Some Kind of Love: A Second Chance Romance by Anna Bloom

Author:Anna Bloom [Bloom, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-06-29T18:30:00+00:00

The house is in darkness when I get home. This is good because it means I can get in and out without an interrogation. I’m halfway down the hallway when I realise I’ve been foiled. Mum is sat at the kitchen table, a bundle of papers and a glossy booklet in front of her.

Damn it.

“When were you going to tell me about this?” She slides the booklet towards me, not that I need to see it any closer. I recognise the Suffolk University prospectus from across the room.

Amongst the papers is my application form for Suffolk. She picks it up and skims the contents, her lips set in a firm line and the frown of doom twists her face into a bitter mask. I fidget and wait, my internal body temperature getting hotter and more uncomfortable with every passing moment. Turning, I scrutinise the kitchen. It’s funny, when you live somewhere you don’t see it that clearly. My many hours spent at the hospital has made me see my childhood home with fresh eyes. In the kitchen, the paper on the walls looks dated, the colour too beige, too bland, like Crème Caramel left over from a seventies dinner party, reminiscent of a time past when beige ruled the world.

Finally, she speaks. “So is this it then?”

“What?” I’m being difficult. This conversation would probably go much easier if I didn’t act like a stroppy teenager.

“You’re just going to stay here? You’re going to stay in the dead village all because you met and fell in love with a boy.” Her words are filled with scorn.

“What else should I do, Mum?”

“Do what the other girls do. Leave and hope for the best.”

“Other girls don’t have a boyfriend who’s been paralysed for months after nearly dying in a car crash.” My voice rises. Surely this is logical?

“And what would have been your excuse if the accident hadn’t happened?”

‘What do you mean?” I’m stalling. I know what she means. It’s only been Freddy for me since I met him. I fell hard and deep and there is no way out.

“Amber!” She jumps from her chair and grabs my wrists tight in her grasp, I try and back away, but she holds firm.

‘I don’t want this for you. First love doesn’t last, no matter how much you want it to.” Her tone is pleading, but something in it makes me realise what this is.

I don’t say anything. I wait for her to elaborate.

“You think it’s going to feel like that forever, but then one day you wake up and realise you’re sleeping next to a stranger, someone that the older you wouldn’t choose.”

“Was Dad your first love, Mum?”

She turns her face from me, “Yes, and I wish to God he wasn’t. I hate him, I resent him, and I hate myself for letting this happen to me.”

She carries on, her words halting and her breath fast. “I don’t want you to settle down yet, Amber. I want you to have a life. It’s too much of a risk for you to accept this as your only future.

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