Another Way to Fall Read Online Free PDF Page B

you’re ready for a trade-in.’
    ‘Don’t you mean if?’ I asked but my words were drowned out by the beeping of a car horn.
    I was standing in front of the hospital, my foot still dangling in midair and if the noise of the horn hadn’t already startled me, then the face of the person behind the wheel would have been enough to knock me off my feet. My arms flailed and as I stumbled, the torn pieces of card I had been holding in my hand were snatched away by a gust of wind. As the winner’s confetti fluttered around me, I stepped forward to claim my prize, not even registering that first step that I had been debating, or the next.
    ‘I thought you couldn’t bear the sight of hospitals?’ I said. The sun had broken through what had seemed impenetrable cloud cover. I shaded my eyes with my hand and Alex beamed a winning smile at me, his olive skin pulling taught across his square jaw. He had the decency to look just a little shamefaced. As he absentmindedly smoothed his hair, hair that was slicked back so neatly that it needed no taming, I noted the delicate sprinkling of grey at his temples and knew Alex was proud of this first sign of aging. He was only thirty-two but he was embracing the more mature look, he thought it made him appear more distinguished. ‘I couldn’t keep away, I’ve been thinking of you all morning. So tell me, how did it go?’
    It was my turn to smile. ‘Complete remission,’ I said and the tremor in my voice travelled down my spine in a delicious shiver.
    ‘Then that makes your next decision rather easy,’ he said with a meaningful look.
    ‘And what decision would that be?’ I asked.
    Alex leaned over and opened the door for me. He waited until I was safely secured in the passenger seat before he answered. ‘I would love to tell you but Ally took the call and she’s insisting that she should be the one to tell you,’ he said, picking his phone up from the well between the seats. He thumbed a few buttons briefly and then passed it to me before the call was connected.
    I gave him a quizzical look as I took the phone but Alex’s face was unreadable.
    ‘Ally, do you have some news for me?’ I asked when the call was answered.
    ‘Oh, no. Tell me your news first,’ Ally demanded into my ear.
    ‘I’ve been given the all clear,’ I said. I had already made frantic calls to my mum and Louise but it didn’t matter how many times I said it out loud, it still hadn’t quite sunk in. ‘All clear, Ally. At last, I have something in my life to celebrate.’
    ‘More than you think.’ Ally’s voice broke and there was a pause. I could hear a nose being blown. ‘I’m so relieved that you can finally get on with the rest of your life.’ There was another pause as Ally took a deep breath. ‘And what a life it could be. Someone called Kate rang from your old firm, when you worked in London. She wouldn’t give me all the details but she told me enough. She, or rather they, Alsop and Clover, want you back. She wants you to call her urgently. I’ll text the number to your own phone, OK? Emma, the job will be based in New York!’
    My eyes widened in shock. I was speechless.
    ‘Emma?’
    ‘New York? Seriously?’
    Ally laughed. ‘I’m so happy for you, Emma. Enjoy the moment. It’s been a long time coming.’
    I was still stunned when the call ended and I handed the phone back to Alex. ‘Why me?’
    He laughed. ‘One of the biggest PR and marketing firms in the world is offering you the job of a lifetime and you make it sound like it’s a bad thing.’
    ‘Oh, my God, Alex, I don’t think I can take this much good news in one day.’
    I could feel a scream building inside me as I took one last look at the hospital before Alex drove away. The pavement flickered white as the wind continued to play with the discarded remnants of my appointment card. I had left my mark on the hospital but then it had left its mark on me too and, in fairness, it was I who had taken far more of a