Me-Before-You-by-Jojo-Moyes

rehabilitation fund, and only stopped insisting when I told them we would be
happiest if they would have a drink on us instead. I had to kiss each and every
one of them. I was nearly dizzy with fumes by the time I had finished. I
continued to wave at them as they disappeared back to the stand, and Nathan
sounded the horn to get me into the car.
‘They were helpful, weren’t they?’ I said, brightly, as I turned the ignition.
‘The tall one dropped his entire beer down my right leg,’ said Will. ‘I smell
like a brewery.’
‘I don’t believe this,’ said Nathan, as I finally pulled out towards the main
entrance. ‘Look. There’s a whole disabled parking section right there, by the
stand. And it’s all on tarmac.’
Will didn’t say much of anything for the rest of the day. He bid Nathan goodbye
when we dropped him home, and then grew silent as I negotiated the road up to
the castle, which had thinned out now the temperature had dropped again, and
finally I parked up outside the annexe.
I lowered Will’s chair, got him inside, and made him a warm drink. I changed
his shoes and trousers, put the beer-stained ones in the washing machine, and got
the fire going so that he would warm up. I put the television on, and drew the
curtains so that the room grew cosy around us – perhaps cosier for the time spent
out in the cold air. But it was only when I sat in the living room with him,
sipping my tea, that I realized he wasn’t talking – not out of exhaustion, or
because he wanted to watch the television. He just wasn’t talking to me.
‘Is … something the matter?’ I said, when he failed to respond to my third
comment about the local news.
‘You tell me, Clark.’
‘What?’
‘Well, you know everything else there is to know about me. You tell me.’
I stared at him. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said, finally. ‘I know today didn’t turn out quite
like I planned. But it was just meant to be a nice outing. I actually thought you’d
enjoy it.’
I didn’t add that he was being determinedly grumpy, that he had no idea what
I had gone through just to get him to try to enjoy himself, that he hadn’t even
tried to have a good time. I didn’t tell him that if he’d let me buy the stupid