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Back The Model Wife Save as PDF
Chapters (48)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. About the Author
  4. Also by Tricia Stringer
  5. Title Page
  6. Dedication
  7. One
  8. Two
  9. Three
  10. Four
  11. Five
  12. Six
  13. Seven
  14. Eight
  15. Nine
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Twelve
  19. Thirteen
  20. Fourteen
  21. Fifteen
  22. Sixteen
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Author’s Note
  46. Acknowledgements
  47. Excerpt
  48. One

A bird swooped in and perched on the branch of a nearby shrub. It had done that each afternoon since she’d arrived. Gabe had told her it was a bowerbird scouting for objects to decorate its bower. Natalie never had anything that caught the sharp-eyed bird’s interest. It craned its long neck forward, inspecting her with its beady look.

“Sorry, nothing for you,” she said and as if it understood the bird swept away on silent wings. She envied it its resolute purpose in life. Her new start had no direction at all.

Twenty-Seven

Twenty-Seven

Dinner at Rosie’s was a happy affair. The fish had been devoured with much bragging from Charlie and then as they’d settled back, replete from their meal, he’d started telling jokes. It was hard to equate the happy young man, whose face was split in a grin with a mischievous spark in his eyes, to the sullen boy she’d first met on the kayaking expedition almost a week ago. He’d been quiet when they set out on their fishing trip today but as soon as he caught his first fish he’d become animated and the smile had hardly left his face since. Now he was making them laugh.

Natalie had enjoyed their trip to the creek as well. She’d managed to catch one fish but Rosie had declared it not good for eating so they’d had to throw it back. Tonight’s dinner had been courtesy of Rosie and Charlie’s skills, not hers. Natalie’s contribution had been to open her last packet of lettuce leaves and create a tossed salad to go with their pan-fried fish and oven-baked chips.

Out of jokes, Charlie got up from the table and collected their plates. “I’m going to my room now,” he said.

“Thanks for catching me some dinner, Charlie,” Natalie said.

“No problem.” He grinned. “Anytime you need fish you just ask me.”

“Ha!” Rosie laughed. “Suddenly you’re an expert.”

Natalie was surprised to see Charlie bend and give Rosie a swift kiss on the cheek.

“Night, Aunty Rosie,” he said. “Natalie.”

By the look on Rosie’s face as she watched him go, the kiss had taken her by surprise too.

“I didn’t think I was going to have any luck with that one,” she murmured once they heard the clunk of his bedroom door closing. “But there’s something there after all.”

“He’s a bright young lad.”

“Very. He just needs to believe it himself.” Rosie stood up. “Cup of tea?”

“I’d love one.”

“It’s a nice night. Let’s go outside. You go ahead, I’ll bring out the tea.”