The Secret To Happiness. Jessica Redland
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Название: The Secret To Happiness
Автор: Jessica Redland
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Путеводители
isbn: 9781838892142
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‘Is she?’ Jayne frowned. ‘She’s always flirty with the men at bootcamp.’
‘It’s just her way. She’d be flirty with the women too if she was single, but she’s not. She lives with a lass called Mia. I haven’t met her but I’ve seen photos and she’s stunning. She’s like a brunette version of Steff.’
‘You haven’t met Steff’s girlfriend?’ Becky said. ‘I thought you and Steff were great mates.’
Karen sighed. ‘Not really. She’s always been Ryan’s friend rather than mine. There was some awkwardness at college when Ryan and I got together. We got past it but there’s always been this undercurrent.’
‘I’d never have guessed,’ Jayne said. ‘Shows what a professional you are.’
Karen smiled gratefully. ‘We don’t meet up outside of work but we’re fine when it comes to the business. Other than the Bay Runners thing, we’ve always been on the same page.’
‘I’m sure it’ll settle down soon,’ Becky said. ‘It sounds like this running club is still a novelty. I bet you put loads of time into planning bootcamps when you first set them up.’
‘About six months,’ Karen admitted.
‘There you go, then,’ Jayne said. ‘Once they’ve worked out a routine for the club, Ryan will be back to giving you the attention you deserve.’
‘And you’ll set the date,’ Becky added. ‘We expect invites to the wedding.’
Karen laughed. ‘Thanks, you two. I’m sure you had better things to do this evening than listen to me whinging.’
Becky shook her head. ‘The only place we needed to be was here with you. That’s what friends are for.’
As she drove home, Karen smiled to herself. How amazing were Jayne and Becky? It was easy to think of them, and others, as clients but they were so much more than that. These men and women who she trained, pushed, motivated and sweated buckets alongside had become like her family – her fitness family – and, no matter how dismissive Ryan was about it, she was excited about growing a new branch of her family with the mid-morning bootcamp.
Jayne and Becky were right, too. New initiatives took planning and organising and perhaps she’d been unfair in forgetting that Bay Runners needed that time if it was going to be successful. She’d apologise to Ryan and also to Steff next time she ran a bootcamp with her because, if she was honest, she’d been snippy with her recently, which hadn’t been fair.
Having the house to herself that evening was going to be no bad thing. She could have a glass of wine and run over the plans for the mid-morning bootcamp in peace. She’d make a success of it. She was determined to prove to Ryan that it was a good idea.
10
Alison
When Alison arrived home from Danniella’s, she started preparing a chilli for dinner. What an unexpected afternoon! She’d made a friend and she’d signed up to bootcamp. How would Dave react to that? Would he be proud of her? She sighed. No, he’d probably laugh.
And what about seeing Aidan again after all these years? He hadn’t changed at all. A few more laughter lines around his eyes and creases on his forehead perhaps, but still gorgeous.
While most of her classmates had continued their education at the local sixth-form college, Alison had taken a BTEC in Travel and Tourism at Whitsborough Bay TEC. Fed up of being a loner at school, she’d hoped to put the past behind her and finally make some new friends – ones who didn’t know what had happened. Waiting in the corridor before her very first class, though, everyone seemed to know each other and Alison felt sick with nerves as she pressed herself against the wall, fighting the urge to flee.
A tutor appeared and announced that the seat they chose would be theirs for the next two years so they should pick carefully. Alison sat down and watched with a sinking heart as the other seats filled and the one beside hers remained empty. And then it happened. The most attractive boy she’d ever seen stood over her and smiled. ‘I’m hoping that seat’s got my name on it,’ he said.
‘What’s your name?’ she asked, butterflies stirring in her stomach.
‘Aidan.’
She grabbed her pen, scribbled his name on her pad, ripped the page off and placed it on the seat beside her. ‘Wow! Look at that. Destiny.’
Aidan laughed. ‘Definitely destiny. Looks like I’m all yours for the next two years.’
The butterflies in Alison’s stomach danced. All hers. She could live with that.
Only he never was hers. They spent every moment at college together, becoming steadily closer, but Aidan had a girlfriend who went to the sixth form. When they split up over the October half-term break in the first year, Alison wondered if she stood a chance, but nothing ever happened. By the time she met Dave in the May, she’d resigned herself to only ever being Aidan’s friend. If he’d seen her as anything more, he’d have made his move. Over the past few years, though, she’d occasionally wondered what if…?
‘Are you still playing rugby tomorrow?’ Alison asked Dave over their evening meal.
He gave her a withering look as he scooped up a forkful of chilli and rice. ‘You know I am.’
She speared a kidney bean with her fork and pushed a few grains of rice round the edge of her plate with it. ‘Do you think you’ll always play rugby?’
‘Oh yeah. I’m sure I’ll still be playing in my seventies cos it’s such a gentle game,’ he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. ‘Perfect for old gits.’
‘I didn’t mean that,’ Alison protested. ‘It’s just that you loved rugby at school and college and you still play now, but I loved hockey just as much and I don’t play it anymore and—’
‘That’s because you’re too fat.’
‘Dave!’ She could have laughed it off if he’d said it jokingly, but his tone was cruel, just like when he’d talked about her in shorts or a bikini. If he was trying to hurt her, he was certainly succeeding.
‘What?’ He shoved another forkful of food into his mouth and showered bits of rice onto the table as he spoke. ‘You want me to lie and say that you’re curvy or cuddly instead? You were when we met but you’re not now. You’re a right chubba now.’ He took a swig of his lager. ‘You’re not thinking of joining a hockey club again, are you? Jesus, Ali, they’d need an ambulance on standby. Imagine if you fell on one of the lasses in a bad tackle. You’d crush them. Unless you bounced.’ He laughed loudly. ‘Oh, what an image that is.’
‘It’s not funny.’
‘It СКАЧАТЬ