BooksBarbecue
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Chapters (84)
  1. Chapter one
  2. Chapter two
  3. Chapter three
  4. Chapter four
  5. Chapter five
  6. Chapter six
  7. Chapter seven
  8. Chapter eight
  9. Chapter nine
  10. Chapter ten
  11. Chapter eleven
  12. Chapter twelve
  13. Chapter thirteen
  14. Chapter fourteen
  15. Chapter fifteen
  16. Chapter sixteen
  17. Chapter seventeen
  18. Chapter eighteen
  19. Chapter nineteen
  20. Chapter twenty
  21. Chapter twenty-one
  22. Chapter twenty-two
  23. Chapter twenty-three
  24. Chapter twenty-four
  25. Chapter twenty-five
  26. Chapter twenty-six
  27. Chapter twenty-seven
  28. Chapter twenty-eight
  29. Chapter twenty-nine
  30. Chapter thirty
  31. Chapter thirty-one
  32. Chapter thirty-two
  33. Chapter thirty-three
  34. Chapter thirty-four
  35. Chapter thirty-five
  36. Chapter thirty-six
  37. Chapter thirty-seven
  38. Chapter thirty-eight
  39. Chapter thirty-nine
  40. Chapter forty
  41. Chapter forty-one
  42. Chapter forty-two
  43. Chapter forty-three
  44. Chapter forty-four
  45. Chapter forty-five
  46. Chapter forty-six
  47. Chapter forty-seven
  48. Chapter forty-eight
  49. Chapter forty-nine
  50. Chapter fifty
  51. Chapter fifty-one
  52. Chapter fifty-two
  53. Chapter fifty-three
  54. Chapter fifty-four
  55. Chapter fifty-five
  56. Chapter fifty-six
  57. Chapter fifty-seven
  58. Chapter fifty-eight
  59. Chapter fifty-nine
  60. Chapter sixty
  61. Chapter sixty-one
  62. Chapter sixty-two
  63. Chapter sixty-three
  64. Chapter sixty-four
  65. Chapter sixty-five
  66. Chapter sixty-six
  67. Chapter sixty-seven
  68. Chapter sixty-eight
  69. Chapter sixty-nine
  70. Chapter seventy
  71. Chapter seventy-one
  72. Chapter seventy-two
  73. Chapter seventy-three
  74. Chapter seventy-four
  75. Chapter seventy-five
  76. Chapter seventy-six
  77. Chapter seventy-seven
  78. Chapter seventy-eight
  79. Chapter seventy-nine
  80. Chapter eighty
  81. Chapter eighty-one
  82. Chapter eighty-two
  83. Chapter eighty-three
  84. Chapter eighty-four

As I approach the tramp, his eyes widen in what might be fear. He sits up abruptly.

‘Here,’ I say, as I give him the tea and the sandwich. ‘I hope you like ham.’

And before I start to cry at the indignity of it all, I walk away.

Chapter sixteen

Chapter sixteen

Jake sat at his desk worrying about eggs. Boiled eggs, fried eggs, poached eggs, yodelling eggs with legs. All sorts of eggs. The egg campaign was not going well. The Egg Marketing Board had hated his last presentation, which he had to admit hadn’t even turned him on and he’d been very half-hearted in his selling of it.

He was getting so desperate, he’d even approached Pip for some help this morning, which was strictly against his nature, but he felt he needed a new pair of eyes to give this the once-over and his friend could normally be relied upon to come up with the goods. Albeit sometimes rather wacky goods. Pip had been unusually terse and unhelpful and had given him the brush-off. It had left Jake feeling unsettled and he was sure Pip had been avoiding him for the rest of the day.

Neve came back into the office.

‘Hey,’ he said. ‘The hair looks good.’

She gave him a twirl. ‘Thanks.’

Lyssa always complained that he never noticed when she had her hair done and he wanted to do things differently this time. He had to admit though, they’d not got off to a great start. Neve had spent their first weekend with everyone other than him. In an unwelcome repeat of Saturday, most of Neve’s Sunday had been taken up by training and seeing friends while he kicked around the apartment wondering what to do. He was trying very hard not to let his tension show.

Neve perched on his desk. ‘I’m sorry we didn’t have much time together this weekend,’ she said, with what Jake felt was surprising insight. ‘It won’t be for long. My training will tail off once I’ve done the Everest trek and I’ll make more effort to schedule you into my plans.’

Schedule him into her plans? More effort to schedule him into her plans? Something in the way Neve said that made his stomach turn jittery. Shouldn’t she be trying to schedule everything else into their plans?

‘I’ve been thinking.’ Let’s face it, he’d had plenty of time to do that in the last few days. Jake lowered his voice. ‘Why don’t I do this Everest thing with you?’

Neve threw back her head and laughed.

Jake couldn’t help his frown. ‘What?’

‘You are joking?’

‘I think it would be fun.’

‘Fun?’ Neve laughed some more—so much so that heads in the department were starting to crane. ‘Have you ever climbed a mountain?’