Wishing on a Star by Baggot Mandy

Author:Baggot, Mandy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction
Published: 2022-10-10T00:00:00+00:00

Thirty-Seven

Anna and Ruthie’s home, Richmond

It was Sunday, Anna was on her third coffee and she was buzzing. But it wasn’t from the caffeine, it was from her work on Mr Wong’s takeaway after their meeting the previous day. She was brimming with ideas, overflowing with suggested names for the ventures and thinking that maybe she should suggest some kind of promotional event before Christmas to soft sell the changes.

Except, what exact form the establishment or establishments would take still hadn’t been finalised. Mr Wong wasn’t sure whether three became one or two, or if the whole concept changed. So, for the moment, Anna was trying to cover all bases. For the chip shop side of things Anna had names like I’m a Frier Starter, Totally Battered and The Good Plaice, for the Chinese there was Chow Main, Egg Fried Nice and You Chew and for the Italian she had Piece of Pisa or Pasta La Vista. But nothing felt absolutely there yet. She felt as if there was something just below the surface on this project that she was missing and fishing that out was usually her forte. Still, she had a few days …

Cheesecake was yowling from the utility room where it was shut away while Mr Rocket got some indoor attention from Ruthie. The cat seemed to react like it had been committed to pet Death Row, not closed into a rather spacious laundry area with extra food, treats and a snuggle bed Anna had ordered from Amazon that it had yet to even set a paw on.

‘Mum!’ Ruthie called from the kitchen. ‘Can I let Cheesecake out? We don’t know that they won’t like Mr Rocket.’

White-hot fear rolled through Anna then and she leapt from the chair, brushing into Malcolm and scattering three red baubles and a thankfully plastic and very hardy snow globe as she whisked by.

‘No, Ruthie,’ Anna said rushing into the kitchen. ‘Please trust me. They won’t get on. You’ve seen what Cheesecake does to that toy rat we bought them.’

‘Did you find its head?’ Ruthie asked, Mr Rocket still in her arms like a sleeping newborn with fur and long ears.

‘No,’ Anna replied. ‘And I don’t want to be searching for one of Mr Rocket’s paws … or worse.’

‘Cheesecake only wants to play,’ Ruthie mithered.

‘I know,’ Anna said with a sigh. ‘But remember we talked about how sometimes people can have good intentions but can still do bad things.’

‘Like Lennie from Of Mice and Men.’

‘Yes, and we don’t want Cheesecake liking rabbits that much, do we?’

Right on cue there was a very fierce miaow and more scratching at the utility-room door. And then another door banged closed. The front door. Anna ripped open a drawer and grabbed the rolling pin, holding it in the air, ready to act if required. She took a breath and edged the ajar kitchen door open.

‘Jesus Christ, Anna!’ Ed yelled as Anna swung the rolling pin towards him.

‘Ed!’ Anna gasped, momentarily relieved. But then, very quickly, she got angry.

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.