One Minute Later by Susan Lewis

Author:Susan Lewis [Susan Lewis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2018-12-15T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

VIVIENNE

Present Day

By the time Sam returned from his mission to Deerwood Farm the children had been bathed and changed into their pyjamas, and Michelle’s parents, Yvonne and Paul, had turned up. Although Vivienne had called to invite her mother to the barbecue, Gina apparently already had plans for dinner with friends in town, taking advantage of the fact that Vivienne was going to be out for the evening.

It was balmy and beautiful, with the sun casting a rich golden glow over the distant bay, and the sound of birds tweeting and cawing mingled with the chafe of invisible insects. In spite of being in Kesterly for all the wrong reasons, Vivi couldn’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else right now. It felt so important to be with people she’d known all her life, friends who were as dear to her as if they were family, who wanted to be there for her until there was no more they could do. Or until she got a new heart, but the hope for that was as unpredictable and ephemeral as the foam on the waves.

‘Right,’ Sam declared, clearly meaning business as he strode onto the deck rubbing his hands, ‘have you got the beers on ice, Paul? I’m gasping. OK, OK, Yvie,’ as his mother-in-law turned a baleful eye on him, ‘I promise I’ll have someone come and straighten up your mailbox by the end of the day tomorrow.’

‘Just don’t send the guy who put it up in the first place,’ she admonished as he embraced her. ‘It makes me feel drunk every time I look at it. Oh, Josh, hi, good to see you.’

Vivi turned to find a tall, dark-haired man, probably in his early thirties, standing behind her, and for no good reason her heart gave an unsteady beat. He had the tousled look of a Romany about him, or an eighteenth-century poet, or someone who was simply too handsome for his own good. His hair was thick, almost jet-black, his strong jaw unshaven and his smile as he turned it to her was so captivating that it made her own falter. She’d never seen him before, she knew that for certain, but there was something about him that seemed … familiar? Maybe he was reminding her of someone, though who it was she couldn’t say. She only knew that he didn’t feel like a stranger …

‘Vivi and Josh, I don’t think you guys have met,’ Sam said, slipping an arm around her.

Josh held out a hand and Vivi felt the physicality of him closing around her like a small force of nature. His eyes were remarkable, almost unsettling in their intensity, for he wasn’t just looking at her, she realized, he seemed to be seeing or reading her in a way that felt … It should have felt presumptive or even invasive, but they were too friendly for that.

‘Vivi,’ he said, holding the gaze with no apparent self-consciousness. ‘Michelle’s best friend from your first day at school. It’s good to meet you.

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