This is part two of a short story that I’m writing, weaving in a number of prompts. If you haven’t, kindly read Part one of Music and Lyrics here, before going ahead.

Simon groaned as the loud noise of the whining ambulance woke him up. He looked around, momentarily confused, before he realised where he was. He glanced at the time. It was 4am. He remembered that he’d popped out to the car for a smoke, and then he’d  just reclined the seat listening to the radio. “I must have dozed off!” he thought, as he got out of the car and stretched his arms. As he observed the ambulance pull up to the emergency entrance, he thought about Lizzie and Eva.  He pulled his phone out from the insides of his jacket pocket, and checked it for messages. He had none. Slowly, he walked back into the hospital, wondering if the operation had been completed and what the outcome was.

When Simon strolled into the waiting area, he noticed that Eva was wide awake, and pacing up and down the hallway. On seeing him, she rushed towards him and engulfed him in a tight hug. He was a bit taken aback and stood there, unsure how to react. And then, as sudden as she’d hugged him, Eva withdrew, tears streaming down her  cheeks. “I’m sorry !” she said, taking deep heaving breaths between her sobs. “What happened? Is Lizzie okay? How was the operation?” Though plenty of questions were running through his mind, but he just stared at Eva, suddenly wanting to reciprocate the hug. Eva wiped her tears on the sleeve of her uniform and said “The operation finished a little while ago. But Lizzie….”. The tears had started to flow again, and Eva was finding it difficult to speak. As concerned as Simon was, he just stood there with a perplexed look on his face. Though he was desperate for Eva to complete the sentence, he dreaded what he was about to hear. Eva looked at him, her eyes still rapidly filling up with tears, and said “Lizzie’s in a coma!”. And then she collapsed into his arms.

Simon watched the fluorescent green line rise and fall constantly, on the machine that was connected to Elizabeth. Her head was heavily bandaged and her left leg was in cast. He didn’t know if Lizzie could sense his presence, but he squeezed her right arm gently, as if to tell her that he was there. He wondered if Eva had woken up from her induced slumber. After she’d collapsed, the doctors had advised him that she get admitted and be given some medication to help her cope with the stress. He’d also been told that she would sleep for a long period and they would continue to feed her through an intravenous drip, until she regained her strength. He glanced at his watch, which displayed the time as 10:02 am. He needed to get away. Ever since he’d been little, he’d hated hospitals. They served as a constant reminder that no matter how rich or fortunate, you were always susceptible to illness, and subsequently death. This whole episode with Lizzie and Eva had really rattled him. Everything that he’d done, from going to Lizzie’s rescue to praying for them to deciding to spend the night at the hospital, a place that he vehemently hated, was completely unlike him. Yes, he did his bit for charity. But to help someone in trouble, and go out of his way to do so, was something that he thought he’d never be capable of. He knew nothing about Eva or Lizzie, apart from the bits and pieces he’d gathered during his initial conversation; yet he felt a connection there. If he didn’t know any better, he would have even described the he felt a little bit both like a father and a husband.

A loud set of continuous beeps brought Simon’s attention back to Lizzie. The line that indicated the heartbeat was rapidly moving up and down. Instantly he pressed the panic button next to her bed . The nurses were by her bedside in seconds. As Simon watched them attempt to stabilize her heart rate, he wondered about his own baby daughter, Emily. He’d last seen her almost a year ago, when Samantha and he had broken up. Suddenly he wanted to see Emily again, and hold her in his arms. Simon was confused. He’d never had felt any fatherly feelings before. Em had been a mistake; the result of a drunken night with Sam. And she was partially responsible for their breakup too. Simon suddenly stood up from the sofa he’d been sitting on. He needed to get away from the hospital, which for him was synonymous with death. He needed to get away from Lizzie and Eva, who had all of a sudden reminded him of his ex, Samantha and their daughter Emily. He quietly slid out of the room, and walked up to the ICU nurses station, where he left his contact number and business card, for them to contact him, if they needed to. And then he left.

Simon’s stomach rumbled. He hadn’t eaten anything since his brunch of Spanish Fritatas yesterday afternoon. But he also needed his caffeine fix. Wednesday was normally the day he had a lunch meeting with his team. But he was in no mood for a discussion, even if it was about music. So he’d contacted Elaine, his secretary and asked her to cancel all his appointments for the day. Instead of going home, he drove into Knightsbridge, home of Harrods and one of the few places, where even he, often felt out of place. But his favourite haunt, Cafe Bistro was here, and he couldn’t think of anything better than a double shot espresso and some warm, traditional and super rich Quiche Lorraine to help cheer him up. “It’s ironic!” he thought, as he drove into the heart of Knightsbridge, “I could possibly have any kind of food specially made for me, but here I am, desperately craving a cuppa and some amazing French pastry food.” Just the thought of warm food, made his stomach rumble again.

He pulled out one of their speciality wicker chairs to sit down and signalled to Gabriella, the waitress, to bring him his usual order. He looked around, wondering why it was so packed on a weekday afternoon. As he took a sip of his espresso, he could feel the caffeine rush through him. He closed his eyes and smiled. “Nothing beats good coffee!” he thought smugly. “Excuse me? Is this seat taken?” A voice interrupted his thoughts. He opened his eyes and turned around to ask the owner of the voice to find another seat. He was in no mood for any company. His jaw dropped as their eyes met. Dressed in khaki capris and a spring yellow blouse, was his ex-Samantha. And with her, in a baby pink frock was Emily, her cute ponytail swaying as she swung from her mother’s hand.

“So, when did you get back from Johannesburg?” he asked, as he observed Emily try to feed her doll, a piece of rich chocolate gateaux. “A few weeks ago. I missed London and asked them to transfer me back. Plus I think Emily will enjoy it here more than in SA.” replied Sam, loudly slurping her rather smelly french onion soup. For the first time, since he could remember, Simon didn’t mind her slurping. It was a habit of hers, that had always ticked him off. But today it didn’t bother him at all. Rather, he fondly looked on, amazed that someone could actually enjoy their food so much, without any kind of inhibition about who was watching. He watched her as she lazily tucked an unruly strand of hair behind her ear, and then asked him “So, what have you been upto?” “Oh, the usual. Music, contracts, artists…you know how it is” he replied, as Emily squashed the piece of cake and then wiped her hand on her pretty pink frock. “Emily!” yelled Sam, as she started to get up from her seat. “No, no…you eat. I got this.” said Simon, instinctively getting off his chair and picking Emily up. Using the wet tip of a napkin, he slowly rubbed the stain of the cake from her frock. And then he gently wiped her tiny little hands. Emily looked at him with a curious look on her face. And then, she slowly  tilted her head to the left and smiled at him. He mimicked her action, which sent her into a giggling frenzy. Simon smiled and gave her tight hug. He suddenly wished that he could spend some time with her.

As Simon drove them to Sam’s temporary apartments in Kensington, he kept a watch on Emily in the back seat, via his rear view mirror. The strong breeze was ruffling her hair and she seemed to be enjoying it. “Can I ask you something? “ Samantha’s voice cut into his thoughts. “Yes?” he said, wondering what she needed. “Oh, it’s nothing big.  Just needed to know if you could help me find a nanny for Em. Just part time will do. It’d be great if she could start this weekend. We are moving into our new flat in Hammersmith and it would help if I could get someone to distract her, whilst I did the unpacking. I would have asked mom to come down, but she’s still recuperating after her operation”. Simon nodded in acknowledgment. After a few minutes he spoke, “I am not doing anything this weekend. I can take Em off your hands for a while.  If you don’t mind that is…”. “Mmmm….” she said, seeming to contemplate the idea. “It’s not that I mind. But kids haven’t been your strong suit.” she replied with a wry smile. Simon pretended not to comprehend the dig she had made, about their breakup. “Its fine. I can cope. Why don’t I do this? I’ll come over and watch her while you unpack. That way you are around if she needs something” he said, watching her hazel brown eyes, for a reaction.

When Sam and Em got off, Simon looked at her expectantly. “Okay, I guess. Can you come by Friday evening? I kind of want to get a head start with the unpacking. “ she said. Simon nodded. As he watched Sam and Em walk away, he suddenly felt energised and refreshed, even though he still hadn’t had a chance to freshen up. They’d spent the whole afternoon talking about what each of them had been up to, the past year. Sam had moved to South Africa with Emily, after their break up, in a bid for a fresh start. Though she enjoyed her work, she’d had a difficult time trying to settle down, after having lived in London all her life. Emily too, young as she was, found it hard at her play school, and eventually they’d decided to come back. Simon had filled her in, on how busy his work kept him, how his mother was still after him asking him to settle down and about some of the funny auditions that he’d had to sit through, in the name of music. He’d purposefully steered clear talking about Tanya. He’d also spoken to Sam at length, about Lizzie’s accident, and how he’d felt. “I’m surprised Si !” she’d said, “It’s so unlike you to do stuff like this. And for you spend a night at the hospital, a place that you detest….you must really care for this Lizzie. Or is it her mom that you care for?”  she’d asked with a smirk on her face.

“It’s quite strange”, thought Simon, as he drove back to his apartment. “You do not speak to a person for so long, and yet retain that connection”. He wasn’t even sure anymore about why Sam and he had split up. He’d always thought that it was because they wanted different things. But after having spent a whole afternoon with her and Emily, he had felt that connection again. The same one that had drawn him to her, in the first place. And Emily, just looking at her filled him with joy. He couldn’t think of any other feeling that came close to what he’d felt, when he was watching her. With a loud sigh, Simon turned up the volume on the radio. The chorus of a familiar song called out to him:

Paul Simon – Father & Daughter (Listen on YouTube here: http://youtu.be/AzMh7zHir1I)
…(chorus)…
I’m gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you’ll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father who loved
His daughter more than I love you

Simon smiled as he listened to the song. A song that until today, had just been a Paul Simon song that people played at weddings. Today though, he felt different. Today, he felt that it was a sign.

Somewhere deep inside his jacket, which now lay crumbled in the back of his roadster, his mobile phone continued to vibrate with an incoming call notification, eventually joining the remaining list of 24 missed calls. The Truecaller ID software showed the call as having originated from “St. Mary’s Hospital – Intensive Care Unit”

To be continued

[This post is written for the Project 365 program at We Post Daily aimed at posting at least once a day, based on the prompts provided. For this post, I’ve incorporated two prompts.
Prompt 1: “Playlist of the week- Tell us how your week went by putting together a playlist of five songs that represent it.”    – This concludes Wednesday’s song
Prompt 2: “Tell us about a time you did a 180 — changed your views on something, reversed a decision, or acted in a way you ordinarily don’t “]