The Second Chance Shoe Shop Read Online Free
Author: Marcie Steele
spiraled down the drain since New Year.
Riley picked up her Kindle and opened up the book she was reading. Sofar Chasing Pavements had been all about a woman falling in love. Every time she started to read a new scene, something would remind her of how lonely she felt. After what happened with Nicholas her heart hadn’t had time to mend. On top of that, splitting up with her first love, Tom, had made Riley very wary of getting into a long-term relationship again.
She and Tom had been together for eight years. They’d met in their early twenties, after he had been travelling for a year and come back home to settle in Hedworth. He was so worldly wise, fascinating her from the offset with his adventurous spirit, and she fell for him immediately. They bought a house together, planned to marry and start a family, but that had never happened. After six years he upped and left, saying he felt stifled by their relationship. Riley found out much later that he’d been more interested in a woman he worked with. The last she’d heard was that they’d moved to Australia to start up a new business.
It hadn’t meant that she wasn’t at fault too. Riley thought that affairs usually started because one person wasn’t happy in the relationship. If they were happy, they wouldn’t stray. They wouldn’t feel trapped. But it had hurt that all her plans had been stopped in their tracks. It was the reason she had fallen for Nicholas and his charms. Usually she had a good radar for idiots but this time it had failed her.
With that last sorrowful thought, she scrolled through her reading list. There was bound to be a crime novel or psychological thriller that would be far better suited to her mood.
Chapter Three
S adie had been up for over an hour and it was still only six thirty. She relished the peace and quiet of the morning, knowing it would be shattered when her daughter, Esther, woke up. Esther was six years old, and a whirlwind at the best of times, but until the mornings started to get that little bit lighter Sadie would be safe for a few minutes longer.
Luckily for her, when she went to work Sadie could drop Esther off at her mother-in-law’s, safe in the knowledge that she would be well looked after. While Paul Stewart, Sadie’s father-in-law, worked full-time, his wife, Christine, took Esther to and from school as well as watching her during the holidays and when Sadie was at work. Sadie couldn’t even begin to think about the possibility of the shop closing. Her wages were her only source of income now and she wouldn’t be able to cope without them.
Christine and Paul were always making reference to Ross being ‘up in Heaven’, so Esther hardly ever got too upset. It took the burden from Sadie, meaning she could grieve alone when she needed to, not worrying about her grief rubbing off on her daughter if she overheard. It wouldn’t be easy for a child so young to lose her dad and then have a mum who wasn’t capable of putting on a brave face.
After making another cup of tea, Sadie sat down at the kitchen table. Her journal was still there from last night. She opened it up and read through the words she’d written:
It’s been nearly a year since Ross died, yet every morning I still feel like it was yesterday. I still feel his presence around the house − is that mad? I often hear a noise and think it’s him, maybe in the living room when I’m in the kitchen, and I rush in half expecting him to be watching a football match. I see him everywhere I go. I’ll see a dark-haired man on the street and want to touch him so he’ll turn around and I can be sure it isn’t Ross. So I hurry to catch him up, wanting to see his face, then feel disappointed once I know it’s someone else.
Esther has been my world since Ross left us. In a way, she’s had to grow up a lot quicker than I would have liked, and I blame myself for that. Those first few months were bad. But now we are more than over the worst − we are a team
Riley picked up her Kindle and opened up the book she was reading. Sofar Chasing Pavements had been all about a woman falling in love. Every time she started to read a new scene, something would remind her of how lonely she felt. After what happened with Nicholas her heart hadn’t had time to mend. On top of that, splitting up with her first love, Tom, had made Riley very wary of getting into a long-term relationship again.
She and Tom had been together for eight years. They’d met in their early twenties, after he had been travelling for a year and come back home to settle in Hedworth. He was so worldly wise, fascinating her from the offset with his adventurous spirit, and she fell for him immediately. They bought a house together, planned to marry and start a family, but that had never happened. After six years he upped and left, saying he felt stifled by their relationship. Riley found out much later that he’d been more interested in a woman he worked with. The last she’d heard was that they’d moved to Australia to start up a new business.
It hadn’t meant that she wasn’t at fault too. Riley thought that affairs usually started because one person wasn’t happy in the relationship. If they were happy, they wouldn’t stray. They wouldn’t feel trapped. But it had hurt that all her plans had been stopped in their tracks. It was the reason she had fallen for Nicholas and his charms. Usually she had a good radar for idiots but this time it had failed her.
With that last sorrowful thought, she scrolled through her reading list. There was bound to be a crime novel or psychological thriller that would be far better suited to her mood.
Chapter Three
S adie had been up for over an hour and it was still only six thirty. She relished the peace and quiet of the morning, knowing it would be shattered when her daughter, Esther, woke up. Esther was six years old, and a whirlwind at the best of times, but until the mornings started to get that little bit lighter Sadie would be safe for a few minutes longer.
Luckily for her, when she went to work Sadie could drop Esther off at her mother-in-law’s, safe in the knowledge that she would be well looked after. While Paul Stewart, Sadie’s father-in-law, worked full-time, his wife, Christine, took Esther to and from school as well as watching her during the holidays and when Sadie was at work. Sadie couldn’t even begin to think about the possibility of the shop closing. Her wages were her only source of income now and she wouldn’t be able to cope without them.
Christine and Paul were always making reference to Ross being ‘up in Heaven’, so Esther hardly ever got too upset. It took the burden from Sadie, meaning she could grieve alone when she needed to, not worrying about her grief rubbing off on her daughter if she overheard. It wouldn’t be easy for a child so young to lose her dad and then have a mum who wasn’t capable of putting on a brave face.
After making another cup of tea, Sadie sat down at the kitchen table. Her journal was still there from last night. She opened it up and read through the words she’d written:
It’s been nearly a year since Ross died, yet every morning I still feel like it was yesterday. I still feel his presence around the house − is that mad? I often hear a noise and think it’s him, maybe in the living room when I’m in the kitchen, and I rush in half expecting him to be watching a football match. I see him everywhere I go. I’ll see a dark-haired man on the street and want to touch him so he’ll turn around and I can be sure it isn’t Ross. So I hurry to catch him up, wanting to see his face, then feel disappointed once I know it’s someone else.
Esther has been my world since Ross left us. In a way, she’s had to grow up a lot quicker than I would have liked, and I blame myself for that. Those first few months were bad. But now we are more than over the worst − we are a team
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