They pulled up by the little quiet row of houses just beside the town square.
“Are you ready?” Lissa said, Cormac helping her down.
Word had gotten around in Kirrinfief, as it so often did, and there was quite the crowd who happened to be passing.
Lissa rang the bell, and Mr. Coudrie opened the door, more people spilling out on either side.
The house’s inhabitants and Mrs. Mitchell stood, staring at each other curiously, respectfully.
“I . . . I don’t know what to say,” said Gregor finally.
“I understand,” said Mrs. Mitchell without smiling.
He was about to invite her in when, suddenly, there was a whirl of noise and movement, and Islay burst out of the house onto the pavement. She was wearing a new dress, bought in honor of the occasion, and had a ribbon in her hair and was delighted there were so many people about, and in the mood to show off. Her parents still couldn’t get used to the fact that she could work off her natural energy without them being terrified.
She stopped when she saw Mrs. Mitchell, though, who had made a small sound.
“Do you want to come inside?” said Gregor.
More people were crowding around. Mrs. Mitchell didn’t even hear him. Lissa steadied her with her arm.
“This is . . . ?” she asked, in just above a whisper.
Lissa nodded.
“I’m Islay!” said Islay cheerfully.
Mrs. Mitchell looked at her for a long moment, tears rolling down her face. “Can I . . . ?” she said suddenly, looking at Islay’s parents.
“Do you mind, Islay?” said Gregor, realizing instantly what she was asking.
Islay, who had been well briefed by Cormac, opened her arms wide.
Mrs. Mitchell took one tottering step forward, then another. Then she quietly pressed her head against the little girl’s chest and held it there, Islay for once standing still, so she could hear her son’s heart beating, beating, beating.
The street turned silent, and when she straightened up again, tears in her eyes, Islay grinning her usual toothy grin, Islay’s mother walked up to her.
“I am your child’s mother now,” she said calmly. “And you are Islay’s. Your child is my child. And my child is yours.”
Mrs. Mitchell nodded. And together they disappeared into the house. And Cormac and Lissa squeezed their hands together, hard.
Acknowledgments
It is incredibly useful for a writer to have her two best friends from school be a doctor and a lawyer, and I unabashedly hit them up for free help on this book (although all errors or simple fiction smoothing—few cases come to court as quickly as they do here, alas—are of course mine). So huge thanks—and love, as always—to Karen Murphy, FRCS, and Alison Woodall, BA (Hons) Law.
Also thanks to Muriel Gray for plant help, Claire and Fredi Melo for helping me out with Albanian (faleminderit!), and Rona Monroe, my secret Plot Fairy Godmother.
Huge thanks to Jo Unwin, Maddie West, Lucy Malagoni, Milly Reilly, Donna Greaves, Joanna Kramer, Charlie King (NICE BABY YOU GOT THERE), David Shelley, Stephanie Melrose, Emma Williams, and all at Little, Brown; Deborah Schneider, Rachel Kahan, Jennifer Hart, Dan Mallory, Alexander Cochran, Jake Smith-Bosanquet, and Kate Burton.
About the Author
JENNY COLGAN is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous novels, including The Bookshop on the Corner, Christmas on the Island, and The Bookshop on the Shore. Jenny is married with three children and lives in Scotland.
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Also by Jenny Colgan
The Bookshop on the Shore
Christmas on the Island
The Endless Beach
Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery
The Bookshop on the Corner
Summer at Little Beach Street Bakery
The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris
Welcome to Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop of Dreams
Meet Me at the Cupcake Café
The Good, the Bad and the Dumped
Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend
Operation Sunshine
West End Girls
Where Have All the Boys Gone?
Do You Remember the First Time?
Working Wonders
Looking for Andrew McCarthy
My Very ’90s Romance
Amanda’s Wedding
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
500 MILES FROM YOU. Copyright © 2020 by Jenny Colgan. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Cover design and illustration by Nathan Burton
Illustrations courtesy of the author
Title page image © Aerial-motion / Shutterstock, Inc.
Originally published in the United Kingdom in 2020 by Sphere.
FIRST U.S. EDITION
Digital Edition JUNE 2020 ISBN: 978-0-06-291125-4
Version 04082020
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-291124-7 (paperback)
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-291142-1 (hardcover library edition)
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