Page 208 - The Midnight Library

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‘I think I know,’ she said. ‘It was right there in front of me, the night before

I tried to kill myself.’
‘Yesterday evening, you mean?’
‘I suppose. Yes. Ash. e surgeon. e one who found Volts. Who once
asked me out for coffee. Years ago. When I was with Dan. I’d said no, well,

because I was with Dan. But what if I hadn’t been? What if I had broken up
with Dan and gone on that coffee date and had dared, on a Saturday, with all
the shop watching, to say yes to a coffee? Because there must be a life in
which I was single in that moment and where I said what I wanted to say.

Where I said, ‘‘Yes, I would like to go for a coffee sometime, Ash, that would
be lovely.’’ Where I picked Ash. I’d like to have a go at that life. Where would
that have taken me?’
And in the dark she heard the familiar sound of the shelves beginning to

move, slowly, with a creak, then faster, smoother, until Mrs Elm spotted the
book, the life, in question.
‘Right there.’