sight of them. ‘Don’t touch me. I’ve fractured my right femur.’
Zack was already calling an ambulance. Elmo licked Geraldine’s hand and she fondled his ears with gratitude. ‘Clever boy. Did you bark at them in Morse code?’
‘Put it this way, forcing him to watch all those Lassie DVDs really paid off.’ Ellie knelt on the carpet beside her. ‘How did it happen?’
‘There was a massive spider up on the wall and I tried to splat it with my rolled-up magazine. But it scuttled off to one side. So I went to whack it again.’ Geraldine sounded exasperated. ‘That’s when I lost my balance and came crashing down like a bloody tree.’
‘That’s karma for you,’ said Ellie.
‘You’re telling me. I’ve been lying here for the last twenty minutes and it’s been smirking down at me the whole time.’
Ellie followed the line of Geraldine’s gaze and let out a squeak; the spider was indeed up there, malevolent-looking and measuring a good three inches in diameter.
Zack ended the call. ‘Right, ambulance is on its way.’
‘Thanks for coming to the rescue. Oh Lord,’ Geraldine sighed. ‘They’re going to cart me off to the hospital.’ She looked at Ellie. ‘Could you be an angel and help me get a bag packed?’
‘No problem. Zack, kill the spider, would you?’
‘What, and end up like Geraldine? Let him live. I’ll go down and keep an eye out for the ambulance.’
When he’d left them, Geraldine murmured with amusement, ‘Just like my husband. Scared of them but would die rather than admit it.’
For a precarious moment Ellie found herself wavering; could she confide in Geraldine? Then she saw the mischievous glint in the older woman’s eye and came crashing back to her senses. Sharing her feelings for Zack would clearly be insane; Geraldine had no self-control.
‘Don’t worry about Elmo. We’ll take care of him.’ Rising from her kneeling position and mentally zipping her mouth shut, Ellie said, ‘Tell me where your overnight bag is and what you want me to pack.’
***
Zack accompanied Geraldine to University College Hospital and waited with her until she’d been seen in the ER, then admitted onto a ward. Surgery to pin and stabilize the intracapsular fracture was scheduled to be carried out first thing tomorrow and the pain was under control. As he made his way home, a text came through from Ellie:
Travel schedule sorted, meetings rearranged. Taking Elmo for a run, back by six. Give Geraldine our love xx
The kisses, needless to say, were for Geraldine, not for him. But that hadn’t stopped him looking at the text three times already. On a whim, as the taxi reached Primrose Hill and Regents Park Road, Zack told the cab driver to stop. The hill itself was bathed in sunshine and there were still plenty of people about. Heading up to the top, he kept a look out for Ellie. This afternoon he could have sworn her attitude towards him had changed; just thinking about the incredible longing he’d experienced brought it all back. He’d so badly wanted to kiss her, had been right on the verge of doing it, right up to the moment when Elmo had come crashing through the dog flap.
And then he saw her. Having reached the brow of the hill, Zack saw a flash of pink. There they were, Ellie with her long dark hair flying and Elmo’s tail wagging in joyful anticipation as she hurled his red ball into the air and he launched himself after it. Ellie waited until he’d reached the ball before haring off in the opposite direction. By the time Elmo caught up with her, she was lying on the grass pretending to be asleep. With a giant leap, he landed on her stomach and dropped the ball on her chest. She doubled up laughing and lifted him into the air, causing Elmo to bark with delight and paddle his legs furiously. The next moment Ellie had thrown his ball and the two of them were off again, chasing after it.
She had no idea he was there. Zack didn’t want to move. He could stand here and watch her forever; her complete lack of self-consciousness was irresistible. Gripped by a surge of longing, he made up his mind. After the events of today, surely he had the perfect excuse to invite her back to the house for dinner. They could talk about what had happened to Geraldine, discuss the care of Elmo in the weeks ahead, maybe recapture the moment that had felt as if it