He shuffles by me grumpily, ignoring me. He grips the rail and slowly descends into the water. He steals a glimpse at me to see if I’m looking. I look away, wanting this to happen straight away. He lowers his goggles over his eyes, grips the metal bars of the ladder and goes under.
I walk over to the ladder, reach into the water and pull him up.
‘You’re okay,’ I say to him, lifting him out of the water, helping him up the ladder and sitting him on the edge of the pool. ‘Here,’ I hand him a cup of water which he downs, with trembling hands, his eyes red, his body shaking. He sits for a while, staring into space, in silence, me beside him, arm around him rubbing his back, while he calms. He’s not used to me sitting with him after. I gave up on that some time last year when I could tell it wasn’t going to stop him. All I had to do was save him and take my seat again. He gives me a sidelong look, checking me out suspiciously. I continue rubbing his back, comfortingly, feeling skin and bone, and a beating heart.
‘You left early on Friday,’ he says suddenly.
‘Yes,’ I say gently, touched that he noticed. ‘I did.’
‘Thought you mightn’t be coming back.’
‘What? And miss all this?’
He bites the inside of his mouth to stop himself from smiling. He hands the cup back to me, gets back into the pool and he swims a length.
Acknowledgements
I’d like to thank all the people who shared their marble memories with me: in all of my twelve novels, I don’t think I’ve ever received quite the reaction when I’ve shared the topic I’m writing about. Personal stories just tumbled out of people, and whether those stories were big or small, each of them reinforced my belief that marble memories go hand in hand with key moments in adolescence. All of these shared memories encouraged me along the way.
Thank you Killian Schurman, glass artist and sculptor, who spent many hours showing me the process of marble making. Anything incorrect in the marble making scene is entirely my doing. Thanks Orla de Brí for connecting us and for inspiring me through your own work. Thank you to Lundberg Studios for sharing your expertise, and inspiring ‘Marlow’s’ universe marble. Two books in particular were constantly in use; Marbles Identification and Price Guide by Robert Block, and Collecting Marbles; A Beginners Guide by Richard Maxwell. Thanks to Dylan Bradshaw for answering my odd questions about the silent hairdryer that I’m sorry never made it to the final edit!
As ever, all my love to David, Robin and Sonny. Mimmie, Dad, Georgina, Nicky and the gang. Fairy godmother Sarah Kelly, Marianne Gunn O’Connor, Vicki Satlow and Pat Lynch.
Thank you Lynne Drew and Martha Ashby for the epic edit. The ever joyful Louise Swannell, Kate Elton, Charlie Redmayne and all of the HarperCollins team and Kate Bowe and Sarah Dee from Kate Bowe PR in Ireland. Thanks to the booksellers, big and small, independent and chain, physical and electronic. And most important of all, thank you readers.
About the Author
Cecelia Ahern was born and grew up in Dublin. She is now published in nearly fifty countries, and has sold over twenty-four million copies of her novels worldwide. Two of her books have been adapted as films and she has created several TV series. She and her books have won numerous awards, including the Irish Book Award for Popular Fiction for The Year I Met You.
For more information on Cecelia, her writing, books and events, follow her on Twitter @Cecelia_Ahern, join her on Facebook www.facebook.com/CeceliaAhernofficial and visit her website www.cecelia-ahern.com, where she would love to hear from you.
