There are so many things that a motor accident can alter permanently. At best you may survive with a life-long injury. At worst, you’ll regret the last thing you ever do in life.
Our guy was never good with women, but he was a die-hard romantic. Die-hard. So, even though he couldn’t muster the courage to speak with one, in his vivid imagination he gave away entire lifetimes of deep, unconditional love.
He was on the wrong side of thirty, with a heart full of love and no one to bestow it on. And, it was unreasonable to expect someone to magically notice him across the room and willy-nilly glide into his days and nights. True romance required some daring-do, some gumption, some mustered courage.
So, when he saw the book-shop girl, locking up and leaving for home, and he was still a ways across the road, he decided in a split second that he wasn’t going to let even one more day go by without introducing himself to her. She turned to look just in time to see a car swerve to avoid our eager jaywalker and smash her into the brick wall, where a (sort of) heart-shaped hole remained for the next few days, gazing at him adoringly.