effort getting up those stairs. You could take the lift, but then you have to get out of the station to the taxi rank.’
‘He’s right,’ Josh agreed. ‘I could help you if you really want to get a taxi, but it’s probably better not to put any weight on that ankle, just in case.’
As she scanned his face, fresh tears in her eyes, Josh felt incredibly guilty. He wasn’t sure how this whole thing had started, but he could definitely have handled it better. ‘I could wait with you,’ he offered. ‘Come with you to the hospital if you like.’
She dropped her gaze. ‘I’d like that,’ she said quietly.
Once the crowd had started to disperse, she looked back at him, her expression full of remorse. ‘I’m sorry, Josh. I overreacted. It was childish. It’s not you…’ she faltered. ‘My ex accused me of all sorts of things. He said I was stalking him, when it was the other way around. He told my friends I was obsessed with him, when all I wanted was him out of my life. He was so convincing…’ She stopped, looking desperate.
‘Hey, it’s okay,’ Josh tried to reassure her, his heart wrenching as a sob escaped her.
‘None of the things he said were true,’ Kim went on, looking at him beseechingly, as if she needed him to believe her. ‘Even when I first went out with him, he tried to make me think everything was my fault, that I deserved all I got, and now…’
All she got? Which was what, precisely? Josh felt his gut twist. ‘There’s no harm done, I promise you,’ he said, supporting her with one arm and reaching with his other hand to wipe a tear gently away from her cheek with his thumb. ‘Apart from that ankle.’
She sniffed. ‘You were right,’ she said with a tremulous smile. ‘Looks like I was determined to throw myself at you.’
‘Pretty spectacularly, as it happens.’ Josh smiled back. He didn’t know how he’d managed to get himself into this, but there was no way he could leave her now.
Nine
Joshua
‘Is it okay if I go in?’ Pocketing his mobile after ringing the school to explain his absence, Josh nodded towards the cubicle curtain.
‘And you are…?’ asked the harassed-looking doctor exiting it.
‘My boyfriend.’ Kim’s voice came from behind the curtain. ‘He can come in.’
Josh arched an eyebrow. He’d obviously gone up in her estimation, considering she’d all but called him a total shit only hours earlier.
The doctor smiled. ‘That’s fine,’ she said. ‘I’ve asked a porter to bring a wheelchair. Do you think you could help Kim through to reception when he does? We need the cubicles, I’m afraid.’
‘Will do.’ Josh nodded, then slipped through the curtain. ‘How are you doing?’ he asked.
‘Okay.’ Kim managed a smile. ‘It’s not too badly swollen. They think it might be sprained, but they’re giving me an X-ray just in case. Sorry about pretending you were my boyfriend, by the way. I didn’t think they’d let you in with me in a state of undress. I hope you don’t mind me flashing my ankles.’
‘Not at all.’ Josh smiled back at her, though in truth he was feeling a bit awkward. He’d wanted to make sure she really was okay, and to patch things up between them – he could never be comfortable knowing he’d upset someone, however inadvertently – but still, he was concerned about sending out the wrong signals. If things had been different, maybe they could have got together, assuming it was something she wanted. He liked her, her smile, her enthusiasm, her quirkiness – or he had until things had got surreal between them that morning. In his current situation, though, a relationship with anyone wasn’t something he would be considering for the foreseeable future.
‘Thanks for coming with me,’ she said. ‘Being here. I hate hospitals. I seemed to spend my life in A&E when I was with…’ An alarmed look crossed her face, as if she were about to divulge something she shouldn’t, and she trailed off and glanced hurriedly down.
‘When you were with…?’ Josh urged her. He had a feeling in his gut he knew what she’d been about to say. ‘Kim?’ He stepped closer.
She glanced up at him. He noted the fearful apprehension in her eyes, the fingers she was knotting and unknotting in her lap. ‘My ex…’ she said eventually, leaving him to draw his own conclusions.
Josh’s anger mounted. Her gaze was fixed on her lap again, as if she was ashamed of