Love's Dilemma (Sixty Minute Romance) (6 page)

“That’s why I didn’t tell you. Sometimes I would like
to be an ordinary person. Well I am an ordinary person, but I keep being good
at what I do. Just for once in my life I would like to mess up, through no
fault of my own. I would like to fail magnificently at something!” Clair’s
conversation was wandering.

“Well I would like to succeed at something
magnificently, just once, every now and then.” Max didn’t identify with Clair’s
point of view in any way, although he understood what she meant. They had got
back to the sea front while walking arm in arm. They both enjoyed the seaside
and just stood on the promenade looking at the seagulls and the families
enjoying the summer’s day.

“Why did you ask me out today? Max?” Clair asked. They
sat down on an empty bench nearby.

“Well, I pretended that I wanted to talk about how you
could fit in with the band. But if I am truly honest… If I am truly honest… ”
Max dried up and couldn’t finish his sentence. He blushed completely and his
face gave this embarrassment away even through his tan. He tried again.

“The thing is, I have loved the memory of you for about
four years. And then you walked into
The George and Dragon
, and you were
way better than my memory of you. So now, I never want the real you to go away.
I have dreamt about you on and off for four years. For most of that time I
think I have loved you. Does that sound weird?” Max was smiling at the same
time as being serious.

Clair finally understood the level of devotion that Max
had for her and was knocked off guard utterly. She turned to look at him and
she could see his eyes of devotion, and feel the fullness of his love for her. It
was intense and strong and all consuming. She had never witnessed this before
because no one had ever felt that way about her before. It rose up inside her,
a passion that was new and unexpected. She kissed Max fiercely and roughly
before pulling away and looking hard into his eyes. Then she held his face and
kissed him once more briefly.

“Thank you.” She said. She hardly knew what she was
thanking him for but it seemed the right thing to say for the moment.

“I thought you said don’t rush.” Max was slightly dazed
and confused.

“You will never understand me, if you expect me to make
sense!” Clair said.

“That much is clear.” Max returned. He was trying to
keep his hands to himself, but they wanted to do other things. Being on a bench
on the promenade in Bognor Regis, stopped them from being too naughty and
wayward.

“We are going to have to walk or run or do something or
my head will explode.” Max said finally.

“I agree.” Clair was stunned with herself that she had
taken over in this way with Max. Where had that come from? She had no idea. She
needed to talk with Jo. She would know.

They walked back along the promenade to Max’s motorbike
and agreed that they had had enough of Bognor Regis for one day. They also
agreed that they would return another day for that swim in the sea they had
talked about.

The return journey on the motorbike was uneventful but
still more fun than the journey down. They both had two hours to think about
the kissing and the conversation and where they were with each other.

Max stopped at a pub and they had their evening meal
together. It turned out that they both drank sparkling water with ice as their
favourite drink. Max’s reason for drinking water was heart breaking. The
captain of the ship who had run into his parents’ yacht was drunk when the
accident happened. They didn’t stand a chance of survival against a large ship.
Max had never drunk alcohol if he was driving ever since. He had lost too much
to drink already. The reason Clair like sparkling water was it helped her singing
voice.

Clair paid for the meal, again, and they went out to
the motor bike in the car park.

“I’m going to drop you off home now, if you like, but I
can’t kiss you goodbye outside your ma and pa’s house, and I definitely want to
kiss you goodbye.” Max was still very lacking in confidence.

“If you don’t jump me right now in this car park I
shall scream!” Clair heard her voice saying. Max needed no further invitation.
They put on quite a show in that pub car park but managed to stay dressed and
reasonably decent.

Twenty minutes later they were back on the motorbike
and riding sedately to Clair’s house. It had been a good day. It hadn’t ended
in the way either of them had expected, but it had been a very good day.

Max pulled up into the drive and they both got off and
removed their helmets. They looked at each other like they were naughty school
kids who were playing truant. The curtain moved in the front lounge window of
the house and the front door opened. Aaron and Cora were quickly there to
welcome them back.

“Just as well I kissed you goodbye at the pub.” Max
said under his breath.

“Too right!” replied Clair.

They hugged and Clair ran up the five steps towards her
parents.

“Hey Max! What kind of guy says goodbye to a date
without planting a good kiss on her? You get yourself up here and say good bye
properly.” This intervention from Mr Holding was unexpected.

“Dad! No!” Clair was shocked.

Max obediently walked up the five steps and reluctantly
kissed Clair on the lips for a second.

“See you soon, babe!” He was grinning from ear to ear.

“That’s better!” Mr Holding was satisfied and happy.

Clair hugged her mum and dad and watched Max get back
on his bike.

“That was so embarrassing, dad.” Clair felt she should
at least pretend to protest.

“Nonsense, a real man would always kiss his girl at the
end of the date.” Mr Holding was sure he was right.

Max started up his motorbike and waved to the happy
scene of Clair arm in arm with Aaron and Cora at the front door. He drove out
of the drive and waited for the road to clear for him.

Chapter Nine – Six Days of Waiting

The car that hit Max appeared to come from nowhere. He
was still sitting on his motorbike waiting for a gap in the traffic when the open
top BMW 3 series roared into Max’s side and sent him flying into the air. Max
landed on another car about ten metres away. The driver of the car had smashed through
his windscreen and was lying motionless on the car bonnet.

There was the loud sound of a police siren and within
moments a squad car with flashing lights and blaring sirens was on the spot.
Two uniformed police officers jumped out of the squad car. One ran to the BMW
to see if the driver was OK. He was covered in blood with his head at a dreadful
angle to his body, he was obviously dead. The other officer ran over to Max who
lay motionless, hanging over the side of a parked car. Max’s legs were twisted
and smashed. He was bleeding from the back of his head and he was not
conscious. He lay there very still.

“This one is breathing just about!” The police officer
shouted over to his colleague. The other policeman was on his radio asking for
an ambulance and further assistance. All of this happened in a time period of
about ten seconds.

Watching the events from the top of the steps of their
house Aaron, Cora and Clair stood in shock at the event unfolding. Clair
immediately screamed
“Noooooooo!”
at the top of her voice. She ran down
the five stairs towards Max and her parents followed very closely behind her.
They were at Max’s side just after the policemen got there. Something about the
way Max lay there stopped Clair in her tracks. She didn’t know what to do and
how to touch him. But she so wanted to touch Max and make things better. She
turned with a heart wrenching wail to hug Cora. Clair looked back at Max’s
broken body on a few occasions in the next five minutes but couldn’t move away
from her mum’s arms. She looked over to her dad who was trying to move Max’s
wild hair away from his face.

“Is there anything I can do, officer?” He asked one of
the policemen.

“The ambulance will be here within the next two
minutes.” The policeman replied.

The ambulance arrived as promised. The paramedics split
up as they checked the two victims of the crash. They quickly moved over to Max
who still showed some signs of life. A second and third ambulance appeared and
the BMW driver’s body was quickly removed. It took ten minutes for the
paramedics to prepare and move Max’s broken body into the ambulance.

“Do you know the victim?” The second policeman asked
Aaron, Cora and Clair.

“He’s a friend of…” Clair couldn’t finish her sentence.
She cried again into Cora’s body.

“I’ll come with the ambulance, officer. Where are we
going?” Aaron took control of the situation.

Aaron turned to Cora and Clair.

“Go and get his sister. Clair, do you know where she
lives?”

Clair nodded.

“Cora, go and collect her and bring her to the
hospital. This doesn’t look good for Max.”

The ambulance left with Aaron and Max, while Cora and
Clair got straight into their car. They drove away from the scene outside their
home that resembled one of those hospital programmes on television. The problem
was that this accident had really happened, and Max’s life was hanging by a
thread. This was real life.

Clair was sitting in the passenger seat next to Cora
and rocking backwards and forwards in shock. She kept bursting out in a scream
of tears and then letting them subside. This happened many times while Cora
drove to Sandy’s flat a few miles away.

Clair suddenly remembered that she had Sandy’s mobile
number on her phone. She dialled it. Sandy answered it after two rings with her
normal upbeat mood.

“This is Sandy speaking, and I am really here! You can
speak to me now!” was her answer.

Clair lost her voice and could only say two words.

“Sandy? Max!”

“Clair, is that you Clair? Is everything alright?
Clair? Clair!” Sandy’s use of her name brought Clair to her senses for a
moment.

“Max has been in a dreadful accident. I’m coming over
to pick you up now. Just be ready.” Sandy’s scream filled the car.

Three minutes later Cora pulled into the car park to
collect Sandy. Sandy had just run down the stairs as she was, and was jumping
around and pacing around the car park. She looked at Clair and knew it was bad.
Clair jumped into the back of the car with her and over the twenty minute
journey to the hospital managed to relate to Sandy the shocking crash that had
taken place outside her house. She thought that there was little point in lying
to Sandy about Max’s state as she could see by Clair’s reaction how bad things
were.

As they turned into the accident and emergency section
of the hospital car park they saw Aaron waving them over to a parking space he had
managed to commandeer. He looked hot and bothered and very concerned to get the
girls out of the car and into the hospital.

“What is happening? Where is Max?” Sandy screamed at
Aaron even though they had never met before. He held her by the shoulders.

“He is alive but has gone straight into the operating
theatre. You can’t see him at the moment. You need to take some time to calm
down and then we will go in and wait to hear from the doctors. I’m Aaron,
Clair’s dad, by the way.” Sandy nodded and continued crying and held on tightly
to Clair who was in a similar state of shock.

They found a patio area near the entrance to the
accident and emergency section, with some benches. They sat down for a long
time trying to comfort each other. Cora went off to get some drinks and
returned with coffees and teas. Sandy was the only one of them who had not
witnessed the crash and Aaron, Cora and to some extent Clair, tried to run
through what had happened.

“I’ve always been terrified that something like this
would happen to Max on his bike.” Sandy said as if it was her fault.

“Sandy, he was not even moving when he got hit. It is
not his fault and it is not your fault. I think the car driver was being chased
by the police. Is there anyone we should call to let them know? Your mum and
dad?” Cora said.

“They were killed in a yachting accident.” Sandy said automatically.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot. Max told us this morning.”
Cora was very annoyed with herself for being so insensitive and forgetful.

“You met Max this morning?” Sandy had forgotten about
Clair and Max’s date. Clair went through the events of their visit to Bognor
Regis which somehow helped the four of them to calm down to some degree. After
an hour Aaron went to see if there was any news. There was no news. In fact
there was no news for three hours. Then a consultant called them into a small
waiting room. The news was not good. For now Max was stable and was on a full
life support system. The fact that he was stable didn’t mean that he was
getting better. It would take a few days for them to get a better idea of his
condition.

Both his legs were badly broken and he had damage to
his rib cage and internal organs. The biggest concern was the knock on the head
which carried a huge risk of long term brain damage. The doctor took about ten
minutes to explain everything to them.

“You can see him for a minute but he is not conscious.
He will not know that you are there. Please, for his own good, do not touch
him. He needs to be left well alone while we try and help him. Sandy and Clair
went into the side room where Max lay. All they could see was part of his face.
The rest of him was covered in sheets and a plethora of medical equipment.

They only stayed for a few seconds as it was too hard
to take, just standing there helpless, looking at Max in his condition.

“Come on, Sandy. There is nothing we can do here.” The
two girls gripped onto each other with their heads bowed down, and walked out
towards where Cora and Aaron were waiting for them. They all got into the car
and for a minute didn’t know what to do or where to go.

“Do you want to go home, Sandy?” Aaron asked her.

“Can you take me to my friend’s house in Ealing. I need
to talk to Anne.”

“No problem, you just give me directions. We’ll get you
there.” Aaron replied gently to this distressed girl who he had never met
before. He hoped by helping her he would keep a grip on his own emotions which
were barely under control.

The journey over to Anne’s house took about ten minutes
and Sandy ran to the front door. She fell into Anne’s arms with a loud cry and
the door closed.

Aaron turned the car around and they made their way
home. There was huge activity outside the house due to the accident. There were
lights and privacy tents and police officers everywhere. They couldn’t at first
get to the house. Aaron explained things to a policewoman and the yellow and
black plastic tape was raised for them to drive up to the house.

As they got out of the car the officer in charge asked
to speak to them. Aaron told him he would tell him anything they wanted just as
soon as his wife and daughter were safely in the house. He took Clair and Cora
into the kitchen and left them there.

The rest of the evening was a complete blur of knocks
on the door, police visits, and questions about what they saw. At one o’clock
Aaron called a halt to the intrusions and told the police they were going to
bed and would not answer the door until nine o’clock the next morning. The
three of them went to bed. At about half past two Clair knocked on her parents’
bedroom door and asked if she could spend the night in their room. The three of
them slept in the bed together, silently comforting each other through the
night with hugs and kisses.

Clair didn’t go to work in the following week. Aaron
and Cora did but they might as well have stayed at home. The vision of what had
happened to Max would not leave them, and they were in varying degrees of shock
for the whole week.

Max’s condition did not change although the doctors and
nurses said he was doing well. This was not obvious to Clair and Sandy when
they visited him each day. He looked the same and all the machines beeped the
same. Nothing was happening. Most days they went together on the tube to the
hospital before taking it in turns over a two hour visit to sit next to him. It
was hard to sit there for the whole two hours and they would take short breaks
to clear their heads when they needed to. On the Friday after the accident
Max’s eyes opened. Sandy shouted.

“Max!”

He closed his eyes again, and things seemed to have
returned back to how they were before.

Sandy ran out into the corridor and announced with a
loud shout to the hospital.

“He opened his eyes, he opened his eyes!”

A pair of nurses ran up to Max’s room and rushed
inside. Then they checked a whole lot of readings and machines that surrounded
him. After two minutes one of them said to the other.

“I’ll get Rashid.” She ran out.

Sandy and Clair had stood back to give the nurses room.

The nurse returned with Rashid who was obviously a
consultant of some sort.

“Please ladies; I’ll need a few minutes to check things
out. Please wait in the waiting room. I’ll come and see you when I have
finished.”

“He’s alright is he?” Sandy asked in desperation.

“Please, let me attend to him and then I will come and
see you.” Rashid was professional and calm. Clair and Sandy were trying not to
hope too much that something good might have happened.

After fifteen minutes Dr Rashid Mehta came and spoke to
them. He was smiling and ebullient. He addressed Sandy directly.

“You brother has just woken up. He is very lucky, we
were not expecting this so soon. He can’t talk, but he did make moves to get
out of his bed. I have explained to him that he has two broken legs and can’t
go anywhere at the moment. I think he understood. Go and see him but do not
tire him. You have five more minutes today, then he must rest.” Sandy hugged Dr
Mehta and Clair said thank you. She wasn’t sure if you were allowed to hug
consultants.

They went back into Max’s room to find him looking
exactly the same except his eyes were open. He looked at them both in
recognition but couldn’t do anything else. This was enough to get both of the
girls smiling and crying at the same time. Dr Mehta came in after five minutes
and they left Max.

Clair and Sandy both looked a mess after an emotional
week and a positive hospital visit. They decided to stop off for a drink on the
way home. The release of tension and emotion for both of them was huge, and
they even smiled and laughed a little together as they drank and shared stories
of Max. They probably drank a little too much but enjoyed the comfort of each
other. They each took a taxi home and slept well for the first time in a week.