Me-Before-You-by-Jojo-Moyes

‘You look cheerful,’ Will said, as I dropped my bag in the hallway. He said it
as if it were almost an affront.
‘That’s because it’s today.’
‘What is?’
‘Our outing. We’re taking Nathan to see the horse racing.’
Will and Nathan looked at each other. I almost laughed. I had been so relieved
at the sight of the weather; once I saw the sun, I knew everything was going to
be all right.
‘Horse racing?’
‘Yup. Flat racing at –’ I pulled my notepad from my pocket ‘– Longfield. If we
leave now we can be there in time for the third race. And I have five pounds
each way on Man Oh Man, so we’d better get a move on.’
‘Horse racing.’
‘Yes. Nathan’s never been.’
In honour of the occasion I was wearing my blue quilted minidress, with the
scarf with horse bits around the edge knotted at my neck, and a pair of leather
riding boots.
Will studied me carefully, then reversed his chair and swerved so that he could
better see his male carer. ‘This is a long-held desire of yours, is it, Nathan?’
I gave Nathan a warning glare.
‘Yiss,’ he said, and broke out a smile. ‘Yes, it is. Let’s head for the gee-gees.’
I had primed him, of course. I had rung him on Friday and asked him which
day I could borrow him for. The Traynors had agreed to pay his extra hours
(Will’s sister had left for Australia, and I think they wanted to be sure that
someone ‘sensible’ was going to accompany me) but I hadn’t been sure until
Sunday what it actually was we were going to do. This seemed the ideal start – a
nice day out, less than half an hour’s drive away.
‘And what if I say I don’t want to go?’
‘Then you owe me forty pounds,’ I said.
‘Forty pounds? How do you work that out?’
‘My winnings. Five pounds each way at eight to one.’ I shrugged. ‘Man Oh
Man’s a sure thing.’
I seemed to have got him off balance.