The Secret Life of Beatrice Alright

Chapter 49

FORTY-NINE

ONE MONTH LATER

‘You’re going to love this place,’ Cora tells me as we get off the bus and walk down a narrow road of Weetabix-coloured apartments.

‘I hope so, those last two places were shocking.’

‘Ah, they weren’t that bad.’

‘There was a pee-stained mattress in the back garden of the last place?’ I say.

Cora laughs. ‘Yeah, but the mattress on the bed was fine.’

The estate agent meets us at the door and, as soon as he opens it and we step inside, Cora and I know we’re home.

The look on Shayne’s face when I told him I was moving out of Malcolm’s house hurt my heart. ‘I thought we were good together,’ he said, visibly wounded.

‘We’re great together,’ I said, kissing him quickly to reassure him. ‘But we’ve been dating for four weeks. It’s a little soon to be living together, don’t you think?’

I could have elaborated, but I didn’t need to. Shayne understood. He knows that Declan leaving ripped my life out from under me. He knows the position it put me in. And I cannot let that ever happen again. I need to stand on my own two feet. I need to know that if this amazing, wonderful, special thing with Shayne doesn’t work out, Ellie and I will be okay. Of course I hope it does. I hope Shayne and I are in this for the long haul; but if not, I need to be sure I won’t end up sleeping in a hospital closet ever again. Besides, Cora’s and my college years were cut short when I met Declan and moved in with him on a whim. A do-over is something we’re both excited about. But I’m not nearly as excited about it as I am about starting university in autumn. Trinity College were amazing and have agreed to let me pick up where I left off. In less than three years I will be a qualified doctor. Well, if I pass my exams of course. I’ve kept my job at the hospital in the meantime, and Elaine jokes that if college doesn’t work out she’ll save some bed pans for me to empty.

I never once refused to take Malcolm’s money. Malcolm was the most cantankerous, grumbling, pass remarkable, impatient, warm, kind, caring, wonderful friend. I will become a doctor because of him. What a gift. Shayne and Elaine were adamant I take the money also.

‘Grandad wanted you to have it,’ Shayne said. ‘It was important to him.’

‘You gave me my father back,’ Elaine said. ‘Nothing can ever repay that.’

‘And this is the kitchen,’ I hear the estate agent say, bringing me back to the here and now as he guides us around a large open-plan kitchen, with a floor-to-ceiling retractable window that leads into a small but green garden.

‘Ellie would love it out there,’ Cora says. ‘I’ve never met anyone who loves the outdoors quite as much as she does.’

‘I have,’ I whisper, conquering an image of sitting on the bench that warms my heart.

‘You need to get that kid to wear a hat, Bea,’ she says.

‘Oh, I think she’ll be just fine without one.’

Cora shrugs. Then we look at each other and nod. I shake the estate agent’s hand and say, ‘We’ll take it.’

Cora throws her arms round me so tight she’s almost crushing my windpipe. ‘Welcome home, Bea Alright!’

*

If Bea’s emotional journey warmed your heart, you’ll love Brooke’s Memories of You . When Tabby wakes up in hospital after a car crash and learns her fiancé Mark is dead, she knows her life will never be the same. But when she finds a beautiful bracelet in Mark’s belongings, she’s not prepared for how much her world will change again... A completely captivating Irish novel, get Memories of You here!

Get it here, or read on for an exclusive extract!