pockets. I took this as a sign that she was nervous. Again, the girl had something to say and I now just wished she’d get the hell on with it.

My nose wrinkled. “Not too bad, although he did injure himself yesterday after going against advice to rest. They’re making one of the outbuildings into a gym. I heard several ‘F’ words and stayed well away.”

Ella shot me a sideways grin. “Yes, forever the hothead. At least it gives him something to focus on. Connor with too much thinking time is not a good thing.”

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