Crossing the Line (23 page)
Authors: Gillian Philip
âThat's not fair,' I began.
âYeah. Completely fair. What are you saying, everybody's on their own? If you really think that, Nick â and you don't â then look after yourself. Look after
yourself.
You're not a frigging superhero. You're not starring in your own movie. You couldn't have saved my brother, OK?' She rubbed her eyes with her fist. âYou couldn't look after bloody Aidan on top of everybody else, for God's sake!'
Running out of words, she blinked. I swallowed hard.
âIt wasn't your fault,' she said.
âIt wasn't yours.'
âYeah, but I know it.'
âMe too,' I said. âSeeing as you've explained it all so tenderly.'
âYou big stupid delusional tosser.' Orla took hold of my face. âI love you.'
So fireworks exploded, and the sky lit up, and the crowds applauded and whooped and stamped their feet.
And Orla Mahon kissed me.
I am hugely grateful to my terrific agent, Sarah Molloy, who believed so strongly in this book. I'm also indebted to Hilary Johnson, Julia Williams and Catherine MacPhail, for their enthusiasm and good advice.
Iain Hingston and Simon Liddiard were incredibly patient and generous with advice on court procedure and criminal law. My thanks go to them and also to Mags Neison and Ewen Riddick for medical advice; to Allan Wright, who gave me useful information about the cattle insemination business; to Dorothy Liddle, who helped with the facts of school life; to Michelle Wyllie for showing me the ropes at Aberdeen Sheriff Court; and to Andrew Evans for reading over the manuscript.
A huge thank you to Sarah Odedina at Bloomsbury, and to Isabel Ford and Helen Szirtes for patient and meticulous editing.
Writing is so much easier when you have writing buddies to encourage, give feedback, and make you laugh. Too many to name, but I owe special thanks, to Linda Gillard â she knows why â and to Maggie Craig, Elizabeth Garrett and Christine Richard.
MEET RILEY ROSE: ALL-ROUND REBEL
AND MISFIT-ON-A-MISSION
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Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Berlin, New York and Sydney
First published in Great Britain in April 2009 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
This electronic edition published in September 2011 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc,
49â51 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP
Copyright © Gillian Philip 2009
The moral right of the author has been asserted
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