The Seaside Ice-Cream Parlour , livre ebook

Boldwood Books - Sarah Hope

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132 pages

English

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An opportunity of a lifetime…

When Jenny has the chance to leave her days of sofa surfing behind and move to the beach to run her best friend’s ice cream parlour, she jumps at the opportunity.

With no relevant experience, she’s certainly kept busy with learning new skills to manage the ice cream parlour at the same time as juggling motherhood and trying to settle into their new home.

But when Nick, her best friend’s ex, comes into her life, ill feelings quickly turn to friendship, leaving them both wanting more.

Can Jenny put her feelings aside or will truths be told that might change her mind about her and Nick’s future?

A story of community, trust and the importance of friendship, perfect for fans of Holly Martin, Jessica Redland and Polly Babbington.

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Publié par	Boldwood Books
Date de parution	05 août 2023
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781805490951
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

THE SEASIDE ICE CREAM PARLOUR

SARAH HOPE
CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

More from Sarah Hope

About the Author

About Boldwood Books
For my children,
Let’s change our stars
xXx
1

‘Please don’t start grumbling, Grace. You’ve already had something to eat, you just need to give in and go to sleep now.’ Pushing the brake down with her foot, Jenny Weaver peered over the top of the buggy. Grace looked shattered. Not that she blamed her. They’d had to catch the coach at 6:45am, a time when they’d usually still be asleep. ‘Not long now. Soon we’ll be on the train and then hopefully you will fall asleep.’
Looking over at the departure board, she watched the updates flashing through. She smiled, it looked as though their train was still running on time. Another five minutes and they’d be out of the London smog and on their way to their new life. They’d done it. Well, almost. Their recent life of sofa surfing was over. In just a few short hours, they’d have somewhere they could call home again. Somewhere Grace could leave her toys scattered on the living room floor of an evening, ready to jump back into the same game the next morning. A place where they could finally start to put some roots down.
‘Excuse me, miss.’
Shaking her thoughts away, she focused on the boy standing in front of her. Taking in his ripped jeans and blue baseball cap pulled down over his eyes, she shifted her weight, clicking up the brake to unlock it, ready to head further up the platform towards the suited office workers if she needed to. She wasn’t in the mood for any trouble. Not today.
‘You’ve been dropping your luggage. I think your suitcase might be broke.’
Turning behind her to where he pointed, Jenny cursed under her breath. T-shirts, underwear and a collection of other items littered the path behind her leading all the way back towards the lift. ‘Thank you. I hadn’t noticed.’ Leaving the suitcase where it stood, Jenny turned the buggy and began picking up items of their clothing, balancing them on the hood of the buggy.
‘Oi, you lot! Come and help.’ The boy in the baseball cap whistled back at his friends who unfolded their long limbs from the bench and lumbered towards them.
Bending to grab another of Grace’s tiny T-shirts, she watched as the five teenage boys ran the length of the platform picking up their pastel-coloured clothes. Pausing, she accepted the handfuls of clothes as she was handed them and glanced around the busy platform. Unbelievable. Every day the newspapers and the news told stories on knife crime, postcode gangs and the general disrespect of young people today, and yet, here she was, her suitcase having expelled her worldly goods, and who comes to her rescue? Yep, a group of wayward teenagers whilst the ‘respectful’ citizens happily stand around in their expensive suits, clasping briefcases and desperately trying to avert their eyes, pretending to be focused on the urgent text they had just received, or too busy staring at the empty railway line willing the train to come and rescue them from their uncomfortable stance.
Rolling her eyes, she wheeled the buggy in the direction of a pair of flowery pink leggings which were blowing across the platform perilously close to a group of office workers trying to ignore the commotion right in front of them.
‘Excuse me.’ Picking up some leggings, she jogged on to the next item.
‘Here you go, miss.’ The boy in the blue cap passed another armful of clothes to Jenny.
‘Thank you.’ Nodding, she took the clothes from him just as the platform filled with the noise of the approaching train.
‘Do you want me to check the lift for you? In case there’s more in there and upstairs?’
‘No, no. You’ve done more than enough. You get your train.’ Smiling, she stood and accepted the rest of their belongings as the teenagers ran towards the train. Heading back to the suitcase, she lifted the lid and chucked their luggage back inside. The zip must have worked loose. She’d known it was a bit dodgy but had assumed it would at least get them to Helen’s.
‘What are we going to do? Hey, Grace?’ Dragging the suitcase towards the bench, she tilted her head towards the lift. It would be just her luck that she’d left a trail of clothes all the way from the bus stop outside the station. Looking back towards the train humming at the side of the platform, she drummed her fingers against the wooden seat. What was she supposed to do? Run to catch the train, which would no doubt leave any second now, or go and collect the rest of their clothes?
She’d get the train. They couldn’t afford to miss it. If they did, they’d miss Helen and Jenny wouldn’t have a clue what she would be doing for the next few months. Clothes she could replace, not right now, but they could muddle through until the end of the month and she was able to take a paycheck.
Yes, they’d get the train.
‘One minute.’ Trying to block out Grace’s now high-pitched screaming, she yanked the zip to the suitcase up. Pulling the band out of her hair, she looped it through the small hole in the pull of the zip, and stretching it, tied it to the strap. She shrugged, it wasn’t perfect but it’d have to do until they got there.
‘Come on, Grace. We’re getting on the train now.’ Standing up, she pushed forward towards the track.
‘Blankie.’ Grace’s voice broke into a series of hiccups as she cried. Holding her hands up, she tried to grasp the hood of the buggy.
‘Blankie. Drat, drat, drat.’ The damn thing had been in the suitcase. She’d packed it in there worried that it would get lost on the train. She hadn’t seen it as she’d shoved the recovered clothes back in though. Looking from the train to the lift, Jenny cursed under her breath and turned the buggy back on itself. If she didn’t find Blankie, she could wave goodbye to any sleep for the foreseeable future.
‘Blankie!’
‘OK, OK. Let’s go and find Blankie.’ Striding towards the lift, she kept her eyes on the floor, searching for anything familiar looking.
‘There, it is. There’s Blankie.’ Bending down, Jenny retrieved the pink, holey scrap of material from where it had somehow wrapped its way around the leg of a bench. Giving it a shake, she inspected it before wiping it over her top and passing it to Grace who immediately leaned her head against the back of the buggy and pushed her thumb in her mouth, clutching her precious Blankie between her index and middle finger. Taking a deep breath, Jenny tried to push the image of a million germs marching their way from the blanket to Grace’s soft cheek. She’d give her a bath later anyway. A few germs were nothing compared to her screaming herself to sleep. It would be fine.
An earth-shattering rumble sounded from the platform below. Peering down over the side of the footbridge, she rolled her eyes as their train inched forward, picking up speed as it left the station until it was just a dot in the far distance.
Great.

* * *
Leaning her back against the cool of the wooden bench, Jenny closed her eyes, her face turned up to the summer sun beating down. She’d twisted the buggy to face the wall behind, the hood pulled as low as it could go, so at least Grace was shaded. She could already feel her arms tingling with the heat. She hadn’t bothered slapping the sun cream on this morning. After all, they should have been on the train most of the day.
The whimsical ringtone from her mobile screeched through the silent, empty platform. Opening her eyes, she grappled around in the bottom of the buggy until her fingers closed around her mobile. The last thing she needed was for Grace to wake up and get bored now. ‘Hello?’
‘Jenny, Jen. How’s the train ride going? Is Gracie enjoying it?’
‘Helen? We missed the train. The damn suitcase came open spewing our clothes everywhere. Luckily some teenagers came to the rescue and helped me collect it all, but we’ve missed our train. Sorry.’
‘Oh no, did you manage to get everything back?’
‘I think so.’
‘That’s something then. When’s the next one?’
‘Half an hour.’ Glancing across to the departure board, she rolled her eyes. ‘Scrap that. It’s been delayed. The next train’s in an hour and forty-five minutes.’
‘You’re still going to get here in time though, aren’t you?’
‘In all honesty, I don’t know. I hope so, but it will probably be quite tight now.’ Leaning forward, she picked at a loose thread on the knee of her jeans. ‘Sorry.’
‘Hey, no need to apologise. It’s not your fault.’
‘No, but it’s just typical of my life right now, isn’t it?’
‘You need to stop this. It’s just a delay on the line, no doubt a couple of leaves got blown into the track or something. It has nothing to do with you and the way your life is turning out. It’s not your fault. You need to give yourself a break and start believing things will turn around for you and they will.’
‘Umm, I believe you.’
‘Well, you should do. You moving down here and running this place is going to be great. You’ll love it. I asked around and checked out some toddler groups and stuff for you too. There’s loads on. Parent and Toddler groups, singing and signing groups, all that type of happy-clappy stuff you like. There’s even a sandcastle building meet-up on a Friday! Can you imagine that? You can actually take your toddler to a sandcastle building lesson! I mean, whatever next?’
‘Thank you for checking them out.’
‘You’re welcome. More than welcome.’
‘So, are you all set then?’
‘Yep. I think so. Well, there’s no going back now, is there? So I’ve kind of got to be.’
‘You’ll have a great time out there.’
‘I hope so. I’m really looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to catching up with that side of my family again. Although it’s not really catching up, is it? Not