Me-Before-You-by-Jojo-Moyes

I set to work, letting his hair slide through my fingers, trying to remember the
few basics I had learnt. Will, watching the film, seemed relaxed and almost
content. Occasionally he told me something about the film – what else the lead
actor had starred in, where he had first seen it – and I made a vaguely interested
noise (like I do with Thomas when he presents me with his toys), even though all
my attention was actually focused on not mucking up his hair. Finally, I had the
worst of it off, and whipped round in front of him to see how he looked.
‘Well?’ Will paused the DVD.
I straightened up. ‘I’m not sure I like seeing this much of your face. It’s a bit
unnerving.’
‘Feels cold,’ he observed, moving his head from left to right, as if testing the
feel of it.
‘Hold on,’ I said. ‘I’ll get two mirrors. Then you can see it properly. But don’t
move. There’s still a bit of tidying up to be done. Possibly an ear to slice.’
I was in the bedroom, going through his drawers in search of a small mirror,
when I heard the door. Two sets of brisk footsteps, Mrs Traynor’s voice, lifted,
anxious.
‘Georgina, please don’t.’
The door to the living room was wrenched open. I grabbed the mirror and ran
out of the room. I had no intention of being found absent again. Mrs Traynor was
standing in the living-room doorway, both hands raised to her mouth, apparently
witnessing some unseen confrontation.
‘You are the most selfish man I ever met!’ a young woman was shouting. ‘I
can’t believe this, Will. You were selfish then and you’re worse now.’
‘Georgina.’ Mrs Traynor’s gazed flicked towards me as I approached. ‘Please,
stop.’
I walked into the room behind her. Will, the towel around his shoulders, hair
in soft brown fronds at the wheels of his chair, was facing a young woman. She
had long dark hair, pinned into a messy knot at the back of her head. Her skin
was tanned, and she was wearing expensively distressed jeans and suede boots.
Like Alicia, her features were beautiful and regular, her teeth the astonishing
white of a toothpaste commercial. I knew they were because, her face puce with
anger, she was still hissing at him. ‘I can’t believe it. I can’t believe you would
even think of it. What do you –’