Me-Before-You-by-Jojo-Moyes

She blinked hard, as if trying to take this in. ‘Did Will tell you this?’
‘No. I don’t think he wanted me to know. I … I got his name and looked him
up.’
Her coffee arrived. The waitress put it on the table in front of her, but Mrs
Traynor didn’t seem to notice.
‘Did you want anything else?’ the girl said.
‘No, thank you.’
‘We have carrot cake on special today. We make it here ourselves. It’s got a
lovely buttercream fill–’
‘No.’ Mrs Traynor’s voice was sharp. ‘Thank you.’
The girl stood there just long enough to let us know she was offended and then
stalked off, her notepad swinging conspicuously from one hand.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘You told me before that I should let you know anything
important. I stayed awake half the night trying to work out whether to say
anything.’
Her face looked almost leached of colour.
I knew how she felt.
‘How is he in himself? Have you … have you come up with any other ideas?
Outings?’
‘He’s not keen.’ I told her about Paris, and my list of things I had compiled.
All the while I spoke, I could see her mind working ahead of me, calculating,
assessing.
‘Anywhere,’ she said, finally. ‘I’ll finance it. Any trip you want. I’ll pay for
you. For Nathan. Just – just see if you can get him to agree to it.’
I nodded.
‘If there’s anything else you can think of … just to buy us some time. I’ll pay
your wages beyond the six months, obviously.’
‘That’s … that’s really not an issue.’
We finished our coffees in silence, both lost in our thoughts. As I watched her,
surreptitiously, I noticed that her immaculate hairstyle was now flecked with
grey, her eyes as shadowed as my own. I realized I didn’t feel any better for
having told her, to have passed my own heightened anxiety on to her – but what
choice did I have? The stakes were getting higher with every day that passed.
The sound of the clock striking two seemed to spur her out of her stasis.