Grounded Read online

  “I messed up, Tom. I brought Olivia into our lives and I didn’t think enough about the repercussions for Henry if it didn’t work out. On top of that, I hardly ever see him with this schedule, and when I do see him I can’t take him anywhere or treat him like I want to. Like he deserves.”

  “Things will get better,” Tom said kindly. “Like you said from the start, a few months on this schedule and you’ll get back on your feet.”

  Emily tilted her head towards him. “You’re right. I’m just tired. I should be grateful that Henry’s heart problems are fixed and that I have a job that pays as well as it does.”

  “And Henry is bound to forget about Olivia soon. It’s been three weeks.”

  Emily nodded. Her next shift after they’d fought, Emily had begged to be moved to the upper deck so she could avoid Olivia. She’d remained up there until she noticed that Olivia’s name was no longer on the passenger manifest.

  She’d told Henry that Olivia was simply too busy and she hadn’t seen her. It hurt to lie to him, but he was too young to understand the complexities of adult relationships. All he knew was that he wanted Olivia in his life, and unfortunately that wasn’t going to happen.

  “You’re right, things will get better,” she said with a forced smile, hoping it was true.

  CHAPTER 3

  Simon Fletcher was very pleased with himself. It wasn’t every day that he found himself sitting in the best seats, watching a top London musical with the woman of his dreams, but today was such a day. It was the end of the first act, and the very moment the musical crescendo finished, the audience were loudly applauding and making their way towards the bars.

  “Can I get you anything?” he asked Sophie. “Overpriced ice cream? Alcohol in a plastic receptacle? A booklet of advertisements pretending to be a programme?”

  Sophie laughed. “Simon, you’re so funny.”

  “I know.” He grinned happily. “Seriously though, can I get you anything?”

  “No. I’m going to use the ladies’ though.” She turned and looked at the enormous queue. “I’ll be back in about a week,” she added with a wink.

  Simon watched her edge along the row and towards the back of the theatre. Sitting back in his chair, he let out a happy sigh. Realising he was in for a long wait and realising he could easily master a few levels of his favourite new app, he reached into his jacket pocket and got out his mobile phone. As the screen sprung to life, he frowned to see that he had seven missed calls from his boss. He quickly dialled and brought the phone up to his ear.

  “Simon, at last,” Olivia’s weary voice answered.

  “Sorry, I’m at the theatre. Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I’m in hospital. I think I’m going to die.” Olivia responded calmly.

  Simon jumped to his feet. “What? What happened?”

  “They won’t tell me anything, and I have this ridiculous thing on my arm and my leg. I demand that you come and get me out of here.”

  Simon sat back down as he understood the situation maybe wasn’t as dire as Olivia had first led him to believe. “What’s happened?”

  “The plane crashed,” Olivia said simply.

  “Crashed? What do you mean crashed?” Simon jumped to his feet again.

  “Into the ground, Simon. Crashed.” Olivia clearly had no desire to explain herself.

  Simon quickly plugged his earphone and microphone in and accessed a browser on his phone to see if he could get some information on what had happened.

  “I’m never flying again,” Olivia announced. “You’ll have to move to New York.”

  Simon found a breaking news story and quickly examined the text and photographs. “Okay, so the landing gear collapsed I see,” he said calmly. “Are you hurt?”

  “I presume so. I’m in a hospital,” Olivia replied. “Did you hear what I said? I’m never flying again.”

  Simon flopped back into his chair. “Is there a nurse or someone I can speak to?”

  “I don’t know; I’ve been left in the room to rot.”

  “Okay. Where are you? I’ll call them myself.” Simon looked apologetic as Sophie returned to her seat and looked questioningly at him. He took the information from Olivia and promised to call her straight back.

  “I’m sorry. Olivia’s in hospital,” he explained. “There’s been some kind of crash and I need to see what’s going on.”

  “Is there anything I can do?” Sophie asked as he searched online for a switchboard number for the hospital.

  “Yeah.” Simon looked at her with a wince. “Could you check for the next flight to New York?”

  * * *

  As soon as Olivia hung up with Simon, she scrolled to her second most frequently contacted person and held the phone to her ear as she waited for the international call to connect. She half-heartedly wondered why all her go-to people were on the other side of the world and why New York to London suddenly felt so far away.

  “Hello, darling,” Nicole answered brightly.

  Olivia snorted a bitter laugh. “I’m crippled. And no one will tell me anything.”

  “I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re going on about,” Nicole said. “Hold on.”

  Olivia waited impatiently while Nicole mumbled an excuse and apology to whomever she was with.

  “Okay, start from the beginning,” she said.

  “I’m never flying again.”

  “Okay. Lunch will be more difficult, but we can Skype,” Nicole joked softly. “You said you were crippled?”

  “I’m not joking around, Nic. The plane crashed!”

  There was silence for a moment while Nicole’s brain caught up.

  “I’m sorry, what?”

  “The. Plane. Crashed,” Olivia enunciated clearly into the mouthpiece of the phone.

  “What do you mean crashed?”

  “Have you been drinking?” Olivia sighed.

  “Liv, what do you mean crashed? Explain to me what happened,” Nicole demanded.

  Olivia silenced the sarcastic remark that was about to leave her mouth and took a moment to consider her words. “We landed at JFK, but there was a problem with the front wheels. It must have collapsed, because the next thing I know we’re falling to the ground with an enormous crash but the plane was still moving, so there were sparks coming up the windows and people were screaming—”

  “Where are you now?” Nicole interrupted.

  “I’m in hospital.”

  “What have they said to you?”

  “Not a lot. I have this thing on my arm and my leg, so I can’t move, and no one is telling me anything. I don’t know what’s happening.”

  “Okay, so you’ve hurt your arm and your leg; is that what you mean by crippled?” Nicole asked kindly.

  “Yes!”

  “Darling, I’m sure you’re scared and in pain, but they wouldn’t leave you on your own if it was serious. They must be attending to other people.”

  Olivia let out a deep breath and looked around the busy ward. Doctors and nurses were rushing to attend to various patients. People filled the halls of the accident and emergency department. Some held makeshift bandages to bloodied wounds, and some sat on the floor looking pale and exhausted.

  “I suppose that might be the case,” Olivia allowed.

  “Do you know how bad your injuries are?” Nicole asked.

  Olivia looked down at her leg, which was encased in a hardened plastic cast, and tentatively flexed the muscles, wincing when a shot of pain rushed up her leg and took her breath away.

  “My leg hurts.” She’d never been good at diagnosing her own injuries; often she continued on as if nothing had happened, with no realisation that she was even in pain.

  “Remember when you broke your wrist that time in Blackpool?” Nicole giggled.

  Olivia laughed at the memory. “Yes, on your birthday, and you’d insisted on taking me to that awful seaside resort.”

  “I didn’t have to twist your arm that much!” Nicole pointed out. “And
you were the one who wanted to have your fortune read. Don’t blame me for what happened.”

  “I was horribly drunk, and I’d never seen a fortune teller before.”

  “To be honest, you probably still haven’t. I don’t think someone in a tent on a pier in Blackpool charging two pounds fifty to read your palm is really legit. Although, she was spot on with that last piece of information.” Nicole’s laughter grew, and Olivia shook her head with a rueful grin.

  “I didn’t see the step!”

  “Not five seconds after she tells you to mind your step, you trip and break your damn wrist!”

  “Who has a step down from a tent? It’s really quite ridiculous.” Olivia sniffed.

  “Do you remember when you were in hospital explaining to the doctor that your wrist hurt, but only when you did a certain movement, and you proceeded to continuously flip him the bird to demonstrate your pain?”

  “As drunk as I might have been, I can assure you I remember that evening very well,” Olivia insisted. “And if you’ve finished laughing at my expense?”

  Nicole let out one last laugh as she attempted to calm herself down. “I’m not laughing at your expense, darling. Just trying to calm you down and make you smile.”

  Olivia grumpily attempted to smother a grin.

  “You’ll thank me later.”

  “Miss Lewis?” Olivia turned to see a nurse approaching her with a clipboard. “We’re ready for you now.”

  “I’ll call you later,” Olivia said, terminating the call as she looked nervously at the nurse. She hated hospitals.

  CHAPTER 4

  Emily heard Henry shifting and knew it wouldn’t be long before her son crawled over to wake her up and force her to start the day. The previous night had been hard work. Henry steadfastly refused to acknowledge Emily, stating that he would only agree to talk to her again once she’d called Olivia.

  Lucy had put a screaming Henry to bed, and he’d eventually cried himself to sleep with no bedtime story to soothe him. Now he’d decided only Olivia was allowed to read to him at night.

  “Mommy?”

  Emily kept her eyes tightly closed and pretended to be asleep. She hoped that today would be a new day, and Henry would have forgotten about the plane crash and his desperation to hear from Olivia. She also hoped that if Henry thought she was asleep he would crawl up to her and hug her as he did most other mornings. After the difficult night, she needed to feel close to Henry—not as if she’d failed him somehow.

  “Mommy?” Henry repeated sleepily. “Wake up, silly.”

  Emily barely managed to keep her expression neutral. A few moments later, she felt him crawl over to her, shifting around in the bedding. She knew he was lying in front of her, nose to nose by the loud sounds of his breathing and the warm air hitting her face.

  “Good morning, sweetie,” she mumbled softly, keeping her eyes closed and enjoying the moment.

  “Mommy, I dreamed.”

  “What did you dream, sweetie?”

  “I dreamed you were a giraffe.”

  Emily grinned. “Wow, were you a giraffe too?”

  “No,” Henry sounded as if he thought she was being ridiculous. “I was me.”

  “Oh, of course.” Emily smiled and opened her eyes. She reached up and smoothed down his unruly, brown locks.

  “You ate all the leaves on Mrs. Lipton’s tree and she was very angry with you.”

  “All the leaves?” Emily asked with mock wide-eyed wonderment.

  Henry nodded slowly and seriously. “Yes, all of them, Mommy.”

  “Well, no wonder she was very angry. That’s a lot of leaves.”

  “What are we doing today?” Henry asked as he reached out and played with some strands of Emily’s hair that lay on the pillow.

  “How about we go to the park?” she suggested.

  Henry’s eyes glowed with excitement. “Really?”

  “Really.” Emily was relieved that he could be excited by such simple and inexpensive things. Guilt washed over her as she considered that he simply didn’t know any better because she had never been able to treat him to extravagant surprises like she so desperately craved. “And how about a picnic?”

  By way of response, Henry slipped out of bed and padded over to the wardrobe to get clothes.

  Emily watched him excitedly pluck out clothes and winced when he picked up his favourite giraffe hoodie and turned back to her with a thoughtful look. He looked at her and then looked at the hoodie, his mind obviously whirring with unspoken questions.

  “Can we have ham sandwiches at the picnic?” he finally asked.

  Emily let out a breath of relief. “Of course!” She got out of bed and stretched. “Why don’t you ask if Tom and Lucy want to come too?”

  Henry’s eyes and mouth opened in joy; he adored Lucy like a second mother, and Tom was his idol. He dropped the giraffe hoodie to the floor, calling out their names as he ran excitedly from the room and down the hallway.

  Emily bent down, picked up the hoodie, and let out a sigh as she folded it and placed it on a top shelf where he wouldn’t easily find it. She reached into the wardrobe and picked out some alternative clothes for him, placed them on the bed, and hoped that his excitement over the picnic would be enough to distract him.

  * * *

  Simon was exhausted as he approached the hospital reception desk and dropped his hastily packed holdall to the floor. “Hi. I’m here to see Olivia Lewis?”

  The nurse typed the name into the computer and read the details from the screen. “Are you family?”

  He smiled politely, too exhausted for red tape and bureaucracy. “Yes, I’m her son.”

  “Oh, I see. Well, she’s in room 34, just down the corridor on your left,” the nurse replied with a kind smile.

  “Thank you so much.” Simon picked up his bag. He walked down the corridor, poked his head around the corner of the correct room, and smiled to himself. It was a relief to see Olivia alive and well, and also amusing to see her dressed in a floral hospital gown and grumpily eating a yoghurt.

  “Hello, Sunshine,” he greeted.

  Olivia looked away from the television and glared at him. “Don’t say a word.”

  “About the lovely gown?” Simon walked in and placed his bag next to the visitor’s chair. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

  “When can I leave this…this…”

  “Beacon of modern medicine?” Simon finished. “I don’t know; I need to speak to someone.”

  “The food is dreadful,” Olivia complained. She placed the half-eaten yoghurt down on her bedside table.

  “It’s supposed to be. You’re not meant to like it here,” Simon pointed out as he walked around inspecting the room. “It might encourage you to stay. Before they know it, people will be staying here just for fun.”

  Olivia ignored him. “And the nurses are awful.”

  Simon turned around and regarded her with a frown. “Why are they awful?”

  Olivia shuffled in her bed, pulling herself into a higher seated position with her one good arm. “They are all so, well, happy. Smiling.”

  “How terrible,” Simon drawled.

  Olivia shot him a glare. “You may mock, but there is absolutely nothing worse than being in pain and surrounded by unnaturally happy people.”

  “Yes, nothing worse,” Simon agreed. “I’m glad you’ve managed to maintain a sense of perspective.”

  At that moment a nurse entered the room, smiling brightly at the two of them. “Good afternoon, Miss Lewis. I heard that your son is here, isn’t that lovely?” She and Simon shared a smile in greeting.

  “My—” Olivia stared at Simon in horror.

  “She’s a bit overcome with emotions,” Simon cut in, smiling wickedly at Olivia from where he stood behind the nurse. “Aren’t you, Mum?”

  “Mum?” Olivia gave him a furious look.

  “Are you from England?” The nurse asked, obviously detecting Simon’s accent.

  “Yes, flew in from Lon
don,” Simon explained, then turned to Olivia. “I literally dropped everything and got on the first flight to be here, slept in the airport on a cold bench, so she’s very happy to see me. Aren’t you, Mum?”

  Olivia had the grace to blush as she silently inclined her head. “Yes, thank you, Simon.”

  “What are children for?” Simon asked with a grin before turning to address the nurse. “Though I know she is itching to get out of here. Do you have any idea when she can be discharged?”

  “That will be up to the doctor. He’s doing his rounds now and will be here soon. But hopefully we’ll be able to release her in a few days.”

  Simon heard Olivia’s quiet but distinctly horrified intake of breath. “Is there any chance she can be released today? She gets very anxious in hospitals, and I don’t think it will do her much good being in here for too long.” Simon looked at the name tag on the nurse’s uniform. “Is there anything you can do to help, Sandra?”

  Sandra looked at him, then at the chart she was holding, then back at Simon. She smiled. “I’ll go and see if I can get the doctor to see you both next.”

  “That would be wonderful. Thank you so much. We really appreciate it.” Simon smiled politely as she left the room to seek out the doctor.

  “Thank you, son,” Olivia joked softly.

  “No problem.” Simon sat down on the visitor’s chair and gestured at Olivia’s leg. “So, what’s the damage?”

  “Some broken something or other in my leg and a fractured thing in this.” Olivia twitched her arm, which was in a heavy-duty sling.

  “Oh, so you really listened and paid attention when they told you?” Simon rolled his eyes.

  Olivia shrugged before wincing at the pain and letting out a sigh.

  CHAPTER 5

  Tom sat wedged at the bottom of the children’s slide. He pouted up at Henry.

  “I’m stuck, buddy!”

  “No, you’re not!” Henry giggled, knowing full well that Tom was joking.

  Emily watched the scene with amusement from a bench at the edge of the playground. Lucy hadn’t been able to come, but Tom had jumped at the chance. He’d spent the last hour and a half running around the park exciting and exhausting not only Henry but all the other children as well.