Making Waves at River View Cottage

Jennifer Bohnet

Description

'Making Waves at River View Cottage is a delightful, well-written novel in an idyllic setting. What more could you ask for?' Jo Bartlett

Life doesn’t always give you a second chance to make another choice…

Cassie Lewis, a widow for over 20 years has begun to realise there must be more to life.
In-between working at the family boatyard in picture perfect Dartmouth and raising two children, she wonders where the years have gone.
Both her children, Tom and Polly, have inherited their father’s love of sailing and currently Tom is preparing for a gruelling round the world race. When an accident forces Tom to pull out, Polly, to Cassie’s horror, insists she is capable of taking his place.
As Polly prepares for the race, Cassie unexpectedly finds herself with two keen and eligible men vying for her love.
With her BIG 5-0 birthday approaching Cassie knows she has some big decisions to make but will the worry over Polly’s safe return, cloud her judgement?


A wonderful escape to the beautiful harbour of Dartmouth, Perfect for the fans of Lucy Coleman, Jo Thomas and Sue Roberts
Originally published in 2003 as Call of the Sea

Sujets

• Policier & Thriller
• Thriller
• Vie de famille
• Parentalité et Éducation des Enfants
• Sea Stories
• Mashups
• Water Sports
• Holidays
• Siblings
• Humorous
• Motherhood
• Coming of Age
• Friendship
• Contemporary history
• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Romantic Comedy
• List of water sports
• Sibling
• General officer
• Parenting
• Sailing
• General
• Contemporary
• Family Life
• Romance

Informations

• Publié par: Boldwood Books
• Date de parution: 21 septembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781804834947
• Langue: English

Extrait

MAKING WAVES AT RIVER VIEW COTTAGE



JENNIFER BOHNET
To all my Dartmouth friends with love. xxx
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

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48


Acknowledgments

More from Jennifer Bohnet

About the Author

About Boldwood Books
1

It was rare for Cassie Lewis to get more than four or five hours’ sleep of a night. In fact, she considered herself lucky if she managed to get that much. For over twenty years now, she’d tried everything to get nearer to that elusive seven hours but rarely succeeded, so she’d learned to accept with relief the good nights when they did arrive. Last night, though, had not been a good night and now, at 5.15 a.m., she was lying in bed, listening to the wind and rain hammering against the window and waiting for the bedside radio alarm to switch itself on. After which she would give herself permission to get up.
‘And now here is the shipping forecast for sea areas…’ Cassie felt herself stiffen in anticipation as she listened to the measured tones of the announcer. She held her breath, waiting for the forecast for the area where Tom, her son, was currently undergoing sea trials with his boat, ready for a new round-the-world race.
‘… Biscay. Gale force seven rising to eight or nine.’
Cassie instantly shrugged off her lack of sleep as worry overtook her thoughts. Gales were not good. Tom needed some wind and rough seas on these trials to test the boat, but too much could be dangerous.
Dressing quickly in jeans and a sweater, Cassie made her way quietly downstairs. Polly’s bedroom door was slightly ajar and she could just glimpse the hump that represented her sleeping nineteen-year-old daughter, snuggled under the duvet.
From habit, Cassie glanced out of the kitchen window as she filled the kettle, but it was still too dark to see much.
A few lights were showing in the cottages on the hillside on the opposite side of the estuary and the occasional masthead light was visible on boats at anchor in the middle of the river. Through her kitchen window with its small open vent light at the top, Cassie could hear the wind whistling through the rigging and the halyards slapping against masts as yachts moored in the small marina that belonged to her family moved with the incoming tide and the rising wind. The rain, though, appeared to have stopped.
Standing there, sipping her tea, Cassie saw a light go on in the boatyard workshop and she guessed her father was making his customary early start to the day. She finished her tea and reached for a clean mug. Perhaps now would be a good time to talk to Bill before everyone was up and about and the day got too busy. She’d take him a cup of tea and see if the moment was right. Cassie grabbed a coat from the peg by the door and made her way across the yard towards the boatyard on the quay.
‘Morning, Dad.’
Bill Holdsworth looked up from the piece of wood he was planing. ‘Well, you’re the early bird and no mistake. Couldn’t you sleep – again?’
Cassie shook her head. ‘No. And that was before I heard the forecast for Biscay.’
‘I heard it too,’ Bill said. ‘Reckon we’ll get the tail end of it in about forty-eight hours. Still, Tom should make good time coming home.’
Taking the mug of tea, Bill glanced at his only daughter. She clearly had something on her mind.
‘You all right?’ he asked. When Cassie didn’t answer immediately, he went on quietly, ‘Not a good year for our Tom to be doing this race, is it?’
Cassie shoulders slumped. ‘No, it’s not. I always worry when he’s away sailing, but doing a round-the-world race when it’s the twentieth anniversary of Miles’s death…’ She shook her head. ‘Let’s just say the level of my worry is going to be off the scale.’
Bill looked at his daughter, a gentle compassion filling his eyes. He and his late wife, Liz, had been so proud of the way she’d coped with being widowed so young. Both Tom and Polly were a real credit to her. And encouraging them to both take up sailing when they’d shown an interest couldn’t have been easy.
‘It’s different these days,’ Bill said, finally breaking the silence. ‘It’s still a dangerous business – I’m not saying otherwise. But what with hi-tech navigation and satellite phones, it’s safer than it’s ever been. The boats are built differently too. They’re a lot stronger. I reckon if Miles had been sailing today, he’d have been okay. Just like Tom will be,’ he said confidently.
‘Oh, Dad, I couldn’t bear it if anything happens to Tom.’
‘Nothing’s going to happen to him, lass. He’s a good sailor. He’s going to bring credit to us all by taking Holdsworth Clotted Cream around the world and bringing her home safely.’
Cassie smiled weakly at her father. She should have known she could rely on him to put things into perspective. Perhaps now was the moment to talk to him about the way she was feeling, but Bill was already speaking again and the opportunity was lost.
‘Mind you, we could do with a few more sponsors. Any news on that front?’ Bill asked.
‘Hoping to hear from a couple of firms today.’
‘Good. And don’t forget Dexter Munro is waiting for Tom’s final confirmation as soon as he gets back from these trials.’
‘I won’t. I’m off into Dartmouth later. I’ve got a couple of things I need to do and I thought I’d do a bit of shopping afterwards. Anything I can pick up for you?’
Bill shook his head. ‘Don’t think so, but thanks.’
‘Right, I’d better get back,’ Cassie said. ‘There’s a lot to do. I’ll email Tom before I go out. You’ll be here to take his midday call?’
Bill nodded. ‘Of course. Wouldn’t miss it.’
Making her way across the yard back to Boatyard House, which had been converted out of what had previously been a large warehouse, Cassie found herself wondering, not for the first time, what her life would have been like if Miles had lived.
He’d been in the lead en route to Cape Town in a single-handed race that he’d been so confident of winning when he’d been lost overboard.
‘I’m on a roll,’ he’d said. ‘I’ve just won the Round Britain. This is my year.’
But it had all ended in tragedy when Miles and his boat had disappeared somewhere off the Azores during a storm. If Miles had survived the race, they’d planned to base themselves in France, down on the Côte d’Azur near Antibes, and establish a boat business including a sailing school. Instead, Cassie had found herself heading home to Dartmouth, Devon, with two small children in tow, a widow at twenty-nine.
Naturally, all those years ago, Bill and Liz, her mum, had been supportive, and slowly Cassie and the children had recovered from the trauma of Miles’s death. Within six months of returning home, Cassie was once again working in the family business, helping her parents to expand it and slowly rebuilding her own life.
It wasn’t how she’d envisaged her life turning out, but she’d been happy enough with her children, living back in the security of her own family. Just recently, though, she’d found herself feeling that she’d never left home. If it weren’t for Tom and Polly, who were the living proof of her marriage to Miles, she might sometimes have found it hard to believe her seven years with Miles had ever been. Over time, the memories of that short period in her life had taken on the sepia-like quality of a much-loved photograph.
Tom, just five when his father died, said he’d only one real memory of him – not sailing, but playing football with him in the small garden of their house. Polly, a mere two months old at the time, had no memory of him at all, a fact which Cassie knew upset her daughter.
Memories or no, both children had Miles’s physical features and Tom, at six foot three, had also inherited his height. And there was no doubt whom they both took after when it came to sailing. For six years now, Tom, as well as being involved in the family business, had been pursuing a career as a professional yachtsman. Eighteen months ago, he had married Mai, and the two of them had settled in River View Cottage with Tom doing less long-distance ocean sailing, preferring shorter races like the Fastnet. Cassie, although incredibly proud of his achievements, had secretly breathed a sigh of when Tom had made this decision. Privately he had told her that he didn’t want to risk leaving Mai in the same position as his father had left them.
And the icing on the cake had been only last week, returning after a shopping trip to find Tom and Mai waiting for her in the kitchen when she got home. Cassie had been filled with apprehension when they said they needed to talk to her.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.
‘Absolutely nothing,’ Tom replied. ‘Just some unexpected news that we’re thrilled about.’ He was holding Mai’s hand, with a big smile spread over his face. ‘We wanted you to be the first to know.’
‘I’m pregnant,’ Mai said.
‘You’re going to be a granny,’ Tom exclaimed at the same time.
‘Oh, congratulations!’ Cassie kissed Mai and hugged Tom. ‘That’s wonderful news. When is the baby due?’
‘September – haven’t got a definite date yet,’ Mai said.
‘We must celebrate this evening and…’ Cassie stopped. ‘The race. We’ll have to cancel our entry, hopefully we’ll get our registration fee back.’
Tom shook his head. ‘Mai and I have talked it through, and we’ve agreed – I’m still going to do this one last long race.’
‘But you said you didn’t want to risk putti