Christie Barlow - Love Heart Lane

A division of HarperCollins Publishers

www.harpercollins.co.uk

Harper Impulse

an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by Harper Impulse 2019

Copyright © Christie Barlow 2019

Cover illustrations © Shutterstock.com

Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2019

Christie Barlow 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: 9780008319700

Ebook Edition © January 2019 ISBN: 9780008319694

Version: 2018-11-02

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page A division of HarperCollins Publishers www.harpercollins.co.uk

Copyright Harper Impulse an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in Great Britain by Harper Impulse 2019 Copyright © Christie Barlow 2019 Cover illustrations © Shutterstock.com Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2019 Christie Barlow 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: 9780008319700 Ebook Edition © January 2019 ISBN: 9780008319694 Version: 2018-11-02

Dedication For Roo, Mop, Missy & Mo, It’s the circle of life. It’s not negotiable. Where’s my woodland outfit? Operation Miaow. Walnut Wendy. Thank you all for the best week of summer 2018!

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

A Letter From Christie

Acknowledgements

About the Author

About HarperImpulse

About the Publisher

For Roo, Mop, Missy & Mo,

It’s the circle of life.

It’s not negotiable.

Where’s my woodland outfit?

Operation Miaow.

Walnut Wendy.

Thank you all for the best week of summer 2018!

Staring out of the window, Felicity Simons sat nervously at her boss’s desk. As she admired the view across the city of London, she wasn’t in any doubt that this was the best seat in the building.

It was only a few seconds later that she spotted her boss through the glass walls of the office, her size-eight figure tottering along the plush red carpet on her high heels, wearing the usual well-tailored suit with distinctive buttons that oozed designer brand. Her crimson blouse matched the colour of her nails and made Felicity feel unrelentingly beige in her dowdy brown tunic and scuffed patent shoes.

Eleanor Ramsbottom had arrived at Little Browns department store six months ago, and Felicity had always felt inferior in her boss’s company, knowing from the outset that there was no chance they’d ever hit it off. After sixty years of steady trade, the store had landed itself in financial difficulty and Eleanor, the daughter of a rich businessman, had rescued the store from closing. At the time everyone had been grateful, all the staff thankful that their jobs had been saved – until they’d had to work under Eleanor Ramsbottom, who lacked warmth, compassion and basic people skills.

The second Eleanor glided into the room Felicity bristled. She was aware that she was forcing a smile, putting on a happy face, but she needed this conversation to go in her favour. Under the desk, Felicity had her fingers firmly crossed. She watched as Eleanor pulled out a chair and shuffled some papers into a neat pile before finally settling down at the desk. Clasping her hands in front of her, she stared towards Felicity.

‘My secretary said you needed to see me urgently. It must be urgent to want to see me at 5 p.m. on a Friday night, have you no home to go to?’ Eleanor asked, as she flicked a glance towards the clock on the wall.

Felicity took a breath, knowing home was exactly where she didn’t want to be, because right at this moment in time Adrian would be moving out. They’d lived together for six months, but Felicity had known within hours of him moving into her flat that she’d made a huge mistake.

Initially, Felicity had been swept away on a tide of passion – Adrian was overwhelmingly sexy, after all – but the second she found herself picking up his dirty laundry despite the washing basket being within reaching distance, the lust had worn off and real life had smacked her right between the eyes.

‘I would like … if at all possible…’ She paused. ‘…Some time off.’ Felicity was relieved to finally get the words out in the open.

‘You don’t see me to book time off.’ Eleanor’s manner was curt. ‘You know what to do, fill in your request form and pass it to your team leader and I will authorise it within due course, after I’ve checked the chart.’

Eleanor was always about the charts.

‘Unfortunately, that’s not possible; I would like two weeks off from Monday.’ Felicity was thankful her voice was steady because inside she felt all jittery and even more so when Eleanor released a long, shuddering sound underneath her breath. Felicity could already feel the disapproving tension in the room. She watched Eleanor slouch back in her chair, twisting her wedding ring round and round before letting out a half laugh then fixing a serious expression back on to her face.

‘For a second there, I could have sworn you asked for two weeks off from Monday, and with it being Friday afternoon … not to mention the January sales, one of the store’s busiest times, where we need every hand on deck to reach our targets, and that includes yours, Felicity – both hands.’