Wendy's Winter Gift: A totally gorgeous romantic comedy by Debbie Viggiano

Author:Debbie Viggiano [Viggiano, Debbie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Unicorn Publishing
Published: 2022-10-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Two

‘Let me know about this afternoon,’ called Ruby, as I swung out the front door and headed towards Betty.

I was still bristling slightly at my daughter teasing me over Gabe. Her words had touched a nerve.

Because you fancy him, said my inner voice.

I swatted the thought away. No. I did not fancy anyone, and certainly not my solicitor.

Not true. You fancy Ben next door. Or at least you did, until Gabe came along. Are you perhaps simply a frustrated housewife who needs a good sorting out?

As if. I rolled my eyes and crunched Betty’s protesting gears.

I disagree. You’d probably feel a lot better if you got your leg over.

Leg over? Seriously? What sort of coarse vocab is that?

I can say it however I like because nobody can hear me apart from you! Plus, I know everything about your deepest secret thoughts. I know every inch of your brain. The chemicals within. The triggering of the ascending reticular activating system. The wakefulness. The autonomic nervous system. Your endocrine system. Your increased heart rate. Blood pressure. Your sensory alertness and readiness to respond.

What rubbish are you spouting now?

In other words – the inner voice swept on – I have noted your physical reaction to Gabe Stewart. Basically, every time you see him your pupils dilate to the size of Betty’s tyres.

Okayyy! Hands up. I have a tiny crush on my solicitor. So what?

So don’t make a fool of yourself, Wendy. Don’t become another Ms Gucci Belt. Another Lisa. Another – metaphorically speaking – notch on the bedpost.

You’re very contradictory. A moment ago, you suggested I should get my “leg over”.

Inner voices aren’t always reasonable.

Oh sod off.

I gnashed my teeth as Betty’s gears once again protested due to iffy clutch deployment. I’d better pay attention. Derek would go bonkers if the car ended up in the local garage’s sick bay. At the thought of Derek, I gnashed my teeth some more. At this rate, I’d be grinding them down to the gums and end up looking like an old crone.

‘You’re looking very punchy today,’ was Kelly’s opening line when she greeted me.

‘Yeah,’ I sighed. ‘Sorry, I’m feeling a bit…’

‘Out of sorts?’

‘I wasn’t, but then I was,’ I finished lamely.

‘Hardly surprising,’ said Kelly. She linked her arm companionably through mine. ‘C’mon,’ she cajoled. ‘Take a few breaths of this bracing November air. That’ll sort you out. When I’m feeling off-centre, I like to believe that the first deep inhale is restorative. That it’s the universe’s love and positivity flowing into my lungs. Then I imagine the exhale contains all the negativity that my body was holding.’

‘You sound like a new age guru,’ I grumbled.

Kelly laughed good-naturedly as we picked our way around muddy puddles, then headed off along the main track with the lovely Alfie trotting alongside us.

‘You seem very chipper,’ I said. ‘I was half-expecting you to be fretting over Steve now that he’s reunited with Captain Caroline.’

Kelly gave a beatific smile. She looked almost Madonna-like this morning – the Virgin Mary, not the popstar.

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