Johnny Be Good

by Paige Toon

  ‘You need to go,’ I repeat, more forcefully. ‘Christian will be home soon.’

  He collapses back on my bed and looks up at me, sadly. ‘You’re not coming to LA, then?’

  I stare down at Johnny and shake my head, slowly. ‘I can’t. I can’t do that to him.’

  ‘What about me?’ he asks.

  ‘What about you? You’ll be okay,’ I tell him. ‘You always are.’

  He gets out of bed. ‘I’ll give you three months,’ he says, tugging his jeans on.

  ‘Three months?’ I look at him, perplexed.

  ‘That’s how long I’ll wait for you.’

  A lump forms in my throat and I bite back tears.

  ‘But no longer, Nutmeg. After that, I’m letting you go.’

  ‘Okay,’ I say. ‘Okay.’

  Epilogue

  I’m in the kitchen, staring out of the window at the garden. The leaves are just starting to turn. Christian is in the living room, working on his book. He’s listening to his iPod, lost in another world, another place.

  A song comes on the radio. It’s been at Number One for a month. I listen for a moment, right up until the point the brass band kicks in and Johnny’s voice soars into the chorus. Then I lean over and turn the radio off.

  I trace my fingertips across my tummy and whisper, ‘That’s Mummy’s song.’

  He can’t hear, yet. And I know in my heart it’s a ‘he’.

  I just don’t know who he’s going to look like.

  Acknowledgements

  First of all I really want to thank everyone who read my debut novel, Lucy In The Sky. I was blown away by the sheer number of people who went to the trouble of reading it–not least my husband’s amazing 91-year-old grandma–and your enthusiasm, encouragement and feedback have meant more to me than anything.

  Thank you to the brilliant Suzanne Baboneau, who is the loveliest editor I could ever wish for. I adore working with you. Thank you to Nigel Stoneman–you definitely are the best in the business, mate. And thank you to everyone else at Simon & Schuster for really getting behind me and my books. I sincerely appreciate all your hard work.

  Many thanks to Helen Brookes, Angela Mash, Miranda Ramsay and Lauren Libin (the quintessential Facebook nut) for their suggestions and help with various forms of research.

  Thank you to the mothers of (in order of appearance) Louie, Ash, Aidan, Zoe, Tahlia and Millie, for never failing to ask at our weekly catch-up sessions how the writing was going.

  And thank you–always–to Bridie Tonkin and Naomi Dean for their continued love and support.

  MASSIVE thanks to my brother Kerrin Schuppan, who came up with the title for Johnny as well as Lucy–I owe you big time. Now, bro, can you start thinking about the next one? It’s about…Oh, I’ll tell you later.

  Thank you to my parents, Vern & Jenny Schuppan, for going above and beyond in so many ways I would have to write another book if I were to list them all here. (But Mum, this time make people buy their own books, otherwise you’ll need to take out a second mortgage…)

  And thank you–so much–to my husband, Greg Toon, who has now read TWO chick-lit books for me and has been such an incredible sounding board for every part of this novel-writing lark. Thank you for the ideas, design input, constructive criticism and all your advice. You have always believed in me and I couldn’t have done it without you.

  But most of all, thank you to my son, Indy, for sleeping just enough hours in the day in his first few months of life to enable me to finish my book. Love you, little one.