and he rolled his eyes.

‘In any case, when something’s not meant to be, it’s wiser to just let it go,’ he said.

Emma stirred in her sleep, muttered something, and we both waited for her to settle again.

‘Apart from her wedding anniversary today, is Em okay?’ I asked.

His eyes swung to mine from above the rim of his glass.

‘What do you mean?’

‘She seems… odd. Like she has a secret. Has she got a new man or something?’

He swallowed and put his glass down, making sure not to jostle her. ‘Seems all right to me. Maybe she’s just working too hard.’

I took a sip of my wine. ‘Well, hopefully we’re looking at sunny days ahead.’

‘To sunny days, then, Nina,’ he whispered.

‘To sunny days, Jack,’ I whispered back.

Emma stretched, yawned and opened her eyes. ‘Oh, God… how long have I been out?’ she asked.

‘Not long enough to sleep it off,’ Jack answered with his usual sarcasm.

‘Yeah, yeah,’ she said. ‘Play the indifference card, you two. Don’t think I don’t know why you had me over tonight even if you only just got back home. And you with your business meeting tomorrow. You guys are the best.’

I patted her knee, and Jack, who was against anything that could be described as gushy or cheesy, gave her head a light shove sideways as he always did in similar moments. Jack eyed me, knowing what was next.

‘O’ course I have Adam to thank. If he hadn’ta left me, I’da never moved to Penworth Ford and met you lot,’ she slurred. ‘And if I’da never met him, I’d a never fallen in love with him and had his baby,’ she said, her voice cracking now.

I hugged her. ‘It’s all right, Em, it’s all right.’

‘And if I’da never had his baby, I’da never put on the baby weight, and he’d never lost interest in me,’ she sniffled as the tears came.

‘Em,’ Jack said. ‘It’s not your fault. He lost interest in you because he’s a wanker – you know that. And you’re better off without him.’

She was now sobbing, and I hated her husband for what he’d done to her. I wondered how long it would take her to recover.

‘Would you have left me, Jack?’ she sniffled. ‘Just because I’d gained a few baby pounds?’

‘I told you – he’s just a wanker.’

She snuggled up to him, and I could see the fragile curve of her back. ‘You would never leave me, would you, Jack?’ she wheedled, moving in to kiss his cheek.

He rolled his eyes. ‘Of course not.’

‘No, you wouldn’t Jack, and you know why? Because you,’ she said poking him in the chest, ‘are one of the good ones. You’re good-lookin’, rich, and sexy as hell. By the way, Nina, did I ever tell you that Jack has a huge—’

He stood up, catching her as she slid off his lap.

‘All right, all right, Missy, you’ve had too much tonight. Let’s get you next door,’ he said, propping her up in his arms like she weighed absolutely nothing.

‘Give her a couple of aspirin,’ I said. ‘That usually makes her feel better.’

‘I know,’ he said.

Emma looked at me through her dazed drunkenness as if she was seeing me for the first time. ‘You’re so prettyyyy,’ she said. ‘Isn’t she pretty, Jack?’

‘Absolutely,’ he said, rolling his eyes.

‘And she’s so kind.’ She turned around to look at me over Jack’s shoulder. ‘You deserve good things to happen to you, Nina. And I’m a horrible person…’

‘That’s enough now,’ he said, whisking her through the front door as I held it open for them.

‘Night, Hollywood,’ she called, suddenly happy again, waving, then turned to look at Jack. ‘Oh, look, my ride’s here! Hi, lover boy!’

‘Okay then, see you tomorrow, Jack. Thanks so much and good luck with your distributors tomorrow,’ I said as I waved them off.

‘Thanks, Nina. Welcome back. Don’t worry about her. I’m proper proud of you.’ And with that, he disappeared into the night.

Poor Emma. She, too, had been through a lot. But at least she had us now. With a sigh, I loaded the washing machine with our darks and sat at the dining room table where my encrypted-against-beady-little-eyes Bucket List was still pinned to my cork board the way I’d left it a week ago:

Guru was Ben’s operation

Miracle meant Write next book

Filter meant Filter Phil out of my blood system

Soldi was Italian for money

De-royalise had nothing to do with my royalties, but rather getting Chloe off her throne where I was concerned.

And now, sitting where I always sat, Los Angeles once again seemed as far as it always had been and that a whole lifetime had already gone by, and that I had never left at all. My daisies were still flowering nicely, and Minnie and Callie settled again into our evening routine. Only one big thing had changed, and in a moment of indulgence towards myself, and just for the fun of it, I added to my list, Get a big fat Hollywood movie deal. And with immense satisfaction, crossed it off my list.

15

My Neighbour’s Secret

Being back home in Penworth Ford was like running a victory lap in the market square. Everywhere I went, people kept congratulating me about the movie, from the village butcher to the vicar.

‘Is it true you and Luke O’Hara are going to write a script together?’

‘How long are you and Luke going to be together?’

And, the most hilarious of all, from the local movie buffs, ‘Are you going to star in the movie like Nia Vardalos? You’d make a great Stella!’

If they only knew. Stella was me, made from my boiling blood, broken heart and shattered bones. She was the war-torn heroine I never let out except for at night, under the eaves of my tiny bedroom where I kept all the books I’d ever owned, from Charlotte’s Web to Kafka (never got past page thirty) and Katie Fforde (read ’em all). That was my lair, where I hid away from the world.

My first stop was to go and see

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