Authors: Cecelia Ahern

How to Fall in Love (36 page)

BOOK: How to Fall in Love

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I blew the party blower and he looked up in surprise. His face broke into a smile and he laughed as I waved the banner in his face, attracting smiles from the crowd.

‘You did it!’ I shouted. ‘You made it all the way into town!’

He grinned, embarrassed but proud.

‘How do you feel?’

‘Like
… I’m
alive
!’ he punched the air with his fist, as if he was going to burst.

‘Good!’ I laughed. ‘And you remember this feeling Oscar, whenever you have a down day or a wobbly moment, remember how good it is to
feel alive.
Okay?’

He nodded enthusiastically, ‘Absolutely, absolutely, I won’t ever forget this.’

‘Call Gemma and make an appointment for Tuesday. We’ll work on you getting a job, now that you can travel into the city.’

‘Gemma’s back? I like Gemma. But you know I always prefer Mondays. It helps me begin my week,’ he said, concerned.

Gemma had agreed to come back after I’d posted her a
How to Tell Someone You’ve Changed Your Mind Without Appearing a Flip-Flopper.
The following day on my desk was
How to Deal with a Difficult Boss
and she was back at work the next morning. We had never discussed the incident.

‘I’ll be in Tipperary on Monday,’ I said happily, looking forward to my next trip. I had given up on my quest to find my happy place after realising the book was a load of rubbish that succeeded only in making me feel worse about myself because I couldn’t possibly live up to what it preached. I had brought it to read while sitting at the boathouse in Tipperary one day while Adam was at the office and it had frustrated me so much that I’d tossed it into the lake. Ironically, whenever I think of how I felt in that moment, it brings a smile to my face and an enormous feeling of freedom, a feeling I can summon up on demand.

On our way to get something to eat before Oscar went to catch the bus home again, my phone rang. It was Detective Maguire. I stopped walking, Oscar continued until he realised I was gone.

‘Hey, what’s wrong?’ he called back to me.

I stared at the ringing phone, realising for the first time that I would probably always feel this way about Adam for the foreseeable future, unsure of what his future held, always wondering if he was okay when I wasn’t with him. I finally answered it, afraid of what I’d hear but more afraid of ignoring it.

‘I’m calling on behalf of Caroline,’ he barked. ‘It’s her sixteenth birthday next week. We’re having a party on Friday. You’d swear she was going to the bloody Oscars the way she’s going on. Anyway, she wanted you to come.’ He cleared his throat and lessened the aggression in his tone. ‘And I want you to come too.’

‘Thank you, Aidan. I’ll be there.’

Before he hung up he added, ‘Oh, and bring that man from the bridge too, if you want. If, you know, he’s in a good place at the moment.’

Yes, in this moment he was. Life is a series of moments and moments are always changing, just like thoughts, negative and positive. And though it may be human nature to dwell, like many natural things it’s senseless, senseless to allow a single thought to inhabit a mind because thoughts are like guests or fair-weather friends. As soon as they arrive, they can leave, and even the ones that take a long time to emerge fully can disappear in an instant. Moments are precious; sometimes they linger and other times they’re fleeting, and yet so much could be done in them; you could change a mind, you could save a life and you could even fall in love.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my editor Lynne Drew.
How to Fall in Love
is our tenth novel together: I can’t quite believe it and I owe so much of my books’ successes to you. Thank you for your understanding, patience, support, guidance and genuine excitement about what we’re doing and what’s to come. I appreciate the freedom given to me to create, and the brainstorming huddle when I need it too. Here’s to another ten books! Thank you Thalia Suzuma for such calm and clever insight and for helping me shape the stories. I know, I know, I rush to the ending, always have and always will …

Thank you Louise Swannell, Martha Ashby, Elizabeth Dawson, Lucy Upton and Moira Reilly who I have almost daily dealings with, who are nothing less than amazing and make the not-writing-part-of-the-job so much easier and enjoyable.

I’d also like to say a special thank you to Victoria Barnsley, a woman with vision, who will be grea
tly missed at HarperCollins. Thank you for your wisdom, for your love of books, for your energy in keeping things different and fresh and for your support and belief in me. I wish you the best in the future.

Thank you family and friends for your support and for pretending to be interested when I excitedly announce that I have just thought of a new idea, and for listening to the new ideas, and for never asking what happened to the ideas that aren’t realised in books, television or in films, but instead in my head and in notebooks which is equally as enjoyable for me. Thank you for knowing that all that stuff is important to me and for quickly forgetting it and then moving on to talk about proper life things. Thank you all for understanding me. Or pretending to.

Enormous thanks to Marianne Gunn O’Connor who bears the brunt of my constant ideas, emails, phone calls, stories, my ‘what ifs’ and my ‘imagine ifs’ and who helps turns my ideas into reality. Some people want things to happen, some people wish for things to happen, some people make things happen. You are one of those people who make it happen. Here’s to ten more …

Thank you Vicki Satlow for the creative support, for always pushing the boundaries and helping me reach out to more readers across the world. Thanks to Pat Lynch, Mary Lavan and Anita Kissane. Thanks to Liam Murphy for holding parts of my brain together which don’t usually go together.

With the subject matter being what it is, even more pressure was on to get it right and so I thank Allison Keating, at bWell Clinic, for your time and feedback on Christine and Adam’s story which ultimately forced me to remould it to become a better story. Thanks to Maureen Black and Co. Solicitors for your help on the legal stuff of which I clearly don’t have the brain for. To Fr. Michael McCullagh for the Rite of Commital. I took the information given from everybody who was so kind to advise me and then made it my own so if there are any mistakes in this novel, then they are entirely mine. I drew from
How I Stayed Alive When My Brain Was Trying to Kill Me: One Person’s Guide to Suicide Prevention
by Susan Rose Blauner in order to understand my characters’ journeys.

Thank you David, Robin and Sonny, my crazy little family who are my escapes from my escape world …

About the Author

Cecelia Ahern is an international bestseller. She was catapulted into the spotlight with her hit debut novel,
P.S. I Love You
, which was adapted into a major movie.

Her subsequent novels have captured the hearts of readers in 46 countries – her themes strike a chord with people in every continent, with over 15 million copies of her books sold.

As well as writing novels, Cecelia has also created several TV series including the hit comedy,
Samantha Who?
, in the USA. The movie of her second novel,
Love, Rosie
(published as
Where Rainbows End
) is due to be released worldwide in 2014, staring Lily Collins and Sam Claflin.

For more information on Cecelia, her writing, books and events, follow her on Twitter
@Cecelia_Ahern
, join her on
Facebook.com/CeceliaAhernofficial
and visit her website
www.cecelia-ahern.com
.

Also by the Author

P.S. I Love You

Where Rainbows End

If You Could See Me Now

A Place Called Here

Thanks for the Memories

The Gift

The Book of Tomorrow

The Time of My Life

One Hundred Names

Short Stories

The Girl in the Mirror

Kitty Logan has lost her way …

As a journalist, she’s spent the past few years chasing the big scoops – no matter the consequences. When she makes a terrible mistake, she finds herself mired in scandal, her career implodes and even her personal relationships are tested to the limits.

At a loss, Kitty finds distraction in a list of one hundred names her late mentor and boss has left her. Kitty’s been given one final chance, the most important assignment of her life – to write the story behind the one hundred names as a tribute piece to Constance. As she tracks down the people on the list and tries to work out what connects them, Kitty meets some extraordinary people.

Can these strangers’ stories help her finally understand her own?

Click here to buy now
9780007510917

If you adored HOW TO FALL IN LOVE, why not try two of Cecelia’s most romantic novels in a special ebook collection, P.S. I LOVE YOU and WHERE RAINBOWS END

Click here to buy now
9780007518470

If you adored the film,
P.S. I Love You
, starring Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler, look out for the new adaptation of
Where Rainbows End
, released as
Love, Rosie
.

Starring Lily Collins (
The Mortal Instruments
,
Mirror Mirror
,
The Blind Side
) and Sam Claflin (
Pirates of the Caribbean
,
Snow White and the Huntsman
,
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
),
Love, Rosie
is a story of true love, friendship and luck – and where fate can lead you.