Me-Before-You-by-Jojo-Moyes

They were waiting at the Arrivals Gate. I had somehow known they would be. I
had felt the faintly sick sensation expanding inside me even as we wheeled Will
through passport control, fast-tracked by some well-meaning official even as I
prayed that we would be forced to wait, stuck in a queue that lasted hours,
preferably days. But no, we crossed the vast expanse of linoleum, me pushing
the baggage trolley, Nathan pushing Will, and as the glass doors opened, there
they were, standing at the barrier, side by side in some rare semblance of unity. I
saw Mrs Traynor’s face briefly light up as she saw Will and I thought, absently,
Of course – he looks so well. And, to my shame, I put on my sunglasses – not to
hide my exhaustion, but so that she wouldn’t immediately see from my naked
expression what it was I was going to have to tell her.
‘Look at you!’ she was exclaiming. ‘Will, you look wonderful. Really
wonderful.’
Will’s father had stooped, was patting his son’s chair, his knee, his face
wreathed in smiles. ‘We couldn’t believe it when Nathan told us you were down
on the beach every day. And swimming! What was the water like, then – lovely
and warm? It’s been raining cats and dogs here. Typical August!’
Of course. Nathan would have been texting them or calling them. As if they
would have let us go all that time without some kind of contact.
‘It … it was a pretty amazing place,’ said Nathan. He had grown quiet too, but
now tried to smile, to seem his normal self.
I felt frozen, my hand clutching my passport like I was about to go somewhere
else. I had to remind myself to breathe.
‘Well, we thought you might like a special dinner,’ Will’s father said. ‘There’s
a jolly nice restaurant at the Intercontinental. Champagne on us. What do you
think? Your mother and I thought it might be a nice treat.’
‘Sure,’ said Will. He was smiling at his mother and she was looking back at
him as if she wanted to bottle it. How can you? I wanted to yell at him. How can
you look at her like that when you already know what you are going to do to
her?
‘Come on, then. I’ve got the car in disabled parking. It’s only a short ride from
here. I was pretty sure you’d all be a bit jet-lagged. Nathan, do you want me to
take any of those bags?’