Bella Osborne - Wildflower Park – Part Three

Published by Avon an imprint of

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street,

London, SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers 2019

Copyright © Bella Osborne 2018

Cover illustration © Kim Leo

Cover design © Cherie Chapman Book Design 2018

Bella Osborne asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008258221

Ebook Edition © April 2019 ISBN: 9780008258207

Version: 2019-02-12

For Patty – with love.

Contents

Cover

Title Page PART THREE

Copyright

Dedication

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

Keep Reading …

About the Author

Also by Bella Osborne

About the Publisher

Anna knew she was blinking more times than was necessary but Sophie’s words had stunned her. She never believed Sophie would ever actually leave Dave. Sure, they annoyed the crap out of each other, but that was normal for them. She shut her front door behind her and licked her lips as she tried to think of the appropriate thing to say.

‘Well, say something,’ said Sophie, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks.

Anna stepped forward and enveloped her friend in a tight hug and held her until the crying had subsided. Anna could foresee it being a long evening where Sophie would offload all her woes about Dave and his PhD-level uselessness whilst Anna nodded in the right places and then Sophie went home to shout at Dave a bit more. Anna held her at arm’s length. ‘I’m going to make us ridiculously calorific hot chocolates and then you’re going to tell me all about it. Okay?’

Sophie bobbed her head. ‘I’ll finish unpacking while you get the drinks.’ Anna looked like she’d stepped into a revolving door the wrong way – confused and slightly stunned. She opened her mouth but no words came out. Sophie disappeared into Anna’s spare room.

Anna had a number of conversations in her head whilst she was making the hot chocolate, most of them ending in ‘… but you’re not actually moving out. Are you?’ although the fact Sophie was unpacking her stuff and neatly folding it into Anna’s IKEA chest of drawers told her it wasn’t going to be straightforward. Anna stared at the hot chocolates and for the first time in a very long while she wished they had been alcoholic. She scattered some mini marshmallows on top, took the laden mugs into the living room and waited for Sophie. Maurice stretched out on the sofa next to Anna and gave her arm a pat with his paw. She absent-mindedly stroked him and he started to purr like a small motor.

Sophie came in and flopped into the chair opposite. ‘Right, the case is unpacked. I’ll go back for more stuff tomorrow. Thanks for this. Yum,’ she said, picking up the mug.

Anna wasn’t sure how best to tackle this. ‘When you say, you’ve left Dave …’

Sophie pursed her lips. ‘I’ve had enough. Causing a scene with Hudson was absolutely the last straw.’ Sophie was resolute. Anna hadn’t seen her quite like this before.

‘But what about Arlo and Petal?’

‘Oh, I’m not leaving them.’ Anna did a sigh of relief followed by a sharp intake of breath and she almost inhaled a marshmallow. If she wasn’t leaving the children was she expecting to move them in too? Sophie continued. ‘I’m going to get up early so I’ll be there when they wake up and then they’re off on holiday with the Kraken for two weeks.’

Anna was hugely relieved about this. She’d forgotten Karen was taking the children away for a while. ‘It might do you both good to have two weeks together without the children.’

Sophie was already shaking her head. ‘No way. I can’t do this any more.’ Her voice cracked and she pulled a tissue from her pocket and blew her nose loudly. ‘This isn’t what I wanted, Anna. I wasn’t meant to end up like this. I don’t know how it happened.’ She looked wretched sitting crossed-legged in the chair with her swollen belly stretching her top to the max. She was six months pregnant and she looked it. ‘I had plans … big plans. I was going to go places … see stuff. Not stay in the Midlands and wipe bums for the rest of my life.’

Anna put down her drink and went and gave Sophie another hug. She hated to see her like this. ‘What needs to change to make you happy again?’

Sophie sniffed. ‘Swapping Dave for Hudson would be a start.’ She gave a hiccup of a laugh.

‘You’d soon get fed up with his pretty face and perfect body. Yuk.’ Anna gave a pretend shudder, passed Sophie back her hot chocolate and Sophie gave a brief smile. ‘And I bet he leaves wet towels on the floor too.’

‘If it means he’s walking around naked, that’s fine with me.’ Sophie sipped her hot chocolate and gave herself a creamy moustache. ‘Hmmm,’ she said contentedly and Anna wasn’t sure if it was the hot chocolate or the thought of a naked Hudson making her emit the happy sound.

‘Dave isn’t all bad, though. I’m sure we can come up with a list of his good points.’ Anna scanned the room for a pen and paper. She had various ways to solve problems.

‘I’m not workshopping my marriage,’ said Sophie emphatically.

‘Fair enough.’ She had a point. ‘How about Relate counselling?’ Sophie shook her head. ‘Then how do we resolve this?’