The Lethal Encounter (22 page)

“Oh Josie, I had such a weird
dream. You-know-who was here, holding my hand and whispering sweet nothings.”

“Maybe it wasn't a dream my
dear.....not sure about the sweet nothings but Peter was certainly here. Seemed
quite concerned about you as well. And you were right, he is definitely Hunk of
the Month!”

“Are you serious? He was
here? I mean, why? What did he do? What did he say?”

“Ah, so many questions and so
few answers. He said he had been a fool and as soon as he heard about your
accident, he just had to rush straight over. Seems like he wants to renew your
relationship!”

“Oh my god.....and look at
me. Looking shit, feeling shit.....and just resigned from his company.”

“Oh, look on the bright side.
If he sees you like this and still fancies you, then you have to be doing
something right. And as for the resigning thing, forget it. He's probably glad
you're leaving.....makes any follow up work so much easier.”

Katie closed her eyes and
couldn't help smiling to herself. Maybe this was an opportunity to see each
other again…..he must want to if he had bothered coming to the hospital. She
found herself wishing that she knew whether or not he was going to come back.

“How are you feeling?”

“Not too bad considering. My
leg and head ache, and I need to brush my teeth and have a shower, but apart
from that.....not too bad.”

“You'll be back on your feet
in no time and then you can get on with life. New job.....new man…..”

“Stop it Josie. You don't
know how he really feels.”

“Oh, come on Katie! He was
here wasn't he? Big boss of large public company bothers to come and see lowly
employee in hospital? Get real my dear and just accept the fact that he's into
you! I saw the look on his face…..all gooey eyed and pathetic. The man's got it
bad!”

“Do you think so?” Katie
replied before realising she sounded like a love torn teenager. She tried to
inject a note of casualness into her voice. “Oh, whatever. We'll see.”

“Got to go babe. I'll come in
tomorrow and I'll let the others know you're in fine shape and that they had
better watch this space for interesting developments. Shame you had to get
knocked down to bring everything to a head though. Still…..never mind. See ya.”

With that Josie breezed out
of the room and the nurse came back in.

“Everything OK? Do you need
anything? How's the pain now?”

“I'm OK thanks. Can I have
something to eat soon? I feel starving…..and I'm going to need the toilet
soon.” replied Katie.

“No problem. I'll bring you
something for that and I'll send the catering people around as well.”

“Thanks.”

Katie lay back on the pillow
and sighed. What a total cock up! So why did she feel so happy? So absurdly,
ridiculously happy? Josie was right. There was no way in the world Peter would
have come to the hospital unless he cared and what had he said as he bent over
her? That he had been a fool…..and he had…..but she was still not sure where
things were and she wished he was there to talk.

Katie had been asleep for an
hour or so when she felt someone in the room. She opened her eyes and saw Sue
slink into the chair beside the bed.

“Hello Katie. How on earth
are you? My god, you gave us all a shock. You go out for lunch and end up in
hospital.”

Now fully awake, Katie
managed to gasp out. “God Sue, thanks for coming in. You needn't of. I'm fine -
really,” she added as she saw Sue look at her face and then down to her
plastered leg.

“Well, I'm here to say that
you don't need to worry about a thing. We've got everything covered so you can
hit the ground running when you get back.”

“Oh Sue, I was going to tell
you tomorrow anyway. I don't think I'm going to be coming back. Things have
been really weird lately.....well you know that, and I've been offered another
job. I had decided to take it as I was coming back to the office.”

“My god Katie, you can't leave
us! I mean I know I've been a bit crabby in the last few days but that's
nothing. Who has offered you a job? One of our rivals I bet.” She paused,
obviously fishing for the information. Katie could not tell if she was really
upset, or angry.

“I can't really say at the
moment but I was going to hand in my notice today anyway. Sorry.”

“Can't really blame you I
suppose. Hope it’s a good job.....we'll certainly miss you.”

Katie could not help feel Sue
was being hugely hypocritical. Only a few days ago, she had been hinting that
Katie should perhaps “move on” and here she was wringing her hands. Katie
supposed that her leaving would solve a few problems, whatever they actually
were.

Still, she bit her lip and
said nothing. There was no real point in having an argument and she certainly
did not have the strength for it.

At that moment someone else
came to the door. Sue looked up in surprise and then astonishment.

“Peter, hi. What are you
doing here? I mean.....why have? Anyway it's good of you to come and see
Katie....” she ended up lamely.

Peter bounded into the room,
seemingly unperturbed to see Sue.

“Hi Sue…..and how's the
patient? Feeling a little better perhaps?”

Katie had given up trying to
control or second guess anything that was happening to her and, despite her
heart giving a huge jump (it was probably showing on the monitor above her
bed), managed to smile.

“Much better thanks,” was all
she said, hoping against hope that Sue would take a cue and go.

“Well, I must be
off....thanks for our little chat Katie and I'll wait for the nod from you to
say anything. Hope you feel better.”

With that Sue disappeared out
of the door. Peter watched her go and then turned back to Katie with a
quizzical expression on his face.

“What's all that about then?
Anything I should know about?”

“Oh I was just telling Sue
that I am resigning. I have another job to go to.”

Katie watched Peter's
reaction carefully. If he had known about her offer, he gave a very good
impression of being surprised.

“Wow, that's great! Not with
one of the competitors I hope.”

“Well, it is actually, but
why does anybody care about that?”

“Uhmm. I'm not sure how they
would feel about one of their sales people going out with the CEO of their
biggest rival,” he said with a grin.

Katie's breath stopped in her
chest. He was at it again…..the sheer arrogance. She took a deep breath and
spoke as forcibly as her voice would allow.

“Look, I hate to disappoint
you but we are not “going out” as you put it. You've given me the total run
around for the last week or so. You came into my life, blow it inside out,
exited my life, knocked drunk on my door and then expect me just to lie down
and think of England. Well, I'm not going to.”

Katie lay back on the pillow,
suddenly realising how rough she must look. All she really wanted to do was to
have a shower, and then sleep for about a week.

Peter paused and took a
breath.

“Look, listen to me for a
second. I know I've been a fool and behaved like a total schoolboy. It was
pathetic and stupid and why I did it I'm not so sure. But one thing I do know
is that I want to see you again - and not in some restaurant in Europe at breakfast time.” Peter stopped and stared intently at Katie.

“I can't promise where it
will end up, but at least we will have tried…..what do you say?”

Katie looked at his searching
eyes and was overcome with emotion. Despite what had happened she felt an
overwhelming feeling for this man and wanted more than ever to get to know him
properly.

“Well. I don’t know really,” she
paused.

“OK. I'm not sure if this
pathetic grovelling is quite sufficient and my friends have told me that men
like you are always schoolboys when it comes to serious relationships because
you actually really just love your mothers still and will never change.” Katie
took a breath.

“However, I suppose I could
give you the benefit of the doubt…..just this once though. Let me get better
and up on my feet again and then we'll go out on a proper date.”

“Great, fantastic. Is there
anything I can get you? Are you being treated OK?”

Katie smiled. What a change!

“I'm OK thanks, given the
circumstances.....but I really need to use the bathroom. Sorry that's very un
romantic”

Peter smiled and stood up.

“I'll leave you be. I'll come
in again soon to see how you are.”

With that, he leant forward
and gave Katie a quick kiss on her lips. Despite her condition, she felt a jolt
of electricity shoot through her and knew he had felt the same. They smiled at
each other and she watched him turn and leave the room without a backward
glance.

CHAPTER 17

“Your drink, Miss,” the
barman said as he placed a bubbling glass of champagne on a mat in front of
Katie.

“Thank you,” she responded as
she reached out and brought the glass to her lips. The liquid was effervescent
and cold and slipped down her throat, creating a little chill that sent a
tremor through her bones. She replaced the glass on the bar mat and looked
around her.

It was a luxurious bar by
anyone's standards. The comfy chairs that were dotted around were reassuringly
expensive looking and the rest of the clientele were quietly engaged in quiet
personal conversations with each other.

Katie looked out to the sea
and beyond, marvelling at the journey she had undertaken over the last six
weeks. Her five day stay in hospital had passed surprisingly quickly
considering, probably helped by a constant flow of visitors and well wishers.
She remembered thinking that it was a shame she had to have an accident to
realise how many people she knew and cared for her, both from work and her
personal life.

True, the conversation with
Hugo about their future, or lack of it, had not been easy, but he had taken the
news like a man and wished her well. Her new employer had, good to their word,
issued a formal offer that she had accepted over the telephone. They also
postponed her starting date by four weeks to allow her to recover fully.

This was what she was now
trying to do in a wonderful resort in Thailand where she had been for a little
over a week. Her leg was healing well, the plaster having been taken off just
before her trip, and walking with a cane was not such a problem. She had not
had any complications as a result of her head injury and was almost back to her
old perky self, despite some occasional headaches that she had been assured
would soon disappear.

She was, and she freely
admitted this to herself, the happiest she had ever been in her entire life and
the reason for this happiness was obvious.

She was in love. Absurdly,
chaotically, massively in love.....and the object of her affections was just
coming through the doors to the bar. He was dressed in light linen trousers and
an open neck shirt that showed off his deep tan.

He spotted her and smiled.
The same smile that had enveloped her in that restaurant in Cannes and which
she had grown, in a relatively short time, to adore.

“Katie, Hi. Sorry. Just had
to finish off a conference call but all done now. I am yours for the night.”