Summer at Tiffany's Read Online Free PDF

up.’
    Henry sucked on his teeth. ‘I don’t know, sis,’ he teased. ‘Look, the station guard’s got his paddle up. It’s not looking good.’ Cassie marvelled that Henry’s breathing had already returned to normal. Henry leaned back out through the doors again. ‘Come on, Arch! One last push!’
    â€˜He’s not having a bloody baby!’ Suzy protested as Archie began descending the stairs, holding the handrail as he staggered down them.
    The warning beeps that the doors were about to close sounded and Suzy automatically leaned against one of them, holding it open.
    â€˜Come on, Arch!’ she hollered again.
    â€˜I don’t think so!’ Henry said, spotting her trickery and pulling her away, allowing the doors to close.
    â€˜Henry!’
    â€˜No, no cheating. It’s not fair, and it’s not what Arch would want. You either win or lose on merit alone – he knows that.’
    As if to prove the point, an exhausted runner got to the doors, two seconds too late, pressing his palms to the glass windows as the train slowly began to roll towards the river and Putney beyond. The other guys began to jeer at the poor fellow; Henry gave an apologetic shrug and a ‘never mind’ thumbs-up.
    â€˜Well, that’s all very well for you to say when you’re six foot four with legs as long as ladders,’ Suzy argued, exasperated that this would mean another year of listening to Arch moan about having to ‘train for the train’.
    â€˜Wait . . .’ Cassie gasped, her tone like a blade through the siblings’ spat. Suzy and Henry looked back out of the window. Archie was near the bottom of the stairs, but he had stopped running – not because the train was pulling away. His eyes were wide, but he didn’t even appear to be seeing the train. He was holding on to the handrail with one hand, seemingly frozen on the spot.
    â€˜Arch?’ Suzy whispered, taking in his grey pallor compared to everyone else’s florid pink cheeks, watching as the freeze in his features gave way to a silent splitting spasm, which wracked his face and shocked his body back and then forwards, sending him flying down the last steps onto the platform.
    He was only feet away from where they had been, but the train was moving faster now, and as she was whisked out of sight of her dying husband, Suzy began to scream.

Chapter Three
    Midnight had been and gone by the time Henry eased open the spare bedroom door and peered in. Cassie, who had been staring at the wedding photo of her two closest friends in the world – wholly unable to sleep – propped herself up on her elbow and blinked back at him, trying to read the news in his face. All she could see was his exhaustion.
    â€˜Just say it quickly,’ she said, before he could open his mouth.
    â€˜There’s nothing
to
say,’ Henry said, sinking onto the side of the bed beside her. She was still in her clothes – not sure if she would be summoned to bring Velvet to the hospital at a moment’s notice – and lying on top of the duvet. It had seemed easier to stay at Suzy and Archie’s rather than in their tiny flat, not least because all of Velvet’s toys and nappies and bottles were here, but the tragedy seemed amplified in the house of its victims – photographs on every surface, memories at every turn – and she hadn’t been able to close her eyes long enough to doze.
    Henry absently reached for the raspberry-pink wool blanket at the bottom of the bed and draped it over her while he talked, trying to stay busy, keep occupied as he said the words. ‘He’s not out of the woods yet. He’s still in the CCU. His heart rhythms are too erratic for him to be moved anywhere else at this point.’ His eyes flicked to hers. ‘He had another heart attack two hours after being admitted, so they’re not taking any chances.’
    Cassie’s hands