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

‘I don’t have a choice,’ Adam said. ‘Talking about the bad stuff is how I make a living. People expect me to share my experiences with them. I know you don’t like it, but I have a responsibility. I can’t avoid that, no matter how much I might like to.’

She felt bad, then, for judging him so harshly. Adam believed in what he was doing, and there was nothing wrong with that. It crossed her mind that maybe she was jealous because her own life lacked any sort of focus and drive.

‘You’re doing what you feel is right.’ Clodagh reached out and took his hand. ‘It’s one of the reasons I love you, because you care so much.’

‘I love you too.’ Adam leaned down and brushed his lips against her cheek. ‘If it’s any consolation, Jake will be gone soon.’

‘Good.’ Clodagh squeezed Adam’s hand before letting it go.

‘I don’t deserve you,’ Adam said. ‘You put up with so much.’

‘You know flattery doesn’t work with me, don’t you?’

‘That’s a pity,’ Adam said. ‘I was hoping I could persuade you to join us for a bit?’

Clodagh groaned.

‘Please, Clo? I don’t know how I’m going to get rid of him by myself.’

Try standing up to him for once, she wanted to say.

‘Come on,’ she said instead, pushing herself out of the deckchair. ‘Let’s get this over and done with.’

‘Clodagh,’ Jake boomed as she walked through the folding glass doors into the open plan kitchen. ‘So glad you could join us. Here.’ He pulled out one of the stools at the island, gesturing for her to sit down. As if, Clodagh thought sourly, this was his home, not hers.

Ignoring the stool, she sat down on the sofa, which had the dual advantage of being more comfortable than a stool and significantly further away from Jake. She’d hoped Adam might sit beside her so they would present a united front. Instead, Adam sat on the stool meant for her and smiled at Jake as if he was genuinely pleased he was still here, taking up space in their kitchen.

‘We’ve got a slot on Good Morning Britain tomorrow morning.’ Jake looked at Clodagh. ‘The producer’s asked if you’d think about going on with Adam. I’ve told her you don’t like doing stuff like that, but she’s very keen. She’s done me a big favour squeezing Adam in at the last minute. It would help a lot if I could say yes. You wouldn’t have to talk about anything you didn’t want to. I’d make sure of that. What do you think?’