The Desperate Wife’s Survival Plan
Page 31
‘I love the mural you painted for me in the shop,’ she told him in a soft tone. ‘I love all the words of encouragement you gave me when I was really low. I love the fact that you got me home safely when I was off my head on champagne. I love the fact that I can trust you and feel safe with you.’
She pulled his face down close to hers. ‘I love you, Mike Shearer.’
Then she kissed him. As the kiss grew deeper, she felt his body relax and he swept his arms around her, holding her close.
He drew back briefly to look at her. ‘I will never hurt you.’
‘I know.’
He bent down and kissed her again and it felt so sweet, so right. Finally she was in his arms, where she belonged.
Chapter Ninety-one
AN ATTENTION-SEEKING cough from nearby made Charley and Mike draw apart from their embrace after many minutes.
‘Sorry,’ said Julie, beaming from ear to ear. ‘Well, I’m not really. Thank God you two finally got your act together! But it’s your mother, Charley. I can’t put her off coming back here for much longer.’
Charley nodded, turned to give Mike one last lingering kiss on the lips and went back into the shop.
At that precise moment, her life had never felt better. She had built up a successful business, had survived the most horrendous year of her life and now she had the love of a very good man.
She knew she could cope on her own with whatever the future threw at her. But she was so very glad Mike was going to be with her. She found she couldn’t stop the smile from showing on her face when she returned to stand behind the counter.
By now her mother was perched on a stool on the other side of it. She took silent note of her daughter’s happy expression and let a smile play over her lips.
‘I’m having trouble deciding,’ she said. ‘Do I want the chocolate or the pistachio?’
Charley began to sort out the individual tubs and cones which had got in a bit of a muddle.
‘Of course, nuts are a bit exotic,’ said Maureen. ‘Did you get them from the local farm? And did you hear what happened to Scott’s Farm? Those squirrels can be little devils . . .’
Charley grabbed a pen and notepad, thinking that she would need to place another order for some more of the small plastic tubs in the next month.
‘Of course, you don’t get them out in Greece. I said to your father, it’ll be the mosquitoes we’ll have to worry about. We’ll have to get those plug-in things for the night time. Never had this kind of trouble when we went to Torquay . . .’
Charley sucked on the end of the pen. She would have to keep a close check on the amount of ice-cream that was being sold. She must always make sure that there was some spare, just in case.
‘But we might have to ask you to pop in to water the pots every evening. I won’t have my petunias going to ruin just because your father’s taken it upon himself to book us a fortnight in Crete.’
Charley was just counting up the boxes of wafers when her mind focussed on what her mother was saying.
She spun round. ‘You’re going on holiday?’
‘Yes, silly. What do you think I’ve been talking about all this time? Two weeks in Crete at the end of the summer. Isn’t it exciting?’
Charley nodded. ‘Very. But how can you afford it?’
‘Well, you won’t believe it . . . I had the most marvellous piece of luck. Didn’t I tell you?’ Maureen frowned. ‘No, that’s right. You were too busy with all of this. I’m so proud of you, by the way.’ She broke into a smile. ‘And I’m so glad our nice Mike has finally got his act together. I never did get on with that Steve. I was always worried about his mother. You know how insanity can run in a family . . .’
Charley rolled her eyes. She knew. ‘About the marvellous piece of luck?’ she prompted. ‘Has Cousin Sylvia finally died?’
‘Lord, no! It’ll be a good few years before I get my hands on her Japanese figurines. No, Peggy saw the advert for the Antiques Roadshow up at the castle. She wanted to take that blue vase of hers she’s always bragging about.’
Charley stared at her mother. ‘What was it? A Ming vase?’
Her mother laughed. ‘No, silly! It was completely worthless. The chap doing the valuations was much more interested in the little bowl I took along. I had just grabbed it at the last minute, to take something with me. You know, the one with all the keys next to the telephone?’
‘The green one?’
‘Exactly. Well, it turns out that it was Chinese jade. Your grandfather must have got it in the war, I suppose. Anyway, this chap valued it at £20,000!’
Charley gaped at her mother.
‘But he was wrong.’
Charley rolled her eyes. She had known it sounded too good to be true.
‘It actually sold for £42,000 at auction last weekend. So you don’t need to worry any more about that money you owe us.’
Maureen’s face broke into a huge smile as she stared at her daughter’s shocked expression.
‘You know what? I think I’ll have the vanilla. With chocolate sprinkles on the top.’
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Epub ISBN: 9781446456071
Version 1.0
www.randomhouse.co.uk
Published by Arrow 2013
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Copyright © Alison Sherlock 2013
Alison Sherlock has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
First published in Great Britain in 2013 by Arrow
20 Vauxhall Bridge Road
London, SW1V 2SA
An imprint of The Random House Group Limited
www.randomhouse.co.uk
www.prefacepublishing.co.uk
Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at www.randomhouse.co.uk
The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9780099562375