Maggie Conway - Summer at West Sands Guest House - A perfect feel good, uplifting romantic comedy

HQ

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2018

Copyright © Maggie Conway 2018

Maggie Conway asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for 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, downloaded, 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.

E-book Edition © July 2018 ISBN: 9780008296568

Version: 2018-07-09

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page Summer at West Sands Guest House MAGGIE CONWAY

Copyright HQ An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2018 Copyright © Maggie Conway 2018 Maggie Conway asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue record for 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, downloaded, 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. E-book Edition © July 2018 ISBN: 9780008296568 Version: 2018-07-09

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

Coming soon…

About the Author

Also by Maggie Conway

About the Publisher

Molly Adams peered into the bottom of the laundry basket. The few items of clothing barely warranted a whole wash cycle but she reached down and bundled them into the machine anyway. She didn’t want anything lying about tomorrow, least of all her dirty washing.

A surprising array of internet recipes and supermarket meals for one had taken care of her eating but laundry for one had taken her by surprise, an unexpected consequence of her husband leaving her.

Standing in the small utility room, she let out a sigh. With its integrated appliances and fitted shelves, she’d always quite liked the warmth and cocoon-like feel of the small space and she stood for a few moments almost reluctant to move. The silence of the house was driving her mad and even the gurgling and slurping of the washing machine was welcome.

Funny, it had been the laundry basket – or at least its contents – that had first alerted her. She could still recall the moment her insides had shifted uneasily as the unfamiliar scent wafting from her husband’s shirt assaulted her senses. She had placed the shirt in the washing machine, setting the dial to the highest temperature – totally unsuitable for the luxury two-ply fabric Colin favoured. Part of her had hoped the shirt might disintegrate in the wash. Perhaps if she destroyed the evidence, they could carry on as normal. Except deep down, she had known normal wasn’t good. She had noticed a brightness in her husband’s eyes, a spring in his step that she knew wasn’t of her making.

She hadn’t confronted him immediately, hadn’t been in a particular hurry to have the conversation that might end their five-year marriage. Because although she had wondered about the state of their marriage for some time, she certainly hadn’t expected her husband’s infidelity to bring it to an ignominious end. She needed to live with the notion that her husband was having an affair, to bolster herself for what she knew was surely to come. She thought she should be rallying herself to put up a fight to save their marriage, except she wasn’t sure exactly what she would be fighting for.

She had tried to pinpoint the moment their lives seemed to have veered in different directions. Molly had known Colin was driven but it wasn’t until after they were married that she realised just how ambitious he really was. It seemed with every step he took up the corporate ladder he also took a step further away from her.

Molly supposed she’d always been more of a dreamer, not just in her career but in life generally. She liked to view the future as an unknown quantity, new things to discover, surprises still to come. Colin on the other hand was a planner and liked to look ahead – preferably with a spreadsheet involved. She began to feel caught in his tailwind, always trying to keep up with him.

A year ago, Molly had been made redundant at the same time Colin had gained a big promotion in the financial company where he worked. She was proud of his success and he was sympathetic for her loss but instead of pulling them closer, it had the opposite effect. While his career soared, Molly’s had stalled and she’d taken a temporary position covering maternity leave. Colin clearly wasn’t impressed with her temping status; Molly suspected it annoyed him that she wasn’t following a clear career path.

At school Molly had been undecided about her future, shuffling along to the careers teacher admitting she didn’t have a clue what she wanted to do. Somehow between them, they’d conjured up marketing and so after school she started her degree.

In her first year at university, Molly had met Declan, an effortlessly cool and impossibly good-looking arts student from Galway who told Molly her wild red hair and emerald green eyes reminded him of home. Her hair was closer to brown than red and her eyes were hazel but who was she to argue with such romanticism? Until then, her only experience had been clumsy, fumbling encounters with boys she knew from school. She had never met anyone like him and she was soon spending every minute she could with him – all her good intentions of working hard flying out the window. When, after several months, the relationship ended as suddenly as it had started, the resultant fallout had been responsible not only for breaking Molly’s heart but also for her failing all her exams.

Studying for her resits during a miserable summer Molly wondered if university was right for her. But she had buckled down, passed all her resits and started second year determined to do well. From that point on, when she wasn’t attending lectures she squirrelled herself away in the library. It was there one day, when she was stretching for a book on the top shelf, that a safe pair of hands had reached out and prevented it from toppling on her.