Read Online Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn by Tilly Tennant - Free Book Online Page A

thoughtful. ‘How long has it been since I last saw you?’
    ‘Ooooh, last time I was in Applejack’s at the same ungodly hour you get there was when Bonnie’s car broke down and I had to run her into work until she got a new one.’ She turned to Bonnie. ‘How long have you had the car you’ve got now?’
    Bonnie shrugged. ‘About three years, I think.’
    ‘That’ll be it, then,’ Jeanie said. ‘Three years ago.’
    ‘Bloody hell,’ Max rubbed a hand across his chin. ‘Time does fly. I’d only just taken on the business then from my dad.’
    ‘I think you had,’ Bonnie agreed. ‘How is he, by the way?’
    ‘He’s brilliant. Early retirement was the best decision he ever made.’
    ‘He went to France, didn’t he?’ Jeanie cut in.
    Max nodded. ‘He has a house in the Dordogne, loves it there.’
    Paige’s head shot up for a moment and she caught Bonnie in a measured gaze. But the reference to France that Paige and Jeanie had feared might send Bonnie into a dour mood seemed to pass without note. Bonnie was now too busy watching Sarah eat. Max’s girlfriend seemed oblivious to the attention, and looked up from her plate with an unassuming smile.
    ‘So, what do you do for a living?’ Bonnie asked, trying to sound casual.
    ‘I’m a mature student,’ Sarah replied.
    ‘Oh, what are you studying?’ Jeanie asked, her interest clearly piqued.
    ‘Fine art. I’m going into my second year now. I was a teaching assistant before, but I knew it wasn’t for me. I’d always been interested in art, so I decided one day that life is too short and I should pursue my dream of becoming a professional artist.’
    Bonnie tried to look suitably impressed. Great, not only is she pretty but she’s clever and talented too. Is there anything wrong with this woman?
    ‘She showed me some of her work when I went to pick her up tonight,’ Max said, ‘it’s really good.’ He added self-consciously, ‘not that I know much about art. Potato prints, that’s about my limit,’ he laughed.
    Sarah smiled affectionately at him. ‘You are funny. You don’t need to know about art to appreciate what you like. I always think that art is too elitist and should be more about people simply liking what they like.’
    Oh dear God , Bonnie thought, pretty, clever, talented and also nice beyond reason. How much more annoying could she be?
    ***
    ‘I’ve had a lovely evening.’ Jeanie undid her seatbelt as they pulled up outside her house. ‘It was nice to have Max and Sarah with us, livened things up a bit. I can almost pretend I had a real birthday party.’
    ‘Thanks. Nice to know our company would have been so dull if they hadn’t turned up,’ Bonnie commented with a sideways glance.
    ‘You know what I mean.’
    ‘You could have invited your friends,’ Bonnie said, ‘nobody stopped you.’
    ‘You don’t like my friends,’ Jeanie returned.
    ‘I do.’
    ‘As I recall, you called them a bunch of old crusties.’
    There was a snigger from the back seat. ‘Nice one, Mum.’
    ‘I didn’t mean anything by it,’ Bonnie said to Jeanie, ignoring Paige.
    ‘Anyway, I’m seeing them all tomorrow night. Pete and Tank have a special birthday performance lined up for me in Leathers.’ Jeanie grinned, clearly excited by this prospect.
    ‘That rock club at the edge of town? I thought you’d stopped going there.’
    ‘What made you think that?’
    Bonnie shrugged, suddenly feeling guilty. Had she really been so self-absorbed lately that she didn’t know what happened in her mum’s life when she wasn’t there?
    ‘I thought Sarah was boring,’ Paige cut in from the back seat.
    ‘Paige!’ Jeanie chided.
    ‘Max must have done too, because he spent all his time talking to Mum instead of his actual girlfriend,’ Paige continued in a scathing tone.
    ‘He didn’t,’ Bonnie said defensively. ‘We do see each other almost every day so he knows me really well.’
    ‘Exactly,’ Paige insisted. ‘You’d have thought