Chapter 55

Chapter Fifty-Five

Will

T he very moment the sun rose, I was up and out of bed getting, dressed to go to the hospital. When I popped into the hotel restaurant to grab a takeaway coffee Jack and his and Maya's parents were already there. They were sitting at a table laid for breakfast, all staring into mugs.

"Hey, Debra, Ian, great to see you again, although obviously not under these circumstances."

Ian stood up and put a strong hand on my shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly. "Good to see you, too, Will."

"You don't look like you've had a minute's sleep, love." Debra gave me a sympathetic smile. "Sit down and have some breakfast with us."

I looked over towards the buffet, where all the food was laid out under heat lamps, not sure it was what I wanted, or if I could eat anything at all.

Ian looked me in the eye. "It's going to be a long day. We can't go in until nine and then she's got to have her cast on before we can take her home, so you may as well eat something, son."

"Okay," I said with a sigh, taking the empty seat at the table. "You're probably right."

"We should all just go and help ourselves," Jack replied, yet no one made a move.

Apart from a couple of guys in work gear and high-vis jackets and a woman wearing a bright pink trouser suit, we were the only people in there, and no one spoke for a great amount of time. Finally, Debra picked up her phone and looked at the screen.

"Still too early to go. Maybe we should eat something."

We looked at each other and then made a half-hearted effort to get up from our seats. Each of us sighed as we trooped to the buffet and added food to our plates, just enough to satisfy that we'd tried to eat as though everything was normal.

"Have you thought about what the plan is for when Maya comes out of hospital?" I cut my sausage, even though I had no intention of eating it.

"She can come to us," Jack offered. "We can put George in with the girls."

"I could come and stay with her for a wee while," Debra suggested. "I've only got my volunteer work at the hospital. I can easily rearrange that. I mean you've got work, love," she said to Ian, "but there's nothing stopping me from staying with her."

"We're supposed to be going away next week, but maybe the holiday company will let us swap to a later date." Ian patted Debra's hand, telling her silently that he would do whatever it took to take care of their daughter.

I cleared my throat. "She can come and stay with me. I can easily take time off from the bar, and if I'm not there Maddy will be."

"We couldn't expect you to do that, Will," Ian replied, shaking his head. "No, son, honestly, we'll sort it."

Jack chuckled. "Maybe we should ask Mays what she wants to do."

"There is that," Debra replied with a sigh. "But I honestly think that I should be the one to take care of her. There'll be things she might need doing." A blush rose up her neck. "Lady things."

A snort came from Jack, and I almost choked on my coffee when he said, "I'm sure that Will has that covered, Mum."

The blush spread to Debra's cheeks, and she quickly hid her face behind her cup of tea. Ian's back stiffened as he started to cut his bacon like he was sawing a piece of wood.

"Maddy can help her with whatever I can't, but I honestly would prefer to have her close by." I held my hands up. "But you're her family and like Jack said, we should probably ask Maya." I chuckled, unable to keep the smile from cracking my face. "Because knowing her she has an opinion on it."

"Too bloody right." Jack drained his mug of tea and then slapped the table. "Right, I don't know about you, but I can't eat this luke-warm shite. Let's get to the hospital and see if we're bringing our Mays home."

All in agreement, we stood up, leaving our barely touched plates of food. As I followed them out, I was determined that Maya would be in my house later. Not a chance she would be anywhere else.

Maya winced as she dropped her feet to the floor. "Was it a tank that ran over me?" She rubbed her neck, and I would have worried if the doctor hadn't said it was okay for her to take the collar off. It was minor whiplash, thankfully.

"You nearly were, well, by a truck," I replied. When she gave a groan of pain, I almost lost it. "Shit, Maya, I don't know what I'd have done if anything had happened to you."

Dropping my gaze to the pale grey tiles on the floor, I studied a long crack in the one next to my foot. It went from one edge to the other, breaking off into a series of small cracks in the corner. A tiny piece was chipped away, too small to be replaced, reminding me of my heart. It also had tiny veins of damage, not big enough to stop it beating, but enough to make it stall on occasions. That tiny chip which was missing would have been like losing Maya—irreplaceable.

Maya's fingers tangled with mine and she tugged on my hand. "I'm going to be okay. One broken wrist and a few broken ribs aren't the worst thing in the world."

"Yeah, but it could have been so much worse." I swallowed back the anxiety again, silently begging it to stay away. She was fine. She was going home. There was nothing to fear.

"Come and sit down," she begged me. "My lot won't be back with coffee for ages yet."

We were waiting for her to be discharged and as there'd been a major emergency— another car crash—we'd been delayed. I took a seat next to her on the bed.

"Please don't worry, Will." She dropped her head to my shoulder, wrapping her arm around mine. "They wouldn't let me go home if they weren't sure I was okay."

"I know that. It was just the idea of…" Maya moved closer, and I didn't miss another quiet groan; instantly, I was on high alert. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"It's just my ribs. Oh, and my wrist and my neck." She tried a quiet laugh, but it was quickly followed by a wince. "Seriously my ribs are more uncomfortable than anything."

"Come and stay with me," I whispered, staring at the pale yellow wall in front of us. "While you're getting better, stay with me and Maddy. Let me take care of you."

"Mum said she'd stay with me."

I turned to look at her, wanting to see in her eyes what she really wanted. "I know, but I want you to come home with me. I can't stand the idea of you being away from me while you're feeling like this. I just want to be able to help you, Maya. Besides your mum and dad are supposed to be going on holiday."

"I know, but you don't need me under your feet." She gave me a tight smile, while chewing on her bottom lip. "I'd just be in the way, getting you to open things for me, or helping me to get my clothes on."

I grinned. "That's a good enough reason for me to want you to stay."

She giggled and shook her head. "What will Maddy say? What if she doesn't want me there?"

My stomach was clenching in time with my heart because the idea of Maya saying no was almost as scary as the possibility of losing her.

"Maddy loves you. Maya, I…" The words stopped, wavering on the precipice of being out in the open or locked away. But if the night before had taught me anything, it was that time could be too short. "I love you." The words burst out of me like I had seconds to say them before they died on my tongue forever. Hardly able to catch my breath, I carried on telling her everything that was in my head and my heart. "I think I fell in love with you the minute I saw you. If it wasn't then, it was within a few days of knowing you. You're so beautiful and funny and kind, and you're everything that I had no fucking clue I wanted. It was like fate us both being in that bar. If we'd left a few minutes earlier, I would never have seen you standing there looking so damn beautiful." I carried on even though I was practically breathless. "These last couple of months have reminded me that happiness is possible, that love for someone other than my daughter is possible. I realise this might be quick and that maybe you don't feel the same way, but I had to tell you Maya. I had to let you know that I'm sick of being just me—I want to be us."

When I stopped speaking and looked at her, my stomach dropped. Her eyes were staring at me and her mouth in silent "o". In the time I'd known her, she'd never been silent. She always had an answer.

"Maya," I whispered. "Say something, even if it's, Will, shut the fuck up."

Finally, a small smile whispered across her lips and tears brimmed at her lashes. It was partly the response that I'd wanted, the smile at least, but not the tears.

"Forget I ever said anything."

Shaking her head, a little grimace of pain on her beautiful face, she leaned in and kissed me softly. It was short and closed lipped, but it was everything, it was my favourite kiss, because of the words that followed it.

"I love you, too."

"You do?" Gently brushing her hair from her face, I ran a tender finger over the bruise on her left cheekbone, hating that it was there, even though it didn't take anything away from her beauty.

She nodded, a tear crawling down the side of her face. "Just so you now, I'm only crying because I hurt a lot, not because you're the most gorgeous man I've ever met, and you've just made me happier than I realised I could be. I've had some shitty boyfriends in my life, including one I told you about. The one who cheated all through our relationship, and well, it made me wary. But you," she said, shaking her head and smiling. "You've made me realise that there are some good boyfriends in this world and you, Will Newman, are the best."

"You do know we sound like a couple from one of those shitty films that you and Maddy talk about. We sound almost poetic."

"Those films are great," she replied with a giggle, swiping at the tear on her face with her plastered hand. "Ow, that hurts."

"Why have you taken your sling off? That's supposed to be in it."

Maya rolled her eyes. "Are you going to be this bossy while I'm staying with you?"

The hairs on my arms stood to attention, excited and happy, but a little scared. I'd never lived with a woman before, not counting Maddy. I could be really shit at it.

"You're sure?" I asked.

"Yeah, although not so sure what my mum will say about it, plus, you have to double check with Maddy." She narrowed her eyes on me. "Call her before she gets back from London. She's back at nine isn't she? That's what she messaged me the other day."

"Yeah, she is." I grinned, finding it adorable that Maya knew Maddy's train time because my daughter had messaged her to let her know. "I'll speak to her when she gets home—she'll only worry about you all day otherwise."

"Okay, but if she says no, or even shows a hint that she doesn't want me staying, then you have to tell me." She studied me for a few seconds. "I mean it, Will."

"Okay, I promise."

At that moment, the door swung open, and Jack, Debra, and Ian walked in with Dr Young.

"Time to go home, love," Debra said.

Maybe she would argue about her daughter staying with me, maybe she wouldn't, but one thing was for sure I would be the one caring for Maya for the foreseeable future.