Poppy's Place in the Sun by Lorraine Wilson

Author:Lorraine Wilson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780007544080
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2018-03-19T04:00:00+00:00

Even if some areas of my life are a little … confusing at the moment, at least the house is shaping up nicely. Joanna has made a lot of progress with the decorating. Les Coquelicots is looking more “country house shabby chic” instead of just shabby.

We have chosen cool colours to offset the warmer summer weather, duck egg blue and pale dove grey contrasting nicely with chalky, creamy white walls. Joanna borrowed Sophie one Saturday morning so that she could hire a sander and has been sanding and staining the original wooden floors in the bedrooms. I am a little worried about Joanna, because apart from me, and occasionally Sophie, she doesn’t see or talk to anybody. She tells me not to worry and that she is perfectly happy – that this is exactly what she needs at the moment – so I’ve decided to just go with it.

When she discovers that I love sewing, she suggests that we go to some of the local markets to find fabrics for cushions, and also to look out for finishing touches for the guest bedrooms. We go to Mirepoix market the following Monday morning. With the warmer weather, there are noticeably more tourists and English voices around, something that seems to make Joanna nervous.

I love Mirepoix. Its half-timbered buildings and central Market Square make it a very picturesque place to shop. We divert the dogs away from the butchers’ vans and head towards the haberdashery and fabric stalls. I quickly get immersed in some boxes of antique bedding and pillow cases, and Joanna is put on pee-patrol – making sure that none of the dogs decides to cock a leg against somebody’s market stall.

“So, you and Leo seem to be getting on well.” Joanna catches me off guard while we are walking back to the car with our purchases.

“Hmm.” I avoid her gaze, and my thoughts flash back to laughing with Leo in the garden as we were trying to capture the goats. I like my glimpses of Leo like that – the playful, more carefree side to him that I see so rarely. I guess he hasn’t had much to laugh about recently.

“So?” Joanna persists.

I sigh, getting the feeling she’s not going to let this go.

“Yes, we are getting on better.” I bite my lip and try not to think about the sex dreams I’ve been having about Leo. I don’t really understand it, I’m not that into sex. At least I didn’t think I was. “The thing is…”

I fall silent, wondering how to explain my reservations. She doesn’t know about the date/not a date or all that bad feeling at the beginning with him saying he wanted the house back.

“The thing?” I hear the tease in Joanna’s voice. It’s so rare we talk about anything personal I feel I ought to take the opportunity to get closer to her. After all she’ll never confide in me if I don’t confide in her first. “The thing is I’m scared of getting hurt,” I say, realising it’s the truest thing I can say.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.