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?
Nory huffed loudly at the ceiling. She was not a woman who possessed evening wear, at least not the kind Jenna was talking about. The kinds of parties Nory attended were those for which a good Primark dress with some bold accessories was perfectly adequate. It wasn’t like she could raid Ameerah’s extensive dress collection either, since Ameerah was three sizes smaller than Nory. She would have to ask Andrew; his sister, Scarlett, had a vintage clothing shop and she rented out some pieces as well as selling.
Sounds wonderful! Nory typed back, hoping her reluctance wouldn’t translate over the ether. Don’t worry, I’m on it. It’ll be nice to get dressed up. Are you nervous yet? Xx
Not yet. Too busy to be nervous. OK Magazine are sending a photographer on the day!! Xx
Of course they are, thought Nory, smiling.
Oh My God!! That’s awesome Jen, you’ll be the bride of the year! Xx
Ha I don’t think so! Xx
Nory laughed silently to herself: Jenna definitely did think so.
Jenna played a country vet in the soap opera Days and Nights set in rural Surrey, and she pretended as best she could to hate being recognized and asked for selfies wherever she went. She read for audiobooks and radio plays, and she’d had a few bit parts in films, but she hadn’t yet made it properly onto the big screen. As a thirty-four-year-old woman, she knew her chances to play the leading lady in a blockbuster movie were dwindling by the day.
“Before too long,” she’d complained at their last lunch date, “I’ll start being offered mother roles. I don’t want to be the mother; I want to be the lead!”
With the likelihood of Hollywood calling looking increasingly slim, Jenna had turned her attentions toward the theater, claiming, “An actress has more longevity in the theater. The theater doesn’t cap women at the first hint of crow’s-feet!” Not that Jenna needed to worry about crow’s-feet; she’d been pumping her face full of Botox since her twenty-seventh birthday. Sometimes Nory found herself missing the things Jenna said because she was entranced by her paralyzed forehead.
Nory laid her phone back on her book pile and turned over, pulling the duvet over her head. The messages from Jenna had hauled her out of her thoughts maze and at last she knew she would be able to sleep.