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?
Fresh flowers had been woven between the balustrades—white and pale pink lisianthus, held in place by dark trailing ivy—and at the bottom of the staircase two plinths showcased enormous floral displays, which cascaded down to the smooth, gently undulated stone floor. No wonder Shelley was pulling extra shifts to get all this lot done, Nory thought. An enormous Christmas tree stood to one side of the staircase, reaching up through the stairwell to the floor above. It was decorated in a riot of red and gold baubles that glittered in the tree lights. A whole log spluttered in the giant fireplace as the flames slowly licked it clean, the warmth from it was like an embrace after the cold outside. The air was redolent with fresh pine and woodsmoke.
On either side of the staircase, two long corridors led down toward large stained-glass windows at the far ends, before turning left and right and continuing out of sight. Through several open doors along the passage, light spilled into the hall. It was from one of these open doors that Jenna’s laugh came again.
“If you would like to follow me, some of your friends are taking afternoon tea in the garden room,” said the butler with due sobriety.
They entered a sumptuously decorated room with three enormous bay windows looking out onto the formal gardens. Tiered cake stands brimming with scones and triangle sandwiches sat on round coffee tables beside china teapots. And beside them, Jenna and Pippa looked as though they were being gradually consumed by an enormous velvet sofa. The indentations of two further bottoms on the opposite sofa indicated that Charles and someone else—Nory hoped it wasn’t Guy, she hadn’t quite steeled herself for that meeting yet—had recently left the room.
“You’re here!” screeched Jenna, extricating herself from the voluminous cushions and hurling herself first at Ameerah and then at Nory, before holding out a slender hand to Dev and purring, “I don’t believe we’ve met.”
Pippa raised her eyebrows and rose gracefully out of the sofa as though pushed by invisible hydraulics. She air-kissed each of them in turn and nodded a hello at Dev. After a spell apart, it always took Pippa a little while to ease back into being relaxed around them. Pippa Harrington wasn’t gushing or romantic by nature and liked to introduce herself by saying “I’m not a hugger.” It took her a long time to feel comfortable around people, but once she chose you as a friend, you had a friend for life. Nory was one of the few people to have ever seen Pippa vulnerable, and Pippa was one of the few people Nory would call in a crisis.