Gran reappears, furtive and anxious. “Darling. Please calm down.”
“Gran!” Relief leaves my insides quivering. What I’d give to be able to hug her right now. “Where did you go? What happened?”
Gran says nothing but I feel her love like a blanket. Somehow, without moving any closer, she warms me and calms me and gives me strength. My breathing slows, my pulse settles, the nausea retreats, and the beeps regulate, eventually stopping altogether. Nurses work with Faith-in-the-bed, checking her vitals, making sure she’s comfortable, talking in low voices as they fiddle with wires and drips, monitor and ventilator.
We stand—float—whatever—side by side, watching it all. Gran doesn’t speak. That seems to be her fall-back position.
Finally, when the last nurse has left, I eyeball Gran until she gives up studying her fingernails and meets my gaze.
“Gran. Please. Just give it to me straight. What’s going on?”
She sighs. “Darling, I’m not allowed to meddle. In fact—” she casts a furtive glance over her shoulder, lowers her voice “—I’m not even meant to be here.”
“Why not?”
“It’s against the rules.”
Rules? Gran never gave two hoots for rules.
“Everything changes once you’re dead, Faith,” she says, and I have the spookiest feeling she’s just read my mind. I watch her through narrowed eyes. She returns my gaze impassively.
“Well . . . thanks for being here, I suppose.” I try to smile, but my face feels like it’s forgotten how. “Why are you here?”
“Because you need me. And if I have to leave, darling, I promise I’ll be back when the coast is clear.”
I have a sudden image of Rock Chick Gran diving into a darkened doorway, gun in hand, Catwoman jumpsuit clinging to her octogenarian figure.
Focus, Faith. Think.
“I fell, didn’t I? It’s something to do with that.”
She doesn’t reply, but her eyes don’t stray from mine.
“Something happened, and you want me to remember, and you’re not supposed to be here but you are anyway, so it must be important.”
Still she says nothing, but her gaze is so intense I know I’m right.
“You’re not going to get in trouble for this, are you?” I ask, with no idea why a dead person would ever be in trouble.
Gran shrugs. “Probably. But that’s my problem, not yours.”
How can she say that? She might get arrested, assuming that can happen in Heaven. What if she disappears and never comes back? I’ll be stuck here on my own, forever—which could be a very long time—and that would definitely be my problem. Or . . . my stomach drops. Maybe they’ll kick her out. Send her to Hell.
I shoot her a bug-eyed look and open my mouth to speak, but she speaks first.
“I mean it,” she says, with that same warring look she used to get whenever she spoke about the IRD. “Don’t worry about me. You have enough on your plate.”
She pauses as a nurse returns to check on Faith-in-the-bed. Saline bag replaced and medication updated, the nurse takes the medical chart from the pouch at the end of the bed and starts writing.
“See?” says Gran. “Worry about yourself, darling.”
Then she cocks her head to one side and I hear it too. Footsteps in the corridor, and they’ve stopped outside my room.
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About Maggie Le Page
Maggie lives in Christchurch, New Zealand with her partner of fifteen years and their two young children.
By day Maggie juggles motherhood and two part-time jobs (accounts and adult education). By night she turns feral until everyone leaves her in peace to write—usually around midnight. She is ably assisted by her ultra-fluffy, ultra-whiny cat who is very quick to ‘assume the position’ (wedged between Maggie’s lap and keyboard, tail draped over the keys) as soon as she sits at the computer.
When she isn’t writing or playing taxi to the kids, Maggie is crazy excited about the prospect of hanging out in her favourite café with laptop and coffee. Excited because it’s a rare treat. Crazy because she adores sitting alone, people-watching, catching snippets of conversation, and extrapolating wildly to invent new characters. She likes to daydream.
Maggie loves travel, reading, and lazy hazy beach days, preferably presented to her as an island holiday combo. (See? She loves to daydream.)
She regards an undisturbed night’s sleep as a luxury, a quake-free week as a novelty, and an evening with great friends, great food and great wine as one of life’s greatest pleasures.
For more information about Maggie Le Page:
Visit her website
http://www.maggielepage.com
or
Find her on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/maggielepage
Acknowledgements
Writing a novel sounded like a nice diversion when I first embarked on it; a fun thing to do in my spare time.
Spare time? Ha!
I thought I knew what it involved. Ha!
Now, though, I do know what it involves. I also know that without the help of a whole bunch of people, this novel would not be what it is today—and nor would I.
Firstly, my family. You’ve been an incredible support in this crazy journey of mine. I only hope I can do the same for each of you in your own life journeys. My heart is full to bursting with love for you all.
My critique partners, Bronwen Evans and Gracie O’Neil. Thank you, girls, for everything. Your friendship, talent, feedback, advice, inspiration . . . everything. You’re both a special part of my life, and you always take my writing to the next level.
My cyber-home: the BI50D loop. We may live in different islands—countries, even!—but you’re always there for me. Without the camaraderie, drive, focus and expertise of our loop I’d be bereft. I love you all.
Catherine Robertson and Toni Kenyon. You really went the extra mile for me. Thank you. Your comments helped me gain distance and perspective when I needed it most.
Harriet Allan (Random House) for your detailed and honest feedback. It was exactly the butt-kick I needed and I hope we have the opportunity to work together in the future.
Eve Boyce (now sadly departed) and Sue Yorke. What an amazing mother-daughter team! I squirm when I think of that incredibly ‘green’ first draft you both critiqued. It was so very, very early in my writing career and you treated me with the kid gloves I needed. Without your input, I doubt I would have reached this point in my writing.
Ian Bieniowski (of Lothian Buses Plc), for brainstorming bus accidents with me and not assuming I was a complete nutter; also for the Edinburgh bus route specifics.
Jen, for the emergency room flavour. Suran, for the Brodrick Road setting. Janet, LaVerne, and Nicki for the cerebral palsy insights.
Jules, Mands, Nick, Rach, Sonja, Steph and Trish, for beta-reading Becky so willingly.
Finally: Carla Munro, Charitha Fernando, Heather Smyth, and Peter Walker; local writing buddies who became dear, dear friends. I’m sure you all ended up sick to the back teeth of Becky, but Becky thanks you! Those fortnightly slatings improved my writing, and this novel, immensely.
A Heat Of The Moment Thing
By Maggie Le Page
Kindle Edition
ISBN 978-0-473-23937-4
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Except as permitted under the US Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the author.
Copyright © 2013 by Karen Browning
Cover Art by Kellie Dennis at Book Cover By Design
www.bookcoverbydesign.co.uk
A Heat Of The Moment Thing is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents in this novel are either the product of the author’s imagi
nation or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, either living or dead, to events, businesses, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Letter to Readers
Excerpt from The Trouble With Dying
About Maggie Le Page
Acknowledgements
A Heat Of The Moment Thing
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Letter to Readers
Excerpt from The Trouble With Dying
About Maggie Le Page
Acknowledgements
A Heat Of The Moment Thing
A Heat of the Moment Thing Page 36