Read Online Love Is a Secret by Sophie King - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Sophie King
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research for her school holiday project. All you have to do is say where you’re going on your summer holiday and then send it back to us. Please don’t delete.
MESSAGE FROM GEORGIE
Smile, Mum. You’re on my webcam! Isn’t it brilliant? Ben set it up for me.
EMAIL TO MRS SUSAN THOMAS
Dear Mrs Thomas, Thank you for subscribing to our free horoscope service. This month will be a turning point for you. But you’ll need to be open-minded if you are to use these opportunities wisely.
WHAT MUMS KNOW
JOIN OUR ONLINE DISCUSSIONS ON:
How to survive the summer holidays.
Rowing in front of the children: can it be healthy?
How not to be a wicked step-mother.
TIP FROM CELLULITE MUM OF LITTLEHAMPTON
Stick a picture of yourself from your thin days on top of the biscuit tin.
CHUCKLE CORNER FROM GOING GREY OF MANCHESTER
Men are just like kitchen tiles. Lay them the right way and you can walk on them for ever.
THOUGHT TO KEEP YOU SANE FROM EARTH MOTHER
One day, they won’t need their nappies changing. They’ll be changing your incontinence pads instead.
9
T he traffic was horrendous but the hold-up had given Caroline time to check her emails on the laptop in the back of the taxi. Now, still stuck and bored, she logged on to What Mums Know . Strange, really. Even though her interest had initially been professional – it had given her some good ideas for the magazine – many of the subjects were also personally relevant. Like How not to be a wicked stepmother .
Caroline gazed unseeingly out of the window as they passed Madame Tussaud’s on the left. If Roger had left her, that woman might have become the children’s stepmother, and she’d have had them every other weekend. The magazine had done features on mothers who, through no fault of their own, had to allow the other woman to be with their children as part of the access agreement.
Just thinking about it made her feel sick.
She still felt a bit wobbly when the taxi driver stopped. The traffic had made her seriously late, and even though Jeff would wait, they would have less time to talk. In her haste, Caroline tipped the driver more than necessary and flew up the stairs to the club. Its situation, overlooking Marble Arch, suggested a smart establishment for well-heeled professionals. In fact it was a comfortable four-storey Georgian building with sofas, deep chairs and pots of coffee or tea. Upstairs, there was a dining room, of the steak-and-kidney-pudding variety, and a ladies’ with proper cotton hand towels instead of hand-dryers where, more than once, she had cried her eyes out after one of their heart-to-hearts.
Although he was officially Roger’s friend, from their university days, Jeff had become hers too over the years. He’d been at christenings, confirmations, Annabel’s A-level celebration and even her mother’s funeral. He had never married, despite Caroline’s attempts to match-make him with various friends and even her sister, and she had the feeling that he enjoyed being part of their family. They needed him too, especially in the fallout after Roger’s affair.
‘Caroline!’ Jeff sprang up from a sofa to plant a kiss on both her cheeks. A woman standing by the coffee gave them an inquisitive glance.
Although she felt wretched, Caroline was mildly amused and flattered. He was, she reminded herself, an extremely attractive man, not just in looks but in the way he listened to everyone and made them laugh. ‘So sorry I’m late,’ she said.
‘Not at all. You look amazing.’
She bit back the automatic comment: if that was true, Roger wouldn’t have strayed.
‘I thought we’d have a spot of lunch upstairs. Is that all right with you?’
‘Lovely. I don’t want to take up too much of your time.’
He consulted his watch. ‘I’ve got just over an hour before my next client. Wish I had longer but . . .’
‘It’s all right. Sure I’m not a nuisance?’
His eyes smiled at her.
MESSAGE FROM GEORGIE
Smile, Mum. You’re on my webcam! Isn’t it brilliant? Ben set it up for me.
EMAIL TO MRS SUSAN THOMAS
Dear Mrs Thomas, Thank you for subscribing to our free horoscope service. This month will be a turning point for you. But you’ll need to be open-minded if you are to use these opportunities wisely.
WHAT MUMS KNOW
JOIN OUR ONLINE DISCUSSIONS ON:
How to survive the summer holidays.
Rowing in front of the children: can it be healthy?
How not to be a wicked step-mother.
TIP FROM CELLULITE MUM OF LITTLEHAMPTON
Stick a picture of yourself from your thin days on top of the biscuit tin.
CHUCKLE CORNER FROM GOING GREY OF MANCHESTER
Men are just like kitchen tiles. Lay them the right way and you can walk on them for ever.
THOUGHT TO KEEP YOU SANE FROM EARTH MOTHER
One day, they won’t need their nappies changing. They’ll be changing your incontinence pads instead.
9
T he traffic was horrendous but the hold-up had given Caroline time to check her emails on the laptop in the back of the taxi. Now, still stuck and bored, she logged on to What Mums Know . Strange, really. Even though her interest had initially been professional – it had given her some good ideas for the magazine – many of the subjects were also personally relevant. Like How not to be a wicked stepmother .
Caroline gazed unseeingly out of the window as they passed Madame Tussaud’s on the left. If Roger had left her, that woman might have become the children’s stepmother, and she’d have had them every other weekend. The magazine had done features on mothers who, through no fault of their own, had to allow the other woman to be with their children as part of the access agreement.
Just thinking about it made her feel sick.
She still felt a bit wobbly when the taxi driver stopped. The traffic had made her seriously late, and even though Jeff would wait, they would have less time to talk. In her haste, Caroline tipped the driver more than necessary and flew up the stairs to the club. Its situation, overlooking Marble Arch, suggested a smart establishment for well-heeled professionals. In fact it was a comfortable four-storey Georgian building with sofas, deep chairs and pots of coffee or tea. Upstairs, there was a dining room, of the steak-and-kidney-pudding variety, and a ladies’ with proper cotton hand towels instead of hand-dryers where, more than once, she had cried her eyes out after one of their heart-to-hearts.
Although he was officially Roger’s friend, from their university days, Jeff had become hers too over the years. He’d been at christenings, confirmations, Annabel’s A-level celebration and even her mother’s funeral. He had never married, despite Caroline’s attempts to match-make him with various friends and even her sister, and she had the feeling that he enjoyed being part of their family. They needed him too, especially in the fallout after Roger’s affair.
‘Caroline!’ Jeff sprang up from a sofa to plant a kiss on both her cheeks. A woman standing by the coffee gave them an inquisitive glance.
Although she felt wretched, Caroline was mildly amused and flattered. He was, she reminded herself, an extremely attractive man, not just in looks but in the way he listened to everyone and made them laugh. ‘So sorry I’m late,’ she said.
‘Not at all. You look amazing.’
She bit back the automatic comment: if that was true, Roger wouldn’t have strayed.
‘I thought we’d have a spot of lunch upstairs. Is that all right with you?’
‘Lovely. I don’t want to take up too much of your time.’
He consulted his watch. ‘I’ve got just over an hour before my next client. Wish I had longer but . . .’
‘It’s all right. Sure I’m not a nuisance?’
His eyes smiled at her.
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