Read Online Ivy Lane: Winter: by Cathy Bramley - Free Book Online

mild-mannered husband for the rather innocent crime of snoring.
    ‘Poor me, more like!’ I could hear the pout in her voice. ‘What I wouldn’t give to have a double bed all to myself for one night.’
    I’d had a double bed all to myself for over two years and frankly enough was enough.
    ‘Oh God,’ I groaned, ‘what I
wouldn’t
give to be kept awake all night by someone in bed with me. I need some loving. Does that sound desperate?’
    ‘A bit.’ She giggled. ‘Ooh, I know, Date Me dot com!’ she exclaimed.
    ‘Er, I’m not sure I follow you.’
    ‘The internet dating site, you know?’
    ‘Oh right.’ I sighed with relief. ‘For a moment there . . . oh, never mind. But no. Thanks for the suggestion, but definitely not.’
    Internet dating had ‘dodgy men’ written all over it and I think I’d suffered enough failures in the romance department this year already.
    ‘It’s quite safe, Tilly, my hairdresser has been on loads of dates that way.’
    My point exactly.
    ‘Mmm. Thing is I don’t want “loads of dates”. I just want one really nice one.’
    Preferably with a man with intelligent brown eyes and a broad nose and thick wavy hair . . .
    I snapped my eyes shut.
    Forget about Aidan like he’s forgotten about you.
    ‘Actually, Marcia, one of the teachers at school, keeps trying to set me up with her brother,’ I said brightly.
    ‘A blind date!’ Gemma squealed down the phone. ‘That was how me and Mike got together and look how that turned out!’
    I pressed my lips together and decided not to mention last night’s near miss with the pillow.
    ‘You should go for it, what have you got to lose?’ she added.
    ‘Apart from my dignity in the staff room, you mean?’ I sighed. ‘Marcia showed me a picture and he didn’t look too bad until she admitted that he still lived at home with their parents, sleeps in a single bed and kisses his Kylie Minogue posters before going to sleep each night.’
    ‘Oh dear,’ she sniggered. ‘Sounds like that film,
Failure to Launch
.’
    We both fell silent, thinking about Matthew McConaughey’s tousled hair.
    I cleared my throat. ‘Anyway. What are you up to for the rest of the day?’
    I heard her shuffle in her seat. ‘Well, Mike and I are doing some planning for next year.’ She sounded all excited and happy.
    I smiled, glad she was over her desire to strangle him.
    ‘Me too,’ I said. ‘I’ve ordered some seed catalogues and I’m going to pop down to the allotment later and make a list of everything I think I should grow next year. I’m toying with the idea of setting up a gardening club at school, too. I thought I might ask your mum for some advice. I think the children would love growing their own vegetables.’
    ‘Ah, that’s a terrific idea and I’m sure she’d love to help. We’re planning on knocking through the kitchen into the dining room, to make the downstairs more open. It’ll make it easier to keep an eye on the baby when I’m in the kitchen if we’ve got one big room. And then Mia can be in the living room watching telly or revising. Hmmph, although I’ll believe that when I see it.’
    My smile slipped away and I swallowed. ‘Sounds perfect,’ I said, forcing a lightness that I didn’t feel.
    My plans sounded like the plans of a single lonely person. Hers sounded like the plans of a growing family. Which was true, of course.
    I rang off with promises to see her soon as I needed to get on. I had an appointment with a hoe and some errant weeds at Ivy Lane. Besides which, I wanted to see who was around. Funny how I’d taken on the allotment to give myself some peace and quiet and now I made it my destination whenever I needed company.
    But that was the thing about life, I mused; no matter how diligent you are, it never does quite go to plan.
    Two weeks later, we were halfway through December and I was still relying on Ivy Lane for my fix of social contact. Our numbers were rather depleted, though, I thought sadly as I