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Contents ( 47)
  1. OLIVE
  2. Emma Gannon
  3. Copyright
  4. Praise for Olive
  5. Prologue
  6. Part One
  7. 1
  8. 2
  9. 3
  10. 4
  11. 5
  12. 6
  13. 7
  14. 8
  15. 9
  16. 10
  17. 11
  18. Part Two
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. 19
  27. 20
  28. 21
  29. 22
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. 25
  33. 26
  34. 27
  35. Part Three
  36. 28
  37. 29
  38. 30
  39. 31
  40. 32
  41. 33
  42. 34
  43. 35
  44. Epilogue
  45. Acknowledgements
  46. About the Author
  47. About the Publisher

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Dear Cyril,

Noticed your ad in a magazine and would love to book a chemistry session. What is your next availability? I am struggling with some negative thoughts to do with my future and would love to get your opinion.

Best,

Olive x

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Hi Olive. You’ve come to the right place. Can you do next Wednesday at 8.00 a.m?

Please note there is a no cancellation or refund policy and you will need to pay for the consultation up front, as soon as possible. Thanks.

Money money money. I suppose women’s fertility (like everything in life) is still a business, isn’t it?

I pick up my phone to WhatsApp the group but put my phone back down again. I stare at its screen, hoping to see a notification. I want someone to offer an olive branch. Someone to check in. I know I’m being stubborn but I can’t help it. As much as I try and ignore it, I feel so bad about how I’ve treated Cec, especially in her vulnerable just-had-a-baby state. We’ve had fights before. We’ve not spoken and then made up before. But for some reason, this feels different. A bigger fish. It’s rattling me.

‘People my age be on baby no. 3, and I’m still on “Mambo no. 5”.’

Instagram meme

21

2010

Jacob and I first met when we were working in a bookshop on Broadway Market. Funnily enough called Broadway Bookshop. We both had low-paid junior roles at big companies during the week (him at a film editing agency, me as an intern at an online magazine), so we both needed the extra cash from the weekend job too. I guess that’s how we first bonded. Both knackered, young and broke. You get to know someone very quickly when you work with them in a tiny bookshop (or: you end up wanting to murder each other). And soon, with us, I began to question whether I just saw him as a friend, my bookshop pal – or something more.

The bookshop had a small coffee shop attached to the back, which I loved. I would have about four coffees a day and, although it was probably bad for my health, it made me very productive. During the summer, Jacob and I would put some of the sale-items or second-hand books on display on the shelves outside on the street and sit on little chairs drinking our iced lattes in the sunshine. It was a really great place to work, plus being around books all day seemed to have a good effect on my soul.

‘Did you know six minutes of reading can help reduce stress levels by up to sixty per cent?’ Jacob said, reading this information from a small book propped up on the till. ‘That’s sixty-eight per cent better than listening to music, one hundred per cent better than drinking tea, and three hundred per cent better than going for a walk.’

‘Did not know that,’ I said.