‘I’ll pick you up.’
‘I’ll meet you in town,’ she countered. ‘Where?’
He could argue the point, but did it really matter? At least she was meeting him.
‘There’s that Italian restaurant,’ he suggested. ‘Unless you have any objections.’
He refrained from goading her by adding to that, too. Still, she glared at him as though she could read it on his face.
‘That’s fine.’ Her tone was clipped.
And then, before anything else was said, she turned away from him and stalked up the road, this time with her head held high in the air.
He watched her for far longer than he should have done, all the while telling himself there was no reason for his heart to beat so strongly, until finally he made himself turn and try to get his head back into his run.
And then he heard it. The roar of a large vehicle, the splash of water, and what was indisputably a shriek.
Spinning around, he saw a white va
n zooming past him. And Bridget, shouting furiously and soaked to the skin, next to a puddle the size of a small swimming pool. For half a moment he paused, waiting to see if the traffic lights ahead would turn red, ready to sprint down there and haul any one of the laughing men out of the van and show them exactly what happened to guys like them.
But the lights stayed mutinously on green, and the van sped off into the distance.
Turning back to Bridget and breaking into a run, he raced towards her and hauled her out of the way before any other vehicle could pile anything more on her obvious indignity.
‘What did they do that for?’ she cried, tears glistening in her eyes despite the water dripping from her hair. Her skin. Her clothes.
‘Maybe they didn’t see the puddle until it was too late.’
It wasn’t true but he had no desire to upset her any further. He didn’t want to examine that further, but then she lifted her head.
‘Oh, they saw me,’ she gritted out, the unexpected show of spirit drawing him in in spite of himself. ‘They did it on purpose. Just for a laugh.’
‘Be that as it may, the priority is to get you out of those clothes and dry. How far is your home?’
‘Too far.’ She shook her head, her voice quivering. A combination of anger and shock. ‘The hospital is closer.’
But it was still a good mile back in the other direction. Hayden’s mind spun, but there was nothing else for it.
‘My hotel is closer. If we cut across the park, we can be back there within five minutes.’
‘Your hotel?’ She froze, blinking at him. ‘Aren’t you in barracks or whatever?’
‘Usually,’ he admitted. ‘But every so often I like to get away from everyone else, and I fancied a few creature comforts.’
‘That’s exactly what I’ve heard Mattie say.’
‘Not really a surprise, it was what our father used to do when he couldn’t get home but couldn’t face another night in the mess.’
‘Right.’ She nodded slowly, but her teeth were already beginning to chatter. ‘Makes sense.’
Quickly he peeled her rucksack and wet coat off her, slinging the bag on his back and folding up the dripping material.
‘Can you run? It’ll keep up your core temperature and get us there quicker.’
‘And what happens when we get there?’
She eyed him speculatively, and he tried not to point out that she was getting colder and colder the more she stayed immobile.