Someone Else's Honeymoon

Phoebe MacLeod

Description

'I absolutely loved this book!' Maxine Morrey, author of Living Your Best Life

When Charley finds herself suddenly single on Christmas Day it feels like her world has fallen apart.

Forced to move back in with her parents, she embarks on a journey of re-invention. When she meets Ed, who is on honeymoon alone after being jilted at the altar by a bride he's never met, it looks like her life may be taking a turn for the better.

Fate, however, has other ideas, and she and Ed are forced apart.

Will she find her way back to him, or are they just not meant to be?

Perfect for fans of Jo Watson and Mhairi McFarlane.

Sujets

• Vie de famille
• Relations familiales
• Mashups
• Weddings
• Conflict Resolution
• Feminist
• Holidays
• Women
• Coming of Age
• Adventure (Guyana)
• Suspenso
• Friendship
• Contemporary history
• Dating
• Romantic Comedy
• Woman
• Feminism
• The Women
• Holiday
• Adventure
• Contemporary
• Family Life
• Romance
• Suspense
• Christmas
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Boldwood Books
• Date de parution: 09 août 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781804262375
• Langue: English

Extrait

SOMEONE ELSE’S HONEYMOON



PHOEBE MACLEOD
To Mandy – challenge accepted!
CONTENTS



Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Epilogue


Acknowledgments

More from Phoebe MacLeod

About the Author

About Boldwood Books
1

A toothbrush. That’s what finally unravelled just over ten years of Josh and me. A fucking toothbrush – can you believe it?



Josh and I have been together since sixth form. He joined from another school after his GCSEs and, although we had a few classes together, I have to confess I didn’t really notice him. I was going out with Darren Childs at the time – he was one of the most popular boys in our year and I was punching above my weight there for sure. This is how it works: popular boys go out with popular girls, less popular boys with less popular girls and so on all the way down the ladder to the undateables at the bottom. Darren was in the top league, being both extremely good-looking and good at sports. All the girls had a crush on him. Although I was popular and had a good circle of friends, I was minor league compared to him.
Darren and I were in the same classes for a number of subjects for our GCSEs, and were made to sit together and work together a lot. Needless to say, there were a few raised eyebrows when he started going out with me, but we just clicked somehow, and I loved the extra kudos that came with being his girlfriend. He was also the boy to whom I lost my virginity, as part of the celebrations after he captained our football team in an inter-school match that we won 5–0. I can’t remember much about the sex now, apart from it being uncomfortable and mercifully brief, but it didn’t do my social standing any harm once word leaked out that we’d ‘done it’.
Unfortunately, it turned out that Darren wasn’t immune to the charms of other girls, and when I discovered him getting a blow job from Jennifer Adams behind the Science block a month or two into the Lower Sixth, I lost it. I screamed, shouted, and I think I even threw some stuff before storming off around the corner and bumping, literally, straight into Josh. Just as I was stumbling out an apology and trying to help him pick up the books that I’d knocked out of his arms, Darren came running around the corner after me, with Jennifer sauntering along behind him. Darren looked mortified, but I’ll never forget the look of satisfaction on Jennifer’s face. She knew she’d split us up, and she didn’t care how low she’d had to stoop (literally) to do it. I didn’t speak to Darren again, and Jennifer later got pregnant after an apparent mishap with a condom and had to drop out of school, so maybe there is some justice in the universe after all.
Josh was brilliant. He took me to a local coffee shop, bought me a hot chocolate and a pastry, and let me pour out my feelings. We missed a whole afternoon of school and ended up in detention together, but from that point on we were firm friends and, after a while, boyfriend and girlfriend. We both went to Bristol University – me to study Dental Hygiene and him Economics. Josh’s parents bought him a flat in Tunbridge Wells after we graduated, and it seemed only natural that we would move in together. We’ve lived here for six years and, until Josh started his latest job, we were pretty happy.
Josh is an only child and his parents dote on him – hence the flat. He’s never really wanted for anything and, as a result, was pretty laid-back about finding work after he graduated. My career path was pretty straightforward: after graduating I got a job as a dental hygienist at the Fairoak Dental Practice in Speldhurst, and I’ve been there ever since. Josh drifted in and out of a few things before he started working at a company called Earthkind a year or so ago. Earthkind specialises in eco-friendly products – you name it, they have an eco-friendly version of it, and Josh has thrown himself wholeheartedly into it. Having been a solid ‘meat and two veg’ man for as long as I’ve known him, Josh is now vegan, believes that ‘Big Pharma’ is trying to poison us, and that most consumer goods are killing the planet. The irony that his flat is paid for out of his Dad’s earnings at GlaxoSmithKline is completely lost on him.
To begin with, I was pleased that he’d found something that energised him, and I tried to be supportive and embrace the changes he wanted to make to our lifestyle. However, more recently, it’s started to put a strain on our relationship. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for saving the planet, but I’m not a beans and pulses kind of girl and I don’t think I can ever be. Josh has also taken to being very critical and holier-than-thou if I don’t embrace a particular change. For example, I’ve always used disposable razors to shave. Last year, Josh declared them to be an environmental disaster and suggested I should embrace the ‘natural me’ and let the hair grow. When I made it very clear there was no way that was going to happen, he brought home a safety razor (‘The blades are recyclable, Charley’). Have you ever tried to use one of those things? After a couple of literal bloodbaths, where I cut my legs and armpits to ribbons, I reinstated the disposables, which I now have to keep hidden in the bathroom cabinet because Josh says they offend him.
Back to the toothbrush.
Ever since we moved into the flat, Christmas has pretty much followed the same formula. We wake up early, open our presents to each other, have languid Christmas sex and then go to my parents’ house for lunch. On Boxing Day, we go to his parents. This year I’ve spent a small fortune on a hoodie he wanted from the Earthkind range, made of organic cotton and recycled plastic bottles. It’s not the sort of thing I would choose, but it’s worth it to see his face light up as he opens the eco-friendly wrapping paper that costs twice as much as the normal stuff.
And now it’s my turn. With a flourish, he produces a small, lumpy-looking parcel. ‘Ta-dah!’ he exclaims. ‘Go on, open it.’
Straight away I can tell that this is not the Miss Dior perfume that I’d had my eye on, or even the new pair of trainers I’d been dropping heavy hints about, but deep down I’ve always known that he’d never buy me either of them. I unwrap the parcel to find an ugly-looking toothbrush made out of some sort of wood, and a tube of tablets that claim to be the new eco-friendly toothpaste.
‘Umm, Josh. Why have you bought me a toothbrush?’ I’m struggling to hide my disappointment and hoping desperately that this is just a joke present, that the proper present is going to be revealed at any moment. One look at his face is enough to disabuse me of that hope though.
‘It’s great isn’t it, Charley?’ he enthuses. ‘It’s made from bamboo and the bristles are made from plant-based ingredients so they’re biodegradable. I’ve got you a year-long subscription so a replacement will arrive automatically when this one wears out. Same with the toothpaste tablets. No more tubes of toothpaste going to landfill. One in the eye for Procter & Gamble, eh?’
‘Josh, I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but why on earth would I want a bamboo toothbrush? I’ve got an electric one, and what sort of person gives their girlfriend a toothbrush for Christmas anyway?’
‘But, Charley, this is so much better for the environment than your electric one. No batteries, no plastic, and it’s not just the one – as I said, I got you a whole year’s subscription.’ He’s looking a bit miffed now but, as I realise this is my actual present, I’m far too pissed off with him to care. I can feel the resentments of the last few months bubbling up to tip me over the edge, and before I know it, I’m letting rip.
‘Josh, I DON’T WANT A BLOODY BAMBOO TOOTHBRUSH!’ I yell. ‘I also don’t want whatever these tablets are. I have a toothbrush, and toothpaste. I’m a sodding dental hygienist – I think I know what’s best for my teeth!’
He looks genuinely confused. ‘I thought you’d like it. Scarlett suggested that, if you liked it, you might spread the word…’
‘SCARLETT?? So you didn’t even choose this shitty present yourself, but instead just blindly bought something your colleague suggested for a bit of free marketing? You didn’t even stop to think whether it might be something I actually want?’
‘Doesn’t the planet matter to you? I thought we were in this together.’ He’s still not getting it.
‘Of course it does, Josh! But, if you want people to switch to eco-friendly products, you’ve got to make them at least as good as the alternative and, ignoring the fact that this is the shittest Christmas present ever, this bloody toothbrush isn’t even close. I’ve tried my best with all this Earthkind stuff, I really have, but take the deodorant that you keep bringing home. It feels horrible and I don’t think it works. I’ve had to resort to keeping a Sure roll-on in my bag and use that instead. I don’t like the Earthkind lipstick either – it smells and tastes weird, and it doesn’t go on properly. Do you remember the mooncup you forced on me because tampons are bad for the environment? What a fucking disaster that was! Thankfully I had a spare set of scrubs so I could get changed before anyone else noticed that I’d bled all over them, and I’ve never used it since.
‘You just assumed I would go vegan with you because it was what you decided to do, but you never asked me, Josh, did you? I don’t even like most of the food you cook, but you’ve never noticed because you’re too caught up in your own world!’
‘Charley,’ he’s getting defensive now, ‘you know how important this stuff is to me. You agreed —’
‘No, Josh, I never AGREED to anything because you never ASKED. Ins