A Year of Taking Chances: a gorgeously uplifting, feel-good read
Jennifer Bohnet
‘Utterly enjoyable from beginning to end!’ Being Unique BooksLife is about to change forever…When best friends, Tina and Jodie, make a drunken New Year’s Eve vow to change their lives before they hit the big 3 – 0, neither expected to end the year with much more than another hangover…Twelve months later, Jodie is married and living in Provence – and Tina is exactly where she was a year ago (although now her rent is double). Tina can’t help but feel a little bit left behind, but as Jodie reminds her, she’s not thirty yet, there’s still time to quit her job, start her own literary agency and sign the man of her dreams!Don’t miss the new gorgeously uplifting holiday romance from bestselling author Jennifer Bohnet.Praise for A Year of Taking Chances:‘A must-read!’ Anita Tarrant (NetGalley reviewer)‘There are no words to justify how beautiful this book is. I loved every minute!’ Karen Whittard (NetGalley reviewer)‘Utterly enjoyable from beginning to end!’ Being Unique Books‘Fabulous!’ Lianne James (NetGalley reviewer)‘Amazing…I couldn’t put it down.’ Nicola Clough (NetGalley reviewer)‘Well-written and engaging… made me laugh and cry!’ Harriet Salkeld (NetGalley reviewer)
Life is about to change forever…
When best friends Tina and Jodie make a drunken New Year’s Eve vow to change their lives before they hit the big three-oh, neither really expects to end the year with much more than another hangover…
Twelve months later, Jodie is married and living in Provence – and Tina is exactly where she was a year ago (although now her rent is double). Tina can’t help but feel a little bit left behind, but as Jodie reminds her, she’s not thirty yet, there’s still time to quit her job, start her own literary agency and sign the man of her dreams!
Don’t miss the new, gorgeously uplifting holiday romance from bestselling author Jennifer Bohnet.
JENNIFER BOHNET is originally from the West Country but now lives in the wilds of rural Brittany, France. She's still not sure how she ended up there! The saying ‘life is what happens while you're deciding what to do…’ is certainly true in her case. She's always written alongside having various jobs: playgroup leader, bookseller, landlady, restauranteur, farmer's wife, secretary – the list is endless but does provide a rich vein of inspiration for her stories.
For three years she wrote a newspaper column for the South Hams Group of Newspapers (Devon) where she took a wry look at family life. Since living in France it is her fiction that has taken off, with hundreds of short stories and several serials published internationally.
Allergic to housework and gardening, she rarely does either, but she does like cooking and entertaining and wandering around vide greniers (the French equivalent of flea markets) looking for a bargain or two. Her children currently live in fear of her turning into an ageing hippy and moving to Totnes, Devon.
To find out more about Jennifer, visit her website at jenniferbohnet.com (http://jenniferbohnet.com) or chat to her on Twitter at @jenniewriter (https://twitter.com/@jenniewriter).
Also byJennifer Bohnet (#ulink_20b15350-b2c6-5d47-a986-49c104ca1b3d)
Summer at Coastguard Cottages
Rosie’s Little Café on the Riviera
The Little Kiosk by the Sea
A French Pirouette
You Had Me at Bonjour
I’m Virtually Yours
A Year of Taking Chances
Jennifer Bohnet
ONE PLACE. MANY STORIES
Copyright (#ulink_797d2d24-fa13-5e61-b93c-21b0f0b2c2e2)
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2018
Copyright © Jennifer Bohnet 2018
Jennifer Bohnet asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable 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 hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
E-book Edition © April 2018 ISBN: 978-0-00-826272-3
This one is definitely for Richard, my husband, remembering all the chances we have taken together down the years – some that failed dismally, others that turned out to be spectacular! xxx
Contents
Cover (#u0d32837f-c778-5f1d-9b66-ee0f8c832768)
Blurb (#u9446100a-02a9-5402-92ae-113c977c8335)
Author Bio (#ufcaa5ce4-18e0-517d-bb80-9a750b22bf16)
Booklist (#ulink_04b099ef-26b8-5a59-827b-d416d900e592)
Title Page (#u3e2258cb-b8d3-5313-a4d8-8ee992a789af)
Copyright (#ulink_00b6ddcc-072e-5b6b-b3f1-16f088d68351)
Dedication (#u18824945-feec-5043-8d28-415c429a3420)
Prologue (#ulink_75ee5e76-05d8-5c2a-9c41-10a05a34c386)
Chapter One (#ulink_3f12934b-5f57-5b73-91e8-79d25639f468)
Chapter Two (#ulink_288978e0-32df-542f-8be6-f58264ac4f58)
Chapter Three (#ulink_34026b44-669a-578f-af37-002891c4ddcf)
Chapter Four (#ulink_b9554d64-11e5-5a2a-a463-d2c898746e0e)
Chapter Five (#ulink_4e4e643a-c2f8-5b01-940b-bde88d29c52c)
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Excerpt (#u6c9238bb-ee9a-58d4-b614-596aa0d156fe)
Endpages (#u9f5d07ad-6993-52f1-9d54-5f36f73a7d0d)
About the Publisher
Prologue (#ulink_fbbab8d5-b60e-5a2d-aea4-b06b69876da5)
New Year’s Eve
Fourteen Months Ago
‘I hate New Year’s Eve,’ Jodie Saville muttered to her friend Tina Matthews. ‘All the enforced jollity and bonhomie. Nobody believes a word of it. It’s just an excuse to drink too much.’
Tina nodded in agreement. ‘I do swish you a Happy New Year, though. And me of course.’ She gave an involuntary hic at the end of the sentence. ‘Going to have a headache tomorrow.’
The two of them were standing close together with a crowd of other people in their local park watching fireworks light the night sky.
Tina jumped and uttered a loud groan as an extra-loud bang vibrated the air around them. As the crowd uttered the obligatory ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ she said, ‘Fireworks are very pretty but do they have to be quite so noisy? That one hurt my head.’
‘We ought to make a New Year’s resolution,’ Jodie said, watching the scarlet shower turn into a spectacular burst of gold sparks. ‘Make this the year we change our lives for the better. That big three-oh is getting closer and closer for both of us.’
‘Chance would be a fine thing,’ Tina muttered. ‘Maybe we should do what that bloke on the telly did years ago – Noel somebody. He reckoned he ordered the Cosmos to change his life and it did.’
‘So, whatd’youhavetodo?’ Jodie said, slurring her words together.
‘Dunno really. Think you have to decide what you want and shout it out to space. Bit like positive thinking, only louder and more pre… hic… precise.’
‘Nah,’ Jodie said. ‘We can try but I can’t see it working. Tell you what, if nothing’s changed by the time we hit thirty we’ll jack everything in and… and join a nunnery.’
Tina, about to hurl the last of her Prosecco down her throat, almost choked. ‘You’ve got to be joking.’
‘OK,’ Jodie said. ‘How about promising ourselves if we’re still single at thirty, we’ll run away to deepest Wales and become madwomen who keep cats.’
‘Alpacas,’ Tina said. ‘I’ve always fancied living in the country and keeping alpacas. Much better than cats. And we can knit bobble hats with their wool.’
‘Whatever,’ Jodie said. ‘You hear that, Cosmos?’ She tilted her face up and stared at the star-filled sky. ‘You’ve got under two years to change our lives, otherwise we’re off to deepest Wales to live with alpacas,’ she shouted.
The loudest bang of the evening from the last firework drowned out her words.
Chapter One (#ulink_006ba296-a69d-55bd-a4a1-3c7c57415ccd)
February
This Year
Tina began the third Friday of February by oversleeping. Never good in the mornings, since Jodie had left and she was living on her own in the flat, mornings were reverting to being one mad rush to get to work on time. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy her job as a literary agent – she loved it and couldn’t imagine ever doing anything else. She just didn’t do mornings, never had done. She’d driven her mum to distraction and many a shouting match trying to get her to school on time.
She’d improved a lot as she got older and left home – it was a case of having to really. Employers could be less than understanding in Tina’s experience, even though she always tried to make up the time on the days she was late. Sharing a flat with Jodie, she’d been spoilt because Jodie had definitely been a morning person. She’d always got up when the alarm went off and had made it her mission in life to make sure Tina got up to. It had been all too easy relying on Jodie. After Jodie had left, Tina had given herself a strict talking to and even made a New Year’s resolution that this would be the year she embraced early mornings.
She’d bought two alarm clocks and set them – one for an hour and the other for half an hour earlier than the time she actually needed to be up. The first one she placed on the bedside table where she could easily stop the noise it made and snuggle down again, secure in the knowledge she didn’t have to get up just yet. The one set for half an hour later, she placed over by the door, knowing she’d need to get out of bed to stop the alarm. Once she was up to do that, she’d obviously stay up and use the extra time for a leisurely coffee. Late mornings would be no more. That had been the theory anyway, and in practice it had worked – most of the time.
But cold, dark February mornings were the pits and today the plan had failed spectacularly. This morning the extra thirty minutes had disappeared because, after switching the second alarm off, Tina had decided she was awake enough to lay on the bed planning her day. Instead she’d fallen back into a deep sleep, which meant she’d be lucky to get to the office before nine o’clock.
In fact, it was five minutes past when she slung her bag over the back of her chair and switched on her computer. Thank goodness the main office was empty still and there was no sign of Kirsty, her boss and senior agent. Tina breathed a sigh of relief. Time to catch her breath and…
‘Morning, Tina. I’m guessing you missed breakfast this morning. Can I get you a coffee?’ Leah, newest member of staff and a pain in the proverbial as far as Tina was concerned, stood in front of her, smiling a knowing smile. ‘I’m just off to fetch a couple for Kirsty and me.’
Tina shook her head. ‘No, thanks, Leah. I had a latte on the way.’
‘OK,’ and Leah walked away.
Tina watched her go. Saying she’d had a latte on the way was a downright lie but there was something about the way Leah had almost smirked about her missing breakfast that had got her back up. She’d kill for a coffee right now but no way was she going to admit that to Leah.
Leah had been in the office for three months and everyone agreed she was a real asset. Tina, though, was still wary. Oh, Leah was good at assessing the slush pile of manuscripts, always helpful and a whizz at marketing, but there was something about her that irritated Tina and made her decide to keep her distance.
It wasn’t just because Leah had made no secret of the fact that she was extremely ambitious and didn’t plan to stay a glorified office junior for long. It was also the feeling that Leah didn’t care who she trod on as she made her way to the top of her chosen career. Recently Tina had begun to suspect she was the first person in line for that honour.
Tina pushed all thoughts of Leah out of her mind and clicked open the pending file on her computer. In among the usual unsolicited, indifferent manuscripts she received every day there had been one, two days ago, that had caught her attention. She’d immediately replied asking to see the full manuscript. She’d been hoping it would arrive today but there was no sign of it in her email box. A time-slip story, it had a modern-day heroine learning about her grandmother’s life during the bleak days of the First World War. The covering letter from the author, Lucinda Penwood, explained it was a debut novel and she wondered whether the agency would be interested in representing her. A debut novel it might be, but Tina knew, if the full manuscript showed as much promise as the few pages she’d read, that she definitely wanted to snap up the writer as a client. Lucinda would be an ideal addition to her growing list of women’s fiction writers. Besides, she had this gut feeling the novel would turn out to be the ‘high-concept’ something demanded by publishers these days and would make it big time.
Tina’s day flew by in a succession of emails, computer work, telephone calls, and a quick ‘keeping in contact’ lunch with a publisher who was looking for the ‘next big thing’ until it was four o’clock and time for the last editorial meeting of the week in Kirsty’s office.
To Tina’s surprise, Leah was also at the meeting.
‘Thought it was about time we gave Leah more responsibility,’ Kirsty said. ‘Starting with sitting in on these meetings. Now, Tina, anything good to report this week?’
Tina nodded. ‘A couple of things but mainly a time-slip novel. I’ve asked for the full manuscript.’ No point in showing too much enthusiasm at this point.
‘Ooh, I love time-slip books,’ Leah said. ‘Can I read it when it comes?’
‘Sure,’ Tina said. The words ‘after me’ stayed unspoken in her head. ‘How about you?’ she asked, looking at Kirsty. ‘Anything interesting to report?’
‘A children’s cookery book aimed at playschools, with an interactive DVD.’ Kirsty glanced across at Leah. ‘This book is a bit of a departure for one of our clients. Thought you might like to sit in on my meeting with the author next week?’
‘Thanks.’
Tina, detecting a distinct lack of enthusiasm in Leah’s voice, knew a child’s cookery book was not on the list of things she thought would advance her career. Leah wanted nothing less than to be involved with the blockbusters.
‘Tina, next week we’ll need to spend some time working on our schedule for the Book Fair. Can you keep Tuesday morning free for that please?’ Kirsty said.
A quarter of an hour later, the meeting came to a close with Kirsty wishing everyone a good weekend before rushing off to spend the next couple of days in her country cottage with her husband. Leah was going away for the weekend too, muttering something about catching an evening flight over to Paris with her latest boyfriend.
‘Have fun, both of you,’ Tina said and quickly made for her own desk before she was forced to admit to anyone left in the office that she was sadly lacking in plans for the next two days. With her parents now retired and living in Portugal, where they played endless rounds of golf it seemed to her, she didn’t even have the option of seeing them this weekend. She could phone them, though, and hope to catch them between a round of golf and evening aperitifs with their neighbours. She hadn’t chatted to her mum for ages and it would be something cheerful to do this weekend.
Weekends had always been busy when Jodie was around. The two of them were spoilt for choice when it came to the numerous invitations for parties, receptions, opening nights of plays and the occasional nightclub. But when Jodie married and moved to France, and no longer involved her in the mad world of PR, Tina’s social life had virtually vanished.
These days, with no imminent book launches in the diary, an invite to the local charity shop’s annual coffee morning was the only thing pencilled in on the kitchen calendar and that was weeks away.
Of course, when she had been with Jake life had been different again. A lawyer with a Porsche, Jake had been a bit of a cliché as a boyfriend but they’d had some good times together, until he’d been headhunted and disappeared off to Dubai nine months ago. The promises to fly her out and keep in touch had failed to materialise so far. But, hey, she wasn’t holding her breath. She was over him now. He definitely hadn’t been ‘the one’ her mother kept on telling her she would meet some day.
Five minutes later, after closing down her computer and picking up a couple of manuscripts to read over the weekend, she was on her way home. As the bus made its way through the busy streets Tina wished Jodie was still living in London. Fleetingly, feeling a tad jealous of Jodie, she even found herself wishing she’d never introduced her to Ben. That she’d be back in the flat waiting for her and the two of them would get ready for a night out at the latest hotspot – making the most of being single in the vibrant city on their doorstep.
Tina sighed ruefully to herself. Those days were over. The last few months had seen her life shrink into a boring routine of all work and no play. And she was getting older all the time. If she wasn’t careful she’d be buried in the deep rut that was currently her life when she reached her thirtieth birthday in… God, was it that soon? She’d be on her own in deepest Wales with those alpacas before she knew it.
The Cosmos had answered Jodie’s plea to change her life in a spectacular way – while ignoring Tina’s completely. Looking around at her fellow commuters, Tina resolved it was time to shake up her life. She was clearly on her own and needed to ‘Do Something’. The only question being – what? And how was she going to change things?
Chapter Two (#ulink_3770d22c-52c2-562b-917b-73534b81fed0)
Seven hundred miles away from London, in a small village in a fold of the mountains behind Nice, France, Jodie Delahaye woke at stupid o’clock that same Friday morning. Turning her head, she stole a look at Ben, flat on his back and still in a deep sleep. Ben Delahaye, writer of bestselling crime novels and her husband. If she were honest, she still pinched herself occasionally, not quite believing the fairy-tale-like twist her life had taken recently. The stressed-out PR executive of four months ago had become a married woman living the dream in the South of France with the man she loved.
It had been a real coup de foudre moment when Tina introduced her to Ben. She’d known instantly that her life was about to change.
For once, she and Tina had been working at the same event, the Frankfurt Book Fair. Tina was manning a stand with the literary agency she worked for and Jodie had been assigned to represent her company, who were handling the PR for one of the big six publishers at the Fair. It was the very last evening and they were at the closing party when Tina said, ‘Oh, Ben’s here. Come on, I’ll introduce you.’
‘Who’s Ben?’ Jodie hissed, dodging around a large man blocking the way as Tina led her across the crowded room.
‘Benjamin Delahaye, crime novelist. Used to be one of my clients but sadly got poached by a big agent with lots of connections. Couldn’t blame him for leaving – they had the expertise I didn’t at the time for him to expand in the US.’
As Tina introduced them, Jodie’s hand was taken and held firmly by a tall man who regarded her intently with the most amazing chocolate-brown eyes she’d ever seen, and who, as far as she was concerned, eclipsed every other man in the room. His sexy French accent when he said ‘Enchanté’ took her breath away and she realised she was unlikely to return to her humdrum existence any time soon if Ben had anything to do with it. She was right. From that moment, things took on a life of their own.
Ben bought her a drink, they found a quiet corner and talked to each other nonstop. His English was good and Jodie could have listened to his sensual voice telling her about himself all night, but he wanted to know about her too. Two hours later, when they were asked to leave as the venue was closing, Ben escorted her and Tina back to the hotel, asked Jodie for her telephone number and promised to ring her the next time he was in London, around Christmastime.
‘So, you liked Ben then?’ Tina had said, smiling at her as the lift carried them to their room on the seventh floor. Jodie had nodded, happiness shining from her face. The next day she’d returned home in a daze, wishing the next two months away. She’d been back just twenty-four hours when Ben rang. He was in London, longing to see her again, and would she please join him for dinner?
Just eight weeks later, in the Mairie’s office of the small French village where Ben lived, they were married. Ben’s mother, Annette, and Tina, who flew over especially for the ceremony, were the only witnesses. The day had been perfect in every way, except that her mother wasn’t there to share in her happiness. Jodie had never missed her so much as she did that day, and she’d only just managed to keep back the tears.
Thinking about her mother now, Jodie’s fingers clasped the chain of the gold locket around her neck. Her mother’s locket. Two years ago, Jacqueline Saville had been knocked off her bicycle by an out-of-control car driven by a joyrider. The hospital had fought hard to save her but she’d died from her head injuries less than twenty-four hours later, a distraught Jodie holding her hand.
The locket had been around her neck ever since that horrible day when the nurse had gently removed it from Jacqueline’s body and handed it to Jodie. Dazed with grief she’d opened it and stared at the picture of herself as a toddler standing between her parents, holding their hands. The nurse had come running back when she’d screamed at the pair of them for dying and leaving her alone in the world.
When she and Ben fell in love, it had been left to Tina to assume the grown-up position with regard to Jodie’s sudden rush to get married. Although she was openly envious of Jodie’s unexpected change of fortune, Tina had taken her to task about the quickly arranged wedding and the new life she was throwing herself into.
‘Think about what your mum would say. You barely know Ben. You’ve been a townie all your life. The only place you ever go on holiday is Devon because you reckon it’s the perfect place – you’ve been muttering for years about moving down there one day. And now you’re getting married to a Frenchman and actually going to live in France? You’ll probably never set foot in Devon again. You don’t think you’re maybe rushing things a bit?’ Tina had paused for breath and shaken her head. ‘I just hope you know what you’re doing burying yourself in a village in a foreign land.’
‘Mum would have loved Ben,’ Jodie said. ‘And he would have adored her too.’
‘Maybe, but giving up your career and being a kept woman in a foreign country isn’t necessarily the right choice for you,’ Tina insisted. ‘You’re always out attending some party or launching a product. Your social life is as busy as your nine-to-five one. And…’ She’d paused as though what she was about to say clinched it. ‘You love shopping. How many shops are there in rural France? Not many.’
Jodie laughed. ‘I know, but honestly it’ll be a relief to step off the merry-go-round. Besides, I’m still going to have a social life, Ben knows lots of people. We’re only going to be an hour away from the Riviera so I’ll be able to go shopping on Rue d’Antibes in Cannes whenever I want. That can’t be bad, can it?’
‘But what exactly are you going to do all day?’ Tina asked. ‘Turn into a Stepford wife overnight?’
‘Of course not,’ Jodie had answered. ‘For a start I have to brush up my French. Try to become fluent so I can talk to the natives and make friends. Ben has promised me, once this latest book is finished, we can go house-hunting for a new home together. So I am going to be busy – just with different things. And I will look for another job, once everything has settled down.’
‘Have you asked Ben about moving over here?’ Tina demanded in one of their heated ‘Are you sure you’re doing the right thing?’ exchanges. ‘After all, writers can write anywhere. All they need is a laptop, a gallon of coffee, and to be shut in a room to write!’
‘True, but to be honest I haven’t even mentioned the possibility of him moving to London,’ Jodie said.
‘Why not?’ Tina asked.
Jodie hesitated. ‘Because his mother is still alive.’
Tina had looked at her open-mouthed before closing her eyes and nodding understandingly.
When Jodie had refused to even think about postponing the wedding, or worry about moving to France, Tina had given in, throwing herself wholeheartedly into helping her friend organise the wedding she’d always dreamt about. Quiet and romantic. The phrase ‘marry in haste, repent at leisure’ was voiced once and then never again uttered.
Something for which Jodie had been extremely grateful. But why was it popping back into her head now, two months later?
Chapter Three (#ulink_3e4a7171-5c2d-5fd4-83a3-2095768b3427)
Wide awake now and knowing further sleep would be impossible, Jodie carefully edged herself out of bed leaving Ben to sleep for at least another hour. Picking up her dressing gown from the chair and slipping it on, she made her way downstairs to the kitchen. Still not quite light, she could hear the gentle morning breeze rattling the roofing sheets of the lean-to sunroom attached to the kitchen. Tess, Ben’s collie dog, raised her head from her basket in the corner and thumped her tail as Jodie switched on the lights, but didn’t bother to move.
‘Silly time to get up, isn’t it?’ Jodie said, giving Tess a stroke before switching the kettle on and spooning coffee into the cafetière. Ten years of working in a busy PR firm in London had etched the early morning wake-up routine deep into her subconscious. She sighed. How many years would it take for her to lose the habit?
Now, near the end of February, and two months after her whirlwind romantic wedding, the major flaw in her new life was spending less time than she’d expected with Ben. Increasingly she was beginning to feel a tiny bit… not bored exactly, just lost. Her initial enjoyment at not having to adhere to a daily work routine was also beginning to wear off.
Jacqueline Saville had drummed the need to be her own woman into her daughter from an early age, making Jodie fiercely independent and instilling a need in her to be self-sufficient financially. With Jacqueline’s insurance money still untouched and a respectable savings account of her own, it did mean getting another job wasn’t currently high on her agenda, but she definitely needed more to do. Contributing to their joint finances and not just being ‘a kept woman’, as Tina had so succinctly put it, was an essential requirement in this new life of hers.
She was missing Tina too. Quick texts and a Skype chat at weekends just weren’t the same. Jodie couldn’t help feeling they were drifting apart as the course of their lives changed. Still, only another few weeks until the London Book Fair when she and Tina could have a good catch-up. Jodie made a mental note to ask Ben which hotel they would be staying in so she could let Tina know. Hopefully he, or his agent, had remembered to book one. Rooms in central London were like gold dust during Book Fair week.
Pushing the cafetière plunger down and inhaling the deep aroma, Jodie debated whether to take a cup up to Ben but decided to leave him sleeping. Heaven only knew what time he’d got to bed last night. When she’d gone up at eleven, tired of waiting for him to join her, he’d still been in the study, furiously typing away.
Apparently, meeting her, getting married and going on honeymoon had interfered with his normal working target of a book a year. Not that he had any regrets of course, he assured her, but it did mean meeting the deadline for his latest book was seriously under threat.
‘I’m going to have to burn the midnight oil for a few weeks,’ he’d said. Which was exactly what he’d been doing since they’d arrived back here the first week in January after spending Christmas and their honeymoon in the French Alps.
Since meeting Ben and finishing work just days before their whirlwind wedding, Jodie had relished the unfamiliar feeling of not having anyone imposing impossible deadlines on her. Spending so much time alone during the last few weeks had at least given her time to catch her breath after the frantic pace of her previous life. She knew she’d been exhausted and close to burnout when she and Ben had met. But surely her new life in France wouldn’t always be this quiet and… and if she were truthful she had to acknowledge that it was currently quite a lonely life. She needed to meet more people and find something to do.
Tess thumped her tail as a dishevelled Ben appeared. ‘Morning, ma cherie,’ he said, kissing Jodie. ‘Couldn’t you sleep?’
‘Don’t think my body clock has adjusted yet,’ Jodie said, pouring him a coffee. ‘Although I’ve always been more of a lark than an owl. Unlike you,’ she added. ‘You were late to bed last night.’
Ben nodded. ‘I was on a roll. A couple more weeks and I’ll have finished. Have we got any croissants?’
Jodie lifted the lid off the breadbin and put two pains au chocolat on a plate. ‘These do you?’
‘Perfect.’
After breakfast Ben disappeared into his study for the morning, as per normal, and Jodie poured herself another coffee and sat in the sunroom enjoying the view. A view so different from her previous one, when she’d been living with Tina in one of London’s high-rise apartment blocks, she caught her breath every time she looked at it. She doubted it would ever stop amazing her.
In London the view from the flat had been all grey rooftops and skyscrapers with the noise of the traffic reaching even the ninth floor if she or Tina dared to open the double-glazed windows. Here, where the suburban buildings had been replaced by woods and green fields, windows seemed to be almost permanently open – even this early in the year – and the early morning noise was dominated by the cockerel on the farm up the lane and the mooing of the cows as they were led in for milking.
The spire of the village church where the vicar had blessed their union following the civil ceremony was just visible over the tops of the trees. Ben had told her there were often deer down there in the woods and she longed to see them. She longed, too, for the long summer days when the two of them could eat dinner out on the terrace in the cool of the evening under the pergola.
But a little niggling, negative voice had started slyly whispering in her ear: is this what you really want? A quiet life in a small French village? She might be in love with Ben but had Tina been right when she’d told her she was rushing things?
Thoughtfully, Jodie finished her coffee and walked back into the kitchen. Today, at least, she was going to be busy. She was having her second French lesson with Madame Colbert in the village. Making new friends and being accepted into the community was difficult when you couldn’t speak the language fluently, so telling Tina that brushing up on her French had to be a top priority in her new life had been the truth.
After the lesson she planned to finally investigate ‘Le Gout de la Campagne’ or The Taste of the Countryside – a shop on the main road just outside the village. The wooden, chalet-type building looked just the kind of place she’d enjoy browsing in and she’d been promising herself that she’d do that for weeks now.
Become a Stepford wife like Tina had suggested? No chance. She’d never let that happen in a million years.
Chapter Four (#ulink_906cfef2-81f4-55f3-8a63-28986808b419)
Strolling around the local flea market, killing time on Saturday morning, Tina turned at the sound of her name being called. Beth, a friend from college she’d lost touch with, waved at her excitedly.
‘Hi, long time no see. What are you doing here? I thought you were living in Scotland these days?’ Tina said. ‘Let’s have a coffee and you can tell me all your news.’
Two hours later, when coffee had turned into a lazy lunch at the Italian coffee bar and they’d filled each other in on all the details of their lives, Beth looked at her watch and said, ‘I’ve got to dash. I’m supposed to be meeting someone the other side of London in half an hour. Here’s my card. Email me!’
Tina quickly scribbled her own address and email on a piece of paper. ‘Sorry I don’t have a business card on me today. We must stay in touch,’ she said, handing the paper to Beth. ‘Give me a shout next time you’re in town. I’ve got a spare room since my flatmate moved out, so I can even offer you a bed.’
‘Are you looking for someone else to share with?’ Beth asked. ‘Only I know someone who’s desperate for somewhere to live. They’re having to couch-surf right now.’
Tina shook her head. ‘No. After having a few weirdos apply, I’ve given up on finding anyone suitable. Besides, I’m getting used to having the place to myself.’
‘Shame,’ Beth said. ‘I think my friend is having a really hard time at the moment. Never mind. I’m sure she’ll find something soon. Bye.’
Once home, Tina unpacked her shopping, gave the flat a quick tidy and pushed the hoover around, with the niggling thought buzzing in her mind all the time – had she been too hasty in refusing to even meet Beth’s friend who was having to resort to couch-surfing as a way of life?
It had been hard finding somewhere decent to live when she and Jodie had first arrived in London. It had taken them months of living in a less-than-desirable bedsit before they’d found this flat. Telling Beth she was getting used to having the place to herself was the truth but that didn’t stop it being lonely in the evenings and at weekends. Particularly at weekends. And the rent was quite high. Jodie’s contribution had definitely helped there. She couldn’t go on making up the deficit from her savings so she should really think about looking for a new flatmate. There had to be a non-weirdo out there somewhere looking for a place to live. Having someone new living in the flat would be a start to climbing out of the rut she was in. Maybe she should at least see what Beth’s friend was like?
Opening her laptop, Tina typed in Beth’s email address from the card she’d given her. ‘No guarantees but I’ve been thinking. If your friend wants to come and see the flat sometime, maybe we can work something out.’
Half an hour later her email programme pinged. ‘Hi, Beth says you possibly have a spare room I could rent. I’m desperate to find somewhere so please may I come and see you later today? Beth’s given me the address. Maisie.’
Tina sat for a moment, her fingers poised over the keyboard. Whoever Maisie was, she was clearly as desperate as Beth had said. She wouldn’t turn out to be yet another weirdo, would she? No, Beth wouldn’t have suggested her if that was the case.
Tina started to type. ‘Sure. Seven o’clock would suit me. Look forward to meeting you.’ She hesitated a fraction of a second before pressing the send icon. She could always say no, once she had met Maisie.
Time to ring Jodie for their weekly chat – at least this time she had a little bit of news to tell her.
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