The Second Chance Shoe Shop Read Online Free Page B

about, trying to switch it off. The phone dropped to the floor, still bleeping at him.
    He glanced around the bedroom, which was decorated in pale creams and lilacs. It was as homely as a guest bedroom but Dan preferred to remember it as his childhood hovel. He could still picture the numerous posters of Ducati and Kawasaki motorbikes on the walls, socks and trainers piled up in the corner, and the dartboard on the back of the door − the holes were still there, to prove how much he’d practised. For years as a teenager he’d wanted to be a professional darts player, practising at every spare moment until he’d worn the carpet threadbare. But then he’d found girls and his career plan had faltered.
    There was a knock on the door.
    ‘Morning, love.’ Mary, his mum, came in. She popped a large mug of coffee on his bedside table. ‘It’s nearly seven, don’t go back to sleep.’
    ‘I won’t, Mum.’ Dan wanted to cover his head with the duvet and do just that, but instead he turned to his side and hoisted himself up onto his elbow. ‘Thanks.’
    ‘The weather is still mucky out there, so I’d take the bus rather than your bike, if I were you.’ When Dan didn’t reply, Mary left the room. She knew better than to try to have a longer conversation at that time of the morning, so all she ever mentioned was the weather. ‘Looks like a hot one today,’ she’d say. ‘It’s a bit nippy out there,’ she’d tell him. ‘It’s snowing!’ she would exclaim in an excited childish tone.
    Rubbing a hand over his head, the blond hair almost the same length as the stubble on his chin, Dan sat up in bed, trying to waken himself and muster enthusiasm for the day ahead. Not for the first time did he wish he had been sleeping next to a woman who was in love with him. Instead, he was back at home with his parents after splitting up with his long-term girlfriend, Sarah, a year ago. Sarah had stayed in the flat they had rented and he had come back to his old room, because he couldn’t afford to rent alone. Although it wasn’t anything to be ashamed of, given rent and property prices had risen far more than the average salary in Hedworth, Dan felt as if he’d taken a step backwards, and was saving money so that he could move out again. Living at home allowed him to do that, so even though Mary smothered him at times, he’d learned to cope. As mums go, he could have done far worse.
    Dan yawned before taking a slurp of his coffee and running a hand over his protruding stomach. Despite his job keeping him on his feet all day, he just didn’t seem able to shift the extra kilos. The weight wasn’t the reason he and Sarah had split up. Complacency had ruled for the last year of their four-year relationship, ending with Sarah having a one-night stand. It had hurt him deeply, though at first he had tried to forgive her, to forget about it and keep the relationship going.
    Sarah had slept with a man after staying somewhere overnight for a two-day conference. She’d told him it had been a long day, she’d had one drink too many at the bar, and when the guy had helped her into his room . . .
    Dan turned onto his back and put a hand behind his head. Sarah hadn’t seen the man again. It wasn’t as if the night had turned into an affair, but she had been mortified at what she had done, enough to tell him and beg for his forgiveness.
    It was something he could never have done. He’d never strayed, even though their sex life had been practically non-existent for a few months. He would have had the decency to finish the relationship first. But Sarah sleeping with someone else had made him realise that they were both still in the relationship because they didn’t want to admit to each other that it wasn’t working.
    ‘Are you out of bed yet?’ Mary shouted up the stairs.
    ‘I’m coming!’ With an exaggerated sigh, Dan got up, wishing that he actually was coming. He hadn’t had sex in four months − and his last escapade