Thanks for the Memories (42 page)
“Then what?” he asks, shocked.
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“Then nothing.” I shrug. “You dropped them on the ground and chickened out.”
He shakes his head softly. “How on earth . . . ?”
I shrug.
“What else do you know about Eloise Parker?” He narrows his eyes.
I giggle and look away. “You lost your virginity to her when you were sixteen, in her bedroom when her mom and dad were away on a cruise.”
He lowers the bouquet so that it faces the ground. “Now, you see, that is not fair. You are not allowed to know stuff like that about me.”
I laugh.
“You were christened Joyce Bridget Conway, but you tell everyone your middle name is Angeline,” he retaliates. My mouth falls open.
“You had a dog called Bunny when you were a kid.” He lifts an eyebrow cockily. “You got drunk on poteen when you were”—he closes his eyes and thinks hard—“fifteen. With your friends Kate and Frankie.”
He takes a step closer with each piece of knowledge.
“Your first French kiss was with Jason Hardy when you were ten, who everyone used to call Jason Hard-On.”
I laugh.
“You’re not the only one who’s allowed to know stuff.” He takes a final step closer and can’t move any nearer now. His shoes, the fabric of his thick coat, every part of him, is on the verge of touching me.
My heart takes out a trampoline and enrolls in a marathon session of leaping. I hope Justin doesn’t hear it whooping with joy.
“Who told you all of that?” My words touch his face in a breath of cold smoke.
“Getting me here was a big operation.” He smiles. “Big. Your
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friends had me run through a series of tests to prove I was sorry enough to be deemed worthy of coming here.”
I laugh, shocked that Frankie and Kate could finally agree on something, never mind keeping anything of this magnitude a secret. Silence now. We are so close, if I look up at him my nose will touch his chin. I keep looking down.
“You’re still afraid to sleep in the dark,” he whispers, taking my chin in his hand and lifting it so that I can look nowhere else but at him. “Unless somebody’s with you,” he adds with a small smile.
“You cheated on your first college paper,” I whisper.
“You used to hate art.” He kisses my forehead.
“You lie when you say you’re a fan of the
Mona Lisa
.” I close my eyes.
“You had an invisible friend named Horatio until you were five.” He kisses my nose, and I’m about to retaliate, but his lips touch mine so softly the words give up, sliding back to the memory bank where they came from. I am faintly aware of Fran exiting her house next door and saying hello, of a car driving by with a beep, but everything is blurred in the distance as I get lost in this moment with Justin, in this new memory for him and me.
“Forgive me?” he says as he pulls away.
“I have no choice but to. It’s in my blood.” We laugh. I look down at the flowers in his hands, which have been crushed between us. “Are you going to drop these on the ground too and chicken out?”
“Actually, they’re not for you.” His cheeks redden even more.
“They’re for somebody at the blood clinic who I really need to apologize to. I was hoping you would come with me, help explain the reason for my crazy behavior, and maybe she could explain a few things to us in turn.”
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I look back to the house and see Dad spying at us from behind the curtain. He gives me the thumbs-up, and my eyes fill.
“Was he in on this too?”
“He called me a worthless silly sod and an up-to-no-good fool.” Justin makes a face. “So, yes.”
I blow Dad a kiss. I feel him watching me, and feel Mum’s eyes on me too, as I walk down the garden path, cut across the grass, and follow the desire line I had created as a little girl, out onto the pavement that leads away from the house I grew up in. Though this time, I’m not alone.
h a n k s t o m y p r e c i o u s p e o p l e for their love, guidance, T and support; David, Mimmie, Dad, Georgina, Nicky, Rocco, Jay, Breda, and Neil. To Marianne for her Midas touch and for her
“clatter” of vision. Thanks to Lynne Drew, Amanda Ridout, Claire Bord, Moira Reilly, Tony Purdue, Fiona McIntosh, and the whole team at HarperCollins. Huge thanks as always to Vicki Satlow with the incredible HV, and Pat Lynch. I’d like to thank all my friends for supporting and sharing the adventure with me. Special thanks to Sarah for being the godliest of all godlies. Thanks to Mark Monahan at Trinity College, Karen Breen at the Irish Blood Transfusion Service, and Bernice at Viking Splash Tours.
www.tcd.ie
www.ibts.ie
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Before she embarked on her writi ng career,
CECELIA AHERN
completed a degree in
journalism and media communications. At twentyone she wrote her first novel,
P.S. I Love You
, which became an international bestseller and was adapted into a major motion picture starring Hilary Swank. Her successive novels—
Love, Rosie
;
If You Could See
Me Now
; and
There’s No Place Like Here
—were also international bestsellers. Her books are published in forty-six countries and have collectively sold more than ten million copies. She is also the
cocreator of the hit ABC comedy series
Samantha
Who?
, starring Christina Applegate. The daughter of Ireland’s former prime minister, Ahern lives in Dublin, Ireland.
www.cecelia-ahern.com
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
a l s o b y C e c e l i a A h e r n
P. S. I L ove Yo u
L ove, Ro s i e
I f Yo u C o u l d S e e M e N o w
T h e re ’s N o P l a c e L i k e H e re
Designed by William Ruoto
THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES. Copyright © 2009 by Cecelia Ahern. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader February 2009
ISBN 978-0-06-186800-9
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- Title Page
- Dedication Page
- Contents
- Prologue
- Part One
- Chapter One
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- Chapter One
- Part Two
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- Part Three
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- Acknowledgments
- Sources
- About the Author
- Also by Cecelia Ahern
- Credits
- Copyright Notice
- About the Publisher
- Prologue
