Me-Before-You-by-Jojo-Moyes

‘Don’t push your luck.’
‘Shush. Don’t make me nervous. I’m not great with scissors.’
I found the razors and some shaving foam in the bathroom cabinet, tucked well
back behind the packets of wipes and cotton wool, as if they hadn’t been used in
some time. I made him come into the bathroom, filled a sink with warm water,
got him to tilt his headrest back a little and then placed a hot flannel over his
chin.
‘What is this? You’re going to be a barbershop? What’s the flannel for?’
‘I don’t know,’ I confessed. ‘It’s what they do in the films. It’s like the hot
water and towels when someone has a baby.’
I couldn’t see his mouth, but his eyes creased with faint mirth. I wanted to
keep them like that. I wanted him to be happy – for his face to lose that haunted,
watchful look. I gabbled. I told jokes. I started to hum. Anything to prolong the
moment before he looked grim again.
I rolled up my sleeves and began to lather the shaving foam over his chin, all
the way up to his ears. Then I hesitated, the blade over his chin. ‘Is this the
moment to tell you I’ve only ever done legs before?’
He closed his eyes, and settled back. I began to scrape gently at his skin with
the blade, the silence broken only by the splash as I rinsed the razor in the
basinful of water. I worked in silence, studying Will Traynor’s face as I went, the
lines that ran to the corners of his mouth, lines that seemed prematurely deep for
his age. I smoothed his hair from the side of his face and saw the telltale tracks
of stitches, perhaps from his accident. I saw the mauve shadows that told of
nights and nights of lost sleep, the furrow between his brows that spoke of silent
pain. A warm sweetness rose from his skin, the scent of the shaving cream, and
something that was peculiar to Will himself, discreet and expensive. His face
began to emerge and I could see how easy it must have been for him to attract
someone like Alicia.
I worked slowly and carefully, encouraged by the fact that he seemed briefly
at peace. The thought flashed by that the only time anyone ever touched Will
was for some medical or therapeutic procedure, and so I let my fingers rest
lightly upon his skin, trying to make the movements as far from the