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Back When Life Gives You Lemons Save as PDF
Chapters (54)
  1. Cover
  2. WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS
  3. Dedication
  4. Part One
  5. Chapter One
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Four
  9. Chapter Five
  10. Chapter Six
  11. Chapter Seven
  12. Chapter Eight
  13. Part Two
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. Chapter Ten
  16. Chapter Eleven
  17. Chapter Twelve
  18. Chapter Thirteen
  19. Chapter Fourteen
  20. Chapter Fifteen
  21. Chapter Sixteen
  22. Chapter Seventeen
  23. Chapter Eighteen
  24. Chapter Nineteen
  25. Chapter Twenty
  26. Part Three
  27. Chapter Twenty-One
  28. Chapter Twenty-Two
  29. Chapter Twenty-Three
  30. Chapter Twenty-Four
  31. Chapter Twenty-Five
  32. Chapter Twenty-Six
  33. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  36. Part Four
  37. Chapter Thirty
  38. Chapter Thirty-One
  39. Chapter Thirty-Two
  40. Chapter Thirty-Three
  41. Chapter Thirty-Four
  42. Chapter Thirty-Five
  43. Chapter Thirty-Six
  44. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  45. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  46. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  47. Chapter Forty
  48. Chapter Forty-One
  49. Chapter Forty-Two
  50. Acknowledgements
  51. Keep Reading …
  52. About the Author
  53. By the same author:
  54. About the Publisher

Chrissie extracts a crumpled tissue from her jeans pocket and blows her nose into it. ‘I’m okay,’ she murmurs.

‘Penny?’ I look at her, wanting to hug her but aware that her mouth is still set in a terse line. ‘If you don’t want it to happen, then it won’t happen,’ I say firmly. ‘I’ll call the museum, the joiners, Spencer, the models – everyone who’s involved. Without your blessing, it can’t possibly go ahead.’

I see her swallow hard and look down at the floor, and hear a whining sound from the hallway. Bobby has been there the whole time. He must have sensed the tension in here and decided, wisely, to stay away. Izzy is out there now, murmuring comfortingly to him.

‘Okay,’ is all Penny says.

I sigh. ‘Would you like to come up to Spencer’s room and see the clothes? The Girl Friday collection, I mean? It really is amazing, what we’ve managed to gather together.’ She shakes her head. ‘Please come and see. You might change your mind, if you just have a look. Your old designs are there, all the key pieces that everyone loved …’ I stop, because I feel that I, too, could cry.

Penny’s face seems to soften, and she looks at me as if considering it for a moment. Then she turns and says, ‘I need to get Bobby home. He’ll be ravenous and I think I forgot to defrost his beef.’ And then they’re gone.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Friday, November 22

I consider calling in sick at work. However, guilt gnaws at me so I end up phoning Rose and telling her the whole story, the entire sorry mess, and when I’ve finished there’s silence.

‘Rose?’ I prompt her. ‘I’m sorry – I know I’ve been consumed by this these past few weeks, and maybe my mind hasn’t seemed completely on my job. I know I’ve been distracted. I’ve tried to keep everything going but—’

‘I had no idea you were doing this,’ she says, sounding genuinely shocked. ‘No idea at all.’

Christ, I don’t think this is going down well, and no wonder. Secret side projects imply not being fully committed to work, and if there’s one thing Rose insists on, it’s one hundred per cent commitment. ‘No, well, of course you wouldn’t,’ I murmur.