He skirts around the wheelchair, barely aware of the hoist above her bed.

Hailey.

His beautiful, brave girlfriend. She’d rushed into the lake during his stupid dare when he got into trouble and released his foot from the tangle of weeds and in return the next day he’d… he’d…

Hailey.

He says her name in his head and then under his breath. It no longer tastes sweet upon his tongue.

Her eyes brighten as she sees him. The soft moaning sound spilling from her lips replaced with.

‘Conn-Conn-Conn.’

He hesitates. Uncertain and afraid. Unsure whether she is calling him or calling him out. Either way, he turns to Mr Marshall.

‘Is she… Can she…’ He is met with a silence so solid he can almost touch it. Mr Marshall is not going to make this easy for him and for that he cannot be blamed. Connor should have visited. It shouldn’t have taken being shoved inside a boot to bring him here to the girl he had loved with all of his heart. The girl who now causes him to feel… conflicted. Confused.

Responsible.

‘I’m so sorry.’ Connor states simply the words he should have said weeks ago, but he knows he owes her so much more. He knows she deserves more. He crosses to her and takes her hand. It is heavy in his, dry. Connor remembers the coconut body butter she used to rub into her skin.

‘It smells like sun cream,’ Connor had once said.

‘We should go to the beach,’ Hailey had said. ‘After our exams. Barbados. The Maldives. Fancy seeing me in a bikini?’ She waggled her eyebrows.

‘I do fancy seeing you in a bikini.’ Connor had nibbled her neck. ‘And out of one.’

‘Nah. I’m more of a one-piece girl.’ Her hand fluttered to her stomach. Connor lifted it away and kissed her fingertips.

‘You. Are. Not. Fat,’ he said gently.

‘Whatever,’ she said. ‘But shall we go somewhere?’

‘Spain is more our budget but what about your dad? I can’t see him agreeing.’

‘You leave Dad to me. He’s a softie, really.’

Connor sees the softness now in Mr Marshall’s eyes as he adjusts Hailey’s pillows. Picks up her glass of water and gently places the straw between her lips. Hailey jerks her head away.

‘Conn-Conn-Conn.’

‘She’s been asking for you,’ Mr Marshall says. ‘It’s the first thing she’s tried to say since…’ He clears his throat.

‘You could have just told me rather than shoving me into the boot of your car.’

‘I didn’t exactly plan it. I should be at school, working, but… I don’t know, it just all got too much. Would you have come if I had simply asked you?’

‘That’s not the point. You don’t have the right to—’

‘My right as a parent is to try to make my child happy—’