Single All The Way

Portia Macintosh

Description

Will Dani find love this Christmas? Or will she be Single All The Way...?

When Dani's boyfriend (and boss!) dumps her for a younger model, the only silver lining she can see is to be able to spend Christmas at home with her family after years away.

Determined to surprise them, Dani turns up unannounced in her hometown, excited to see that the festive season in Marram Bay is in full swing with Christmas lights twinkling on every corner. But disaster strikes when she finds her parents' house is empty and they appear to have gone away on holiday!

Christmas alone and single is not ideal, and when Dani starts bumping into old friends, neighbours and potential love interests, she can't face telling them the truth. So in a panic she claims to be home to throw a Christmas party for the whole town - easier said than done with 12 days to go before Christmas...

As the fake party approaches, little does Dani know that there may be someone there under the mistletoe for her, if she can just let her guard down and see them...

A laugh-out-loud festive romantic comedy from top 10 bestseller Portia MacIntosh, guaranteed to put a smile on your face this Christmas.

Please note Single All The Way was originally released as a novella. This new edition is inspired by the original but is a full-length story with a brand new plot and ending.

Praise for Portia MacIntosh:
'A hilarious, roaringly fun, feel good, sexy read. I LOVED it!' Holly Martin

'This is a heartwarming fun story, perfect for several hours of pure escapism.' Jessica Redland

'Super-romantic and full of festive spirit. I loved it!' Mandy Baggot

Sujets

• Mashups
• Feminist
• Holidays
• Women
• Coming of Age
• Suspenso
• Friendship
• Contemporary history
• Dating
• Workplace
• Romantic Comedy
• General officer
• Woman
• New Year
• Feminism
• The Women
• General
• Holiday
• Contemporary
• Family Life
• Romance
• Suspense
• Christmas
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Boldwood Books
• Date de parution: 18 août 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781800487994
• Langue: English

Extrait

SINGLE ALL THE WAY


PORTIA MACINTOSH
For Joe – This one is definitely for you
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


More from Portia MacIntosh

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Also by Portia MacIntosh

Love Notes

About Boldwood Books
1

In the movies, you can see a break-up coming from a mile away, can’t you? Some poor woman shouting into her phone about how her signal is fine, only to realise that her significant other doesn’t mean that the call is breaking up, they are breaking up. Or when a loved-up woman’s boyfriend says he needs to talk and she gets all excited, thinking he’s going to propose, but this usually happens at the start of the movie, so everyone watching knows she’s going to get dumped sooner or later. Probably sooner. That’s just how these things work.
I have seen so many movies and TV shows where couples break up – you’d think I would have been better prepared for my own, or at least been able to see it coming. Instead, it hit me like a train.
I’ll tell you something else I never forecast – that I would have to keep working for my ex, because of course he’s my boss too. Life is always horribly complicated that way, isn’t it? As if getting dumped isn’t torture enough, I have to keep taking orders from him. If it isn’t ‘Clear all your things out of my apartment, Dani’ then it’s ‘Dani, make me a coffee’. Do you have any idea how demoralising it is, making coffee for the man who broke your heart? Do you know how tempting it is to put real milk in his coffee instead of oat milk?
Don’t worry, it wouldn’t kill him, he’d just be stuck on the loo for a while. I doubt it would make me feel better anyway and it’s far less than he deserves. I think it annoys me more than anything because making him coffees isn’t actually part of my job. It’s something I always did because I was, y’know, in love with him. Somehow, he’s cut me loose in all ways apart from getting me to make his coffees, and I don’t know how to say no, not because I’m weak, but because he is my boss and the last thing I need right now is to lose my job too.
Tom and I were together for two years – not that anyone we work with knows that. I’m a writer and he’s my editor, although he wasn’t when we started dating. I stupidly stepped aside to let him get promoted because I thought we were on the right track. I thought we were making smart choices for our relationship. We had talked about getting married and having kids – at least three. I’ve always been an only child, and Tom was one of five. He would tell me stories from his childhood, about what he and his siblings would get up to, and while he might not have had some of the same financial advantages as me growing up, I always wish I’d had brothers and sisters.
I didn’t mind at all when he became my editor, at the lifestyle magazine we both work for. It’s not a problem, when the man you’re with is telling you that when you eventually start your family, it will make it easier for you to take time off. A huge problem, however, when he dumps you. I should have been making career moves of my own. I put all my eggs in the Tom basket. Yes, I do feel like a mug, but it’s always easier to spot what you tripped over when you’re down on the floor.
That’s what relationships are like, though: one minute you’re all loved up, the next minute your long-term boyfriend is dumping you for the girl he’s been cheating on you with. A twenty-two-year-old medical student called Mia who he met at the gym. I didn’t think that actually happened in real life. It was six months ago now and I still can’t quite believe it.
The day I found out that Tom was cheating on me (by actually walking in on him while he was doing it, which was as excruciating as it sounds) was the same day that he left me . This is going to sound absolutely pathetic, but when I found out that he had someone else, I didn’t get mad at him to begin with. I didn’t dump him or hit him or even use so much as a PG-approved swear word. I panicked at the thought of life without him. Our lives felt so intwined, being together, living together, working together – I relied on him for so much that the thought of life without the lying, cheating bastard seemed like a worse prospect than staying with him, knowing full well he was treating my heart like a punching bag.
Looking back now, I realise how lucky I am that he did kick me out, because I might have stayed with him and he would have done this to me again and again. Well, I say lucky, I don’t feel that lucky living in my pokey rented flat, working this crappy job, and having to look at his smug face every single day. But I can see now that I was so miserable with Tom, and I know that I wouldn’t have ever been happy with him. After the initial panic of being dumped wore off, my feelings naturally progressed from wanting him back to hating his guts – so now he’s just like any other boss, I suppose.
Of course, the first thing I did at the time was blame myself. Well, I’m a decade older than her. I don’t go to the gym much these days, so I’m a few pounds heavier than I should be by whatever standards we’re supposed to obey – meh – but I’ve been struggling to find the time to go. Tom kept politely reminding me – at least it seemed like a polite reminder at the time – so I politely thanked him but still didn’t have time. I’d drag myself out of bed on a morning, do a full day in the office, and I’m always knackered when I get home but I would still make the dinner and do the dishes – always me, every night, and now I feel like an even bigger mug.
Eventually, I realised that Tom was just a selfish, horrible person who had been making me feel like I wasn’t good enough ever since he decided I wasn’t. He’s the kind of person who would cheat on the woman who did nothing but support him – and then kick her out to move his other woman in! That is not the kind of person I want to be with and I’m better off without him… except I’m not without him because I’m still working with him, and these days, I’m working for him, which is even worse.
I know what you’re thinking, that I should quit my job – believe me, I would love to – but this is real life and people can’t just quit their jobs, especially not right before Christmas.
When it all kicked off in the summer – and I was subsequently kicked out – I spent a couple of nights in a cheap hotel before I found myself an even cheaper flat. I say it’s cheap but somehow most of my money still goes towards my rent. I am on the lookout for a new job and as soon as I find one that works for me, I’ll delight in giving my notice to Tom… but in the meantime, I have bills to pay, and I would be crazy to lose my foot in the door here, even if I have only managed to squash a little toe through it at best.
My only other option would be to move back in with my parents up north in Yorkshire – I’m sure they would have me – but that feels too much like admitting I’ve failed. Failed to find the right man, failed at making a decent life for myself in London, failed to get my career going, failed to be financially independent… No one wants to admit to themselves that they’ve failed at all things in life, never mind to other people.
At least I’m going to spend Christmas with them this year, and I’m really looking forward to it, because it’s the first Christmas I will have spent in my home town in a long time. I spent the last couple in London, with Tom (mug!). We were trying to establish our own family traditions – his words, not mine. I wonder if he’ll be doing that with Mia this year…
They’ll still be in that first flush of romance, I’ll bet. When everyone is on their best behaviour, still keeping their bad habits and annoying traits under wraps. Just wait until she finds out that he listens to country music at deafeningly loud volumes when he’s showering in the early hours of the morning, or the fact that he obsessively rewatches those crappy Not Dead Yet action movies, but insists on keeping the DVDs hidden, so no one knows he’s into something that he considers to be lowbrow. Living with Tom was not a walk in the park, that’s for sure. For someone so obsessed with the place being spotless, and everything being in its place, he was terrible for leaving bits of human debris, for lack of a better term, lying around, like his toenails or his rolled-up bogeys. Honestly, given how hard he was to live with (and obviously the fact that he cheated on me), it’s almost impossible to miss him, or to feel all that sad about our break-up. If there’s anything to mourn, it’s just the time and the effort that I threw into our relationship. I always throw my everything into anything I do. It feels like such a waste, to see that it was all for nothing.
Enough about Tom. The important thing is that I’m going to spend Christmas with my family, I’m job hunting, I’m saving up. I’m going to turn things around.
I twirl around on my desk chair. I’ve done my job search for the day. I’ve doodled in my notepad until my hand hurts, sketching ideas for festive cakes and biscuits that I could bake with my mum in her massive kitchen. I’m all for looking forwards and putting the past behind me, so I’m focusing on what a wonderful Christmas I’m going to have with my family, all the fun we’re going to have, and all the amazing things I’m going to eat. Speaking of which…
I hop up from my chair, a little uneasy on my feet from the twirling, and head into the kitchen to pop the kettle on. It’s definitely time for my mid-morning break. A cup of tea a