Chapters (51)
- Cover
- Praise for A Season for Second Chances
- Also by Jenny Bayliss
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- Discussion Guide
- About the Author
- What’s next onyour reading list?
“Well.” Charles clapped his hands together. “We’ve got to get down to the hotel. It’s been great.” Nory saw him well up and quash it—blink and you’d have missed it. “Love you all, losers! Thanks for coming.”
They exchanged hugs and kisses and then Ameerah, Pip, and Nory watched the happy couple cross the snowy drive, arms wrapped around each other.
“As you know, I don’t believe in the concept of marriage,” said Pippa, and Ameerah and Nory groaned dramatically. “But if any couple can make it, it’s those two.”
“Agreed,” said Ameerah, kissing Pippa’s cheek.
“Me too,” added Nory, wrapping her arms around Pip’s waist.
“I love you both with all my heart,” said Pippa stiffly. “And if you ever tell anyone, I’ll murder you both in your sleep.”
The three friends stood quietly for a few moments in the grand hall decked with boughs of holly and let it wash over them one last time before they headed home.
Thirty-five
Ameerah pulled away and out into the London traffic, leaving Nory on the curb. The city had never felt so loud, and Nory had never felt so small within it. If there had been any snow here at all, no evidence of it now remained, which made her time at Robinwood Castle feel even more like a dream. The pavements were wet and shining in the lights from shop windows. People rushed past, oblivious to the brokenhearted woman who wandered among them. It had always amazed Nory how one person’s life could be irrevocably changed and yet the world kept on going regardless. She felt out of step with the present.
Nory looked across at Serendipitous Seconds. They were normally open on Sundays in December; it was prime shopping time, but they were closed today. She couldn’t expect Andrew to work a seven-day week while she’d been swanning around a castle. She should never have gone. She should have trusted her instincts and stayed the hell away from Guy and Robinwood Castle and head gardeners who made you fall in love with them.
The Father Christmas in the window rocked in his chair, and the twinkle lights picked out the Christmas titles stacked up around him. She didn’t need to go in. She could leave it closed and head to her flat and collapse in a heap on the sofa. Her flat, cozy and warm, floated into her mind—did she really want to be alone with nothing to do right now? She stood for another moment in the busy square, halfway between her flat and the shop, and then she made her decision.