Me-Before-You-by-Jojo-Moyes

goodness’ sake. You’d think a magistrate would know what was right or wrong.
Of all people. I’ve a good mind to head down there now and bring him back
here.’
‘It’s complicated, Mum.’
‘No. It’s not. He’s vulnerable and there is no way on earth she should entertain
the thought of it. I’m shocked. That poor man. That poor man.’ She got up from
the table, taking the remains of the chicken with her, and stalked out to the
kitchen.
Louisa watched her go, her expression a little stunned. Mum was never angry.
I think the last time we heard her raise her voice was 1993.
Dad shook his head, his mind apparently elsewhere. ‘I’ve just thought – no
wonder I haven’t seen Mr Traynor. I wondered where he was. I assumed they
were all off on some family holiday.’
‘They’ve … they’ve gone?’
‘He’s not been in these last two days.’
Lou sat back down and slumped in her chair.
‘Oh shit,’ I said, and then clamped my hands around Thomas’s ears.
‘It’s tomorrow.’
Lou looked at me, and I glanced up at the calendar on the wall.
‘The thirteenth of August. It’s tomorrow.’
Lou did nothing that last day. She was up before me, staring out of the kitchen
window. It rained, and then it cleared, and then it rained again. She lay on the
sofa with Granddad, and she drank the tea that Mum made her, and every half an
hour or so I watched her gaze slide silently towards the mantelpiece and check
the clock. It was awful to watch. I took Thomas swimming and I tried to make
her come with us. I said Mum would mind him if she wanted to go to the shops
with me later. I said I’d take her to the pub, just the two of us, but she refused
every offer.
‘What if I made a mistake, Treen?’ she said, so quietly that only I could hear
it.
I glanced up at Granddad, but he had eyes only for the racing. I think Dad was
still putting on a sneaky bet each way for him, even though he denied it to Mum.
‘What do you mean?’