I sit quietly, letting it all happen around me, focusing on Rory’s face. The scrape on his cheek, the bruise underneath that, the cut on his chin with five butterfly stitches.
‘I’m only trying to help,’ Mimi replies.
Mauve storms out of the room, and I roll my eyes before following her.
‘Your son is in there lying in a hospital bed trying to rest and you are making this all about you,’ I snap.
‘I’m making it all about me?’ Mauve says with a sharp intake of breath, holding a hand to her chest. ‘You’re the one who brought her manager here to try and micromanage my son’s hospital treatment.’ She lifts her finger and points at me. ‘You’re the one making this all about you and the fact I didn’t call you.’
I stare blankly at her.
She jabs her pointed finger into my chest. ‘I didn’t call you because you never have time for Rory or this family unless it suits you.’
‘That’s not true,’ I whisper, but it’s too late. She’s walking away down the corridor, ignoring Jess and Luc who have returned with the coffees.
‘What happened there?’
‘She’s a bitch,’ I roll my eyes. ‘I give up with her.’
‘Sienna…’ Jess says. ‘Did you snap?’
‘You know this happened near my house and she still didn’t call me? She left me to find out through anewspaper.’
‘Well, you didn’t. You found out through me.’ Jess’s voice is quiet. ‘She’s lost a lot of people, Sienna, and I think she was probably just scared.’
‘You’re defending her?’
‘Absolutely not. You know I think you snapping at Mauve has been averylong time coming. But… I don’t think now is the time, Sienna. You’re both very stressed, and Rory needs you.’
I slump my shoulders. ‘No, you’re right.’
Jess enters Rory’s hospital room while Luc and I sit in the corridor. He takes my hand, and I let him comfort me for a few seconds before pulling away. I’m overstimulated. Every spot my clothes touch me scratches against my bare skin, every strand of hair tickles where it meets my back, the label in my underwear rubs against me.
‘Sorry,’ I mumble, pulling my hair up into a ponytail. My hairband snaps into a string on the final loop and my hair falls heavily down my back.
‘No,’ I cry. Actual tears. Sobs wracking through my chest. I hold up the string to my face and examine it.
Fucking traitor.
It had one job.
Luc takes it out of my hands, so gently our hands hardly make contact. He ties two knots right at the end of the string to rejoin it in a loop. He stands up and rakes his hands through my hair, pulling it up into a ponytail and wrapping the elastic around my hair twice. My hair finally off my neck, I can breathe again. Not completely securely, but it’s a start.
Jess appears again. ‘I’m going to pop to Rory’s and pack him a bag of things he might want and need,’ she says. ‘I’ll be back shortly, but Mimi is still here if you need her.’
How did the day end up like this?
What if it wasn’t a car turning abruptly? What if it was the paps spotting Rory and deciding to follow him which got him hurt?
Who am I kidding? I can’t invite Luc into this chaos. I can’t put him in danger like this.
I return to Rory’s room. ‘How are you feeling?’ I ask.
‘Sore,’ he replies.
He deserves privacy after an accident like this, not to be written about in the papers simply because of his connection to me. If, god forbid, Jess’s sister had a car accident, no one would write about that in the papers. If Jess’s grandad died, she would have the space and the privacy to grieve. When it happens to me, it’s a national news story.
‘Do you want some water?’ I ask Rory.
