Her Best Friend's Secret: A gripping, emotional novel about love, life and the power of friendship

by Mansell, Anna

  ‘I’m counting the days down until my first G&T,’ said Emily.

  ‘Mother’s Ruin,’ warned Lolly as she started reading.

  And then she bit down on her bottom lip because she couldn’t say anything. And then her eyes filled and she could barely read the words. And then Emily’s hand reached out to hold hers and she said, ‘Please say yes.’ And Lolly nodded, a tear spilling on the card. ‘I so wanted to ask you and then I worried it was a bit insensitive, but I can’t think of anybody else I’d rather ask.’

  Lolly sniffed a big snotty sniff then laughed and hiccupped. ‘I can’t believe you asked me.’

  ‘She needs a brilliant, smart, kind, inspiring woman and whilst she’s going to have a couple of those in her life, I just thought you and she could make a real team.’

  ‘Thank you, Emily. Thank you so much! I can’t tell you what it means.’

  ‘I think it means that until you get your own, you have a little girl to form a bond with.’

  ‘I think it means I don’t need my own.’ Lolly sniffed. ‘I have my boys and I have my friends and now, I have this,’ said Lolly, pulling Emily up to give her a big hug. ‘You are going to be such an amazing mum and I’d love to be her godmother. I’ve got the little girl after all.’

  Epilogue

  The setting sun sent the sky into a mad pink frenzy of wonder and all the women could do was sit and stare. ‘This is the life,’ said Jess, not daring to peel her eyes away in case she missed the moment the sun dipped down behind the horizon.

  Lolly sighed. ‘I know, right. I mean, where else can you sit in a jacuzzi, sipping champagne—’

  ‘Well, sit on the edge and drink sparkling mineral water,’ interjected Emily.

  ‘Yes, well, some of us have to just wait a little longer before they can appreciate the dizzy heights of jacuzzi and alcohol at sunset,’ said Jess. ‘You don’t want to boil baby.’

  ‘What she said. We can come back, just as soon as you’re ready. Though I’ve a few stories I could tell about jacuzzis!’ said Amanda.

  ‘Eeeuuuw! Don’t! Not whilst we’re in one,’ said Emily, recoiling.

  ‘Not here, these are very lovely jacuzzis. I’m sure we’ve nothing to worry about here, it’s a high-end establishment, don’t you know!’

  Lolly said nothing. The more time she spent with Amanda, the more used to things she got. And some of the stories of what she got up to had, she had to admit, opened her eyes to her own somewhat vanilla sexual desires. She was quite happy to keep them that way, as and when the opportunity arose. Maybe when the boys were older.

  ‘So I just wanted to toast us,’ said Lolly. ‘I wanted to say a massive thank you for being there for me. For holding my hand through all of this shit. For being incredible women who I never want to not have in my life again.’

  ‘That’s good. Since we’re not going anywhere,’ said Jess, sipping at her fizz.

  ‘You can’t. I need to live vicariously. Tell me everything about Mac and don’t leave a single thing out.’

  ‘Ha!’ Jess laughed. ‘You should be so lucky! Let’s just say that he makes me a very happy woman and whilst I can’t believe what I missed out on for all the years I thought I was in love with Jay Trewellan, if I hadn’t missed out, I might never have met Mac.’

  ‘Cheers to that!’ said Amanda, clinking her glass.

  ‘So you two are getting on better at work then now?’

  ‘We are, yeah. For now. I still think I’m going to leave. I fancy fundraising. Charity work. I need to do some research but for now, I’ll stick it out until I’ve made a plan. Although, I now realise how much Niamh has to put up with in him. I mean, seriously, he can be a real pain in the arse. I had totally and utterly built him up to be this perfect man and I can tell you, he is—’

  ‘Not that much different from most other men?’ asked Lolly.

  ‘Well, Mac excluded,’ said Jess.

  ‘Mac will irritate you in time. It’s a thing they do. It doesn’t mean you won’t still love him, but you know… living with them can really get on your nerves,’ said Lolly, with a hint of sadness in her tone.

  ‘I think, if I were to ever live with anyone again, it would definitely be a woman,’ said Amanda.

  ‘What?’ said Emily. ‘Has all this sex work turned you off men?’

  ‘God no! Don’t be ridiculous! I don’t want to stop sleeping with men any more than I want to start sleeping with women… unless I’m getting paid for it. No, I just think women must be easier to live with.’

  ‘I lived with Emily for three days and can tell you that even she had her moments!’ Jess replied.

  ‘What do you mean?’ shrieked Emily, before saying ‘Oooh, ouch.’

  ‘What?’ Lolly sat up, pouring herself a top up.

  ‘Nothing, just Braxton Hicks.’

  ‘You said that earlier. Are they getting worse?’

  ‘Well, I don’t know. I mean, maybe. They’re more frequent.’

  Lolly stopped pouring. ‘What do you mean? They’re getting more frequent?’

  ‘Well, I don’t know do I… ouch… ooooh…’ Emily breathed deeply, placing her hand on her stomach.

  ‘Have you had a show yet, Em?’ asked Lolly, climbing out of the jacuzzi.

  ‘Is that the vile bloody clot thing?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Yes then. A few days ago.’

  ‘Right…’

  ‘Shit, it really hurts. Maybe I could just get in, let the warmth ease my back.’

  ‘No, no, no, you’re not allowed,’ said Lolly, reaching to stop her. ‘In fact, I think it’s time we got you out altogether.’

  Amanda looked at Jess, whose mouth opened in realisation.

  ‘But it’s lovely and warm, I could just have a second.’ She allowed herself to slip in for a moment, breathing deeper, disappearing into herself as the sun dropped and a cool breeze whipped up.

  Lolly placed her hand on Emily’s shoulder, making her open her eyes. ‘Emily, I think this might be it…’

  ‘What?’

  ‘This. Now. The Braxton Hicks. I’m not sure they’re Braxton Hicks.’

  ‘But I’ve got another week to go yet.’

  ‘Yes, and babies will make their appearance when they’re good and ready, not when you are.’

  Emily’s eyes widened. Then she tried to stand, the girls helping her. She paused to let another contraction wash over her before looking at Lolly. ‘Shit… shit…’ she said.

  ‘It’s fine,’ said Lolly, calmly. ‘It’s fine. We’re all here. Come on, get her out, girls, I think we have a little diversion to make.’

  ‘But I want to stay in the hot tub,’ said Emily, climbing out.

  ‘If we’re not allowed to have sex in it, you can sure as hell bet you’re not allowed to birth in it,’ said Amanda, wrapping her in a towel and guiding her back into their bedroom suite.

  And as Emily began to breathe and then panic and then breathe, the girls rallied round, getting dressed, organising the birthing bag, loading up the car, buckling Emily in, and heading off to the maternity ward. This time, they would all be in it together.

  The End.

  * * *

  If you loved Her Best Friend’s Secret, you’ll adore Anna Mansell’s emotional page-turner I Wanted To Tell You.

  Get it here!

  I Wanted to Tell You

  Available now!

  ‘Sometimes I think that if I’d found a way to talk, we’d be together now…’

  When Helen finds a bundle of unsent love letters, tied with a red ribbon, and signed only ‘the love you wished I could be’, she wonders who they could belong to.

  The same day, however, her husband Alex announces he’s leaving. She’d believed their love would last a lifetime, but now he’s gone and she hadn’t even realised there was anything wrong.

  Desperate to understand, Helen doesn’t know where to look for answers. But the letters keep drawing her back. As she reads the words of loneliness, loss and regret, s
omething in them helps her start to make sense of it all… Even as she realises someone has been keeping heart-breaking secrets.

  But who do the letters belong to? Can the sender ever be reunited with the one they love, or is it too late? And when Helen finds out the truth about Alex, can she find it in her heart to forgive him, or will he never be the love she wished he could be?

  An emotional, unmissable read, exploring the devastation of loss, the power of love to heal, and the truths that bind us all together. Perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes, Diane Chamberlain and Daniela Sacerdoti.

  Get it here!

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  Books by Anna Mansell

  How to Mend a Broken Heart

  The Lost Wife

  I Wanted to Tell You

  Her Best Friend’s Secret

  A Letter from Anna

  Hi! Lovely to see you here. And thank you for reading! If you enjoyed it, and want to keep up-to-date with all my latest releases, just sign up at the following link. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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  Looking back on previous author letters, normally at this point I tell you how the book was a long time coming etcetera, etcetera, but in fact, with this one, I had the idea at the start of 2018 and sit here at the end of November 2018, having just finished reading through the copy edits. So by my standards, this was a quick book to write. That said, I’ve felt quite passionate about the theme, so maybe that’s why?

  You see, I don’t know about you, but I feel that everywhere I look and turn, women are judged for everything they do. From what they wear, to how they look. Choices to have children, choices not to. Choices to have a career, choices to not. Whether it’s magazines scrutinising our bodies, or certain TV presenters on breakfast telly who like to judge the every move and thought of women they have and haven’t interviewed. I suppose, my point is that I am exhausted by it. I am tired of the judgement and I am over feeling the need to comply or conform. I’m forty-one, maybe that’s why!

  The other thing we get judged for, in my opinion at least, is how feminist are we? Too feminist and we’re damaging the cause. Not feminist enough and we’re a let-down, a disappointment to womankind. And if we are a little bit feminist but also like a door held open for us, WOE BETIDE!

  We are, each and every one of us, complex, brilliant, flawed, funny, difficult, and inspiring human beings and I wish to celebrate that. This is a novel about four incredible women living very different lives. It’s about the power of friendships and the difficulty of judgement. It is not a novel about a sex worker, or a woman in love with someone else’s husband. It’s not about a woman yearning for another child when she’s got two already, it is not about a woman who can’t decide whether to keep her baby or not; this is a novel about how women are judged in society. It’s about our freedom to choose the lives we want to live. It’s about the importance of friendship and, above all, maybe, it’s about forgiveness. Forgiveness because we don’t always get things right, and, if we’re honest, we probably do all judge, but how we choose to live by those choices, or how we allow our judgement to manifest, says more to me about a person than any choice they made in the first place.

  I hope you enjoyed reading Her Best Friend’s Secret as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you did, I’d be very grateful for a review as they really do make a difference to the success or otherwise of our work and more importantly, I just love to hear from those of you that have taken your precious time and spent some hours in my imaginary world.

  You can also message me via my Facebook page, through Twitter, on Goodreads, Insta or my website.

  Thank you!

  Anna x

  www.feelthefearandwriteitanyway.com

  The Lost Wife

  Fans of Sheila O’Flanagan, Amanda Prowse and Kelly Rimmer will love The Lost Wife, the compelling story of a woman’s deepest secrets, and the friends and family who must learn to live without her.

  ‘An incredible, beautiful story of loss, love, forgiveness, moving on, overcoming grief, redemption and above all, hope.’ Renita D’Silva

  When Ellie Moran passes away, she leaves her newborn son and husband Ed behind her. Their marriage was perfect, their lives everything they had hoped for. So why was Ellie keeping secrets from Ed?

  Knowing he can never ask his wife the truth, Ed is struggling to cope. When the secrets threaten to tear his whole family apart, Ed turns to Rachel, the one person who sees him as more than just Ellie’s widower.

  But then Rachel discovers something Ellie was hiding, something that would break Ed’s heart. Can Rachel help Ed to find peace without the wife he lost – and a second chance at happiness?

  Get it here.

  How to Mend a Broken Heart

  A compelling, heartbreaking tale that will make you laugh, cry and believe in the kindness of strangers. Perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes, Lucy Dillon and Miranda Dickinson.

  When Rhys is called to the hospital to meet Susan, a woman he barely knows, he is compelled to help her. Still grieving the loss of his brother months earlier, Rhys knows all too well the feeling of loneliness.

  There are years between them, but Rhys is the only person Susan will respond to, and when she asks him to bring her her most treasured possession, a book of fairytales, he is intrigued.

  Hidden in the book is a clue to Susan’s past, and the painful regrets she carries with her. And as Rhys starts to unearth Susan’s secrets, he finds that his own grief begins to heal too…

  Together, Susan and Rhys must learn to live again. Can they help each other to find happiness and finally mend their broken hearts?

  How to Mend a Broken Heart is a heart-wrenching and absorbing story about second chances, forgiveness, and making every second count.

  Get it here.

  Acknowledgements

  Here we are once again, my fourth novel. Which wouldn’t have happened were it not for you, dear reader. So thank you. You really are making my dreams come true and if I could, I’d pop round and thank every one of you… except that might seem a bit weird. But know that I really do appreciate you!

  There’s a special group of readers who I am also indebted to. The readers who also blog about what they’ve read and champion our books. These are the women and men of the internet who read book after book after book, all in their own spare time, in order to tell the world what they think of them and that really helps to launch our novels into the real world. Bloggers I’d particularly like to name check are @choconwaffles @kaishajayneh, and @stefloz. In particular, @TishyLou warrants a thank you not just for blogging and reviewing my work, but for checking in on me when she knew things were particularly tough. More on that in a moment but for now, Trish and all the aforementioned, thank you for thoughtful reviews and passionate championing.

  The team at Bookouture are an incredible bunch and I feel very fortunate to be part of the family. Kim and Noelle work tirelessly for us authors, shouting from the rooftops. They are amazing! I have to say a huge thank you to Isobel for her support of this novel, even before she entirely knew what it might shape up to be. She has trusted me to write these women and has guided me to shape their story. I don’t know how she does what she does but I am very glad to be one of her authors.

  Who else? Well, I write friends in all of my books because I would not be who I am today were it not for my own tribe. I chose a group of four women in this novel specifically because I am part of a four whom I adore. We’ve known each other for over twenty years… in fact, crikey, it must be twenty-five or twenty-six… and they are amazing and we are very definitely stronger as a team, especially when life happens and one of us needs the group. Ellen,
Cas, and Claire, this year has been the hardest of my life and you have been there every step of the way – regardless of the distance between us. Thank you!

  On that note, if I may be indulged for a moment, I want to say this. This novel proved to be a world I could escape to when my own was just too much. I’m not quite sure how I managed to write it given that I spent much of my time caring for my poorly mum during this year. Many hospital visits, many hours at her home, many trips to the docs or the chemist or the local shops or wherever it was she needed to be. It wasn’t so much the time that made it challenging, but the emotional impact of it all. I somehow managed to finish the first draft sat by her bedside in hospital. The edits came in as she died. That I had something to focus on during the hardest time of my life was surely one of the reasons I survived. Genuine, heartfelt thank you to Bookouture – and in particular Isobel and Kim – for respecting and supporting me throughout that time.

  Some other brilliant women should also be namechecked, in fact I wonder if I’d ever get out of bed if it weren’t for knowing they’ve got my back: Lian, Clare, Maria, Ness, Lou, Crocker. Not to mention the beautiful friends who left flowers on my doorstep or sent cards through school bags this past year. Thank you for keeping me (and therefore this book!) afloat.