Chapter Eighteen
Having crashed back down to earth with a thud, Zennor pressed the phone against her ear. ‘Is she OK?’
‘She’s conscious and talking. She bumped her head so we’re waiting for the results of a scan.’
Adrenaline pumped through her veins. ‘Poor Sybil. I’ll come over straightaway.’
Matt’s hand was over his mouth. ‘What’s happened to Sybil?’ he demanded the moment she ended the call.
‘She’s in Penzance Hospital. Apparently, she had a fall. I don’t know any more details but I think she must have been working. I need to go over there now.’
‘I’ll come with you.’
‘There’s no need. I can handle it.’
‘I know you can but she’s my godmother and I want to come. I’ll drive you.’
Half an hour later, Zennor was glad of his offer.
He parked the car while she hurried into the treatment centre, eventually finding Sybil propped up on a trolley in a cubicle with a bandage and pad on her head.
She was ashen, her mascara smeared under her eyes – not that Zennor would have dared mention it.
However, her face lit up in a smile the moment she spotted Zennor.
‘Oh, Sybil. What have you done?’ Zennor took her hand and sat down. ‘Are you OK?’
‘I’m fine. Well, I’m fine now. I’ve had a scan and they say there’s no damage, just a bump. And they did an ECG and I don’t seem to have any heart issues.’
‘That all sounds like good news,’ Zennor said, taking a chair beside the trolley. ‘Can you remember much about fainting?’
‘Everything.’ She grimaced. ‘I was doing a storytelling session and it was so bloody stuffy in the community centre. I’d been up late rehearsing a new tale last night and I’d slept in and rushed over with no time for breakfast and – well, I’d just managed to get off stage and I felt – weird. I hit the edge of a chair.’
‘How scary and horrible for you. I’m so sorry.’
Matt arrived, breathing a little heavily. ‘Sybil. What have you been up to?’
Sybil looked from Matt to Zennor. ‘Well, I’m not dying but the fact the two of you have both rushed over here to see me does make me wonder if there’s something the docs aren’t telling me.’
‘We’re just worried about you,’ Zennor said gently.
‘Shall I phone Mum and Dad?’ Matt asked, touching her hand.
Sybil frowned and then groaned. ‘Ouch. That hurt, but why on earth would you do that?’
He shrugged. ‘I just thought you might want them to know.’
‘Or your friends from swimming club,’ Zennor offered, since Sybil met the group every week for lunch after a dip.
‘No. No, please. Don’t make a fuss. I’m already incredibly embarrassed to be wasting the doctors’ time. And I had to be brought here by the community hall man. I bet they won’t book me again after this episode. I was lucky I didn’t keel over in front of forty kids and their parents.’
‘Yes, they will book you again. They’ll understand,’ Zennor said.
‘You think?’ Sybil tried an eyebrow raise and winced. ‘Younger people do tend to regard someone of my age as decrepit.’
‘Well, you do play up to the witchy wise woman thing,’ Zennor said.
‘That’s just an act. It’s not the real me, as you both well know. Ow. My bloody head is sore!’
Zennor looked to Matt, who looked helpless. Sybil did seem to be rapidly returning to her old self.
‘OK. How long do you think you’ll be in here?’ Matt asked.
‘Not too long. I’m waiting for the doc to come back and give me the OK to leave.’
It was over an hour before Sybil was released, with Matt driving her home by way of Zennor’s flat to collect her car so she could follow him to Rosemergy.
When she’d got home Eric had been pecking at a packet of biscuits she’d accidentally left out.
Zennor was in too much of a rush to shoo him off, even if she’d had the heart, and by the time she rushed out, she could hear her neighbour cursing him, doubtless as he flew off with some of their food.
Finally, she reached the Shack and settled Sybil in her sitting room with a cup of tea.
Matt offered a blanket.
Sybil squealed in horror. ‘No. No! It’s twenty-five degrees outside.
I don’t need a damn blanket. Argh. I’m sorry.
Look, all this fuss is so unnecessary. If you must know, the doctor said my faint was probably caused by dehydration.
I’d got that bloody cloak on and it was hot – and the truth is, I daren’t drink too much before a show in case I need a pee in a hurry. If you know what I mean.’
Matt’s eyes widened in alarm at this snippet of personal info and Zennor had to smother a laugh at his reaction.
‘I’m aware that’s too much information, particularly for you, Matt, but you have driven me to it.’
Matt held his hands up in surrender. ‘OK. I’m only trying to help.’
‘For once, he is,’ Zennor said. ‘And I’m staying here tonight so you can go if you like, Matt,’ she said with a smile for him in case she sounded too dismissive.
Sybil sat up suddenly. ‘There’s no need to stay. I don’t need a babysitter!’
‘No, but the doc said you shouldn’t be on your own tonight. They wouldn’t have let you out with a head injury otherwise.’
‘What they don’t know won’t hurt them.’ Sybil sighed. ‘I suppose I have no choice in the matter.’
‘Zennor’s right. You shouldn’t be left alone,’ Matt said.
‘Now you’re both ganging up on me. Whatever is the world coming to?’ She attempted an eye-roll and grimaced. She nodded at Zennor. ‘Won’t you need your toothbrush and pyjamas?’
‘Already got them,’ Zennor said cheerfully. ‘I picked up my overnight stuff when I collected my car.’
‘Hmm. I noticed you’d changed. That’s a new dress, isn’t it?’
‘I treated myself,’ Zennor said, blushing as she remembered the scene that had led to her wearing the too-small T-shirt.
Matt stayed ten minutes more, talking to Sybil about the club renovations, probably to try to distract her. In the meantime, Zennor had received messages from Shilpa and Roo asking how Sybil was. The news had spread like wasps around a cream tea.
‘I’ll leave you to it then,’ Matt said, seeming more at ease now Sybil was settled and safe.
Zennor got up too. ‘I’ll see you out.’
‘My, how formal …’ Sybil commented tartly, giving Zennor hope that her mojo was returning.
At the car Zennor thanked Matt for the lift to the hospital.
He smiled. ‘It was the least I could do. I care about Sybil too even if I haven’t been the best godson lately.’
‘Will you tell your mum and dad she’s had this fall?’
He nodded. ‘I think so – next time I call them, which I need to soon. They’d want to know how she is and they’ll probably call her and ask her, which she won’t like. They lost touch a little after my mum and dad moved away. I don’t think they’ve met up much since Grandad’s funeral.’
‘You can’t take everyone along with you on the journey of life,’ Zennor said softly.
‘That sounds more like one of Sybil’s stories than you,’ Matt said wryly.
Zennor smiled. ‘It’s true, though. People inevitably grow apart when they move away, even if they swear to keep in touch.
Even if, at first, they swear the separation won’t affect how they feel about each other.
When I was younger, Sybil and Mum were best buddies but once I met Trev, they seemed to drift apart.
Mum was busy with the wedding and Sybil couldn’t come because she got this big job in London.
I think that upset Mum but I understood. ’
‘Well, weddings are always fraught with tension … as we both know.’
‘I – There’s no point in us raking up what happened again.’
‘No.’ His expression brightened. ‘Today has shown us that we can get over that.’ The sexy twinkle in his eye gave Zennor the shivers all over again.
‘If you mean that we came together to help Sybil, I agree, but as for what happened at the office … that was a mistake. It was the heat of the moment – and we almost missed the hospital because we were distracted and ignoring our phones.’
‘We deserved some time out,’ Matt said and then added, a little hesitantly, ‘you don’t regret it, do you?’
‘I – don’t know, but I’m only just over Trev.’ Or not, thought Zennor, recalling the conflicting emotions that Trev had resurrected. ‘Now he’s back, as well as you. I think it shouldn’t happen again. People will get hurt.’
Matt frowned deeply. ‘What people?’
‘Me. You.’ She momentarily thought of Trev and how he’d react if he knew she’d kissed Matt. It surprised her that she cared. ‘My life’s complicated enough right now without – getting involved.’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘Wow. I thought we were involved, judging by that kiss. Does this … change of heart have anything to do with Trev being back?
Zennor went cold. She felt shaky after the shock of Sybil and now the complication of Matt and Trev inserting themselves into her life – and of her allowing Matt to get far too close.
‘I’m only saying that he – and you – have come back into my life when I wasn’t looking for either of you. I would, if it’s possible, like to stay friends with both of you.’
Her words sounded unconvincing, even to her.
‘Thanks for helping today. I’m going to see how Sybil is.’
‘Friends with Trev and me? How’s that going to work?’ Matt called as she walked away, trembling.
The feeling surging through her was fear – fear of how much she’d enjoyed kissing him earlier and how much further she’d wanted to go.