Katey Lovell - Joe and Clara’s Christmas Countdown

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 HarperCollins 2017

Copyright © Katey Lovell 2017

Cover illustrations © Shutterstock.com

Cover design © Books Covered 2017

Katey Lovell 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: 9780008260644

Ebook Edition © October 2017 ISBN: 9780008260637

Version: 2017-10-24

For Zachary. Thank you for brightening my world.

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 HarperCollins 2017 Copyright © Katey Lovell 2017 Cover illustrations © Shutterstock.com Cover design © Books Covered 2017 Katey Lovell 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: 9780008260644 Ebook Edition © October 2017 ISBN: 9780008260637 Version: 2017-10-24

Dedication For Zachary. Thank you for brightening my world.

Prologue Prologue

Clara

The Countdown

Clara

Joe

Clara

Joe

Clara

Joe

Clara

Joe

Clara

Joe

Clara

Joe

Clara

Joe

Clara

Joe

Clara

Joe

Clara

Joe

Clara

Joe

Clara

Joe

Clara

Epilogue

Joe

Katey’s Advent Calendar of Thanks

About the Author

Also by Katey Lovell

About HarperImpulse

About the Publisher

The beauty of a signature scent is also its danger. Everyone associates it with you. And Bella’s overbearing perfume had clung to Dean’s clothes the way a baby being left for the first time clings desperately to its mother.

Clara had been suspicious for months, but her stomach still churned as she told the tale. It felt like history repeating itself. ‘When I confronted him about it he didn’t lie. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. No one wants to be lied to, but no one wants to feel replaceable either, do they?’

‘He’s a scumbag,’ Deirdre replied. ‘A complete and utter scumbag. Cheating on you with his masseuse? It’s such a cliché. Especially after you introduced them.’ She shook her head disapprovingly. ‘I said it all along, he’s got no class, that one.’

‘Physio,’ Clara corrected absentmindedly, before finding herself adding, ‘He’s not a bad person’. Why she was defending Dean to her boss when she’d spent the previous night alternating between hurling abuse at him and crying for the relationship they’d once had, she couldn’t say. Things hadn’t been perfect for a long time – Dean had seemed distant, and Clara herself had been exhausted, carrying the pressures of work home with her – but why Bella? Clara couldn’t see the attraction.

‘He sure as hell isn’t a good one. He told you he was having a sports massage when all the time he was having a shag! It’s shameless. You should sell your story to the press. I can see the headline now, “Rovers player in Physio Romp”. I’m sure there’d be some money in it for you,’ she added, with a worldly-wise nod of her head.

If it wasn’t so tragic, Clara would have laughed. ‘I don’t think so. A former Man United youth teamer, who now plays semi-professionally for the local team? There’s no story in that.’

Deirdre was having none of it. ‘There’s always the women’s magazines. They’d be all over this. There was a double-page spread in one about a woman who wanted to marry her cat. Her cat! Your story busts that crap right out of the water.’

‘Why did you read it if it was crap?’ Clara asked, tongue firmly in her cheek. She knew full well how much Deirdre loved the weekly women’s magazines. She had a stash of them secretly shoved in her desk drawer.

‘I was at the hairdresser’s this morning,’ she replied haughtily, patting her softly permed locks to plump up the fresh waves. ‘It was practically thrust into my hands as I was sat under the lamps.’

‘Your hair looks good,’ Clara observed, noticing her boss’s hair had also turned a soft shade of ash blonde rather than its usual salt-and-pepper flecks.

‘It does, doesn’t it?’ Deirdre smiled with pride. ‘Hey, maybe you should go for a new look too. Reinvent yourself. It might help you get over Dean.’

‘It’ll take more than a new hairdo to do that. I’m beginning to think humans aren’t cut out for monogamy. I should have learned from Mum’s mistakes.’

‘Not all men are dirty dogs.’

‘Dean is, though. And my dad was too.’ An acrid taste filled Clara’s mouth.

‘I still can’t believe Dean actually thought he’d get away with cheating on you right under your nose.’

‘The worst part is knowing I’m going to have to see her again. She helps our next-door neighbour with the exercises for her arthritis. Her and her perfume will be getting right up my nose.’

Deirdre laughed. ‘Good one. Nice to see you’ve not lost your sense of humour.’

‘If I didn’t laugh, I’d cry.’

‘And you’re sure you’ll be up to speaking in front of everyone tonight?’

Clara hoped so – the kids at the youth club had been talking about the talent show for weeks. They’d been diligently practising their dance routines and comedy sketches. One ambitious twelve-year-old had been keen to juggle knives whilst riding his unicycle until Deirdre had put a stop to it on health and safety grounds. He was reluctantly settling for using bean bags instead of blades.