Read Online Claudia's Big Break by Lisa Heidke - Free Book Online Page A

Sometimes, I want to run away and never come back.’
    â€˜And what better place to run than Santorini,’ I said brightly. This wasn’t the time to get maudlin. For goodness sake, we were staying on one of the most gorgeous islands in the world. Although, come to think of it, now that it was dark, and given the dismal weather, we really could have been anywhere.
    â€˜Your life may have been easier before Levi was around but it wouldn’t be as much fun,’ I reminded her.
    â€˜Fun? I doubt it,’ she said after biting into a green olive. ‘No, I just have to accept that some women are natural mothers and others, like me, are not.’
    â€˜You are a natural, Soph,’ I said. ‘Levi adores you.’
    Sophie exhaled. ‘I thought being a litigation lawyer was tough but it was a cake walk compared to this. Most of the time Levi calls me an angry monster. I’d hoped it’d get easier as he got older, not harder. When he was a baby I was forever exhausted because of the sleep deprivation, but it’s way more tiring now. Levi’s demands are endless. Meanwhile, the TV’s blaring. The phone’s ringing. The dog’s dying because he hasn’t been fed for two days. And to top it off, Alex is asking me where his socks, jeans and life have disappeared to.’
    Tara laid out a huge bowl of tomato and basil pasta and green salad on the coffee table.
    â€˜Need help?’ I asked.
    She shook her head and pulled out several plates from the sideboard.
    â€˜And then there’s Jake to deal with. I know it’s only one weekend a fortnight, but . . .’ She trailed off before snapping back with, ‘Jeez, listen to me. I have a healthy, energetic little boy and a wonderful husband. It’s just that —’ Sophie took a moment. ‘It’s hard being married.’
    â€˜Ain’t that the truth,’ agreed Tara. ‘Marriage is hard work. That’s why I ditched Anthony, remember?’
    â€˜Poor Anthony,’ I said. ‘As a mild-mannered architect, he was woefully unprepared for someone like you to propel into his life.’
    â€˜I wanted an easy life,’ mused Tara. ‘Turns out it wasn’t so easy after all.’
    Prior to marrying Anthony, Tara’s love had been Jules, a university girlfriend. But after that relationship soured and Tara declared her fling ‘nothing more than a one-off experiment’, she fell into the arms of Anthony. After a whirlwind romance, they married . . . and six drawn-out years later, divorced.
    Tara told him she needed to find herself. ‘But you’re not lost,’ Anthony had argued, bewildered. He was devastated. ‘I married for life, Tara. I assumed we were going to have children and raise a family.’
    â€˜You will,’ Tara had assured him. ‘Just not with me.’
    â€˜Tara,’ said Sophie, rolling her eyes. ‘Please don’t compare your marriage to my relationship with Alex.’
    Tara glared at her. ‘All I’m saying is that I know what it’s like. The sacrifices, the compromises, the heartache when it falls apart. I’ve been there.’ Tara took a breath before stuffing lettuce into her mouth.
    â€˜You weren’t together that long!’
    â€˜Are you kidding me? It felt like twenty years.’
    â€˜We all know why you married, Tars,’ I said, sucking up a spaghetti strand. ‘So that forever more you can refer to yourself as a divorcee rather than a wretched spinster like me . . . and to get over your ill-fated experiment, to prove to yourself you weren’t —’
    â€˜That’s not true,’ Tara chimed in before I could finish. ‘I was just young and stupid when I got married.’
    â€˜And now?’
    â€˜Well, now . . .’ Tara hesitated. ‘I feel much more in control of my life.’
    At least Sophie and Tara had marriages to bicker about. Here I was, the same age