the lifts.
‘What’s treema kassay?’ Maddie asked as they went silently up.
‘It’s thank you. It’s terima kasih,’ he said, smiling.
As the lift doors opened, a member of the security team came up to them. Johnny nodded at Maddie.
‘Show them your passport – they need to check you’re Ed’s mum.’
Maddie rummaged in her bag and produced her passport; the guard took a look and then nodded and pointed further down the corridor to a cubicle with a curtain around it.
‘He’s in here,’ said Johnny as they got nearer, and he pulled the curtain back.
Ed was lying asleep on the hospital bed with a tube attached to his arm. He looked peaceful. She watched his chest rise and fall, then she took a deep breath, went and held his hand and sat next to the bed. Thank God he’s OK. And then, out of nowhere, she burst into tears.
‘Hey, hey.’ Suddenly, Johnny was next to her. He sat down on the bed and put his arm around her. She was overwhelmed, tired, and so on edge that she didn’t really care that this six-foot surfer in a crumpled T-shirt was holding her. He was warm and he was kind; she leant her head on his chest and could feel herself shaking with sobs.
‘It’s OK.’ Johnny pulled her tighter.
Which was how Ed saw them when he woke up.
‘Mum?’
She instantly pulled away from Johnny and turned to face Ed. Johnny stood up.
‘Ed! You’re awake!’ She reached out and took his hand.
He just looked at her. ‘Mum?’ he whispered. ‘Is this a dream?’ He scrunched up his eyes. ‘Why are you here?’ He looked up at her. His cheeks were pale.
‘Ed, I was worried. Full stop. No texts. No messages.’
He closed his eyes and nodded.
But she did feel a bit foolish. Middle-aged woman takes leave of her senses and goes to Bali to ‘rescue’ teenage son. For crap’s sake, she could see the headline now.
Ed was squeezing her hand. ‘Look, I’m sorry, Mum, you’re right. I guess you were worried.’ She could feel her heart thudding in her chest. She felt awful. It had been the first impulsive thing she had done in about nineteen years and she’d messed up. Tim was right. She shouldn’t be there.
‘Hey, mate,’ Johnny interrupted. ‘You right? Listen, I’m just going to find us some coffee.’ And with that Johnny sauntered out of the cubicle.
‘I’d seen that update about the storm, Ed. Thank God Johnny got in touch.’
‘I passed out. Sorry. But the storm, yeah, that’s what did it. Should never have gone out, I persuaded Johnny…’ He turned his head to one side and sighed.
‘Anyway, I just – I don’t know.’
‘Panicked.’
‘I suppose.’
Ed smiled, but then winced.
‘What is it?’
‘Headache from hell.’ He pressed his call button. ‘Need more painkillers.’
After a few minutes a nurse came in, in a smart uniform – a blue and white batik tunic, black trousers, flat black shoes. Her dark hair was pulled back in a tidy ponytail. Ed pointed to his head. ‘Painkiller?’ he said and she nodded.
‘But first I take your vital signs, then painkiller,’ she instructed.
She walked briskly past Maddie to get her equipment. When she came back she took Ed’s blood pressure, his oxygen levels and his temperature.
‘Can I speak to a doctor please?’ Maddie asked her.
‘Not till later, maybe you wait one hour? Six o’clock?’ Maddie glanced at the clock on the wall. It was five in the morning already; apparently the doctors did their rounds at six. She moved over to one of the plastic seats just as Johnny came back with two coffees in takeaway cups. She took one and was glad of the amount of sugar that was in there; she gulped it back.
Suddenly, she was being shaken by the shoulder. She woke up in a daze. She must have dozed off. She slowly rubbed the back of her neck. It was aching. The seat next to her was empty.
‘Mrs Brown?’
She looked up blearily to see a doctor peering at her. Her eyes were gritty with tiredness.
‘Yes, yes. I wanted to ask you about my son, Ed.’ She nodded to the bed where Ed was sleeping again.
‘Yes, concussion. Luckily his friend was in the water with him. The board hit him on the back of the head, some blood, but mainly we are worried he blacked out. We’ve kept him in here to observe him – headache, but fine. He’s had the CT scan. He should be OK to get out tomorrow. Need to keep an eye on him