Contents ( 57)
- Prologue
- 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
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
- Also by Sharon Gosling
‘You two are really getting on well.’
Gilly shrugged. ‘She’s okay.’
‘She’s lovely,’ Rachel said firmly. ‘It’s only Ezra that she clashes with, and I still have no idea why.’
Gilly gave her a look. ‘No idea? Seriously?’
Rachel looked at her. ‘No. Why – has Edie said something?’
‘Nope,’ said Gilly. ‘I’ve worked it out, though. To be honest, it’s obvious.’ She tapped the cover of Much Ado About Nothing. ‘They’re Beatrice and Benedick.’
Rachel frowned. ‘You’ve lost me.’
‘Think about it,’ Gilly said, because she herself had been thinking about it ever since seeing Shakespeare’s story played out on screen. ‘All that arguing, the jibes, the friction. It’s all sexual tension, isn’t it? They’re so totally Beatrice and Benedick.’
Rachel laughed. ‘That’s one way of looking at it, I suppose.’
‘It’s the only way of looking at it,’ Gilly said. ‘Which is why we’ve got to get them together.’
‘What?’
‘You heard me,’ Gilly said. ‘We need to do exactly what happens in the play and set them up so that they end up a couple, because that’s obviously what the problem is.’
‘Er, no,’ said Rachel.
‘What do you mean, no?’
‘I mean, no, that’s really not what their problem is, Gilly,’ said Rachel.
‘How can you say that when a minute ago you were saying you don’t know what the problem is?’
‘Well, because I don’t – except that I know that’s not it.’
‘You’re wrong,’ Gilly said, with complete conviction. ‘It’s absolutely the problem. They’re in love but they won’t admit it, so someone else has got to intervene. Me. Us!’
‘Gilly,’ Rachel said, ‘promise me you’re not going to do anything daft. Honestly, their relationship is bad enough as it is, and they’re neighbours. They have to live next to each other. They’ve got personalities that clash, that’s all. It happens. Interfering is only going to make things so much worse. You can’t make people fall in love.’
‘Firstly,’ Gilly said, with exaggerated patience, ‘we won’t be making them fall in love, they’re already in love but they won’t acknowledge it. Secondly, there is no such thing as happily ever after. But they’re both ancient, so there’s a good chance they’ll at least make it to the end together.’
‘Look, Gilly,’ Rachel tried again. ‘It’s really great that Shakespeare has lit such a fire in you, but honestly, you have to leave them alone.’
Gilly sighed. ‘Ron will agree with me.’
‘I really don’t think he will,’ Rachel said. ‘For the simple fact that we’re not living in a Shakespeare play and, like the rest of us, he’s been watching Ezra and Edie tear chunks out of each other for years. Now, don’t we have a lesson we’re supposed to be getting on with?’
Thirty-One
There was so much to do at the gatehouse that Rachel was spending most of her days there, boxing and collating, clearing and organizing. She always made sure to get back before closing time, so that Gilly could get out on time and she could cash up.