Page 43 of Wish You Once More
My fingers hovered over the last exchange between Mat and I. The one which had ended with me telling him to ask any questions he had.
This time, it was me with all the questions.
Why did you leave?
Are you still in town?
What the fuck was last night meant to mean?
Why do I think I still love you?
The last one was the one which hurt the most.
21
Mat
Iopened my eyes, wondering for a moment where I was. A small snore which emanated from the woman beside me made me smile.Bree.
There was nothing I’d like more than to wake her with an orgasm, but I was desperate for a piss first. I slid out from under the covers, not wanting to disturb her – at least not yet anyway. Pulling on my boxers, I tiptoed out of the bedroom as quietly as possible and into the bathroom. Once I’d relieved myself, I stopped in the living room where I’d left my phone last night.
The screen was crazy with messages and voicemails from Jonny. I stood in the centre of the room and scrolled through the countless messages, not believing what I was seeing could be real.
When I read the one which said:You selfish prick, where the fuck are you? Get to the hospital now!!!My heart slammed into my throat. Scanning through the texts, trying to glean as much information as I could from them, then dialling voicemail, I discovered that Dad had been taken to hospital earlier that morning with a suspected heart attack.
A cold hand reached into my chest and twisted my own heart with all its might.
We’d suspected Dad had been overdoing it, that he needed to get more help with the business. It seemed our suspicions had been realised in the worst way possible, before either Jonny or me had the chance to do anything about it.
I had to get to the hospital.
I slipped back into Bree’s room and pulled on my clothes as quickly as I could. Leaning over, I placed a feather-light kiss on her temple. With one last lingering look at her sleeping, I snuck out.
In the hallway I bumped into Callie, Bree’s long-time best friend, who she had failed to mention she was also her flatmate.
“Mat Redmond!” she whisper-shouted. “What in God’s name are you doing here?”
Now was not the time for explanations, and all I was left with was being the callous, cold-hearted bastard who snuck out on someone.
“Gotta go, Callie. Good seeing you.” I let myself out of the flat without a backwards glance.
At this time of the morning, the town was pretty much deserted. Thankfully, I found a lone taxi driver sitting on the rank.
“Where to, mate?” he asked, his gaze taking in my dishevelled appearance.
“Hamfleet Hospital, please.”
He sucked in his breath through his teeth. “It’ll cost you. Got to go the long way around because there’s roadworks on the road out of town.”
“Don’t care. Need to get there as quick as possible.” I flashed some cash at him and settled down in the backseat. The first thing I did was fire of a message to Jonny to say I was on my way. When I didn’t get an immediate reply, my body tensed, and I dragged a hand over my face.
I stared out of the window at the familiar roads and countryside as we flew along without any traffic to impede us on the journey. Living in a city like Manchester made me appreciate the beauty of my hometown surroundings more. The pace of life, the things which people held as important, the sheer simplicity of it all. A lump formed in my throat. These were things I’d taken for granted, just like I had my Dad always being around. Now the possibility of having that rug pulled from under my feet hit me harder than a ton of bricks.
The taxi driver dropped me as close to the front entrance of the hospital as he could. I shoved the money - including a hefty tip - in his direction and leaped out. My gaze scanned the myriad of signs directing me to all the different departments. I took a guess at Accident & Emergency and headed in that direction.
“Mat! Thank God you’re here!” Melinda stood outside the department, arms crossed over her chest, shivering. “Jonny asked me to keep an eye out for you when he knew you were coming.” She approached me and I held her close.
“How is he? What happened?” I breathed into her hair.
