Me-Before-You-by-Jojo-Moyes

Twenty-six. Twenty-six of the buggers. And all sounding so nice, so
understanding. Some of them even offered her money.
I pressed delete on every one. Even those offering money, although I admit I
was a teeny bit tempted to see how much they were offering. All the while, I
heard Lou talking to Thomas in the bathroom, the whine and splash of him divebombing
his six inches of soapsuds with the Batmobile. That’s the thing you
don’t know about children unless you have them – bath time, Lego and fish
fingers don’t allow you to dwell on tragedy for too long. And then I hit the last
message.
‘Louisa? It’s Camilla Traynor. Will you call me? As soon as possible?’
I stared at the answerphone. I rewound and replayed it. Then I ran upstairs and
whipped Thomas out of the bath so fast my boy didn’t even know what hit him.
He was standing there, the towel wrapped tightly around him like a compression
bandage, and Lou, stumbling and confused, was already halfway down the stairs,
me pushing her by the shoulder.
‘What if she hates me?’
‘She didn’t sound like she hated you.’
‘But what if the press are surrounding them there? What if they think it’s all
my fault?’ Her eyes were wide and terrified. ‘What if she’s ringing to tell me
he’s done it?’
‘Oh, for Christ’s sake, Lou. For once in your life, just get a grip. You won’t
know anything unless you call. Call her. Just call. You don’t have a bloody
choice.’
I ran back into the bathroom, to set Thomas free. I shoved him into his
pyjamas, told him that Granny had a biscuit for him if he ran to the kitchen super
fast. And then I peered out of the bathroom door, to peek at my sister on the
phone down in the hallway.
She was turned away from me, one hand smoothing the hair at the back of her
head. She reached out a hand to steady herself.
‘Yes,’ she was saying. ‘I see.’ And then, ‘Okay.’
And after a pause, ‘Yes.’
She looked down at her feet for a good minute after she’d put the phone down.
‘Well?’ I said.
She looked up as if she’d only just seen me there, and shook her head.