CHAPTER21
‘Maybe you should be using that walker more?’ Paul said as he hunted in the medicine cabinet for a plaster. ‘I think you need a bit more stability on your feet.’
Beth sighed like a petulant child. ‘I hate that bloody thing. I feel like one of those old ladies you see at the shops. It’s so… uncool. I’m only thirty-two.’
‘So I’ll get you a funky one,’ Paul replied. ‘They have some more modern ones online, I’ve seen them. Sequins and all sorts. They even have ones which turn into a wheelchair for when—’
‘I don’t need a wheelchair.’
He saw the look of disdain in her eyes. ‘I know… but it’s only for when you get tired. You know how tired you get.’
Beth felt her eyes welling up. ‘I don’t want this,’ she said. ‘I don’t want any of this.’
Paul finished tending to her knee before sitting next to her on the bed. He placed his arm around her as she wept.
‘I know it’s tough,’ he said softly. ‘And I don’t want to upset you. I just want you to live your life as normally as possible. I want you to be safe.’
He swallowed as he remembered an article he’d read about a man with MS who’d fallen into a glass table and died from the lacerations to his arms. His mobility issues prevented him from getting help. Paul never told Beth about the article though.
‘I miss my life,’ she said. ‘I miss being who I was. Inside I’m still the same and that’s the part that hurts more than the nerve pain or the accidents.’
Paul hugged her tightly.
‘I still feel the same as I always did. I still want the same things. This breaks my heart.’
‘Do you want to go home? We can make an excuse.’
Beth shook her head. ‘No. I came here to forget about all of this for a while, not wallow in it. I’m going to wash my face and enjoy the rest of my weekend. It’s not going to take that away from me too.’
* * *
Aiden and Alex could hear everyone laughing as they walked up the garden path. Beth, her knee now sporting a rather fetching plaster, had an announcement to make. ‘Oh good, you’re here! Sooo, I was thinking. Tonight. Who fancies some karaoke?’
There was a united groan from Aiden and Paul.
‘Oh, fun!’ Tara replied. ‘I haven’t done karaoke for ages. Ha, remember when we used to go to the student union. Cheap beer and bad singing, it was a gas!’
Even though none of them could sing a note, Friday nights were always reserved for karaoke. There were two rooms in the union, the smaller one jammed packed on a Friday with drunken academics, all grabbing for the song books.
‘What was the name of the wee fella who ran the karaoke night? Dead smooth, could have sold sour milk to the cows.’
Alex laughed. ‘Davey Dawson. God, I haven’t thought about him in years.’
‘I bet he’s thought about you though, eh, Moran?’
Alex scowled at Paul. ‘I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about,Cooper.’
She absolutely did. Davey Dawson, all five-foot-two of him, had taken a shine to Alex and wasn’t shy about letting her know. He was harmless but made no secret of the fact that he thought Alex was the most beautiful woman in Dublin.
‘He was loaded,’ Tara stated. ‘You could have done a lot worse.’
‘She did,’ Beth replied, smirking. ‘Two words: Aaron. Keating.’
Everyone began to roar with laughter, except Alex, Aiden and Christine. In fact, Christine hadn’t look up from her ‘it’s not bad, I suppose’ book for the entire conversation.
‘Care to explain?’ Aiden asked, over the top of the laughter.
‘Not really.’
