Excerpt from The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes by Anna McPartlin, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

'What are you thinking about?' Rabbit asked.

'What I'll make for your daddy's tea.' Molly settled on the recliner.

'Just bring home a curry,' Rabbit suggested.

'He's getting a belly,' Molly said.

'Jaysus, Ma, he's seventy-seven! Give him a break!'

'I suppose I could give him a chicken curry with egg fried rice, and make him do four laps of the green afterwards.'

'Or you could just let him be.'

'Right, we'll settle on two laps.'

As she spoke, a dark-haired nurse, with a suspect tan and a nice neat bun, entered the room carrying a chart. 'Hiya, Rabbit, I'm Michelle. I just wanted to see if you were settling in and if we could go through your meds, once and once only. Then I promise I'll leave you to it.'

'No problem.'

'Great. So far so good?' she asked.

'Well, I'm still alive so that's a bonus.'

'People usually make it past the door,' Michelle said, and grinned.

'I like her,' Rabbit said to her ma.

'She's got a bit of shite to her, all right,' Molly said.

'And I take it having a bit of shite is a good thing?' Michelle asked.

'In our house it is,' Rabbit said.

'As the fuddy-duddy aristocrat said to his Jewish tailor, "Good-oh."' Michelle sat on the sofa. Rabbit and her mother caught each other's eye and smiled. Clearly a nutter.

'Any questions?'

'No.'

'Sure?'

'Yeah.'

'Well, I'll be here if you need me. Can we talk meds?'

'I'm on a Fentanyl patch, OxyNorm liquid, Lyrica and Valium.'

'Any laxatives?'

'Oh, yes! How could I forget?'

Michelle nodded towards Rabbit's leg. 'How's the wound post-surgery?'

'Fine. No sign of infection.'

'Good. So, the fracture was your first sign it had spread to the bones?'

'They were monitoring high calcium levels the week before.'

'How's your pain level now?'

'It's fine.'

'Keep me posted.'

'Will do.'

Michelle looked at her watch. 'Hungry?'

'No.'

'Well, we've got bacon and spuds on the menu in an hour.'

'Sounds repulsive.'

'Bite your tongue. We've got the best chefs this side of the Liffey here,' Michelle said, with mock disgust, then smiled. 'You need anything – a back rub, a foot massage, a manicure, physio for that leg of yours – ring your bell.'

'Thanks.'

'You're welcome.' She opened a window and left Molly to attend to her daughter's bedclothes.

When Molly had finished, she went back to the recliner, sat down and watched as Rabbit's eyes flitted between open and closed. 'Davey's on his way home, love. He'll drop in later if you're well enough,' she said.

'That's nice.' Rabbit was asleep almost before the words were out of her mouth.

Excerpted from The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes by Anna McPartlin. Copyright © 2015 by Anna McPartlin. Excerpted by permission of St. Martin's Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.