Under a Greek Spell

Simone Hubbard

Description

A light hearted romance set on the beautiful islands of Mykonos and Syros.As the chorus of Happy Birthday ends, Pamela can hear daughters, Helen and Stephanie, whispering, 'Make a wish, mum'. As she blows out the candles her wish is made. Are their fates now sealed? Has she put her daughters under a Greek spell so her birthday wishes will be granted, or will it end up as a Greek tragedy? At thirty-three, Helen is a career woman. She's worked hard and progressed through the ranks of a local travel company. She had aspirations of becoming a director, but now she's thinking of a career change, although she's been 'distracted' by her dishy colleague, James. They've been seeing each other for a few months but he seems unwilling to commit. She's caught up in an unexpected chain of events when a work-related Caribbean cruise changes into a working holiday in Mykonos. Will she be enchanted by a Greek Spell or will she anger the Greek Gods and pay the ultimate price? At thirty-one Stephanie has recently separated from her husband Richard of five years. As they can't compromise it looks as though divorce is their only option. The offer to accompany her sister, Helen, on a free holiday to the Caribbean is just the tonic she needs. As their plans change at the last minute Stephanie just wants some rest and relaxation, so Mykonos should tick the box. Will she end up with more than she expected? After all isn't Mykonos known as the island of love?

Sujets

• Contemporary romance
• List of islands of Greece
• Romance

Informations

• Publié par: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 28 février 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781789019964
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Under a
Greek Spell
Simone Hubbard
Copyright © 2019 Simone Hubbard

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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ISBN 9781789019964

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Matador® is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd

In loving memory of my husband Martin Hubbard who passed away shortly after I started writing this book.
Contents
Prologue
Pamela

1. Stephanie
2. Stephanie
3. Helen
4. Stephanie
5. Helen
6. Stephanie
7. Helen
8. Stephanie
9. Stephanie
10. Helen
11. Stephanie
12. Helen
13. Stephanie
14. Helen
15. Stephanie
16. Helen
17. Helen
18. Stephanie
19. Helen
20. Stephanie
21. Helen
22. Stephanie
23. Helen
24. Stephanie
25. Stephanie
26. Helen
27. Stephanie
28. Helen
29. Stephanie
30. Pamela

References
Thank you
Afterword
Prologue
Pamela
It’s not very often that I can say this, but I was rendered speechless two hours ago.
My daughters Helen and Stephanie, and my hubby Michael, have organised this wonderful surprise birthday party for me at our local golf club. I didn’t have a clue. I’ve no idea how they kept it a surprise. Thinking back, in the last few weeks, there have been a couple of conversations that ended abruptly when I entered the room.
My friends from work are here too. I’m a part-time nurse in the A & E department of our local hospital. I really can’t imagine how they’ve kept it a secret. They can’t even do the Secret Santa without revealing who’s bought what for who.
I’d hoped to be retiring at sixty. That pipe dream went out of the window with all the hullabaloo of the banking crisis. Michael is in the same boat. Luckily, we didn’t have all our eggs in one basket, so to speak, and we can retire together in a couple of years’ time and travel the world.
Because I love travelling so much, Helen’s arranged a wonderful Greek islands cruise on a clipper ship, which sets sail on 15 May. It’s a present from everyone for my sixtieth birthday and for our fortieth wedding anniversary, which will be in the summer. I think they’ve all had enough of me rattling on about Greek islands, Greek mythology, Greek gods – in fact, anything using the G-word. Michael and I have been to a few of the islands over the years but there are so many more to see. The clipper ship cruise is perfect as it covers a good number of islands, especially the smaller ones that don’t have an airport. A few months ago, Helen asked me to book a couple of weeks off work. I thought she was going to send us on one of her freebie trips. I’d no idea she was planning such an extravagant holiday. She’s thirty-three now and has worked in the travel industry since leaving school. She’s senior management at a local travel agent, so she was able to pull some strings. It’s a perk of her job, to which she’s very dedicated. She threw herself into her work after her best friend died of cancer. It was her way of dealing with it.
I do think her boss, Daniel, takes advantage of her at times. He’s always changing his mind at the last minute about one thing or another, which often results in Helen cancelling personal commitments and letting down her friends and family. She’s always at the office early and never finishes on time. A career is all well and good, but, as I keep subtly reminding her, if she wants children she’s got to recognise that she’s not getting any younger. A good starting point would be a stable relationship, but Helen seems to be struggling to find ‘the one’ . There’s no sign of her latest boyfriend today. Michael and I still haven’t met him and they’ve been seeing each other for a while now.
Then there’s Stephanie. She’s a couple of years younger than Helen. She’d been married five years when she broached the shall-we-start-a-family topic with her husband. Richard decided that he didn’t want kids and walked out on her in January.
Of course, Michael thinks I should mind my own business, but, at this rate, we’ll be grandparents to sperm-bank grandchildren, like Sally at work. That’s all we heard about for months. She’d suddenly come out with the most bizarre statements, such as ‘Just think, the baby could have blue blood,’ or ‘The baby might turn out to be a talented musician.’ We switched off in the end, what with all the different outcomes this grandchild of hers could have.
No party, of course, would be complete without some family members and, as the saying goes, you can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family. My older sister Angela and I are like chalk and cheese. When we reached our forties, we agreed to disagree and move on. She’s got an amazing memory, which is a pain in the neck most of the time. Talk about how elephants never forget – she must have been one in a former life. I can’t imagine how Tim, her husband, has put up with her for almost forty-five years. But his repertoire of replies speaks for itself: ‘Yes, dear’, ‘Whatever you say, dear’, ‘Of course, dear…’
Angela does, however, have two very adorable grandchildren, Jack and Lily. Jack’s five and absolutely full of mischief. Lily’s three and angelic looking, with blue eyes and curly blonde hair. She’s a little bit tamer than Jack but I’m sure she’ll come out of her shell when she starts preschool in September. They’re running around at the moment, chasing each other and popping balloons. Every time one bursts, Lily runs crying to her Uncle Tom. He’s Angela’s son and he’s with his latest girlfriend, Skye.
I had trouble remembering her name until Angela sniped, ‘It’s not difficult, Pamela. If she married Tom, she’d be “Skye Bridge.”’ That made me laugh, but Angela wasn’t for seeing the funny side. She didn’t find it particularly funny, either, when I discovered that there’s a Tom Uglys Bridge in Sydney and Snapchatted it to her.
At the moment, Skye is flailing her arms about trying to keep the children away from her cream dress. Angela informs me that there’s no way on God’s earth that Tom will have children. He absolutely hates them with a passion. So it looks like he and Skye are well suited. It’s such a shame. Just think, they could have Brooklyn and Sydney Bridge to complete the set.
It looks like Tom’s trying to coerce Jack and Lily to play over near his sister Amy, their mum, and Angela’s eldest child. She’s here with her husband. It doesn’t look like they’ve slept for months. I’m surmising that the last time they slept properly was when Jack and Lily had a sleepover at Angela’s. It took Angela and Tim a week to get over that. Angela said that Michael and I could have them next time, ‘Being as though you have no grandchildren.’
Our neighbours from either side of us are here and were in on the secret too. One of the most staggering things is that neither side let the cat out of the bag despite me seeing them nearly every day and telling them that I was having a low-key birthday with just close family.
Ron, our neighbour on the right, helped Michael and the girls decorate the golf club with banners and balloons yesterday. Meanwhile, Jen, Ron’s wife, was putting the finishing touches on the cake. They’d booked me into a beauty salon for some serious pampering to get me out of the way. I was there for almost three hours.
Stephanie was assigned the task of organising the cake; she somehow found out that Jen is a fantastic baker. I’ve told Jen loads of times to get herself on Bake Off . The cake has been given centre stage and has had more photos taken of it than I have. I’ve heard Stephanie trying to take credit for the golfing theme idea too. It’s a putting green, with ‘60’ piped on it in the shape of little golf balls and, underneath that, a couple of golf clubs crossed over. I can’t imagine how Jen’s been able to contain herself. She’s certainly enjoying the attention her masterpiece is receiving, although I did hear someone say that Ron helped her make it.
I’m just shocked and absolutely delighted that so many friends and family are here. Good job I’ve made an effort with a pretty ‘spring collection’ dress and make-up. That’s probably why they said we were going to the posh hotel down the road – so I didn’t turn up in my jeans. I bought the dress with Steph, who’s a sales assistant at Debenhams. I remember thinking she was being very particular as she made me buy matching shoes and handbag.
I did also think it was a bit strange when Michael wanted to pop to the golf club to drop some things off en route to the meal, especially when he insisted I go in with him. I thought I’d be polite and see who was about. I was speechless when he opened the door. I thought, ‘What’s everyone doing here?’ I’ve been in a whirlwind ever s