Another Way to Fall Read Online Free PDF

she was writing but so far Emma had remained tight-lipped. She wasn’t prepared to share her flight of fancy, unsure if she was ready for their judgement, but Mr Spelling was different. She could trust him with her life.
    ‘Yes, and my biggest problem will be how to fill that life I have in front of me.’
    ‘So tell me, do I play my part in your story or have you discovered that doctor with the sharper knives?’
    ‘You give me the all clear,’ she assured him.
    ‘Good. I like a happy ending.’
    ‘Ending?’ Emma laughed. ‘Oh, no, that’s just the beginning. Cancer is not the sum of my life, I am,’ she said firmly. ‘My story begins with me getting the all clear, an alternative to what happened last week really. Another life.’
    ‘Your life as you would want it to be,’ observed Mr Spelling.
    Emma smiled, liking the description. ‘Yes, but I’ve already hit a hurdle. I haven’t got a clue what I would want if I could have anything!’
    ‘Springtime in Paris? Walking through the Valley of the Kings?’ Mr Spelling reminded her.
    ‘They’re certainly pretty snapshots from an interesting and varied life but I still need to add more depth to my story and the truth is, I don’t have any great ambitions, not any more.’ Emma sensed she was talking herself out of writing her book. Her tumour was about to take away the last of her dreams.
    ‘Any more?’ So you had ambitions once? You hold such power at your fingertips, Emma,’ he said, taking hold of her hand and looking at it. When he looked up at her again there was a shadow of regret in his eyes. ‘Just think, you have far more control over your destiny than any doctor. Your hopes and dreams are still there waiting to be handed to you on a plate.’
    ‘Or off a shopkeeper’s shelf.’
    Mr Spelling shrugged his shoulders. ‘You say tomato, I say tom-A-to,’ he said.
    ‘In New York, I think they say tom-A-to,’ Emma said with a surge of enthusiasm. ‘Mr Spelling, I do believe you’ve just given me the inspiration I needed.’
    I was still dangling my right foot in midair as I pondered my next step but then I looked up and was met with an encouraging smile from the kindly shopkeeper. I forgot all about my feet.
    ‘So, what would you like first?’ he asked, tipping his head towards the shelves of boxes that were lined up behind him where the hospital car park should have been.
    My heart quickened as I realized that everything I could possibly want was within easy reach. ‘I … I don’t know where to begin,’ I said.
    ‘Don’t worry, I have a reputation for being able to size up my customers and I sense that what you want most is a purpose in life, something with a bit of a challenge. How about we make a start with your dream job?’
    ‘I had that once.’
    ‘Then you shall have it again,’ he replied, sweeping a brightly coloured box off a nearby shelf. It shone with promise. ‘But if you don’t mind, I’ve made some improvements.’
    I didn’t need to ask what he meant. The colour of the box reminded me of a juicy green apple or, more precisely, the Big Apple, and I couldn’t wait to begin peeling away its skin to take a closer look.
    With my career sorted, the shopkeeper naturally wanted to know what romantic aspirations I had. He looked me up and down, fingers curled around his chin. ‘Is Alex good enough for you?’ he asked sceptically.
    I wrinkled my nose as he pointed to a shelf full of various other options, an enticing row of boxes in eye-catching gift wrap. ‘Not if you ask my friends and I have to admit that I had been contemplating moving to London and was expecting to have to make the break but … well, I still think there’s some potential there,’ I told him. I wasn’t ready to start my life from scratch and I didn’t have to. I could work with what I had and even make a few of my own modifications.
    ‘I’ll leave that one in your hands then but your decision isn’t binding. I can do a good deal when