The Accidental Guest by Tilly Tennant Read Free Book Online Page A

starting point?’
    ‘I can’t even remember hitting my head.’
    Hannah studied him for a moment. ‘Sorry; I’m rambling and you’re cold. Go and get warm and I’ll be back shortly.’
    ‘I hope so,’ Tom said,
    He turned to go. As Hannah crunched down the garden path and out through the gate, she tried not to dwell too much on the peculiar sense of elation that his last comment had drawn from her.
    Holly Way was still deserted as she emerged out on the road – at least, she could only guess she was on the road. Checking in both directions, she decided to turn right and began making her way towards a tunnel of trees heavy with snow. The air was surprisingly mild and she began to sweat in her heavy coat as she trudged down the lane. The going was tough. Some snow had compacted beneath the top layer, but some gave way easily and she was never quite certain of the depth and what she might find until she put her foot down. After a ten-minute walk, she turned with a sigh and began to retrace her steps to check in the other direction.
    It was strange, what Tom had said about being drawn to her house, because that was how she had felt about his arrival. But she supposed it was arrogant on her part to think that the universe worked like that – exclusively for her – and even if it did, who was to say that Hannah herself was Tom’s ultimate destiny? She felt like they had somehow connected, like there was a chemistry there, but he was an injured and confused man and she was probably mistaking his gratitude for something more. Maybe Gina was feeling it too, and what made Hannah more deserving than Gina? That was always assuming that he was free and single, which he almost certainly wasn’t. Hannah’s thoughts went back to Gina. Did he find her prettier than Hannah? She had always been the more glamourous sister, more outgoing and more popular. Hannah hated comparing herself to her sister in such a distasteful way, but there were days when the worm of insecurity took tiny bites of her soul and she just couldn’t help it. Today hadn’t started out as one of those days, but an hour or so ago an unexpected arrival had tipped everything upside down.
    These thoughts raced around her head and her emotions tied her up in knots, and it was because of all this that she didn’t hear the stop-start of an engine through the stillness. It was the sound of wheels spinning on ice, of a vehicle getting away from its driver’s control, of sometimes making headway and sometimes not but its progress erratic and dangerous.Hannah had walked this lane a hundred times before today and never had cause for fear from the occasional passing car. Today, when her mind was elsewhere, was the one day it needed to be on the road.
    It was too late by the time Hannah turned to see the car skid towards her, the terrified face of its driver looming from the shadows of the interior as he struggled with the wheel. Hannah froze, unable to move and bogged down by the snow even if she could. She heard a shout, and it wasn’t until afterwards that she realised it was Tom calling her name. She turned to see him race through the snow like a superhero, and in a scene that felt utterly surreal when she recalled it afterwards, he hurled himself at her and knocked her into the grass verge, the impetus taking both of them out of the path of the oncoming car. Hannah was jolted into a snowbank, and he landed with a thud on top of her.
    ‘Are you ok?’ he asked, genuine fear in his eyes.
    Hannah didn’t answer. She couldn’t form the words, but could only look up as he rolled his weight off her to see that the car was still skidding and sliding on the lane.
    ‘He can’t stop,’ Hannah managed to squeak in a panicked voice. ‘He can’t stop!’
    Tom glanced from her to the car and back again, before he pushed himself up and gave chase.
    ‘Off the brakes!’ he yelled after the car. ‘You’re making it worse! Steer into the skid!’
    After a few breathless