Chapter 14

“It’s a positive sign,” the doctor reassured me. “Let’s just allow him to wake in his own time.”

“I’ll go, shall I?”

He put a hand on my shoulder to stop me rising from the chair. He was only a few years older than I was, I reckoned, with a harassed expression and scuffed shoes. “How many hours have you been here now? Mr Cooper, I suspect your company is the one thing that’s likely to bring him back, sooner or later.”

“I don’t want it to be later,” I blurted out.

“No,” said the doctor drily. “Neither do we. I’ll go and get you another coffee.”

I sat silently for a while, watching Marcus’s lips move, making shapes. When the words suddenly spilled out, they startled me.

“Such strange dreams, Kevin. Full of horrible regrets, things I wished I’d done, people I wished I’d…known better.” His voice was soft and slurred, but I could hear every word.

“Marcus?”