Lynsey James: A Winter’s Wish Come True

Tis the season to be … pregnant? Catch up with Cleo and Scott in this fabulously feel-good festive read

Being pregnant with her ex-boyfriend’s baby is the last thing on Cleo Jones’s Christmas wish list. Scott might have been the man of her dreams once upon a time, but things change and now Cleo faces a future as a single mum … Or does she?

Scott won’t let Cleo go through this alone; whatever their differences he’s vowed to be there, from antenatal classes to night feeds and nappy changing. The two agree to bring up their baby as friends – but as Cleo’s bump grows, so do their feelings for each other.

Cleo can’t be sure if it’s her heart or her hormones urging her to give Scott a second chance – but getting back together could be the best Christmas present of all!

A Winter’s Wish Come True

Lynsey James

ONE PLACE. MANY STORIES

Contents

Cover

Blurb Tis the season to be … pregnant? Catch up with Cleo and Scott in this fabulously feel-good festive read Being pregnant with her ex-boyfriend’s baby is the last thing on Cleo Jones’s Christmas wish list. Scott might have been the man of her dreams once upon a time, but things change and now Cleo faces a future as a single mum … Or does she? Scott won’t let Cleo go through this alone; whatever their differences he’s vowed to be there, from antenatal classes to night feeds and nappy changing. The two agree to bring up their baby as friends – but as Cleo’s bump grows, so do their feelings for each other. Cleo can’t be sure if it’s her heart or her hormones urging her to give Scott a second chance – but getting back together could be the best Christmas present of all!

Title Page A Winter’s Wish Come True Lynsey James ONE PLACE. MANY STORIES

Author Bio LYNSEY JAMES was born in Fife and is an incurable bookworm. A careers adviser at school once told her writing wasn’t a “good option”, so Lynsey has tried a little bit of everything, including make-up artistry, teaching and doing admin for a chocolate fountain company. Now, she finally has fulfilled her dream and is writing full-time. When not writing, eating cake or drinking tea, she’s daydreaming about the day Matthew Gray Gubler finally realises they’re meant to be together. It’ll happen one day… Follow her on Twitter at @Lynsey1991

Acknowledgements Acknowledgements I’m lucky enough to have a whole host of brilliant people in my life, who push me to be the best and help me through the ‘what on earth am I doing?’ moments that we all have in life. So, here they are: Mum Dad Kyle Gran Dixie Jodie Aoife Frankie Andi Jen I love each and every one of you; you’re all inspirational and fantastic. I also want to thank my lovely agent Sarah for letting me be part of #TeamManning and everyone at HQ for helping this book come alive. Super Secret Writing Group, you are all kickass at what you do and I’m thrilled to know you all. And finally, it may seem strange to thank fictional characters, but THANK YOU Cleo Jones and Scott Robinson. Thank you for popping into my head and not leaving me alone until I wrote your story down, from beginning to end. I’ll miss giving you guys new adventures to go on, but I’ll certainly never forget either of you.

Dedication This book is for you, reading this dedication right now and about to dive into one of my books. Maybe it’s your first, maybe it’s not; it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re reading it, and I can’t thank you enough for doing so.

Prologue

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

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

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

Epilogue

Endpages

Copyright

LYNSEY JAMESwas born in Fife and is an incurable bookworm. A careers adviser at school once told her writing wasn’t a “good option”, so Lynsey has tried a little bit of everything, including make-up artistry, teaching and doing admin for a chocolate fountain company. Now, she finally has fulfilled her dream and is writing full-time. When not writing, eating cake or drinking tea, she’s daydreaming about the day Matthew Gray Gubler finally realises they’re meant to be together. It’ll happen one day… Follow her on Twitter at @Lynsey1991

Acknowledgements

I’m lucky enough to have a whole host of brilliant people in my life, who push me to be the best and help me through the ‘what on earth am I doing?’ moments that we all have in life. So, here they are:

Mum

Dad

Kyle

Gran

Dixie

Jodie

Aoife

Frankie

Andi

Jen

I love each and every one of you; you’re all inspirational and fantastic. I also want to thank my lovely agent Sarah for letting me be part of #TeamManning and everyone at HQ for helping this book come alive. Super Secret Writing Group, you are all kickass at what you do and I’m thrilled to know you all. And finally, it may seem strange to thank fictional characters, but THANK YOU Cleo Jones and Scott Robinson. Thank you for popping into my head and not leaving me alone until I wrote your story down, from beginning to end. I’ll miss giving you guys new adventures to go on, but I’ll certainly never forget either of you.

This book is for you, reading this dedication right now and about to dive into one of my books. Maybe

it’s your first, maybe it’s not; it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re reading it, and I can’t thank

you enough for doing so.

Prologue

Life is a funny thing, isn’t it?

Some days, it carries on as normal: you go to work, do what you have to do, then come home and put your feet up with your favourite box set.

And some days, you put on a red jumpsuit and throw yourself out of a plane.

Today is definitely one of the latter days for me. I crouch near the edge of the plane, an instructor strapped to my back, and try not to think about how the next few seconds are going to play out. As the nerves begin to take hold, I glance up at my best friend Emma, who’s standing opposite me. She looks almost as scared as I feel, but flashes me a thumbs up nonetheless.

‘Ready?’ she yells, struggling to be heard over the plane’s ear-splitting engines.

‘As I’ll ever be!’ I reply, nodding my head.

Emma’s instructor announces that they’ll be going first, which only succeeds in making me feel even more terrified. Going first means getting it over with, whereas I’ll have a few more seconds to panic before launching myself out of a plan at 12,000 feet. As Emma shuffles to the edge, preparing to do her jump, I resist the urge to close my eyes. This is supposed to be a fun, exhilarating experience, but now I’m regretting ever having written it on my bucket list.

Emma tumbles away, her whooping and cheering quickly swallowed up by the brisk morning air. Acid rises in my throat; I feel like I’m going to be sick.

‘Are you OK?’ Tommy, my instructor, leans forward to ask the question in my ear. ‘Honestly, there’s nothing to be afraid of. I’ve done hundreds of these jumps and nothing’s ever gone wrong. Well, apart from that one time where I nearly forgot to put my parachute on, but just ignore that.’