Lonely girl (a Tony Perry romance)

chapter 8

After another week in hospital she was given the all clear to leave.  Her arm was checked and the cast removed and the stitches in her head taken out. Tony helped her down to his car. Vic had taken her keys and gone to collect her stuff from Bryan's house. Back at Tony's, he helped her out of the car and carried her through to the sofa, where he gently placed her down.

"Do you want a drink or anything to eat?" he offered.

"Um, coffee please" she answered.

By the time he took it through, she was asleep, curled up in a ball on the sofa. He went upstairs and got a blanket to cover her. He heard a car outside and looked through the window to see Vic had arrived with her things. He went out to help Vic and saw there was only one not very big bag.

"There wasn't much there of hers" explained Vic. "Not that I could see anyway." Tony took the bag and carried it upstairs to his spare room. Her passport was on top of the bag. He thought she looked about 18 - it turned out she was 23. And British born.

He made his way back downstairs and sat down on the sofa across from her.

"She has had a really bad time, hey" said Vic, looking across at Tony.

"He really did a job on her, huh"

Tony nodded and looked across at the beautiful girl on his sofa.

"I still don't get what happened, Vic. You saw that note so it wasn't my head being messed up."

"It's weird. Very weird. It's like she somehow sensed you and trusted you. And it turns out she was right to as well."

Vic and Tony chatted for a few more minutes, before Vic headed off.

Lily stirred slightly and Tony rushed over to ensure she didn't fall off the sofa.

"Hey" she mumbled.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, just really thirsty"

"I'll get you a fresh coffee" he said.

"Are you hungry?" he asked. When he had carried her in, he noticed she weighed next to nothing. She had been getting tube fed though so that could be part of it.

"I'm ok" she whispered.

He went through to the kitchen and switched the kettle on. He heard her moving behind him.

"Which way is the bathroom?" she asked. He pointed her to the downstairs one, figuring she might not be strong enough for the stairs.

He took her coffee through and put it on the table, switching the tv on. She slowly walked back and sat back down on the sofa.

"Anything specific you want to watch ?" he asked. She gently shook her head then reached for her coffee. She sipped it slowly until it was all gone and fell asleep again.

The doctor had warned Tony this would probably happen until she regained some of her strength.

He saw it was getting late, so he carefully picked her up and carried her up to his spare room. He gently tucked the covers around her and on impulse, gave her a tiny kiss on the forehead.

He saw her smile in her sleep and smiled himself.