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By My Side
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Год написания книги
2019
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By My Side
Wendy Lou Jones
Betrayed by her boyfriend and best friend, Lena is left empty; trapped under a weight of guilt and loneliness. Then, at her lowest point and when she needs it most, a mysterious stranger comes into her life with a tale of friendship, family, and finding love in the most unexpected of places…Katy Heath is definitely not thinking of love when she comes across consultant, Adam Elliot, berating some poor patient on the ward one day. In fact it is Dr Peter Florin who quickly has everyone’s hearts aflutter with his easy smiles and practised charm.Yet Katy comes to realise that there’s more to Adam than his determination to push everyone away and it’s not long before she finds herself longing to reach out to touch the man within, healing the pain of his past.As Lena is drawn into Katy’s story, she begins to learn – just as Katy does- that the course of true love never did run smooth.
By My Side
Wendy Lou Jones
A division of HarperCollinsPublishers
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
Contents
Wendy Lou Jones (#ua7b0b4a6-0489-5028-ad76-3b8806f77f8f)
Dedication (#uad3c6a3c-ab24-5104-9fdf-e558a8452778)
Chapter 1 (#u20137005-493f-51a9-a39f-eb5f869e25f2)
Chapter 2 (#u485ad819-51ce-58b1-bdb7-82d8c476ed9a)
Chapter 3 (#u1ac0aa88-edc1-5d70-9a95-191cd390ccd9)
Chapter 4 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 5 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)
About HarperImpulse (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Wendy Lou Jones (#u66aeb3d6-6679-5e38-a343-2f77613f237e)
I was born and raised in West Sussex and moved to Birmingham to study Medicine at University, where I was lucky enough to meet my husband. We now live in a little village in Herefordshire with our two grubby boys. I discovered a love of writing not long after my youngest son started school. And if you were to ask me what it was that made me make the switch, I'd tell you quite simply, that it started with a dream.
You can follow me on Twitter @WendyLouWriter.
For my mum, whose patience and love helped shape me into the person I am today. Blame her!
Chapter 1 (#u66aeb3d6-6679-5e38-a343-2f77613f237e)
The woman had heard the whispering; she had seen the furtive glances and listened to the hushed tones that faltered every time the girl looked up. She had looked into the mother’s face and seen the torment hiding there. She knew the story, the hurt that had been caused and the agony of loneliness felt by the girl. She knew, and that was why she was there.
Looking around the room, Lena could see huddles of faces talking quietly together, their eyes speaking loudly in their attempt to convey harsh rumour with subtlety. How could they think she wouldn’t have noticed? Their whispering would have been pointless about anything else. She sighed and looked over at the covered windows, deliberately screening the faces within from the harsh light of the bright summer's day.
Cards covered every surface. Flowers poured out their over-powering scent to all around them; oppressive, claustrophobic, smothering.
It had been nearly a month since Lena had tried to take her own life and now she was left empty, trapped under the weight of guilt and loneliness.
She looked at her ragged finger nails, worn down by the loss of her best friend and boyfriend in the same stupid affair. Of course, the two lovers had never stood a chance after she’d found them together. Their guilt had put paid to that. But for Lena it had all been too much, and in losing both of them she had also lost faith in herself and even life. Away at university, she had failed her end of year exams and one afternoon, had taken herself off and quietly swallowed a handful of tablets with a bottle of gin.
Her friend, for her sins, had been the one to find her, lying alone and unconscious in her student house.
Her mother had stuck by her every moment since that day. That was why Lena was there, at a stranger's house, for a funeral of a person she didn't even know. It was a funeral, for heaven’s sake; who in their right mind brought a depressed person to a funeral? Whoever it was, meant nothing to her, but her mum seemed to think she wasn’t safe to be left on her own. Maybe she wasn’t? Not anymore. She didn’t resent her mother for her loss of freedom; she had brought it on herself. But still, she would rather not have been there.
The doorbell rang and a friend of the grieving family walked sombrely over to answer it. Faces turned as another huddle, dressed in black, slipped inside to sip tea and join with the others in their attempts to meet the desolation in the family's gaze.
Through the gap in the door, bright light streamed in and Lena caught a quick glimpse of the dozens of beautiful wreaths laid out along the pathway of the small front garden, the vibrant colour basking in the warmth of the summer sun, and then it was gone.
A few minutes passed and the bell rang again. Caterers appeared. They were shown into the dining room and quietly started to set up.
No-one came near her. They were all too scared to try. So she stayed trapped in her cocoon, remote and afraid.
Gloria moved through the void that circled her daughter, her face trying hard not to reflect her despair. "Are you all right, Lee?" she asked laying a gentle hand on the side of Lena's head. Lena nodded. "It shouldn't be too long now," she said. "The cars are meant to be arriving shortly. I'm just helping out with the tea. Would you like to come and help me, or are you all right in here?"
Lena had looked into her mother’s eyes and seen the suffering there. "I'm fine," she said. She paused momentarily from picking her fingers to look up and then Gloria nodded and walked back to the kitchen, looking like the weight of the world was resting on her shoulders.
From beside her, a woman began to speak. Lena hadn’t even been aware that anyone had sat down there. She turned and looked at her, a young woman, probably in her thirties, dressed unusually for the day in a deep blue top and skirt and smiling warmly at her. Lena was a little unnerved by the woman’s arrival in her bubble. She turned back to her lap and continued picking at her fingers.
"You know, I could tell you a story about a woman who met the love of her life at a funeral," the woman said.
Lena looked back at her. "Sorry?"
"I said, I could tell you a story about a woman who met the love of her life at a funeral. If you like? Well, not at a funeral, but shortly after."
Lena's face turned back to her lap, she kept her eyes on her fingers, barely muttering an acknowledgement.
"You're Gloria's girl, aren't you? Lena, isn't it?"
Lena nodded and briefly met her gaze again with curiosity.
"We used to work together, your mother and I. A wonderful woman, isn't she? Always ready to help if you need her."
Wendy Lou Jones
Betrayed by her boyfriend and best friend, Lena is left empty; trapped under a weight of guilt and loneliness. Then, at her lowest point and when she needs it most, a mysterious stranger comes into her life with a tale of friendship, family, and finding love in the most unexpected of places…Katy Heath is definitely not thinking of love when she comes across consultant, Adam Elliot, berating some poor patient on the ward one day. In fact it is Dr Peter Florin who quickly has everyone’s hearts aflutter with his easy smiles and practised charm.Yet Katy comes to realise that there’s more to Adam than his determination to push everyone away and it’s not long before she finds herself longing to reach out to touch the man within, healing the pain of his past.As Lena is drawn into Katy’s story, she begins to learn – just as Katy does- that the course of true love never did run smooth.
By My Side
Wendy Lou Jones
A division of HarperCollinsPublishers
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
Contents
Wendy Lou Jones (#ua7b0b4a6-0489-5028-ad76-3b8806f77f8f)
Dedication (#uad3c6a3c-ab24-5104-9fdf-e558a8452778)
Chapter 1 (#u20137005-493f-51a9-a39f-eb5f869e25f2)
Chapter 2 (#u485ad819-51ce-58b1-bdb7-82d8c476ed9a)
Chapter 3 (#u1ac0aa88-edc1-5d70-9a95-191cd390ccd9)
Chapter 4 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 5 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)
About HarperImpulse (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Wendy Lou Jones (#u66aeb3d6-6679-5e38-a343-2f77613f237e)
I was born and raised in West Sussex and moved to Birmingham to study Medicine at University, where I was lucky enough to meet my husband. We now live in a little village in Herefordshire with our two grubby boys. I discovered a love of writing not long after my youngest son started school. And if you were to ask me what it was that made me make the switch, I'd tell you quite simply, that it started with a dream.
You can follow me on Twitter @WendyLouWriter.
For my mum, whose patience and love helped shape me into the person I am today. Blame her!
Chapter 1 (#u66aeb3d6-6679-5e38-a343-2f77613f237e)
The woman had heard the whispering; she had seen the furtive glances and listened to the hushed tones that faltered every time the girl looked up. She had looked into the mother’s face and seen the torment hiding there. She knew the story, the hurt that had been caused and the agony of loneliness felt by the girl. She knew, and that was why she was there.
Looking around the room, Lena could see huddles of faces talking quietly together, their eyes speaking loudly in their attempt to convey harsh rumour with subtlety. How could they think she wouldn’t have noticed? Their whispering would have been pointless about anything else. She sighed and looked over at the covered windows, deliberately screening the faces within from the harsh light of the bright summer's day.
Cards covered every surface. Flowers poured out their over-powering scent to all around them; oppressive, claustrophobic, smothering.
It had been nearly a month since Lena had tried to take her own life and now she was left empty, trapped under the weight of guilt and loneliness.
She looked at her ragged finger nails, worn down by the loss of her best friend and boyfriend in the same stupid affair. Of course, the two lovers had never stood a chance after she’d found them together. Their guilt had put paid to that. But for Lena it had all been too much, and in losing both of them she had also lost faith in herself and even life. Away at university, she had failed her end of year exams and one afternoon, had taken herself off and quietly swallowed a handful of tablets with a bottle of gin.
Her friend, for her sins, had been the one to find her, lying alone and unconscious in her student house.
Her mother had stuck by her every moment since that day. That was why Lena was there, at a stranger's house, for a funeral of a person she didn't even know. It was a funeral, for heaven’s sake; who in their right mind brought a depressed person to a funeral? Whoever it was, meant nothing to her, but her mum seemed to think she wasn’t safe to be left on her own. Maybe she wasn’t? Not anymore. She didn’t resent her mother for her loss of freedom; she had brought it on herself. But still, she would rather not have been there.
The doorbell rang and a friend of the grieving family walked sombrely over to answer it. Faces turned as another huddle, dressed in black, slipped inside to sip tea and join with the others in their attempts to meet the desolation in the family's gaze.
Through the gap in the door, bright light streamed in and Lena caught a quick glimpse of the dozens of beautiful wreaths laid out along the pathway of the small front garden, the vibrant colour basking in the warmth of the summer sun, and then it was gone.
A few minutes passed and the bell rang again. Caterers appeared. They were shown into the dining room and quietly started to set up.
No-one came near her. They were all too scared to try. So she stayed trapped in her cocoon, remote and afraid.
Gloria moved through the void that circled her daughter, her face trying hard not to reflect her despair. "Are you all right, Lee?" she asked laying a gentle hand on the side of Lena's head. Lena nodded. "It shouldn't be too long now," she said. "The cars are meant to be arriving shortly. I'm just helping out with the tea. Would you like to come and help me, or are you all right in here?"
Lena had looked into her mother’s eyes and seen the suffering there. "I'm fine," she said. She paused momentarily from picking her fingers to look up and then Gloria nodded and walked back to the kitchen, looking like the weight of the world was resting on her shoulders.
From beside her, a woman began to speak. Lena hadn’t even been aware that anyone had sat down there. She turned and looked at her, a young woman, probably in her thirties, dressed unusually for the day in a deep blue top and skirt and smiling warmly at her. Lena was a little unnerved by the woman’s arrival in her bubble. She turned back to her lap and continued picking at her fingers.
"You know, I could tell you a story about a woman who met the love of her life at a funeral," the woman said.
Lena looked back at her. "Sorry?"
"I said, I could tell you a story about a woman who met the love of her life at a funeral. If you like? Well, not at a funeral, but shortly after."
Lena's face turned back to her lap, she kept her eyes on her fingers, barely muttering an acknowledgement.
"You're Gloria's girl, aren't you? Lena, isn't it?"
Lena nodded and briefly met her gaze again with curiosity.
"We used to work together, your mother and I. A wonderful woman, isn't she? Always ready to help if you need her."
