The Bunk Up (The Village People Book 1) Read Online Free

wonder if Mrs H bats for the other team but she takes a sip of her hot chocolate and smiles. “What you need is a change. A holiday.”
    “Yeah,” I say sarcastically thinking of the dire amount in my bank account. “That’s a no go with my bank manager too.”
    As if she has a firecracker up her ass, Mrs Haversham jumps and swivels around to me. “I have a cottage in Beydon.”
    Where the hell is Beydon?
    Answering my unspoken question, she grins at me. “It’s a quiet little village in Norfolk. It’s been in my family for years and I could never bear to sell it, so it just sits there empty forty-eight weeks of the year. You could go there.”
    “I couldn’t.” I shake my head, gobsmacked with her generosity.
    “Of course you can. It’s only sitting empty. You have nothing holding you back.”
    My pout returns when I remember she’s right. I have no job to try and take holidays from. I have no boyfriend to seek permission from. My mother is still camping in Amsterdam with her Philippine boyfriend – don’t ask. And, the worse part, I have no home. It sounds like a good idea but… when I figure there are no buts to argue with, I frown at Mrs H. “You would do that? For me?”
    The confusion that covers her face deepens the many wrinkles for a second. “Well why wouldn’t I? We’re friends, aren’t we?”
    Tears well harder. I don’t know what to say. A woman I’d gone out of my way to avoid showed me what a bitch I was. My heart swelled and a sob of gratefulness rolls from me.
    “Don’t cry,” she whispers in my ear as she huddles me to her humungous bust. “Shh, Daisy. You’ll love it. Peace and quiet, for however long you want. And then when you find your happy again, you can come back and face the world again.”
    I nod against her, unable to speak.
    “Oh, I do wish my Nigel had picked you. You would have been my daughter-in-law, Daisy. Wouldn’t that have been wonderful? We’d have made a great team.”
    I frown to myself. Nigel Haversham had buck teeth, a funny brown skin tag that hung from his left eyelid, and his nose sat slightly to the right. He always wore brown cords and a snotty green shirt. For many years I’d wondered if he’d bought those same clothes in bulk. But then he’d moved to Australia and his attire didn’t torture my eyes any longer – much to my relief. I knew he’d had a crush on me a couple of years back because he’d flash those large teeth in abundance every time he saw me.
    “That would have been lovely,” I fib, a shudder ripping through me as I picture mine and Nigel’s wedding.
    “Never mind,” she says. “Someone will come along – not as handsome as my Nigel – but still someone who will sweep you off your feet and treat you like a princess.”
    I look up at her and smile. “Did Mr H treat you like a princess?”
    Oddly, she stiffens and sits up straight. “Come on, let’s go and get you the key to the cottage.” Shaking herself from the strange atmosphere that has descended around us, she finally smiles and takes my hand, pulling me up from the bench and completely ignoring my question.
    I frown as she directs me through the park. I was upset for Mrs H. It was obvious she had a few secrets of her own. Mrs Haversham had been married for many years. There was talk that early in her marriage she’d taken on a lover. One day he never turned up to their meeting place and she never saw him again. Mrs H had been heartbroken, but her husband had forgiven her and they’d gone on to have a long and happy marriage. Unfortunately, Mr H had died of a stroke six years ago. I hadn’t known much about her until I started work at the Post Office and she started coming to my window regularly.
    Yet, I knew better than to listen to the village gossip. I had been the centre of it many times, so I had now come to ignore every whisper and every hushed statement.
     
    ***
    “So you’re definitely going then?” Kathy asks with barely contained excitement as