They reached the edge of the car park and turned around to retrace their steps.
“It’s nice of you to keep me company, Tom. As far as your job as wedding wingman is concerned, you’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty.”
“I’m with you until the end,” he smiled. “Actually, that sounds a bit grim. I’m with you until your dad has been treated and discharged and I can drive us all home.”
She laughed again. “I appreciate it. I think my sister was glad she could just take the girls straight home, rather than come here with us, and when I texted her to say you’d stay until Dad is discharged, she was grateful neither she nor James will have to get back on the road to give us a lift. Knowing you’re here with your car is a big help.”
“Your nieces were upset when they saw your dad falling over and getting hurt. It’s a frightening thing for little girls to see someone they love bleeding and in pain. They’re better off athome and with their parents on hand to stop them getting too upset about things.”
Back at the hotel, Carole’s heart had broken at the sight of her nieces’ distraught faces. It was obviously a shock for little kids to see someone they loved sprawled on the floor and bleeding. If either of their parents had to leave the house for a late-night hospital run to pick them all up, the girls would inevitably be aware of it and end up even more anxious about what was going on.
“It does make things easier for them, for sure.”
“Would you like more tea or coffee?” Tom asked as they neared the A&E entrance.
“God, no. That stuff is dreadful. I’ll wait until I get home and make some there.”
Tom slid a grin in her direction. “Good call.”
“I’d forgotten how bad the stuff from hospital vending machines. When Jane was having the girls, she was in the labour ward up in Winchester for eighteen hours with Nancy and twelve hours with Lily, and my mother sent my father to a nearby café to fetch hot drinks for us rather than put up with what came out of the vending machine.”
“Shall I find out if there’s an all-night drive-through somewhere near here?” Tom asked, already pulling out his phone. “If there is, I’d be happy to go there and get something decent to keep us going.”
“You’ve done enough already, but thanks for offering. Hopefully, now that Dad’s with the nursing staff, we won’t be here too much longer.”
They were approaching the A&E entrance again. The idea of going back inside the miserable waiting room had her expelling a long sigh. Tom slid her another smile.
“Come on, let’s take another loop back over to the car park,” he said. “If we’re stuck here, we might as well get our steps in for the day.”
“Anything’s better than sitting on those plastic chairs. They should be banned under the Geneva convention as instruments of torture.”
They set off on another lap of the pathway. Tom made idle chit-chat and Carole appreciated the distraction. She was glad all over again that she’d had Tom at her side today. He’d been brilliant company at the wedding and now he was essential moral support at the hospital after performing emergency ambulance duties for her stricken father.
A surge of gratitude rolled through her and she reached out and squeezed his arm as they walked.
“Tom, thank you for what you’ve done tonight. You don’t know how much I appreciate it.”
“I’m sorry this all happened, but I’m glad I could help.”
She was about to say something else—what, exactly, she wasn’t sure—when her phone beeped. Glancing at the screen, she saw a text from her mother.
“Dad’s just gone off to the X-ray department,” she said, reading the message. “The doctor is sure his wrist is broken, but they need to confirm with the scan. Once the results are back, they’ll get his wrist into a cast.”
“It’s good that things are moving for them at last in the treatment room.”
“Mum wants me to buy some cold bottled water and bring it through. She says Dad is thirsty.”
“Then let’s get back to the vending machine,” Tom said, already fishing coins from his pockets. “I’m sure it can be trusted to provide decent bottled water, even if the hot drinks it dispenses are dire.”
They turned back towards the A&E entrance. Carole was relieved her father was now on his way for an X-ray, and hoped the results wouldn’t take too long so that the medical staff could finish his treatment and they could all leave. Her father must be exhausted after the night he’d had and desperate to get home.
Knowing Tom was here to drive them all back just as soon as her father was discharged made it all so much easier.
Without Tom here on driving duty and doing his bit to keep her spirits up, she really would’ve been lost.
