BooksBarbecue
Back The Lucky Eight
Chapters (64)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Prologue
  4. Five Years Later
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-one
  26. Twenty-two
  27. Twenty-three
  28. Twenty-four
  29. Twenty-five
  30. Twenty-six
  31. Twenty-seven
  32. Twenty-eight
  33. Twenty-nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-one
  36. Thirty-two
  37. Thirty-three
  38. Thirty-four
  39. Thirty-five
  40. Thirty-six
  41. Thirty-seven
  42. Thirty-eight
  43. Thirty-nine
  44. Forty
  45. Forty-one
  46. Forty-two
  47. Forty-three
  48. Forty-four
  49. Forty-five
  50. Forty-six
  51. Forty-seven
  52. Forty-eight
  53. Forty-nine
  54. Fifty
  55. Fifty-one
  56. Fifty-two
  57. Fifty-three
  58. Fifty-four
  59. Fifty-five
  60. Epilogue
  61. Acknowledgements
  62. Canelo Crime
  63. About the Author
  64. Also by Sheila Bugler

This morning, she’d got up while he was still asleep and left him a note saying she was going to Brighton for a day’s shopping and wouldn’t be back until later. Before leaving the house, she went online and followed the instructions for erasing the location tracker app from her phone. She’d called Bella on the train and asked if she was free to meet. Bella couldn’t meet until the afternoon, which meant Clodagh had spent most of the day wandering around Brighton, trying to stay out of the rain.

‘Has something happened?’ Bella asked now.

‘I had a row with Adam yesterday. I’m upset, that’s all.’

Clodagh lifted her cup, was about to take a sip of the coffee when she remembered and put the cup down again.

‘It’s a bit hot,’ she said, when she caught Bella looking at her.

‘No.’ Bella frowned. ‘It’s more than that. I know you, Clodagh. You’re a coffee fiend. There’s no way that coffee’s too hot. It’s been sitting there for five minutes, at least. And the last time I was at your house? You weren’t drinking coffee then, either.’

‘I’m pregnant.’

The words were out before she could stop them. The sudden urge to share her good news, especially now when she was feeling so low, had taken her by surprise.

‘Oh.’

‘It’s a bit of a shock,’ Clodagh said. ‘I mean, we hadn’t even been trying for a baby. I’ve been taking the pill but I missed a few days over the last couple of months. I didn’t think it would make much difference, but I was clearly wrong about that.’

She stopped speaking, aware that Bella’s reaction wasn’t what she’d expected. Then she realised.

‘Shit, Bella. I’m sorry. I should have thought before I opened my big mouth.’

‘It’s okay,’ Bella said, clearly not meaning it. Her face was pale and there was a haunted look in her eyes that Clodagh had never seen before.

Clodagh reached out and took Bella’s hand.

‘I know how hard you and Gary tried for a baby,’ she said, recalling the many times Bella had spoken her about her failed IVF attempts before the break-up of her marriage. ‘I didn’t realise it was something that still bothered you.’

‘It will never stop bothering me,’ Bella said, pulling her hand away. ‘But I’ve reached a place of acceptance, I guess. Being with Simon helps. Unlike Gary, Simon’s never wanted kids so he doesn’t see it as some big failure that I’m not able to get pregnant.’

‘It’s not a failure,’ Clodagh said.