Me-Before-You-by-Jojo-Moyes

‘I’d be finding out what I could do that didn’t cost much – keep-fit classes,
swimming, volunteering, whatever. I’d be teaching myself music or going for
long walks with somebody else’s dog, or –’
‘Okay, okay, I get the message,’ I said, irritably. ‘But I’m not you, Will.’
‘Luckily for you.’
We sat there for a bit. Will wheeled himself in, and raised the height of his
chair so that we faced each other over the table.
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘So what did you do after work? That was so valuable?’
‘Well, there wasn’t much time left after work, but I tried to do something
every day. I did rock climbing at an indoor centre, and squash, and I went to
concerts, and tried new restaurants –’
‘It’s easy to do those things if you have money,’ I protested.
‘And I went running. Yes, really,’ he said, as I raised an eyebrow.
‘And I tried to learn new languages for places I thought I might visit one day.
And I saw my friends – or people I thought were my friends … ’ He hesitated for
a moment. ‘And I planned trips. I looked for places I’d never been, things that
would frighten me or push me to my limit. I swam the Channel once. I went
paragliding. I walked up mountains and skied down them again. Yes –’ he said,
as I made to interrupt ‘– I know a lot of these need money, but a lot of them
don’t. And besides, how do you think I made money?’
‘Ripping people off in the City?’
‘I worked out what would make me happy, and I worked out what I wanted to
do, and I trained myself to do the job that would make those two things happen.’
‘You make it sound so simple.’
‘It is simple,’ he said. ‘The thing is, it’s also a lot of hard work. And people
don’t want to put in a lot of work.’
I had finished the potatoes. I threw the peel into the bin, and put the pan on to
the stove ready for later. I turned and lifted myself on my arms so that I was
sitting on the table facing him, my legs dangling.
‘You had a big life, didn’t you?’
‘Yeah, I did.’ He moved a bit closer, and raised his chair so that he was almost
at eye level. ‘That’s why you piss me off, Clark. Because I see all this talent, all
this … ’ He shrugged. ‘This energy and brightness, and –’
‘Don’t say potential …’