Bondi Beach (3 page)

“What do you have?
” I hadn’t eaten since breakfast at the hospital and realized that I was famished.

“Well,”
he began, turning on a small bedside lamp before settling back in the chair. “Do you have a favorite food? Sydney isn’t far, and I can pick up just about anything.”

“I appreciate
it, but I’d really love something simple. Like soup and crackers.”

He smiled.
“That’s easy.”

“I’m vegan
,” I said, hoping it wouldn’t be an inconvenience for him.

He
shook his head. “No problem. I eat veg about half of the time, anyway. How about lentil soup?”

“
That sounds great,” I replied.

Giving me a small smile,
his eyes held mine for a moment before he got up and left the room. There was something there, but I couldn’t tell what it was. It wasn’t exactly uncomfortable – just intense.

A few minutes later, Martin returned with a tray filled with crackers and a bowl of steaming soup
.

“That smells delicious
. Thank you.” I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude on top of the feeling that he was the only friend I had in Australia – the man who had smacked me with his surfboard.

Moving the
lamp out of the way, he laid the small tray on the bedside table and sat down in the chair beside me. “You know, this is really the least I can do for a woman I put in the hospital right after she got to Sydney.”

“Don’t make me laugh
,” I said, my head and face aching.

“Sorry,” he smiled
before becoming more serious.

“
I can’t tell you how much this means to me. I really don’t like imposing on you like this. I’ll leave as soon as I can.” I began feeling a little choked up but pushed it away. I only hoped that he hadn’t noticed.

There was a look in his eyes that I couldn’t read
. He continued to watch me for a moment before placing his hand gently on mine. “Eva, you’re not imposing. Let’s just get you better so you can travel.”

I sighed.
Since I would be here for a few days, a thought occurred to me. “I don’t even know if you live here alone. Does anyone else live here? A wife or girlfriend?”

Martin shook his head.
“No.” Looking pensive, he shifted his gaze down for a moment before looking back up at me. “What about you? Do you have a husband or boyfriend waiting for you at home? Someone you need to call?”

I shook my head slightly
. My headache was getting worse, and I hesitated answering.

His brows furrowed
. “You know, we really don’t have to talk tonight. I can leave you alone to eat.”

“No, it’s okay
,” I told him. I hadn’t really wanted to get into it, but Martin had opened up his home and been a friend to me. The least I could do was to tell him something about myself. “I lost my husband to cancer two years ago. My father died the year before. My mother was killed when I was a kid. No one’s at home waiting for me,” I said simply.

H
e seemed surprised by my answer and shook his head slowly. “I’m really sorry.”

“
It’s okay,” I said reassuringly. “As I told you earlier, I came here to get away.”

Martin wore a
mildly pained expression but didn’t say anything.

“I don’t know
exactly why I came to Australia. I thought it might help me figure out how to get on with my life. I’m not sure what I expected to find here.”

Trying to lighten the mood
, he said, “Well, I know you didn’t expect to be hit in the face with a surfboard.”

I managed a smile
and, then, moved the tray onto my lap and began to eat. I looked up at Martin thoughtfully and could tell that he wondered what I was thinking. “You know, you didn’t have to visit me in the hospital. Why did you come?”

He hesitated
for a moment, looking off toward the window before returning his attention to me. “I wanted to apologize. And to see if there was anything I could do to help.”

“
That’s really nice, but I don’t want you to keep feeling bad about what happened,” I told him. Ever since we’d met the previous day, I had known that Martin was a good man. Everything that I had learned about him since then just confirmed that fact. I didn’t want him to continue beating himself up over this.

Martin
looked troubled. “You know, I was carrying my surfboard, and I never even saw you. I just remember bumping into something. When I turned around, you were lying there. I thought maybe I’d killed you.” Pensive, he shook his head and rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. “We checked you out to be sure you were breathing. I found your passport in your purse and called your name a couple of times, but you didn’t wake up so we called an ambulance.”

“
I’d say you’ve gone above and beyond what you needed to do.”

He shook his head slowly.
“It’s the least I could do.” He sat quiet for a moment, his eyes looking down at his hands, which were clasped between his knees. “Anyway, I couldn’t sleep that night. I knew that I needed to apologize in person.” He looked back up at me. “Then, when you told me you’d just gotten here and were traveling alone, I felt even worse.”

“
I don’t want you feeling that way,” I told him reassuringly. “Don’t worry. I’ll be okay.”

“I hope so
,” he said as I finished the soup and began to make my way toward the edge of the bed. He looked at me questioningly. “What do you need?”

I swung my feet out from under the covers and placed them on the floor
, pulling my nightgown down over my legs. “I just want to brush my teeth and wash up before bed.”

Martin nodded. “Stay there.”

Getting up from the chair and moving it toward the foot of the bed, he placed the food tray on the nearby dresser and put the lamp back on the bedside table. Then, he found my toiletries bag and helped me walk to the bathroom before excusing himself for a few minutes. Once I had finished, I emerged from the bathroom to find him standing there waiting for me. There was a comforting smile on his face as he offered me his arm. I wrapped my hand around his thick bicep, and he steadied me and watched my feet as I made my way back to bed.

“I should probably let you get some sleep
,” he said as I climbed in under the covers. “Do you need anything?”

I shook my head. “No,
thanks. I just took a vicodin. I should be fine.”

“Okay.” He walked toward to door of the bedroom and turned around
. “Just call me if you need anything. I’ll keep my door open.”

“
Thank you,” I said.

“Goodnight.”
He closed the door partially on his way out of the room.

“Night,
” I said quietly, but I don’t think that he heard me.

I turned off the bedside lamp and lay in the dark for a while
wondering how long it would take to feel better. Then, I wondered if my Australian travel plans had been temporarily altered or permanently derailed. When I was beginning to wonder if this was all part of some grand plan and what it might be, I fell asleep.

Chapter 7

JANUARY 7

At some point during the night, I had to pee. I’m sure it was the combination of soup and tea before bed. I didn’t want to wake Martin and was pretty sure that I could get to the bathroom and back if I took it slow. I turned on the light by the bed and made it to the bathroom like a champ. Things didn’t go so well on my way back however. About halfway across the bedroom floor, I became dizzy and grabbed for the dresser, ending up with the food tray in my hand instead. Then, I blacked out and fell.

When I awoke,
I was face down, my forehead was wet, and the pain in my head was searing.

Martin turned on the light and
walked in quickly, kneeling down beside me to see fresh blood on my face and the floor. “Oh, shit. Eva, what happened?”

All I could do was moan, and he
left the room and went for the phone. After calling 000, Australia’s emergency number, he decided that it would be faster to drive me since it was so late and there would be little traffic. I heard the front door slam, and he returned a moment later.

“Eva, I’m taking you back to the hospital,” I heard him say.

Very gingerly, he rolled me onto my side and looked at my face. Sliding his arms beneath my back and knees, he picked me up and carried me to his Land Rover, which was already running in the driveway and had the passenger door open with the seat laid back as far as it could go.

While
he drove quickly toward the city, he talked to me soothingly. He promised that I would be alright. His words were like a balm although I only heard snippets of what he was saying as I slipped in and out of consciousness.

After a trip to
the emergency room, a clear CT scan, and cleaning and re-stitching part of my original laceration, the hospital released me back into Martin’s care just after 5 a.m. With my arm across his shoulders and his around my waist, he helped me into the house and back into bed just as the sun was rising. Then, he dragged a recliner into the room, put it between the bed and the window so it wouldn’t be in my way, and fell asleep. When I awoke around noon, my head and face were throbbing, and Martin was gone.

When he
entered the room a little while later, he looked exhausted. “How do you feel?” he asked.

I closed my eyes
and barely managed to shake my head. “Not good.”

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he
laid his hand on mine. “Do you want another vicodin?”

“
Yeah,” I said slowly. As he looked through my toiletries bag, I told him through the dense fog in my head. “I’m so sorry about last night. Why don’t I check back into the hospital for a few days and spare you the drama?”

“No
. I think we can do this as long as you don’t try to get out of bed by yourself.” He handed me a pill and reached for a glass of water on the bedside table.

He sat back down
as I reached up to touch my face. “What happened?”

His brows furrowed, and he looked worried.
“You don’t remember?”

“No,” I whispered
.

“You must have landed on the floor pretty hard
. The cut above your eye reopened partially, and they had to clean it and close part of it back up.”

“Lovely.”
I felt a lump on my forehead that hadn’t been there before. “And this?”

He shrugged
. “I don’t know. It’s new. Do you remember why you fell?”

“I
had to go to the bathroom but didn’t want to wake you. I thought I’d be okay if I moved slowly. Then, I must have blacked out on my way back. I don’t even remember hitting the floor.”

“
I woke up when you knocked the tray off the dresser. When I came in, you were lying on the floor, and your face was bloody.” He looked at me seriously. “Promise me you won’t do that again, trying to get out of bed alone.”

“
I promise. I’m sorry I kept you up all night. You look exhausted.”

He
managed a small smile. “I’m a little tired. Are you hungry?”

At that point, I couldn’t even imagine food.
“No.”

“You need to eat
something. How about a smoothie? I have some frozen ones. Maybe it’ll help your head.” He smiled a little. “No chewing required.”

“
Okay,” I agreed. “Maybe something cold would help.”

He returned a
short while later with a strawberry and banana smoothie and some leftover crackers and soup from the previous evening. I ate and decided that I would try to sleep as much as I could just to get through the next few days until the pain in my head subsided and I could open my eye.

*****

That day, I awoke once or twice more, either for pain pills or to go to the bathroom. With my toiletries bag in the bathroom, I managed to wash up a little before going to bed for the night. I awoke long enough to see Martin lean back in the recliner and turn out the light.

The moon was nearly full outside and cast a
bluish light through the window, brightening the room. Silhouetted against the window, I watched him as he quietly rearranged himself in the chair a few times. He seemed uncomfortable.

“Martin,” I said softly
.

Wearily
, he opened his eyes. “Bathroom?”

“No.”
Trying to move as little as possible, I pulled back the covers on the side of the bed closest to him. “Sleep here.” He looked at me questioningly. “You won’t get any sleep in that chair, and you’ll be tired tomorrow. You can sleep here.”

He looked a little surprised
. “Are you sure?”

I nodded
. “If you’re going to stay in the room with me, please lie down and get some sleep.”

He hesitated for a moment before accepting.
“Okay,” he said quietly. “Thanks.”

Being the gentleman that he was, I think the only reason he agreed was
out of concern that, if he were too tired, he might not be able to respond quickly enough if something were to happen again. He stood up and climbed into bed.

“
Goodnight,” he said, rolling over onto his side to face away from me.

“Goodnight.
” I lay there for a little while watching the moon with my left eye before drifting off to sleep again.