Free-Falling by Nicola Moriarty Page A

while Stacey reassured her when she could.
    â€˜I ca— can’t do this on my own.’
    â€˜You’re not going to be alone. You’ll have me, and your family will come and visit too.’
    â€˜I’ve been drinking all the time! What if I’ve hurt the baby?’
    â€˜Plenty of people drink early on when they don’t realise they’re pregnant. Your baby will turn out fine.’
    â€˜How could he leave me like this?’
    â€˜He didn’t want to leave you. If he could have, he would have done anything to be by your side for this.’
    â€˜I didn’t mean what I said before, about us not being meant for each other. We weren’t that bad together. Were we?’
    â€˜No, honey, you two were great together.’
    Belinda managed a half-laugh into Stacey’s shoulder. ‘Now I know you’re lying. You never approved of Andy.’
    â€˜Yes, well, the guy spent his days playing computer games. What kind of career is that?’
    â€˜Stacey! He designed games. He was brilliant at it.’
    â€˜Okay, okay, can you just work with me here? I’m trying to play the supportive, comforting friend!’
    Belinda sat up and wiped at her sticky, tear-stained face. ‘And you’re doing a great job, Stace. So I guess it’s about time I went to see a doctor then. Will you come with?’

Chapter 6
    Evelyn
    â€˜You’re certain you want to do this?’
    â€˜Yes, of course, why else would I be here?’
    â€˜It’s just that you’re not exactly in the ahh . . . demographic of our normal clientele.’
    Evelyn rolled her eyes, irritated by the young man’s bluntness. ‘Look, buddy-boy, there’s no age limit on this and I’m perfectly fit and healthy. They didn’t hire you for your brilliant personnel skills, did they?’
    â€˜No, ma’am, they hired me ’cause I’m one hell of an adrenalin junkie.’ He smoothed back his dreadlocks and grinned at her proudly, clearly unaware of the dig she’d just made at him.
    â€˜Look, just get me signed up. I’d like to start the training right away. When will I be able to do the first one?’
    â€˜All right, it’s your call. Let me just take a look at the bookings . . . Right, give us forty-eight hours and we can have you strapped onto one of my good colleagues here.’
    â€˜Great, and then when can I do it solo?’
    â€˜Wouldn’t you like to see how the first one goes and then decide if you want to go through with one on your own? It’s a big process you know. You’ll have to sign up to get your skydiving licence, and it’ll cost you a lot of dough.’ His gently condescending tone was infuriating.
    Evelyn took in a slow breath to help with her frustration and spoke carefully. ‘Chad, is it? All right, Chad, how about you stop mollycoddling me and just accept that I’m actually looking to take this up as a regular sport and to hell with the money. So I’m going to be hanging around here quite a bit in the near future. Let’s just say I need an “outlet”, okay? Now run along and get things moving for me. I want to get started straight away.’
    Chad didn’t seem to be the least bit offended by the way she was patronising him. In fact he was looking quite impressed, although she did get the feeling that she may have lost him on the word ‘mollycoddling’.
    â€˜All right – the old lady wants to boogie, we’ll let her boogie! Fill in these forms and then we’ll get you introduced to your jump master. I reckon Bazza’ll be perfect for you.’ He handed over the paperwork and disappeared out the back, no doubt to tell ‘Bazza’ about the crazy old lady who wanted to take up a sport usually reserved for kids her sons’ age.
    It was all James’s fault that she was here. That very morning he had announced that he was going to go