Absolution(73)

She took a sip of her coffee before setting the cup down in front of her and looking over at him. “I’m sorry I bit your head off before.”

“I’m the one who should apologise. I’m sorry I burst in on you like that. I wasn’t thinking straight, I just heard a crash and I panicked.”

“I knocked some stuff off my bedside table when I got out of bed.”

He thought about test-driving her wheelchair the night before. He should have taken more care.

“Please don’t move stuff around,” she said quietly, as if reading his mind. “Everything’s where it is for a reason.”

“I’m really sorry, I’ve still got a lot to learn. I won’t do it again, I promise.”

She looked almost as embarrassed as he felt. “So now that we’ve both apologised the hell out of this, let’s stick a fork in it and call it done, okay?” she mumbled, flashing him a quick smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

He nodded, folding his arms and leaning on the table. “Can I ask you something?”

Her expression was guarded but he didn’t let it stop him.

“Can I use your shower?”

Relief poured out of her. “Absolutely.”





CHAPTER 13




“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”

- Nelson Mandela




Callum strode up Ally’s front path balancing two cups of takeaway coffee in his hands, as per their usual Saturday morning tradition. He wondered what kind of mood he would find Ally in this particular Saturday morning. She and Jack had gone to Barney’s – on a Friday night, together. Ally hated going to Barney’s on the weekend and he couldn’t blame her. Was she trying to prove to Jack that nothing had changed? If she was, she was playing a dangerous game and Jack was in for a rude awakening. He was all for her getting the closure she needed, but hiding the truth from him wasn’t going to help.

Despite his little chat with Jack, he still wasn’t convinced that he would stick around, and what would happen to her when he didn’t? He tried not to dwell as Ally opened the door. As soon as she did, he could tell something was up, even through the smile she greeted him with.

“Morning,” he said casually.

“Hey.”

He held the coffee up. “Ambrosia – nectar of the Gods.”

She moved aside to let him pass. “I’ve been looking forward to that coffee all morning – I feel kinda… fragile.”

She closed the door behind him and he turned around, checking her out more closely. She looked paler than usual, and that smile wasn’t fooling anyone. “Really? What’s up?”

“I had a few beers last night. I haven’t done that for so long, I forgot how it made me feel. And this morning, I remembered.”

“Ah yes. The mighty hangover. I’m familiar.”

“Exactly. My head hurts and I feel like crap. Do we have to do the exercise thing today?”

“Define ‘crap’ for me.”

She shook her head dismissively. “Just your general run-of-the-mill hangover.”

“Are you sure it’s not – “

“Yes, I’m sure,” she snapped. “I’m not running a temp and I don’t have any other symptoms so you can stand down, doc.”

He ignored her tone. “Okay, chill. Just checking.”

“Sorry,” she mumbled, wheeling past him as she headed towards the living room. “Like I said, not feeling that great. Hangovers suck.”

He followed her through and set her coffee down on the table, sinking into the couch. “No arguments there. So, speaking of last night, how’d it go?”

“Fine.” She took a sip of her coffee.

“Just fine?”

“It was fine – it was okay.”

“Must’ve been more than okay if you had a few beers, or was that Dutch courage?”

“Something like that.”

Not a lot in the way of details were forthcoming. She took another sip of her coffee. He wanted to shake her until she told him everything, but she looked so fragile, he took pity on her. “I can come back tonight if you want. Maybe you’ll be feeling better then, and we can do your range-of-motion stuff.”

“That’d be great. Thanks.” She stared at the coffee cup in her lap.