Me-Before-You-by-Jojo-Moyes

wearing a jacket I hadn’t seen before, and strappy sandals. I found myself
wondering, meanly, where she had found the money.
‘So how is it?’ I asked, while Mum walked Thomas around the garden,
showing him the frogs in the tiny pond. Dad was watching football with
Granddad, exclaiming in mild frustration at another supposed missed
opportunity.
‘Great. Really good. I mean, it’s hard not having any help with Thomas, and it
did take him a while to settle in at the crèche.’ She leant forwards. ‘Although you
mustn’t tell Mum – I told her he was fine.’
‘But you like the course.’
Treena’s face broke out into a smile. ‘It’s the best. I can’t tell you, Lou, the joy
of just using my brain again. I feel like there’s been this big chunk of me missing
for ages … and it’s like I’ve found it again. Does that sound wanky?’
I shook my head. I was actually glad for her. I wanted to tell her about the
library, and the computers, and what I had done for Will. But I thought this
should probably be her moment. We sat on the foldaway chairs, under the
tattered sunshade, and sipped at our mugs of tea. Her fingers, I noticed, were all
the right colours.
‘She misses you,’ I said.
‘We’ll be back most weekends from now on. I just needed … Lou, it wasn’t
just about settling Thomas in. I just needed a bit of time to be away from it all. I
just wanted time to be a different person.’
She looked a bit like a different person. It was weird. Just a few weeks away
from home could rub the familiarity right off someone. I felt like she was on the
path to being someone I wasn’t quite sure of. I felt, weirdly, as if I were being
left behind.
‘Mum told me your disabled bloke came to dinner.’
‘He’s not my disabled bloke. His name’s Will.’
‘Sorry. Will. So it’s going well, then, the old anti-bucket list?’
‘So-so. Some trips have been more successful than others.’ I told her about the
horse racing disaster, and the unexpected triumph of the violin concert. I told her
about our picnics, and she laughed when I told her about my birthday dinner.
‘Do you think … ?’ I could see her working out the best way to put it. ‘Do you
think you’ll win?’