2010 by Neurosurgeon... & Mum

Author:Neurosurgeon... & Mum [Neurosurgeon... & Mum]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-11-03T07:34:08+00:00

He frowned. ‘I’m not following you, Amy. Your friend was in an accident, he damaged his spinal cord in a really critical place, you tried to help him, you just couldn’t fix it. Perhaps I should admit that I looked you up on the internet.’

‘You did what?’ She stared at him, uncomprehending.

‘I was curious. And I know it was wrong and I shouldn’t have snooped. But, from what I’ve read about you,’ he said softly, ‘you’re gifted. If you couldn’t fix it, I’m damn sure nobody else could. You didn’t do anything wrong and I bet you gave him more movement back than other people could’ve done. Does he have full finger movement?’

‘I don’t know.’ The only people who could tell her that were Ben and Laura—and they weren’t talking to her. Ever.

‘If he does, he has you to thank. How can you be struck off for doing the best you possibly could?’

‘Because I failed, Tom. I let Ben down.’ Her throat hurt, and she swallowed. ‘Worse, I let Laura down.’

‘Laura?’ he asked softly.

‘His wife.’ She could feel the tears welling up, the loss and misery rising to drown her again. ‘My best friend,’ she whispered. ‘My best friend for the last sixteen years, and I’ve lost her.’ She shuddered, willing the tears to stay back, but one spilled over anyway. Silently.

Tom said nothing, simply wiped it away with his thumb, and the sheer tenderness of the gesture almost undid her.

Now she’d started talking, the words kept spilling out. ‘We met on the first day at university. I’d just unpacked my stuff and I was homesick as hell, and I went into the kitchen and she was there, making coffee. She made me a mug and shared her chocolate biscuits with me—her parents had sneakily repacked her case and added all sorts of treats.’

It was the sort of thing his parents had done, Tom remembered. And he’d guess that Amy’s parents had been far too busy to think of a teenager taking her first steps out into the world and how to make it easier for her.

‘It didn’t matter that she was reading geography and I was a medic. We liked each other straight away. We liked the same kind of music, the same kind of films, the same kind of books. She was the best friend I’d ever had. Like a sister to me, as close as Beth was. I loved her so much, Tom. And I let her down. She trusted me to make Ben whole again, and I couldn’t do it.’

She choked back a sob. ‘Ben blames me for the fact he’s a paraplegic, and so does Laura. She hasn’t spoken to me since it happened. It’s the first year since I’ve known her that she hasn’t sent me a birthday card or a Christmas card.’ Her teeth chattered. ‘Laura made me a cake for my twenty-first birthday. In secret—I had no idea, though we shared a house. She even iced it. She’s the only one apart from Cassie who’s ever done anything like that for me.

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