Read Online Our Kind of Love by Victoria Purman - Free Book Online
Authors: Victoria Purman
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to die for. And there’s really good coffee, too.’
The pub. Anna remembered it well. A flash of memory streaked across her eyes; Dancing Queen . Joe’s blue eyes. His naked body in the moonlight. She blinked it away.
‘Sounds great,’ she said, trying to find an expression that didn’t look like she was thinking about having sex with Lizzie’s brother. ‘I’ll see you guys in the morning.’
Dan walked over to her, leaning down for a kiss on the cheek. She gave him two, Italian style. He rested a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. ‘You’ll get through this, you know you will.’
Anna reached up to pat his hand. ‘I remember saying that to you a few months ago.’
‘And you were right.’ Dan threw her a smile. ‘You’ve always been the smartest girl in the room.’
‘Not about everything,’ she murmured as Dan and Lizzie closed the door behind them. Once she heard the familiar thrum of her car disappear into the distance, she struggled to her feet, suddenly too tired to think. With her heels dangling in her fingers, she shuffled down the small hallway and pushed open the first door she could find. A large bed beckoned and she stepped towards it, stripped off her clothes and fell between the cool cotton sheets.
CHAPTER
9
Anna flipped her head up and wrapped a towel around it like a turban. She felt refreshed after her shower, scrubbed clean. It was a new day, one day further away from her old life. And Lizzie was right. She’d slept well. The first decent night’s sleep since she couldn’t remember when.
It had been surprisingly relaxing to be sleeping in a different bed. It was a fresh start somehow. The pillows were plumper, the mattress felt new and slightly stiff under her back, the sheets softer, more comforting than what she was used to. No 1500 thread count cotton here, the kind she had that needed ironing just to look good on the bed. And yes, she’d been known to iron her sheets. It was something as simple as different sheets that set her mind to wandering. What if, in these sheets, in the still quiet of Middle Point, she could wake up and be someone else?
Maybe she didn’t have to be good girl Anna Morelli, GP, daughter, sister, jilted wife. Perhaps down here, waking up in someone else’s bed, she could pretend she was on holidays and be a totally different person.
And who would that be? If she could have her own sliding door moment, whose life would she want to be living instead of her own?
Maybe she could be more relaxed, suck on some of those chill pills that Dan and Lizzie were on. A free spirit. Why couldn’t she be a person who let life happen to them, flow over them like waves, rather than someone who had meticulously created hers? This free spirit would live in bare feet, not stilettos, would sleep in and breathe deeply and give up wearing a bra. Anna looked down at her breasts with a frown. Only if she wanted them sagging around her ankles.
She found another folded towel on a shelf in Dan’s bathroom and wrapped it around herself, folding it over her body and tucking it under her arms. Even the towels felt soft and comfortable.
‘A free spirit,’ she said, trying it out loud to see how it felt. Anna swiped the foggy mirror and sighed. Would that mean she’d have to give up real coffee for chai lattes, whatever they hell they were. Forsake real Italian bread for something gluggy and gluten-free? And, terror of terrors, say farewell forever to prosciutto? She shuddered at the thought. And just thinking of coffee made her crave one. She remembered Dan and Lizzie’s offer of breakfast at the pub and her stomach rumbled with hunger. She pushed open the bathroom door and stepped out into the hallway.
Something to her right caught her eye, a movement of shadow, and when she turned, her heart almost leapt into her throat.
Joe Blake was ten feet away. Staring right at her.
CHAPTER
10
‘Anna?’
‘Joe?’
‘Yeah. It’s me. Hi.’ He was in
The pub. Anna remembered it well. A flash of memory streaked across her eyes; Dancing Queen . Joe’s blue eyes. His naked body in the moonlight. She blinked it away.
‘Sounds great,’ she said, trying to find an expression that didn’t look like she was thinking about having sex with Lizzie’s brother. ‘I’ll see you guys in the morning.’
Dan walked over to her, leaning down for a kiss on the cheek. She gave him two, Italian style. He rested a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. ‘You’ll get through this, you know you will.’
Anna reached up to pat his hand. ‘I remember saying that to you a few months ago.’
‘And you were right.’ Dan threw her a smile. ‘You’ve always been the smartest girl in the room.’
‘Not about everything,’ she murmured as Dan and Lizzie closed the door behind them. Once she heard the familiar thrum of her car disappear into the distance, she struggled to her feet, suddenly too tired to think. With her heels dangling in her fingers, she shuffled down the small hallway and pushed open the first door she could find. A large bed beckoned and she stepped towards it, stripped off her clothes and fell between the cool cotton sheets.
CHAPTER
9
Anna flipped her head up and wrapped a towel around it like a turban. She felt refreshed after her shower, scrubbed clean. It was a new day, one day further away from her old life. And Lizzie was right. She’d slept well. The first decent night’s sleep since she couldn’t remember when.
It had been surprisingly relaxing to be sleeping in a different bed. It was a fresh start somehow. The pillows were plumper, the mattress felt new and slightly stiff under her back, the sheets softer, more comforting than what she was used to. No 1500 thread count cotton here, the kind she had that needed ironing just to look good on the bed. And yes, she’d been known to iron her sheets. It was something as simple as different sheets that set her mind to wandering. What if, in these sheets, in the still quiet of Middle Point, she could wake up and be someone else?
Maybe she didn’t have to be good girl Anna Morelli, GP, daughter, sister, jilted wife. Perhaps down here, waking up in someone else’s bed, she could pretend she was on holidays and be a totally different person.
And who would that be? If she could have her own sliding door moment, whose life would she want to be living instead of her own?
Maybe she could be more relaxed, suck on some of those chill pills that Dan and Lizzie were on. A free spirit. Why couldn’t she be a person who let life happen to them, flow over them like waves, rather than someone who had meticulously created hers? This free spirit would live in bare feet, not stilettos, would sleep in and breathe deeply and give up wearing a bra. Anna looked down at her breasts with a frown. Only if she wanted them sagging around her ankles.
She found another folded towel on a shelf in Dan’s bathroom and wrapped it around herself, folding it over her body and tucking it under her arms. Even the towels felt soft and comfortable.
‘A free spirit,’ she said, trying it out loud to see how it felt. Anna swiped the foggy mirror and sighed. Would that mean she’d have to give up real coffee for chai lattes, whatever they hell they were. Forsake real Italian bread for something gluggy and gluten-free? And, terror of terrors, say farewell forever to prosciutto? She shuddered at the thought. And just thinking of coffee made her crave one. She remembered Dan and Lizzie’s offer of breakfast at the pub and her stomach rumbled with hunger. She pushed open the bathroom door and stepped out into the hallway.
Something to her right caught her eye, a movement of shadow, and when she turned, her heart almost leapt into her throat.
Joe Blake was ten feet away. Staring right at her.
CHAPTER
10
‘Anna?’
‘Joe?’
‘Yeah. It’s me. Hi.’ He was in
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