The bottom dropped out of his world.
He ran to her side and shook her but there was no response. He quickly scooped her up and carried her out as she flopped uselessly against his arms. Should he call an ambulance? Should he just drive her to a hospital himself? It was over a forty-five-minute drive from here to the nearest hospital, probably closer to an hour. He knew phone reception was sporadic and he didn’t want to leave her while he ran down to the shed to make the call.
The most important thing was to get her warm. He laid her in front of the fireplace and quickly built a fire in the grate. As it flickered and roared into life he covered her with a blanket and ran upstairs and grabbed the thick duvet off her bed.
Her clothes were icy cold and he knew he had to get her out of them if she was going to warm up. She was so still and it scared the crap out of him to see her like a frozen Sleeping Beauty. He yanked the zip down on her jacket and dragged it off her body. The long-sleeved t-shirt she was wearing underneath was also cold so that came off too. He yanked her boots off and pulled her waterproof trousers and her leggings off so she was just left in her underwear. Ripping his shirt off, he lay on top of her, covering them both with the duvet.
‘Penny, can you hear me?’
She didn’t move; he wasn’t even sure if she was breathing. He put his face next to hers and could feel tiny shallow breaths on his cheek. He rubbed her arms, desperately, she was so cold and she didn’t seem to be getting any warmer.
‘Penny come on, open your eyes and look at me,’ he begged.
The fire was roaring hugely now and he could feel the heat through the duvet and on his face. She had to feel it too.
‘Penny, if you don’t open your eyes now, I’ll never speak to you again. Do you hear me. Open your fucking eyes.’
To his surprise she did and he nearly wept with relief. She stared past him, her gaze not focussing on him at all, and he grabbed her face hard. ‘Look at me.’
She blinked blearily a few times and then her eyes locked with his.
‘You came,’ she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. ‘I thought you didn’t care.’
‘Of course I fucking care. You know how much you mean to me.’
She shook her head as he carried on gently rubbing her arms. ‘Not really. You said you never wanted to see me again.’
‘I was angry. I didn’t mean it. Jesus, Penny, how could you believe that I didn’t care?’
‘You were quite adamant. And I hated you a little bit for it too. You said we were finished.’
‘No, we’re not,’ he snapped before realising his concern for her and relief that she was OK were now quickly turning into anger too. ‘Christ, you scared the crap out of me.’
He found himself burying his face in her neck, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her tightly against him. He had nearly lost her. He closed his eyes and breathed her in, relishing the feel of her pulse hammering against his lips, proving she was very much alive.
‘Am I naked?’
He looked up. ‘I was trying to keep you warm.’
‘By undressing me?’
‘Body heat is supposed to be the best way to combat hypothermia.’
‘Are you naked too?’
‘I have my jeans on.’
‘Did you just strip me naked so you could perv over me?’
‘It didn’t cross my mind.’
‘Really? So if I was a man, the first thing you would have done would be to strip me naked and lie on top of me?’
Henry hesitated. ‘Possibly. Probably not. It’s not like I haven’t seen your body before. If we weren’t in a relationship, I wouldn’t have stripped you.’
‘We’re not in a relationship, you dumped me, remember?’
‘I didn’t dump you. I was angry at you, there’s a big difference.’
She shook her head. ‘I’m grateful that you came to rescue me, but I didn’t call you because I wanted to get back together with you, I called you because I thought you might be next door and you were the nearest person. I’d quite honestly be happy if I never saw you again.’
Pain squeezed at his chest with that comment. But then how could he expect anything different? He had yelled at her, told her he never wanted to see her