Chapter 7
Come on, Nicola. Just a little further. Leaning forward on the bike, her chest almost touching the handlebars, Nicola willed herself to find some more strength.
She pushed heavily against the pedals as she tried to cycle up the hill in the driving rain.
Where had it even come from? It was supposed to be summer. The height of summer, even.
Clenching her hands against the brakes, she slowed to a stop.
She just needed two minutes to catch her breath.
Two minutes and then she’d force herself to make the rest of the journey home.
She really didn’t have much further, a mile maybe?
Once she reached the brow of this hill, she’d be able to see the village below. It really wasn’t far.
Gripping the bike with one hand, she reached up and scrunched her hair with the other, squeezing out rainwater before it was quickly replaced. She was soaked through. Literally.
She shrugged. Who was she kidding? If it hadn’t rained, then she’d still be soaked through, just from sweat instead. At least the rain made the journey a little cooler.
She should just get back on the bike and get home as quickly as she could. Her PJs were calling her. And Trixie. She wouldn’t have been at all surprised if she’d been able to hear Trixie from here. It was way past her dinner time. She should have fed her before she’d left. Why hadn’t she?
Just one more minute. One more minute of rest. When had cycling become so difficult anyway?
Probably when she’d stopped cycling as a teen and started driving.
But now of course that wasn’t an option, thanks to Nathan.
Reaching into her handbag, Nicola pulled out her mobile and, using one hand to shield the screen from the rain, she checked to see if she’d had any missed calls or messages.
Nothing. So, Nathan wasn’t going to go back on his decision to effectively steal her money then?
If he’d thought one iota about what she’d told him over the phone, then he would have rung, or at least messaged, apologised and promised to fix things.
But he hadn’t. Great. So now she’d be stuck riding this thing until she could save up enough money to buy a cheap run-around.
Hefting herself back onto the saddle, Nicola hooked her handbag over the handlebar again and pushed forward. One more mile. One more.
Finally reaching the brow of the hill, she blinked as a pair of bright lights sped towards her; the rain distorting the light beams as they came closer and closer. It took her a few seconds to realise they belonged to a car, and it was literally speeding towards her.
Veering to the side quickly, she managed to let the car pass, suffering with only a splattering of water from a puddle they’d driven through.
Disorientated, she clutched the brakes again, trying to slow down, but instead of slowing, the bike continued to gain momentum as it careened down the hill.
She pumped the brakes again, hoping desperately that they’d work, that she’d perhaps just held them wrong, applied the pressure in the wrong place or at the wrong angle.
But no, they weren’t working at all and with the hill laid out in front of her; she knew she had to somehow stop before she picked up too much speed and she was eventually thrown over the handlebars or ended up coming face to face with another car.
Just as she was trying the brakes again whilst wracking her brains of any way of stopping without them, she felt the bike jerk beneath her as the front tyre hit a rock. She screamed and threw out her hands in front of her as she was thrown forward before landing in a heap at the side of the road.
Gingerly sitting up, she felt the sting of pain surging through her leg and across her palms as adrenaline coursed through her body. Tilting her face up to the sky, she let out a loud sob. This was a fitting end to a rubbish evening, wasn’t it? First Nathan, then Farmer Grumpy and now this.
Drawing her legs up to her chest, she lowered her head into the crook of her arms and cried.
She cried for losing her car; she cried for failing one of her closet friends, Jill; but she cried the hardest because she felt as though she didn’t have anyone in her corner.
Without Nathan, she didn’t have anyone to watch her back.
Yes, she had her dear mum, and she knew without a single doubt in the world that her mum would do anything she could for her, but it wasn’t the same.
It wasn’t the same as having her person, her soulmate.
She knew now, after that phone call with Nathan, that she meant nothing to him.
Less than nothing. She couldn’t even view him as someone who she could turn to in a crisis.
Heck, he’d been the catalyst for this particular crisis.
Her fingers automatically flew to the dainty silver bracelet around her wrist, the one which her mum had promised would bring her luck.
It was still there, it hadn’t broken. She looked down at the tiny silver horseshoe.
Huh, what was she supposed to believe? That if she hadn’t been wearing it she’d have broken her leg instead of just hurting herself?
Nicola shook her head. She couldn’t blame the bracelet for not saving her, she’d done this to herself.
All of it. She should never have trusted Nathan with her heart in the first place.
The road lit up as another car drove in her direction, but she kept her head down, willing them to pass her, willing to be invisible.
She kept her eyes tightly closed as the low rumble of the car stopped beside her, kept them closed as footsteps approached.
She didn’t want to see anyone. She didn’t want anyone to see her like this, tears, sweat, mud stained.
She felt his hand on her forearm before she heard the familiar low growl of his voice.
‘Are you hurt?’
Shaking her head, she fought the urge to push him away and run. To run and hide and wait for the day to pass. Not that she had the energy to do any more than hobble at the moment.
‘Are you sure?’
She could still feel his hand on her arm, the warmth from his skin against hers.
He wasn’t going to just leave, to mind his own business and drive on by, was he?
Taking a long shuddering breath, Nicola looked up and met those piercing blue eyes which less than half an hour ago had flashed with annoyance at her and yet were now filled with something else. Kindness, maybe? No, more likely pity.
Shaking his arm off, she nodded. ‘I’m fine.’
Leaning back on his haunches, he ran his hand through his hair, rainwater dribbling down his forehead. ‘I’ll give you a lift.’
‘I don’t need a lift.’ She bit down on her bottom lip to stop herself from wincing as she hobbled towards the bike.
Leaning down, she picked it up and, thinking better of trying to ride it again, began pushing it down the hill as she limped beside it.
It was a bit wobbly. The front wheel must have been bent in the fall.
It was likely unrideable. She caught a sob in her throat as the realisation hit her that she now had no way of getting around. No car, no bike. Nothing.
Jogging to catch up with her, Farmer Grumpy stood in front of her and placed his hands next to hers on the handlebars, slowing the bike to a stop. ‘You can’t walk home like that. And you certainly can’t be thinking about getting back on this thing.’
Keeping her eyes fixed on the road in front of them, she spoke quietly. ‘This thing is the only means of transport I have.’
‘You’ve got your car, haven’t you? You came in a car yesterday.’ Still, he kept his hands on the bike, kept it rooted to the road.
‘Well, I don’t anymore.’ She wiped the back of her hand across her cheeks as she felt the warmth of tears mix with the cool rain. She looked away. She couldn’t believe she was crying in front of him, of all people.
‘I don’t even know your name.’
Glancing at him, she frowned. Why did he need to know her name?
What was he going to do with that information?
Report her for dangerous cycling? He’d probably throw in the heinous crime of trespassing on his land, too.
At least she’d get a lift home in a police car, or to the station perhaps.
She’d get a free cup of tea made by someone other than herself if she was taken into custody. ‘It’s Nicola. Nicola Fields.’
‘I’m Charlie. Charlie Williams.’
She nodded. She should have guessed he was a Charlie. With his light brown hair and surfer cut, he looked like a Charlie.
‘Can I give you a lift home?’ He nodded towards his truck.
‘No.’ But it was tempting. The interior light was on inside, possibly the heating too, and although it was still a warm evening, clammy even, after being out in the rain, mixed with the shock of being thrown from her bike, the idea of sitting in front of the truck’s heating sounded amazing.
‘Go on, you won’t have to suffer my company long. Meadowfield is less than a five-minute drive away.’
Nodding resignedly, she took her hands from the bike and watched him pick it up with ease and carry it towards the flat bed of the truck before lowering it in.
She could cope with him and his attitude for five minutes if it saved her from hobbling all the way home.
Besides, he didn’t seem quite as grumpy as he had earlier.
With the bike secure, he looked back towards Nicola and opened the passenger door. ‘Come on then. Hop in.’
She hobbled slowly towards the open door, careful not to put too much weight on her hurt leg but equally trying desperately to not show how much it really hurt.
Slipping into the seat, she leaned her head back against the headrest. ‘Thanks.’
After closing the door and jogging round to the driver’s side, Charlie sat beside her and started the ignition.