Page 225 - The Midnight Library

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She received whale photos from Izzy, and WhatsApped her to say that she

had heard about a horrid car crash in Australia recently, and made Izzy
promise she would always drive safely.
Nora was comforted to know she had no inclination whatsoever to see
what Dan was doing with his life. Instead, she felt ver y grateful to be with

Ash. Or rather, and more precisely : she imagined she was grateful, because
he was lovely, and there were so many moments of joy and laughter and
love.
Ash did long shis but was easy to be around when he was in, even aer

days of blood and stress and gall bladders. He was also a bit of a nerd. He
always said ‘good morning’ to elderly people in the street when walking the
dog and sometimes they ignored him. He sang along to the car radio. He
generally didn’t seem to need sleep. And was always fine doing the Molly

night shi even when he was in surger y the next day.
He loved to gross Molly out with facts – a stomach gets a new lining ever y
four days! Ear wax is a type of sweat! You have creatures called mites living
in your eyelashes! – and loved to be inappropriate. He (at the duck pond, the

first Saturday, within Molly’s earshot) enthusiastically told a random
stranger that male ducks have penises shaped like corkscrews.
On nights when he was home early enough to cook, he made a great lentil
dal and a pretty good penne arrabbiata, and tended to put a whole bulb of

garlic in ever y meal he created. But Molly had been absolutely right: his
artistic talents didn’t extend to musical ability. In fact, when he sang ‘ e
Sound of Silence’, accompanied by his guitar, she found herself guiltily
wishing he would take the title literally.

He was, in other words, a bit of a dork – a dork who saved lives on a daily
basis, but still a dork. Which was good. Nora liked dorks, and she felt one
herself, and it helped make her get over the fundamental peculiarity of being
with a husband you were only just getting to know.

is is a good life, Nora would think to herself, over and over again.
Yes, being a parent was exhausting, but Molly was easy to love, at least in
daylight hours. In fact, Nora oen preferred it when Molly was home from
school because it added a bit of challenge to what was other wise a rather

frictionless existence. No relationship stress, no work stress, no money
stress.
It was a lot to be grateful for.