Summer of Love by Marie Ferrarella (easy to read books for adults list .TXT) 📕

‘I wasn’t prepared to take any risks,’ he corrected, his heart sinking when he heard the bitterness in her voice.

‘But it wasn’t just your decision, Daniel. It was mine too, only I wasn’t allowed to decide what I wanted. You took things out of my hands and that was it.’ She stood up abruptly. ‘Maybe I can’t say for certain that our relationship would have lasted, but I would have liked the chance to try and make it work. You denied me that opportunity and no matter how well intentioned your motives were, you didn’t have the right to do that. You didn’t trust me, Daniel. That’s what it all boils down to. And that hurts more than anything else.’

She left the room and Daniel heard her footsteps walking along the hall. He wanted to go after her and beg her to believe that he had done it for her benefit but he knew how pointless it would be. She needed time to come to terms with what he had told her, time to work out how she felt about him now that she knew the truth.

He put his head in his hands as a wave of despair washed over him. He had to face the fact that Emma might not be able to forgive him for what he had done. He might lose her again for telling her the truth, just as he had lost her before for trying to protect her.

It was a busy morning. As well as having to deal with an exceptionally long list, Emma was summoned to the police station at lunchtime to make a statement about what had happened the previous evening.

She stuck determinedly to the facts. How she had felt when she’d realised that Daniel was missing wasn’t the issue and the police didn’t need to know about that. However, when she left the station an hour later she felt both physically and emotionally drained. Recalling the moments when she’d thought Daniel had been hurt had brought back all the horror.

She made her way to the nearest coffee shop and sat down at a table, wondering what she was going to do. She loved Daniel so much, but discovering that he hadn’t trusted her to know her own mind five years ago hurt unbearably. The fact that he had chosen to end their relationship rather than try to make it work made her wonder if he really understood what love meant. Maybe he’d thought he’d loved her then as he thought he loved her now, but did he? Really? Was he even capable of the depth of love she felt for him?

By the time she left the coffee shop, her head was throbbing from trying to work it all out. It had started to rain heavily and the traffic was moving at a snail’s pace as she drove through the town. Emma grimaced as she glanced at the dashboard clock. She was going to be late for evening surgery if she didn’t get a move on.

She managed to pick up speed once she left the town. There were a lot of cars on the road, probably visitors to the area who were driving around to avoid getting soaked. She overtook a car and caravan combination then had to slow down again when she found herself stuck behind a tractor. The road was too narrow to overtake and she had to wait until it turned off before she could put her foot down. She crested the bridge over the river and breathed a sigh of relief. Just another couple of miles and she’d be home.

The thought had barely crossed her mind when she felt the car suddenly skid when the tyres hit a patch of mud lying on the road. Turning the wheel, she tried to correct the sideways movement but to no avail. There was a horrible scrunch of metal as the car hit the side of the bridge, followed by a loud bang as the driver’s airbag exploded. The noise was deafening so that it was several minutes before Emma realised that someone was knocking on the side window. The man gestured for her to unlock the door, which she did.

‘Are you all right?’ he demanded, bending so he could peer into the car.

‘I think so.’ She tentatively tried moving her arms and legs. ‘Yes. Everything seems to be working OK.’

‘What about your neck?’ he said quickly when she went to unbuckle her seat belt. ‘You can’t be too careful when it comes to neck injuries. That’s what they say on the television, how you should always make sure a person’s neck is properly supported. Maybe you should sit there until the ambulance arrives in case you do yourself any damage.’

‘Oh, but I don’t need an ambulance,’ she protested. ‘I’m fine, really.’

‘Best to make sure,’ the man insisted. ‘Anyhow, I’ve phoned them now so it would be silly not to let them check you over.’

Emma sighed. She could hardly refuse to let the paramedics treat her, seeing as they’d been summoned. She dug her phone out of her pocket and called the surgery, briefly explaining to Ruth what had happened and that she would be back as soon as possible. She had just finished when the ambulance arrived so she turned off her phone while she answered the crew’s questions.

They examined her thoroughly, checking how her pupils responded to light and making sure that she hadn’t been unconscious at any point before finally agreeing to let her get out of the car. The driver’s door was jammed against the wall so she had to slide over to the passenger seat to get out and was surprised to find how shaky she felt when she stood up. The accident had caused quite a long tailback of traffic on both sides of the bridge, too. Emma grimaced as she turned to one of the