It wasn’t that Philip didn’t want any company, it was just that having his family by his bedside had been horribly depressing, as if having serious stomach wounds and pain which the pain killers only slightly dulled wasn’t depressing enough. They were all trying to put on a brave face, of course, but it had been fairly obvious that Shirley would rather have been anywhere else than standing by the side of Peter and their daughters were just plain scared. Add to that their over zealous concern from him and it wasn’t the recipe for happy families.

Mind you, he wasn’t the only one. He’d seen quite a few signs of dysfunctional relationships displayed by the occupants of the beds near him, overheard rows and accusations. This wasn’t really the place for private conversations. It wasn’t a bad ward; it was quite small as wards go. He’d been moved onto it in the early hours of the morning as soon as they’d decided he was no longer in a critical state. It was just that the lack of privacy and the amount of comings and goings was driving him nuts. Still, maybe the irritation was a sign that he was feeling a bit better.

Philip felt ungrateful, he knew that they’d come straight to the hospital as soon as they had heard of the attack, knew that they had little rest until they were able to see for themselves that he was going to be okay, but there was only so much small talk you could do without mentioning any of the current conversational taboos. He wondered how Shirley in particular was bearing up. She really didn’t look well herself and Philip wished he was able to chat to her, find out how well she was coping and offer some emotional support. Not easy to do, though, when his brother never left the room during the entire visit. Finally, he’d managed to persuade them that he was feeling absolutely exhausted and really needed a rest. The excessive yawning and drooping eye impressions probably helped.

So, here he was, staring at the hospital ward ceiling, counting the tiles out of sheer boredom. Really, he should have asked Peter to have popped out and got him a book or magazine to while away some time with, but it hadn’t entered his mind – he was too busy trying to get them to go away. Everyone else’s visitors had been and gone as well, so he didn’t even have the eavesdropping entertainment factor anymore. He supposed he had lunch to look forward to next, but having experienced the breakfast he soon realised that food wasn’t going to be a highlight of his stay.

One of the nurses entered the ward, looking brisk and busy as usual. He had a lot of admiration for the nursing staff here. They were really the unsung heroes, doing all the dogsbody jobs and getting precious little thanks for it. He was surprised though when she stopped at his bedside.

“Hello Mr Marks, how are you feeling?”

“Like someone used my stomach as one of those fighting practise mannequins, but apart from that…”

“Well, you’re well enough to joke about it, that’s a good sign. I was wondering if you were up for another visitor.” Philip pulled a face, but she carried on. “It’s a young lady who gave her name as Sarah Lewis. Normally, we’d only let family through, but it depends how well you’re feeling. Would you like to see her? Or shall I ask her to come back another time?”

Sarah! So she was okay then, Ben hadn’t caught up with her after all. That had been his greatest fear while he was lying in the hospital, that she had been harmed in some way as well. “No, please… I’d love to see her.”

He tried to sit more upright, wincing as his damaged stomach muscles were used. Just before the nurse walked out the door he yelled, “wait!”

She stopped and looked back.

“Do I look okay?” Philip said, worried.

The nurse laughed. “About as well as someone who was in a knife attack last night can be expected to look.” She went through the door to fetch Sarah.

Great. The nurse was a comedian too. He probably looked dreadful and found himself wishing he had a mirror nearby, then inwardly told himself off for being uncharacteristically vain. It was just that all of a sudden it was terribly important for Sarah to think well of him for some reason. It would help him if he knew what her motive was for visiting. Was she here out of pity because it had been Ben that had attacked him? Or…

There was no time to think, as here she was walking through the door, nervously smiling at him. “Hi, how are you feeling?”

“Great! Well… no… not that great. Um, I mean, I’m doing okay… considering.” What the hell happened there? Did knife wounds make you into a complete stammering idiot? “How are you?” He finished lamely, inwardly cursing himself for sounding so moronic. It was his stomach that was wounded, after all, not his brain.

She giggled involuntarily. “I’m doing okay… considering.”

Hell, she was laughing at him already. Time to make a better impression. Philip took a deep breath and tried again. “Look, there’s a chair here, sit down if you’re staying and my attempts at conversation haven’t totally put you off.” He gestured to the seat pushed up against the wall. “It doesn’t look that great a chair, does it? I am however reliably informed that it’s not as uncomfortable as it looks.”

“Thank you.” She draped her coat over the back of the chair and sat down next to him. “It’s traditional to bring something with you on a hospital visit, isn’t it? Like grapes or flowers or something. I’m afraid I wasn’t that organised. I just came straight here as soon as I heard.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m not that big a fan of grapes, and flowers?” He looked around the small space. “I’m not even totally sure where they’d be able to put them! I’m just glad you’re here and you’re safe. I was worried that he… that he might have come after you too.”

Sarah looked down at her feet. “I’m really sorry about all of this. I shouldn’t have got you involved and I should have followed your advice about contacting the police at the start. I never knew Ben was capable of something like this.”

Philip reached out a hand and just managed to cover the distance to place it over hers. “It wasn’t your fault, you weren’t to know how he’d react. I’m glad it was me he hurt and not you. I’ll be okay anyway. I’ve been reliably informed by the doctors that your ex was a lousy aim and managed to miss most important areas of my innards and that as a result I should heal fairly quickly and well. Did the police come to see you? Do they think they can find him?”

She met his eyes again, blushing slightly but didn’t remove her hand. “They seem fairly confident with the information I was able to give them, even though I didn’t know where he was living now. I just hope they can put him away for a long time as a result of this. I don’t want to have to disappear and start a whole new life again.”

“I don’t want you to disappear either,” Philip said softly, then winced again as he tried to move slightly.

Sarah looked on with concern. “Are you okay? Is there anything I can do?”

“No, it’ll pass in a minute. If I would just learn my lesson and lie still then it’d be a lot easier!”

“Can’t they give you any better pain killers?”

“Well, they can, but they don’t like dosing you up too much – just get you to a level where you can cope. To be honest, I’d rather not be doped up to my eyeballs anyway, I like having a clear mind. Or, at least, I like to be fairly coherent when beautiful women visit me,” he grinned.

She laughed. “You get many beautiful women visiting at the moment then?”

“Oh all the time… didn’t you see them lined up outside?”

“Funnily enough… no.”

“There’s a simple explanation. They must have all left in a huff after I told them there was only one beautiful woman I wanted to see,” he said cheekily.

“Are you sure you’re sick? I’m sure it’s not normal for someone to be flirting this much the day after they’d been rushed into hospital in a critical condition!” She admonished, mock seriously.

Philip attempted to look contrite and failed miserably. “Perhaps these pain killers aren’t as benign as they seem. I think I’m slightly drunk on them.”

He looked at her grinning at his silliness and thought how gorgeous she looked, she was one of those people whose whole face lit up when they smiled. He wondered if she was taking his flirting even slightly seriously, he knew he wanted to see her again, didn’t know if they had a future together, but didn’t want to risk not finding out either. Was there any chance she might feel the same way? Or was she just here out of obligation?

The nurse returned to the ward briefly, interrupting his thoughts. “I’m sorry Miss Lewis, I’ll be asking you to leave fairly soon. Mr Marks needs to get some rest and it’s been a busy morning with lots of visitors. I’ll be back in five minutes to see you out.” She moved over to see to another patient.

“Other visitors?” Sarah raised an eyebrow. “Those beautiful women you were telling me about?” Had there been a tinge of jealousy in her voice? Or was that just his hopeful ear.

“Nah, nothing so interesting. Family.” Philip shrugged, not wanting his thoughts or their conversation to be diverted to something so dull. He didn’t want Sarah to leave so soon, not now, but it was true that he was feeling very tired.

“You look really exhausted. The nurse is right, I’d better leave.” Sarah stood up and retrieved her coat.

“Sarah!” Philip said, almost panicked, certain if she walked out that door he’d never see her again, oblivious to the audience he had in the rest of patients on the ward.

She stopped and turned back to face him, surprised.

“Come back and see me again.” It was all he could think of to say.

“Of course,” she smiled, relieved at such a simple request. “I’ll come back tomorrow if you like and the nurse thinks you’re well enough. Would you like me to bring you anything? I’ll be more organised next time, I promise.”

“No, I’m fine. I’d just like to see you.” Philip then remembered his earlier dilemma, “oh… actually, there is something…”

“What?”

“You couldn’t bring me something to read could you? I’m going a bit insane staring at these walls. I don’t care what, I think even a knitting magazine would be a welcome relief at the moment!”

“No problem. I’ll see what I can find. I’ll see if I can smuggle you in some food too, I’m not sure what this place is like, but hospital meals don’t have a great reputation, do they?” She leant over and kissed him on the cheek. “Take care of yourself and I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” She walked out, leaving Philip still slightly stunned by her kiss.

Tomorrow at that point felt a very long way away, but he started to feel more confident in himself. Maybe it was only a fake feeling due to the drugs, but he was sure he would be able to persuade her to visit the day after that, and then perhaps the next. After that, who knew? He settle back into the pillows and soon fell into a deep sleep populated by many a pleasant dream.