Short Excerpt from A Wounded Heart Chapter 4

Tomorrow sees Chapter 15 of A Wounded Heart published on my Patreon. That makes the halfway point.

To whet your appetite, here’s a short excerpt from Chapter 4: Summer Romance (which you can read in its entirety on my Patreon too)

Or you can pre-order the eBook on Amazon now for release at the end of March.

Mark, Imogen and I arrived at Millie’s a little early, but Lisa and Emily had still beaten us there. Jessica, my now Sister-in-Law, had reserved us the same table at the back of the restaurant that we’d had that day in January after the first semester exams when we’d ultimately bumped into Del Stevens. I thought this might bother me, but it didn’t. It really didn’t.

After I introduced Imogen and Mark to Lisa, we quickly ordered and Jessica brought us out a bottle of wine on the house—it was a bottle of good stuff too—the conversation began and although I was, I really shouldn’t have been surprised by the first topic.

“So,” said Lisa, “How did it go last night?”

“How did what go?” I asked, knowing full well what she meant.

“Your date,” Emily said, already sounding exasperated.

“Oh that,” I said, trying to make it sound like no big deal. Then I feigned surprise and said, “Wait a sec—how did you two know about it?” I looked squarely at Imogen, who at least had the decency to look embarrassed. “So, you’re reporting on my love life to three people now? Why not just get a Twitter account and broadcast it?”

“Don’t be hard on her, Paul,” Emily said. “We asked her to keep us informed this summer. To make sure you’re okay, you know? We care about you, that’s all.”

“I know,” I said with a sigh. “I know. And to be honest, I’d have been more surprised if Gen hadn’t told you.”

“Who’s the third?” said Lisa. I was hoping they’d both missed that, so I feigned ignorance. It usually worked.

“Third?”

“You said Gen was keeping three people informed. Me and Em—that’s two. So who’s the third?”

Imogen looked at me and I shrugged. She could tell them about Chloë as far as I was concerned. If they were talking about the movie star, they wouldn’t be talking about me.

“Er…Hang on,” said Imogen as she got up to leave the restaurant.

“Where’s she going?” Emily asked. I shrugged. It’s what I do.

“Probably to ask permission to tell you who the other one is,” said Mark. “She’s not supposed to tell anyone she’s got her number.”

“Who’s number?” Lisa asked.

Mark grinned. “Can’t say. Not unless she says so.”