The Accidental Guest (3 page)

‘Hannah began to pack away the first-aid kit. ‘I’ll make you something to drink and my sister is going to call an ambulance to have a look at that head injury. I have some dry clothes you can borrow. I can’t promise they’ll be to your taste and they might not fit brilliantly but at least you’ll be drier and warmer in them.’

Gina raised her eyebrows. ‘You have men’s clothes?’

‘Jason left them behind.’

‘And you didn’t have a sacrificial bonfire with them?’

Hannah clicked the lid of the first-aid box back into place. ‘He wasn’t
that
bad.’

‘Why did you kick him out then?’

Hannah glanced at the newly-christened Tom, and then back at her sister. ‘I don’t think this is the time,’ she said. ‘How about you go and see to that ambulance before…’ her sentence trailed off. They had no idea how bad this man’s head injury was but it was bad
enough to cause amnesia. The last thing she wanted was for him to start being seriously ill, fall into a coma, or worse. The sooner they got help the better.

‘OK,’ Gina disappeared to make the call.’

‘You’re cooking,’ Tom said. ‘I can smell turkey.’

‘Christmas dinner,’ Hannah replied.

‘I’ve ruined it. I’m sorry about that.’

‘No you haven’t. We can make it Christmas tea, so it doesn’t really matter. Unless you’re hungry, of course, in which case we can eat now and you could join us.’

‘I don’t think I am hungry,’ he said. ‘But thank you for the offer.’

‘Right… I’ll get you that drink then. What would you like? I can do tea, hot chocolate, coffee? I even have green tea if you’re that way inclined.’

‘She means she has green tea if you’re a crazy hippy lady,’ Jess put in with a grin.

‘Thank you,’ Hannah said briskly.

‘Green tea actually sounds good,’ Tom said.

‘Hmmmm,’ Hannah said. ‘So you remember that you like green tea?’

‘I don’t know. It just sounds good.’

‘Jess…’ Hannah asked, ‘do you think you can look after Tom for a moment while I get those dry clothes and a cup of green tea?’

‘No problem.’ Jess reclaimed the stone elephant that her mum had discarded on the windowsill. Hannah was about to tell her she didn’t need it but checked herself. She had a strong feeling that this man was genuine, but none of them really knew for sure. Perhaps it was a good idea not to let their guard down completely.

‘I won’t be a minute,’ Hannah called as she hurried off.

After flicking the kettle on and being informed by Gina that the ambulance service were having problems with the snow but, given the details of Tom’s injury, would be out as soon as possible, Hannah rushed upstairs to find some clothes.

In the spare bedroom, she opened the door of the wardrobe. In between layers of clothes that had long been out of style but she couldn’t quite part with, was a handful of trousers and sweatshirts belonging to the man she
had
parted company with the previous year.

When Jason first left she had cried, despite the decision having been hers. It seemed like she was destined to remain alone, as failed relationship after failed relationship left her convinced that the man for her simply wasn’t out there. Was she that difficult and awkward? Had she been that awful to live with? Did she have some dreadful social inadequacy that meant she couldn’t communicate fully with the rest of the world? She didn’t think so, but it
seemed that every relationship was doomed to disaster. She didn’t get out enough – at least not to the traditional places where women might meet men, like pubs and nightclubs and painting classes – and she wasn’t one for internet dating. Somehow, the idea that a soulless computer programme could find your soulmate wasn’t one that appealed, no matter how effective it might be. Hannah wanted to discover that person for herself. So she had begun to travel. And then she had stopped seeing the travelling as a search for her soulmate, and had begun to see it as a search for herself, and the travelling itself had become her love. Gina had frowned and told Hannah that she was running away because she couldn’t face the idea that she was incapable of keeping a relationship going. But when her own marriage had gone to the dogs, Hannah had kept the smug lectures at bay, and decided that she would simply be there for her sister. These days they were closer than ever, much closer than they’d ever been growing up. Perhaps there was something to be said for being single after all.

As she rifled through Jason’s clothes, looking for something that might fit their strange Christmas guest, Hannah couldn’t help but reflect on the reasons she still had these clothes at all. She had messaged Jason to tell him she was leaving them on the front lawn and he could pick them up or she’d burn them. But when she’d returned home that evening and found them where she’d left them, instead of starting the bonfire there and then, she had gathered them up and packed them away. Every so often she had passed the spare room and had the urge to go in and smell them. Then, as the months went by, and the pain of the split faded, so did his scent, until she could barely recognise him at all over the smell of moth balls and damp. For a while she had barely recognised herself; this last break up had shaken her life around more than she cared to admit. But it had also been a good thing, leading to her quitting her job and setting up a thriving online business designing book covers, business cards and promotional merchandise. She loved her life now more than ever. Perhaps that was why she had kept Jason’s clothes – to remind her not to go back to where she’d been before. And perhaps now, the arrival of this stranger in need was a sign that she didn’t need that prop anymore; either way, it didn’t seem so hard to give them up now.

‘Does this guy have sugar in his tea?’ Gina called up the stairs, interrupting Hannah’s musings.

‘Why can’t you ask him?’ Hannah called back, gathering up the clothes she had chosen and letting the wardrobe door bang shut again.

‘I don’t know,’ Gina said as Hannah made her way back downstairs. ‘I just don’t want to.’

‘You’re not still scared of him, are you?’

‘I wasn’t scared before, I just didn’t know if we could trust him.’

‘He’s harmless; just confused.’

‘Yeah, I know. You’ve got to admit it’s all pretty weird though.’

‘I suppose so. We’re stuck with him now, though, at least until the ambulance gets here. Did you call the police?’

‘The emergency operator said the ambulance guys could inform the police when they came to pick him up. Are we supposed to go in the ambulance with him?’

Hannah was thoughtful for a moment. ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘We hardly know him, but as he doesn’t even know himself right now I suppose we’re the closest he’s got. I wouldn’t like to be taken to hospital on my own if I didn’t have a clue who I or anyone else was.’

‘Me neither. I’d be terrified. It’s funny though,’ Gina added, ‘he doesn’t seem that phased by it.’

‘Maybe he’s just so confused it hasn’t really sunk in yet. And I guess if you can’t remember what you’ve lost you can’t be scared by it.’

The kettle shrilled its readiness and Hannah handed the bundle of clothes to Gina. ‘Go and take those in to him and I’ll make the tea,’ she said.

‘What about our dinner?’ Gina asked.

‘We’ll have to have it for tea now.’

‘But the telly… We can’t eat while the best telly is on!’

Hannah frowned. ‘Are we seriously having this conversation?’

‘You know how much I love my Christmas Day
East Enders
.’

Hannah swung an arm towards the front sitting room. ‘We’ve got our very own drama happening right in front of our noses. Think of it that way and maybe you’ll get over missing it one year. Besides, you can watch it on catch-up.’

‘It’s not the same…’ Gina mumbled as she took the clothes through. Hannah smiled to herself. It
was
like a mini-drama. A very attractive mini-drama, now that she thought about it. But they knew nothing about this man and it would be silly to think of him as anything but a poor unfortunate soul who had, by a random quirk of fate, ended up knocking at their door.

So her reaction was so strange and so powerful once he returned from the bathroom, where he had done his best to clean up and change his clothes, that it took Hannah completely by surprise. Her heart did a little skip – that same little skip it always did when she was about to fall for someone. He was wearing one of Jason’s soft sweaters – a bottle green one that Hannah had always loved him in – and the sand-coloured chinos she had teamed it with actually fit Tom pretty well. He had been very pale when he first arrived, but now some colour had returned to his complexion and the green of Jason’s sweater against his dark eyes
and olive skin made him look startlingly handsome. Hannah shook herself as he sat back down on his chair and cupped the mug of hot tea gratefully in his hands.

‘I can’t thank you enough for your kindness,’ he said. ‘I’d probably be frozen half to death by now if I was still out in the snow.’

Wow. She hadn’t really acknowledged it before, but he was eloquent too. Well spoken, good vocabulary, polite and courteous. She wondered what he did for a living. Was the recollection of cortical blindness a clue? Was he a doctor? He had a fairly local accent but she hadn’t seen him around her neck of the woods before. She’d definitely have noticed him if she had.

‘We still need to work out how you ended up wandering around in the snow,’ Gina said.

‘I think we’ve established that it will have to remain a mystery for now,’ Hannah replied. ‘As Tom can’t remember.’

Gina looked at him. ‘You can’t remember
anything
at all about why you were out? What you were doing this morning? Nothing?’

Tom shook his head slowly. ‘Honestly, I wish I could.’

‘Try to think back,’ Gina said. ‘Try to concentrate on waking up this morning.’

‘Gina…’ Hannah warned. ‘I don’t think this is helping. It must be really stressful.’

‘It’s not,’ Tom said. ‘It’s fine. I’ll give it a go.’

Hannah and Gina exchanged looks as he closed his eyes and became silent. The crappy bandaging only added to the air of vulnerability about him that was all at once worrying and inappropriately sexy. As he sat and concentrated, Hannah found herself wondering what he would do if she kissed him now.
You’ve been on your own too long, Han
, she thought, and quickly shook the idea away.

They waited that way for a good minute, until Jess broke the silence. ‘What are you all doing?’ she asked.

Hannah whipped around and gave an indignant squeak. ‘What are
you
doing? Is that my turkey you’re eating?’

‘I was starving and mum said we weren’t having dinner for ages.’

‘That didn’t mean you could
steal
our dinner!’

‘Chill, there’s loads. And I’m not really stealing it if I was always going to be eating it in the first place, I’m just getting my share early.’

Hannah looked so genuinely appalled by Jess’s crime against the Christmas dinner rules that Gina broke into a fit of giggles. ‘That turkey
is
big,’ she laughed. ‘I think they might have got the labels mixed up in the shop. What you actually have out there is an emu.’

‘You’d be moaning about my stinginess if there wasn’t enough,’ Hannah said in a defensive tone.

‘There’s enough for everyone on Holly Way out there.’

Tom cleared his throat politely. ‘If you want to eat, please don’t put it off on my account.’

‘We’re fine,’ Hannah said, looking pointedly at Jess. ‘At least most of us are.’

‘What!’ Jess cried. ‘I’m growing!’

‘I wonder if I’m supposed to be having Christmas dinner now,’ Tom mused, and Hannah realised that he suddenly looked very melancholy.

‘God, I’m so sorry. We’re being really insensitive.’

‘No, of course not. You’ve been kinder than I deserve.’

‘What does that mean?’ Gina asked sharply. ‘Don’t you deserve kindness? What have you done?’

Tom shrugged. He looked confused. ‘I don’t know… it’s just something I said, it didn’t mean anything… at least, I don’t think it did.’

‘Of course it didn’t,’ Hannah said. She patted his arm. It was a rather ineffectual thing to do but she couldn’t think of any other way of soothing him. ‘Did you manage to remember anything just now?’ she asked.

‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘And I really tried.’

‘It’s ok. When the ambulance gets here the paramedics may have some ideas about how to jog your memory for you.’

Tom nodded.

‘They really ought to be here by now,’ Gina said, going to the window to check.

‘Give them time,’ Hannah said. ‘The snow will be holding things up. We’re lucky we’ve got anyone coming out at all.’

‘I suppose so.’ Gina left the window and flopped into a chair. She glanced at Jess, who was licking her fingers. ‘Can I have some turkey if Jess is?’ she asked, looking at Hannah.

‘Seriously it’s like having a couple of kids,’ Hannah said.

‘Please…’ Tom said. ‘Make your dinner. You mustn’t put your day on hold for me.’

‘We can’t just leave you alone,’ Hannah replied doubtfully.

‘Then… let me help,’ he said. ‘Until the ambulance comes, anyway. It’s the least I can do.’

‘Great idea,’ Jess said.

‘Tom helping doesn’t get you out of doing anything,’ Gina said, raising her eyebrows at her daughter.

‘Bugger,’ Jess grinned.

Hannah turned to Tom. ‘Are you sure you’re up to it?’

‘I feel much better now I’m warmed up. Apart from my head being sore I feel completely fine.’

‘I suppose it would be nice to eat soon. You could join us.’

‘I’ll probably be on my way to the hospital by the time everything is ready. But I can make myself useful until then.’

It was selfish and stupid, but Hannah was beginning to wish they hadn’t called an ambulance. She was starting to like the idea of him staying for dinner. But then, she supposed that his family would rather like the idea of having him around at dinner too, whoever and wherever they were. Someone would be worried sick about him right now, and sending him to the hospital was the right thing to do, if only to help them find him as soon as possible. ‘We’d appreciate the help,’ Hannah smiled. I suppose it might do you good to be active, jog your memory a bit.’