He allowed his heart to leap just the tiniest amount before quickly analysing the clues.
Across
1. Organ of the body you use for sight (3)
2. Abbreviation used to describe a time in the morning (2)
3. Present, current state (5)
4. Disastrous, awful (8)
Down
1. First letter of the alphabet (1)
2. Square root of 16 (4)
3. Common name for Homo sapiens (5)
4. Apology (5)
The more clues he answered, the harder his heart started to beat. When he finished, he looked at the words and couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Rearranging them a little, the sentence was revealed to him:
Eye Am Sorry Four Being A Terrible Human.
51
Alice
She knew it had worked when she heard his laugh burst through the silence. She couldn’t stop the smile curling the corners of her mouth with relief.
‘I am so sorry.’
‘It’s OK.’
She took a deep breath. Now was the time to tell him; it had to be now. ‘I meant what I said about being a better person. They’ve scheduled my operation for the end of next week. It’s actually happening, Alfie.’
Silence.
Not quite the reaction she was expecting.
‘Alfie? I thought you’d be pleased for me.’
‘I’m sorry, I am, it’s been a long day. In fact, it’s been a long few days. I guess I’m just tired.’
‘You don’t exactly sound thrilled about the idea.’
‘Well, I think it’s a big thing to put yourself through. I’m not trying to be negative. I just want you to really know what you’re getting yourself into with this.’
‘Of course I understand what I’m getting myself into,’ she snapped.
‘Do you? You seem to have made the decision pretty quickly. I guess … I guess I don’t understand why you’d voluntarily open yourself up to those risks again.’
‘No, Alfie, it’s you who doesn’t seem to understand, and you know what? I guess you wouldn’t unless you knew what I was stuck with.’ Her voice was razor sharp. Why didn’t heget it?
‘OK.’
‘OK?That’s all you’re going to say?’ Her voice was getting louder but she didn’t care. He was being an arsehole about this whole thing, and she needed him to realize how unfair he was being.
