Splintered Memory - By Natascha Holloway Page 0,16

been on the Bristol road? What was she doing in the car? Where had she been? Yet as the questions filled his mind, the answers instantly followed.

He knew where she’d been, and he felt a sudden rush of anger towards his wife. He couldn’t believe that after all of their arguments, after all of her promises, she’d still gone to Bath to hold Claire’s hand while she aborted what could possibly be his friend’s baby.

***

“How embarrassing,” Charlie said turning to face Matt after she’d heard Emily shut the back door to their house.

“She lived here. She’s bound to have heard us having sex. What are you embarrassed for?” He asked smiling and then leaning in to kiss her neck.

He ripped the top that she was holding in front of her out of her hands, and cast it onto the floor. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled her towards him, and pressed his body against hers as he leant forward to kiss her again.

“What do you mean she would’ve heard us?” Charlie asked pulling back from his kiss.

“We’ve got ten minutes till you’ve promised to go for a drink. Do you really want to spend them talking about whether or not Emily has ever heard us having sex, or would you rather that we actually go upstairs and have sex?” Matt asked grinning now, and again leaning in to kiss her.

“Upstairs, stat,” Charlie said with a huge grin spreading across her face.

Matt grabbed Charlie’s hand, and they headed towards the stairs together at full pace.

***

Matt scrolled through his phone for Claire’s number, but he was so angry that when he found it he could barely hit the call button.

“Hey Matt, if you’re calling for Charlie she left hours ago. Maybe she’s hit some bad traffic or something,” Claire said perfectly at ease.

“She’s not in traffic,” Matt said through gritted teeth. His temper was rising to the point where everything he was seeing seemed to be tinged with red. “She’s been in accident.”

“Oh my god, oh my god,” Claire said clearly panicking on the other end of the line.

“Shut up Claire. God’s not going to help,” Matt said cruelly.

“Is she going to be okay?” Claire asked.

Matt hung up. He didn’t have enough patience to try and console Claire. It was her fault that Charlie had been in an accident, and he didn’t even know why he’d bothered calling her.

He tried desperately to calm down, but he was just so angry. He leant against the wall outside the hospital and rested his head back, took some deep breaths, and tried unsuccessfully to clear his mind. He felt his phone vibrate, and he looked down at it and saw Claire’s name flashing up.

“What?” He asked venomously.

“Matt, Charlie’s pregnant. She was going to tell you tonight, but I thought you might need to know now,” Claire said. It sounded to Matt like she was crying, but he hung up without really caring or saying another word to her.

He felt in shock, but he knew that whichever one of his colleagues was treating Charlie would need to know. He ran back inside and towards where he knew she would’ve been taken for treatment.

“Matt you can’t go in there,” James said catching his upper arm as he went to carry on walking past him. “Matt, I’m serious. You’re no good to her in there. You can’t be her doctor.”

“Who is in there?” Matt demanded of James aggressively, wrenching his arm out of James’ grip.

“Oak’s in with her,” James responded.

Matt did a double take. Oak was one of the best doctor’s at the hospital. He was calm under pressure, and he seemed to be able to make the right call about each and every patient without doubt or hesitation. He was nicknamed Oak because he had years of experience and wisdom, and was always around for all of the doctors to go to, but he rarely treated patients anymore.

Oak believed that his experience was better used in guiding the talent of the future, but there were rumours that he drank and avoided patients. Matt though had dismissed these as nonsense. He’d often seen Oak watching over the carnage that the A&E regularly witnessed, and he’d always been able to jump in and lend a hand wherever and whenever it was needed.

Matt couldn’t decide whether it was a good thing or not though that Oak was in with Charlie. Did this mean that her condition was so bad that he’d had to step in? Or had he