“And none of that matters to us.” Her mother patted her hand.
Narelle had a feeling nothing she said would stop her parents from cancelling their trip.
How had her life gotten so pear shaped?
She sought out Andy again, and found him standing in the corner, sipping a drink. He was watching her intently. Could he somehow reassure her parents that there was nothing going on a but a series of coincidences?
Mentally she slapped herself. Nothing about what had happened since her trip to Bali was coincidental. For whatever reason, someone wanted her. “But who, who wants me?” she whispered.
In a flash, Andy was by her side, gripping her hand. “We’re going to find that out.”
With those six words, Andy had confirmed what she refused to fully think about until this very moment.
Her life was in danger.
And that meant her parents lives were in danger too, because if whoever wanted her, tried to harm her parents, she would turn herself over to them to save her mum and dad.
“You have to go on your trip. That way you’ll be safe,” she pleaded, squeezing Andy’s hand, needing his contact like she needed to breathe.
“No! You can’t be serious, Narelle.” Her father blustered. “You want us to leave and then be happyif something bad happened to you? No, we are cancelling.”
All the fight drained out of her. There was no point in arguing with them. And she shouldn’t be surprised. Her parents loved her fiercely, like she loved them. It was why she was willing them to leave.
“I don’t want you hurt.” Her eyes filled with tears. She thought she was all cried out after her crying episode earlier.
“Oh sweetie, we don’t want you hurt either.” Her mum brushed away the tears. “We love you and appreciate you think us being on the other side of the world would keep us safe, but we’d spend our whole time worrying about you, and we wouldn’t enjoy our holiday at all.”
“Then what do we do? I don’t want you to cancel your holiday. You’ve been looking forward to it for so long.”
“I know, and your dad will call the insurance company and find out what the deal is. Why don’t you go do that now, Mike?” her mum suggested.
Her father gave a quick nod and left the room.
Through the whole exchange Andy still held her hand, and Narelle was grateful for the quiet strength he gave her. “Thanks for being here,” she said,giving him what she hoped was a smile, but it felt more like a grimace.
“No where else I’d rather be. Do you need anything?”
What she needed was a time machine so she could go back a few days, and not leave work early, so that she wouldn’t be at that intersection where she’d had her accident. But that wasn’t possible. “The doctor, maybe. I want to know exactly what my prognosis is and how long I’m going to be here. Also when can I eat. I’m starting to get really hungry.” She’d said the last thing to lighten the mood a little, but it turned out to be surprisingly true. She was starving.
“I’ll go get him. You sit, Andy, and talk to my daughter. I’ll also see how Mike is getting on.” Her mum was out the door before Narelle could say anything.
Silence settled between them after he sat, only broken but the constant beep of her heart monitor. There was so much she wanted to ask Andy, but she didn’t know where to start.
There was still part of her that couldn’t believe he was sitting next to her holding her hand.
“I know, I can’t believe that you’re in front of me either,” he responded.
Ugh, I said that out loud.
Hoping he didn’t think she was a complete loser, she smiled, as if it was normal for her to say what she was thinking. “What do you think the odds are if someone was to place a bet that you happened to be at the same intersection, at the same time I was hit?”
Andy chuckled, sending shivers down her spine, chasing away her lingering embarrassment. “I’d guess around a million to one.”
“With everything that’s happened to me recently, I’d take those odds.” Her whole life, since the moment she’d met Andy, had all the hallmarks of a novel or a movie. If she wasn’t living it, she wouldn’t believe it.
Then again, there were probably things Andy had seen and done, that belonged in movies.
Wait!
