Another Way to Fall. Amanda Brooke

a light grey suit with a silk blouse. It had been easy to forget that she was a fully qualified and experienced solicitor but the shadow of a woman who had hovered at the side of her daughter’s hospital bed had been given substance once more.

      ‘I’m glad to hear it,’ Emma said with a nod of approval. ‘At least one of us is earning our keep.’

      ‘We’ll manage,’ Meg told her. ‘And I don’t intend to stay out long. I’ll do what needs to be done in the office and bring some of my case files back home with me. With any luck I’ll be back by mid-afternoon.’

      ‘I might take a string out of your bow and pop into the office too,’ Emma said, trying to sound nonchalant.

      To Emma’s surprise, Meg smiled. ‘If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’ve already made plans to go in.’

      ‘Who told you?’ demanded Emma with a raised eyebrow.

      ‘Gina,’ they both said in unison.

      ‘She mentioned it when she phoned last night,’ Meg confessed. ‘I’m surprised you’re telling me now and not after the fact.’

      ‘As if I’d do that,’ Emma said. ‘It’s not as if you might try to put me off.’

      Meg bit her tongue but clearly not hard enough. ‘It is just a visit, isn’t it? Please don’t let Alex persuade you to get involved in one of his projects.’

      ‘Is it my fault if I’m so indispensable?’

      ‘I’d better go,’ Meg said, sidestepping the argument. ‘I’ve printed out the list of your meds, what you need to take and when, and your pill boxes are all filled for the day. Don’t forget to take them with you when you go.’

      ‘You didn’t have to do that,’ scolded Emma.

      ‘One less thing for you to do.’

      It was Emma’s turn to bite her tongue. She wasn’t looking for fewer things to do. An image of a tree being stripped of its leaves by autumn winds came to mind as she thought of her life being slowly deconstructed, leaf by leaf.

      ‘Is anyone going to pick you up or do you need a lift?’ Meg continued.

      Emma wasn’t allowed to drive and Alex had an early morning appointment so couldn’t help although he had promised to meet her at the office later. Ally had offered to pick her up but Emma was intent on getting to Bannister’s under her own steam. It had been four days since her seizure and she was hoping that her anti-seizure drugs would continue to thwart her tumour’s best efforts to disrupt her life.

      ‘I can manage, Mum. Now go!’ Emma said, shooing her Mum out of the bedroom as she slipped out of bed and prepared to face the world. She glanced in the dressing-table mirror. As she traced a finger across her cheekbone, following the circle of grey beneath her eye, she realized that she would have to work hard on her own transformation and it was going to take an extra layer of concealer to prepare her mask for the day.

      Her epic journey had involved a bus ride where she could feel the contents of her head being jostled about every time they went over a pot hole, followed by a ten-minute walk. By the time it was over, she felt completely drained and frustrated by the failings of her body and her arrival at the office did little to buoy her spirits.

      Mr Bannister was away on business but she had expected that. They had had a lengthy telephone conversation, during which he had assured her that her job would be there waiting for her whenever she was ready to return. It was the reaction of her other colleagues that had surprised her. There had been plenty of ‘hello’s on her way to her office but her co-workers had looked distinctly uncomfortable and quickly made their apologies, insisting there were other places they should be. She could only assume that they thought her cancer was contagious. Alex was still out at a showroom with Jennifer so only Gina had been there to greet her and to give her the hug she desperately needed.

      Emma sat down behind her desk and let her fingers slide along its surface. It was only chipped MDF but it felt like home and she was glad that only Gina was there to share this moment. Gina was nearer to Louise’s age but that hadn’t stopped them quickly forming a close friendship when Emma joined Bannister’s and sharing a house with her and Ally had been the perfect arrangement.

      Despite Emma’s best efforts to make herself presentable that morning, she was pale in comparison to her friend’s glowing health. Gina was the girlie-girl who never left home without being perfectly made up and, even today, with her long chestnut-brown hair captured in a messy ponytail, she looked sweet and fresh and full of life. She sat patiently watching Emma, only allowing the breath she had been holding to escape when she saw a smile creep across Emma’s face.

      ‘Did I tell you Mr Bannister said that my job would be waiting for me whenever I wanted?’

      ‘And will you come back?’ Gina often came across as quite blunt, mainly because she had a habit of speaking before thinking, but it was a question that everyone was wondering about, Emma included.

      ‘I can’t imagine why anyone would want to come back to this insane asylum,’ remarked Ally, who had appeared at the door. For her sins, she worked in the office next door, which housed both the accounts and sale sections, a combination that made Ally’s remark entirely appropriate.

      Emma hesitated, not because she didn’t know what to say but because she knew it would be painful for her friends to hear. ‘Because when everything is being taken from you, you hang onto what you can,’ she said.

      ‘But you’re not coming back now, not today,’ Ally insisted. It wasn’t a question.

      Ally had always been the serious one. She was wearing dark clothes as usual to complement her deep brown, short-cropped hair. Her eyes were almost black and framed with dark-rimmed glasses. Emma and Gina had made numerous attempts to liven up her appearance but Ally’s only concession so far had been to put multi-coloured streaks in her hair. At the moment, she had bright red streaks, which matched her red lipstick.

      ‘You’re beginning to sound like my mum,’ Emma scolded. ‘I’m here for a visit, that’s all, just to say hello to people.’ She looked at Gina and said, ‘I can’t believe Dan hasn’t made an appearance yet.’

      Ally recognized and took the bait. ‘Oh, he’s been in already this morning.’

      ‘Only once?’ Emma asked. ‘If Mr Bannister hadn’t been so quick to bring Jennifer into the office, it would have been Dan taking up residence at my desk, I bet. I suppose he’s still in here every chance he gets, things can’t have changed that much. It’s a wonder he ever has time to fit kitchens.’

      Neither Ally nor Emma was looking at Gina and ignored her vain attempts to interject. ‘Maybe I need to look into this, see how many jobs Gina has been signing off for him instead of genuine customers,’ Ally said.

      ‘You might be onto something there.’

      Ally shook her head sadly. ‘As an accountant I have a duty to look into these things.’

      Gina banged a stapler down onto her desk to get their attention. ‘Firstly, Ally, you’re not an accountant and, secondly, Dan had a genuine reason for visiting this morning. He has some good ideas about changing the rotas to make things run more efficiently. A proper accountant would see that as time well spent.’

      ‘Firstly,’ responded Ally curtly, ‘I’m a trainee accountant, which is practically the same thing and, secondly, just admit it that you’re encouraging him. You wouldn’t be coming into work dressed up like a Barbie doll if you weren’t.’

      ‘Jealous?’ challenged Gina.

      ‘No,’ snorted Ally. ‘There are no men in my life because that’s my choice.’

      ‘Liar! You wish Emma was still in hospital so you could go and flirt with her nurse.’

      Ally drew a sharp breath. ‘I would give anything for Emma never to have been in there in the first place.’