A Year of Taking Chances. Jennifer Bohnet

Chapter Twenty

       Chapter Twenty-One

       Chapter Twenty-Two

       Chapter Twenty-Three

       Chapter Twenty-Four

       Chapter Twenty-Five

       Chapter Twenty-Six

       Chapter Twenty-Seven

       Chapter Twenty-Eight

       Chapter Twenty-Nine

       Chapter Thirty

       Chapter Thirty-One

       Chapter Thirty-Two

       Chapter Thirty-Three

       Chapter Thirty-Four

       Chapter Thirty-Five

       Chapter Thirty-Six

       Chapter Thirty-Seven

       Chapter Thirty-Eight

       Chapter Thirty-Nine

       Chapter Forty

       Chapter Forty-One

       Chapter Forty-Two

       Chapter Forty-Three

       Chapter Forty-Four

       Chapter Forty-Five

       Chapter Forty-Six

       Chapter Forty-Seven

       Chapter Forty-Eight

       Chapter Forty-Nine

       Chapter Fifty

       Chapter Fifty-One

       Chapter Fifty-Two

       Epilogue

       Acknowledgements

       Excerpt

       Endpages

       About the Publisher

Prologue

      New Year’s Eve

       Fourteen Months Ago

      ‘I hate New Year’s Eve,’ Jodie Saville muttered to her friend Tina Matthews. ‘All the enforced jollity and bonhomie. Nobody believes a word of it. It’s just an excuse to drink too much.’

      Tina nodded in agreement. ‘I do swish you a Happy New Year, though. And me of course.’ She gave an involuntary hic at the end of the sentence. ‘Going to have a headache tomorrow.’

      The two of them were standing close together with a crowd of other people in their local park watching fireworks light the night sky.

      Tina jumped and uttered a loud groan as an extra-loud bang vibrated the air around them. As the crowd uttered the obligatory ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ she said, ‘Fireworks are very pretty but do they have to be quite so noisy? That one hurt my head.’

      ‘We ought to make a New Year’s resolution,’ Jodie said, watching the scarlet shower turn into a spectacular burst of gold sparks. ‘Make this the year we change our lives for the better. That big three-oh is getting closer and closer for both of us.’

      ‘Chance would be a fine thing,’ Tina muttered. ‘Maybe we should do what that bloke on the telly did years ago – Noel somebody. He reckoned he ordered the Cosmos to change his life and it did.’

      ‘So, whatd’youhavetodo?’ Jodie said, slurring her words together.

      ‘Dunno really. Think you have to decide what you want and shout it out to space. Bit like positive thinking, only louder and more pre… hic… precise.’

      ‘Nah,’ Jodie said. ‘We can try but I can’t see it working. Tell you what, if nothing’s changed by the time we hit thirty we’ll jack everything in and… and join a nunnery.’

      Tina, about to hurl the last of her Prosecco down her throat, almost choked. ‘You’ve got to be joking.’

      ‘OK,’ Jodie said. ‘How about promising ourselves if we’re still single at thirty, we’ll run away to deepest Wales and become madwomen who keep cats.’

      ‘Alpacas,’ Tina said. ‘I’ve always fancied living in the country and keeping alpacas. Much better than cats. And we can knit bobble hats with their wool.’

      ‘Whatever,’ Jodie said. ‘You hear that, Cosmos?’ She tilted her face up and stared at the star-filled sky. ‘You’ve got under two years to change our lives, otherwise we’re off to deepest Wales to live with alpacas,’ she shouted.

      The loudest bang of the evening from the last firework drowned out her words.

Chapter One

      February

       This Year

      Tina began the third Friday of February by oversleeping. Never good in the mornings, since Jodie had left and she was living on her own in the flat, mornings were reverting to being one mad rush to get to work on time. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy her job as a literary agent – she loved it and couldn’t imagine ever doing anything else. She just didn’t do mornings, never had done. She’d driven her mum to distraction and many a shouting match trying to get her to school on time.

      She’d improved a lot as she got older and left home – it was a case of having to really. Employers could be less than understanding in Tina’s experience, even though she always tried to make up the time on the days she was late. Sharing a flat with Jodie, she’d been spoilt because Jodie had definitely been a morning person. She’d always got up when the alarm went off and had made it her mission in life to make sure Tina got up to. It had been all too easy relying on Jodie. After Jodie had left, Tina had given herself a strict talking to and even made a New Year’s resolution that this would be the year she embraced early mornings.

      She’d bought two alarm clocks and set them – one for an hour and the other for half an hour earlier than the time she actually needed to be up. The first one she placed on the bedside table where she could easily stop the noise it made and snuggle down again, secure in the knowledge she didn’t have to get up just yet. The one set for half an hour later, she placed over by the door, knowing she’d need to get out of bed to stop the alarm. Once she was up to do that, she’d obviously stay up and use the extra time for a leisurely coffee. Late mornings would be no more. That had been the theory anyway, and in practice it had worked – most of the time.

      But cold, dark February mornings were the pits and today the plan had failed spectacularly. This morning the extra thirty minutes had disappeared because, after switching the second alarm off, Tina had decided she was awake enough to lay on the bed planning her day. Instead she’d fallen back into a deep sleep, which meant she’d be lucky to get to the office before nine o’clock.

      In fact, it was five minutes past when she slung her bag over the back of her chair and switched on her computer. Thank goodness the main office was empty still and there was no sign of Kirsty, her boss and senior agent. Tina breathed a sigh of relief. Time to catch her breath and…

      ‘Morning, Tina. I’m guessing you missed breakfast this morning. Can I get you a coffee?’ Leah, newest member of staff and a pain in the proverbial as far as Tina was concerned, stood in front of her, smiling a knowing smile. ‘I’m just off to fetch a couple for Kirsty