Waiting for a Bright New Future: A brand new page-turning and uplifting novel from RNA award-winning Sally Jenkins for 2023 by Sally Jenkins

Author:Sally Jenkins [Jenkins, Sally]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Choc Lit Contemporary Romance: A Joffe Books Company
Published: 2023-12-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Six

The date of the next speakers’ club meeting had crept up without Stuart noticing. Or maybe, subconsciously, he’d tried to wipe it from his mind. He drank his morning mule-kick coffee, looked at his pile of notes on the history of cycling and realised, with less than twelve hours until the meeting, he was about to see the truth of his Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail motto. Sick with apprehension, he typed up his script between visits to William. Phoning John at this late stage really would sound like he was making excuses and wouldn’t help his ex-pupil demonstrate the success of the club on his CV.

He pulled into the Red Lion car park and took deep breaths. After this meeting he would tell John he couldn’t come again. He took a seat on the back row. His fists were clenched, his armpits damp and his heartbeat had doubled in speed. No one else seemed to be going through the same anguish. His name was called. The walk to the gallows was painful. He positioned his notes on the sturdy wooden lectern, put on his glasses and started to read. He tried to pretend it was a school assembly but an audience of judgemental adults was far worse than disinterested teenagers.

His hands gripped the frame of wood surrounding his notes as though someone might snatch the whole contraption away from him and leave him exposed to the rows of staring faces. Stuart was aware that he was reading too quickly and not making eye contact.

He got halfway through before he ran out of breath and had to gasp like a surfacing diver. The fresh intake of air tickled his throat and suddenly he was coughing. He coughed and coughed until he almost retched. Someone pushed a glass of water at him and led him to a chair. His coughing was the only sound in the room and the meeting didn’t resume until he’d got himself under control. Stuart wanted to die of shame.

“Well done, Stuart.”

He looked round in surprise. It was the end of the meeting and he was trying to leave without speaking to anyone when John ambushed him.

“I loved your choice of language and the way you took us on a logical journey through time. That was a good speech structure. I’m really looking forward to hearing you speak again.”

It was praise that Stuart didn’t deserve or want, and he knew it was only to ensure he came back again to swell the club’s numbers. A little seed of defiance started to glow in his chest. He’d tried to help John out. Twice. It was negatively affecting his own self-esteem and therefore he wouldn’t do it again.

“Just a couple of points for improvement. Try to speak more slowly and practise talking around bullet points rather than reading from a script,” John continued. “The additional benefit to that is you don’t need as much material and you’re less likely to trigger a coughing fit. I’ll stick you on the programme again for the next meeting.

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.