Time After Time: A heart-warming novel about love, loss and second chances. Hannah McKinnon Mary
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Название: Time After Time: A heart-warming novel about love, loss and second chances
Автор: Hannah McKinnon Mary
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
isbn: 9780008191849
isbn:
Mark frowned. ‘Hayley, are you feeling okay? You’re acting weird.’
A shiver travelled down her spine and she took a step back.
Something’s wrong. Really wrong.
‘Guys, come on,’ she said. ‘Did you get the dog today? Why would you call it the same name as your daughter? That’s weird.’
Ellen moved towards her and gently took her hands. ‘You gave us a puppy for Christmas. Six years ago. We called her Morgan.’ Her slow and deliberate tone made Hayley feel like a child. ‘We don’t have a daughter. Are you okay? Why don’t you sit down?’
Hayley snatched her hands away and took another couple of steps back, shaking her head and her right hand at them at the same time. Their expressions didn’t change – they were still looking at her with frowns and narrowed eyes.
‘What? Hilarious, ha ha ha. I never gave you a puppy and if you don’t have a daughter, then what do you call this?’
She stomped over to Morgan’s bedroom and flung the door open, drawing her breath sharply as she looked inside. A desk with a computer screen, a pile of papers and a pen holder were where Morgan’s bed had been. A slightly chewed, brown wicker dog basket with a green plastic hedgehog lay to the left of the desk. The bookcases weren’t filled with Little Miss or Angelina Ballerina books. Instead there were novels and some quirky bird ornaments. Hayley noticed Mark’s guitar in the corner.
How the hell?
The empty floor had none of Morgan’s squishy cuddly toys. Soft grey paint, not girly pink, covered the walls. The pretty pastel curtains were now dark green and there weren’t any pictures of Ellen, Mark and Morgan. Instead a framed photograph of Stonehenge and another of the London Eye at night hung on the wall.
No Morgan. Then what about Millie and Danny?
It was incomprehensible, simply too much to take in. The room started spinning, faster and faster, like a psychedelic merry-go-round on speed. As her legs gave way beneath her, Hayley thought she saw Ellen and Mark rush towards her, arms outstretched, trying to catch her as she slid silently to the floor.
‘It’s going to happen tonight,’ Hayley whispered into the phone. She lay on her bed and stared up at her Simon Le Bon posters.
‘I can’t believe you’re going to do it already.’ Ellen seemed to suck up each of Hayley’s words like a human Hoover. ‘Mark and me have been going out as long as you two but I’m not ready.’
‘I am. It’s been three months and we’ll be together forever. It’s so perfect.’ Hayley exhaled deeply, then added, ‘Except when he gets pawed and pouted at by his exes. I still hate that.’
‘I’m not surprised.’
‘It happened again but he didn’t flirt back and just introduced me as my girl Hayley.’
‘That’s cool. So do you still pinch yourself every day?’ Ellen asked. ‘I do.’
Hayley laughed. ‘Yeah. I keep wondering why he’s going out with me. I hope he doesn’t start wondering too.’
‘He wouldn’t,’ Ellen said. ‘And you’re sure about this weekend?’
‘Deadly sure.’
‘What about his mum?’
‘Away for the weekend. And his dad hasn’t called him for months. But remember, my dad thinks I’m at your house. Mum says it’s best because he conveniently forgets they were younger than me when they, well, you know …’
‘Ewwwww, gross.’ Ellen made gagging noises and Hayley laughed. ‘And Chris isn’t pushing you into this? Really?’
‘No, he’s not, honest,’ Hayley said. ‘In fact he said he wasn’t in a rush and that I have to feel ready.’ Hayley saw it as another of his old-fashioned ways, like holding doors open and ordering for her at the chippy. ‘Did I tell you he gave me a gold necklace with a heart?’
‘Only five times.’ Ellen said. ‘You’re so lucky he’s working.’
‘I know. I didn’t think apprentice electricians made that much,’ Hayley said. ‘He got himself this really cool jacket the other day, a Boss one. Said it was a nineteenth birthday pressie to himself.’
‘Nice.’
‘I know. And he got me flowers. Roses. Half a dozen of them.’
‘Lucky you,’ Ellen said. ‘I don’t think I’ve seen you so happy and confident, like, ever.’
Hayley laughed. ‘Mum said it’s doing wonders for my ego.’
‘Speaking of,’ Ellen said, ‘I still can’t believe she helped you get the Pill and a box of condoms. If I told mine I was even thinking of sleeping with Mark she’d put a crocodile down my knickers to bite his thingy off.’
‘Stop calling it a thingy. It’s only because your mum’s more uptight than mine,’ Hayley said. ‘You know what? I asked her the other day why they got married so young. Guess what she said.’
Ellen gasped and Hayley pictured her lying on her bed, eyes wide. ‘Was it because of a baby? Do you and Jackie have a secret sibling?’
Hayley giggled. ‘Nah. She said they got fed up of using the back seat of dad’s car.’
‘Argh, that’s disgustingly minging.’
‘I know.’
‘She’s so cool. So is your dad.’
‘Aww … still no news from yours then?’
Ellen sighed. ‘Nah. You know what he’s like. Once a year, if I’m lucky. If only your parents were mine. Then we’d be sisters.’
‘That would be so cool.’
‘Yeah, but you know what they were like until they split up. Even now they can’t talk to each other normally.’
‘You know, I’ve only seen Mum and Dad argue once. Jackie and me can’t ever divide and conquer. It’s so annoying.’
Ellen laughed. ‘That’s my fantasy.’
‘What? Conquering?’
‘No, СКАЧАТЬ