Following
on from the bestselling novel, Another Cup of
Coffee, and the seasonal Christmas novellas Another
Cup of Christmas, Christmas
in the Cotswolds, and
Christmas at the Castle,
Jenny Kane brings you the final installment in the Pickwicks Coffee
House adventures.
Blurb
A
warm-hearted, contemporary tale about a group of friends living in a
small corner of busy London, by bestselling author Jenny Kane.
Forty-something
Amy is shocked and delighted to discover she's expecting a baby - not
to mention terrified! Amy wants best friend Jack to be godfather, but
he hasn’t been heard from in months. When Jack finally reappears,
he's full of good intentions but his new business plan could spell
disaster for the beloved Pickwicks Coffee Shop, and ruin a number of
old friendships...
Meanwhile
his love life is as complicated as ever and yet when he swears off
men for good, Jack meets someone who makes him rethink his
priorities...but is it too late for a fresh start?
Author
Kit has problems of her own: just when her career has started to take
off, she finds herself unable to write and there's a deadline
looming, plus two headstrong kids to see through their difficult
teenage years...will she be able to cope?
A
follow-up to the runaway success Another Cup
of Coffee.
Excerpt
‘My
goodness, woman, you look like the proverbial beached whale!’ Amy
grinned at the teasing smile on her former boss’s face.
‘Thanks,
Peggy. I know I can rely on you to be ready with a huge compliment!’
‘Huge
is the word, and you are more than welcome!’ Taking advantage of a
lull in custom, Peggy followed Amy to where Kit was working, and
pulled out a chair for her friend before sitting down herself. ‘So
how long have you got to go now?’
‘Only
two months, which is nothing like as long as I need to get ready, or
even get my head around what's happening to me! I have far too much
to do before the baby comes, although we’ve almost finished
decorating the nursery at last. I haven’t even managed to find
anyone to cover my job at Home Hunters yet.’
Amy
thanked Megan, Pickwicks’ chief waitress, as she delivered a tray
of drinks and half a huge carrot cake for the three friends, before
asking Kit, ‘I don’t suppose that lovely husband of yours fancies
coming back to the business while I’m on maternity leave?’
Kit
shook her head. ‘Not a hope. It did cross my mind after Phil gave
up running Home Hunters that he might have withdrawal symptoms and
want to go back, but he took to running the bookshop like a duck to
water. I can’t see him ever going back. And he wouldn’t have the
time, to be honest. Did I tell you that they’re so busy now, he and
Rob have employed a guy to help them with their new educational
courses at Kew?’
Amy
beamed. ‘No, you didn’t. That’s fantastic! I bet Jack would be
thrilled for them if he was here.’ Suddenly pensive, she picked up
her cup, ‘I don’t suppose either of you have heard from Jack?’
Peggy
shook her head as Kit said, ‘Not a word. I thought he’d keep in
touch with you though, Amy, even if he went quiet on the rest of us.’
‘Paul
says he’ll turn up eventually, but I’d rather like to be able to
tell Jack about this bundle,’ Amy patted her stomach, ‘before he
or she stops being just a bump in my jumper. I might ask him if he
wants to be godfather.’
Kit
nodded. ‘Jack is godfather to the twins, and although he’s a
dreadful role model on the morals front, both Thomas and
Helena
have always found him great fun, and say that having a gay godfather
is, and I quote, “Well cool”.’
Peggy
had never understood the loyalty Jack’s two ex-girlfriends felt for
him considering how appallingly he’d treated them both. She
certainly wouldn’t want anyone who’d stood her up on her wedding
day – albeit only in the role of usher – to be a godparent to her
child, but she simply asked,
‘How
long has he been AWOL for?’
Amy
frowned. ‘It must be more or less four years since I last saw him,
and about twelve months since I last spoke to him.
It’s
not so much being AWOL as missing in action. How about you, Kit?’
Peggy
and Amy exchanged glances as they saw Kit staring blankly into her
soup bowl-sized cup of black coffee. ‘Kit? You with us?’
‘What?
Oh, sorry, guys. I didn’t get much sleep last night, I phased out
for a minute. What was the question?’
Peggy
had noticed how distracted Kit had been lately, although instinct
told her that she shouldn’t ask her friend about it yet. ‘When
did you last hear from Jack, honey?’
‘I’m
not sure, must be at least a year. That is very Jack though, isn’t
it. I bet he’d get a kick out of the fact that we’re all back
here wondering where he is and if he’s OK.’
Amy,
who’d had similar thoughts herself, grimaced. ‘I wouldn’t be
surprised – although I’d like to think that at his age he’s
finally grown out of playing those games.’
Kit
and Peggy laughed in unison. ‘No chance!’ ‘I assume he’s
either still travelling around the world – or working in someone’s
garden, using that horticultural qualification he got after Paul and
I got married.’
‘Sounds
possible, and of course,’ Kit let her inner storyteller go in a way
she wished she could on paper, ‘if Jack has spent all the
inheritance his grandfather left him, he could have got a job in the
grounds of some posh house, had a torrid affair with the heir to the
manor, and be in the middle of a society scandal.’
Amy
smiled as Peggy divided the carrot cake into mountainous slices.
‘That sounds entirely possible, and I sort of hope it’s true! The
boyfriend bit, I mean, rather than the scandal bit.’
Pulling her cake plate closer, Kit shrugged. ‘I’m not sure he’d risk another relationship, not after Toby hurt him like that. I suspect he’s reverted to full-on sleeping around mode.’ Realising she had sounded rather curt, she added, ‘I’d like to be wrong though. If he settled down a bit, he might come home...’
About
Jenny
Jenny
spends a large part of her time in the cafe’s of Mid Devon, where
she creates her stories, including the novels Another Glass
of Champagne, (Accent Press, 2016), Abi’s
House (Accent Press, June 2015),
Romancing Robin Hood
(Accent Press, 2014), the best selling contemporary romance
Another Cup of Coffee
(Accent Press, 2013), and the novella length sequels Another
Cup of Christmas (Accent
Press, 2013), Christmas in the
Cotswolds, (Accent Press, 2014), and Christmas
at the Castle, (Accent Press,
2015).
Her
next full length novel, Abi’s Neighbour,
will be published by Accent Press in Summer 2017. She is also working
on a short historical novel, which will be published in November
2016.
Jenny
Kane is also the author of quirky children’s picture books There’s
a Cow in the
Flat (Hushpuppy, 2014) and Ben’s
Biscuit Tin (Hushpuppy, 2015).
Twitter:
@JennyKaneAuthor
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