Read Online Gut Feeling by Victoria Browne - Free Book Online Page B

her names.
    As she got older and moved into senior school she was met with the same taunts from new faces, some of whom were much older than her. At the age of eleven Isabella had already formed two neat mounds of flesh filling her school blouses, her long dark hair and smooth olive-coloured skin caused jealousy among the other girls. She spent the first year of secondary school defending her academic ability in the same way she had in earlier years. And throughout her teen years and early adult life, her beauty had positive and negative effects when it came to finding genuine friends.
    Dave and Peter were still stunned by what she had just told them about her ex boyfriend. They looked at her for a second then burst out laughing.
    ‘You are joking, right?’ said Peter.
    ‘Nope he got locked up for it… the dick,’ she said with a huge grin on her face. ‘And that is why I figured, I needed to move away and find some new friends, ones with some common sense.’
    ‘Well,’ Peter said, before deciding he didn’t have anything more to say.
    ‘Looks like you need a fresh start,’ Dave suggested.
    The three of them decided to move on down the road to a busier place where this time Peter went to the bar, returning with three tequilas, lemon and salt.
    ‘You are kidding, right?’ Issi said, looking up.
    It was a Mexican-themed bar with sombreros on the walls and all the bar staff dressed as bandaleros , shouting in Mexican.
    ‘Why did the Mexican push his wife off a cliff?’ said Dave, picking up one of the small shot glasses.
    They had no idea.
    ‘ To-kill-er ,’ he said finally, raising his shot glass and downing it in one.
    Peter and Issi picked up their shots and together shouted, ‘ To-kill-er!’ , knocking them straight back then gasping at the bitter taste.
    ‘So?’ Peter said. ‘How long were you with your ex?’
    ‘Seven months but I knew him from school. He’s always been a waste of space. I just thought time might have changed him, but obviously not hey!’ She shrugged her shoulders.
    ‘Here’s to new times.’ Peter raised his glass and nodded.
    ‘New times,’ she replied.
    A while later Issi realised Dave was nowhere to be seen and looked around anxiously.
    ‘If you’re looking for Dave, he’s gone.’
    ‘Without saying bye?’
    ‘Yeah, that’s Dave. You’ll get used to him.’
    * * *
    Ash woke up in her old room looking over to see Rachel still sleeping in the single bed next to her; she looked over to the other side of the room at the doll’s house, rubbing her eyes. She got up, put on her robe and wandered downstairs. She could smell the fresh morning air drifting in from the open front door. She stepped out on to the porch to find Robert sitting on the wooden bench with Saber at his feet, looking out over the lawn beyond the driveway to the fields through the trees.
    ‘We used to watch you playing races on this drive when you were both little,’ he said, not looking at her.
    ‘It was just an old mud track then,’ Ash said, walking over to sit next to him. Saber watched her out of the corner of his eye then gave his tail a wag but didn’t move from were he lay. They sat in silence in the morning sun. Ash thought how much the old grounds had changed but how lovely they had made it look.
    ‘Years of work that didn’t mean a thing to Mary if it wasn’t for you kids.’ He took Ash’s hand. ‘Thank you for coming, pet. Don’t be sad. Just remember all the happy times… she would want it like that.’
    Ash smiled at him. Two of a kind, she thought. Two of the kindest, strongest people she would ever know.
    Saber sat up suddenly.
    ‘Rachel’s awake.’ Robert looked at the doorway. ‘I’ll go and see to her.’
    ‘No…’ Ash replied, putting her hand on his arm. ‘You stay here, I’ll go. I’ll make us all a cup of tea.’
    Ash met Rachel at the bottom of the stairs. They smiled at each other but didn’t speak before Rachel went out to join her grandfather on the