Me-Before-You-by-Jojo-Moyes

Something happened that evening. The lights dropped, so that our little table
was less conspicuous, the overpowering fragrance of the flowers was tempered
by the evening breezes, and the music and the wine and the dancing meant that
in the most unlikely of places, we all began to actually enjoy ourselves. Will was
the most relaxed I had seen him. Sandwiched between me and Mary, he talked
and smiled at her, and there was something about the sight of him being briefly
happy that repelled those people who might otherwise have looked at him
askance, or offered pitying glances. He made me lose my wrap and sit up
straight. I took off his jacket and loosened his tie, and we both tried not to giggle
at the sight of the dancing. I cannot tell you how much better I felt once I saw
the way posh people danced. The men looked as if they had been electrocuted,
the women did little pointy fingers at the stars and looked horribly self-conscious
even as they twirled.
Mary Rawlinson muttered, ‘Dear God,’ several times. She glanced over at me.
Her language had got fruitier with every drink. ‘You don’t want to go and strut
your stuff, Louisa?’
‘God, no.’
‘Jolly sensible of you. I’ve seen better dancing at a bloody Young Farmers
Club disco.’
At nine, I got a text from Nathan.
All okay?
Yes. Lovely, believe it or not. Will having great time.
And he was. I watched him laughing hard at something Mary had said, and
something in me grew strange and tight. This had shown me it could work. He
could be happy, if surrounded by the right people, if allowed to be Will, instead
of The Man in the Wheelchair, the list of symptoms, the object of pity.
And then, at 10pm, the slow dances began. We watched Rupert wheel Alicia
around the dance floor, applauded politely by onlookers. Her hair had begun to
droop, and she wrapped her arms around his neck as if she needed the support.
Rupert’s arms linked around her, resting on the small of her back. Beautiful and
wealthy as she was, I felt a little sorry for her. I thought she probably wouldn’t
realize what she had lost until it was much too late.