Free The Bucket List to Mend a Broken Heart by Anna Bell

my toe into this list with the easy stuff first before I prepared to battle one of man’s most dangerous adversaries: the sea.
    ‘Yes, or we’ve got another one running the last weekend of the month, if you’d prefer.’
    ‘Um, yes, that sounds better,’ Isay, exhaling.
    That gives me three weeks to get my confidence up. By then I’ll probably be some adrenaline junkie pro. Or I’ve got three weeks to get myself some Valium to get me through it.
    ‘Great. So the course, including hire, costs seventy-five pounds. You can pay a deposit of fifty pounds now and the rest on the day.’
    This list is getting more expensive by the minute. So far, afternoontea at the Ritz is costing me fifty pounds (plus travel expenses and inevitable cocktails after), a ten-week beginner’s Spanish course that starts next week is costing me seventy pounds, and I’ve entered a 10k Race for Life (which is almost a half marathon – right?) at sixteen pounds. And that’s before I buy proper running shoes and a decent sports bra to strap the puppies into. I’d worked out thatdoing those three challenges alone was going to cost me about £250.
    This is probably why people do their bucket lists over a few years rather than a few months. I’m beginning to wonder if I’m losing my mind – as well as my hard-earned pounds – doing this.
    With my rent going up, my savings can’t really afford to take such a hit, but I can’t put a cost on love, can I? I mean, at the end of itI’ll be poor, but I’ll have Joseph back, and surely that’ll be all that matters. That and when we get back together this time I might bring up moving in with him and then I’ll save money. If you think about it, it’s just a short-term investment.
    I rattle off my card details, officially booking my place, and say my goodbyes to Jenny. As I put my credit card back into my wallet, I spot the cardthat Giles’s friend Ben gave me last week. I ought to pay him a visit at the bike shop because the sooner I start practising how to ride on two wheels, the sooner I’ll be able to tick it off my list. I look at the address and realise it’s not that far from the office. I could probably go in my lunch hour tomorrow.
    ‘That sounded exciting,’ says my colleague Fran, leaning between the crack in thepartition that separates our desks.
    ‘Oh, um, yes, should be.’
    I hadn’t realised that anyone would overhear. I don’t like to make personal calls at work.
    ‘Are you coming to the meeting?’ asks Giles before Fran can ask any more questions.
    I glance at the clock behind his head and I see that it’s ten o’clock already. I’ve been at work an hour and so far all I’ve done is sort out my extracurricularactivities. I was meant to be doing some initial designs for a museum client, but I’ll have to do it after lunch now.
    ‘Yep,’ I say, standing up and rummaging around my desk for a pad and pens.
    ‘So that was fun at the pub the other day,’ he says as we make our way to our meeting room.
    ‘Yes, thanks for inviting me. I had a lovely time.’
    ‘Us too. Laura’s really excited about you coming to Wales.’

    ‘Well, that makes one of us,’ I say, before realising how awful that sounds. ‘I mean it’s not that I’m not excited about going with you lot, but I’m pretty nervous about the hike. I’m worried that I’m never going to make it to the top.’
    I’m desperately trying to dig my way out of the hole I found myself in as Giles pushes open the door to our meeting.
    ‘You’ll be fine,’ he says quietly as heholds the door open for me.
    We take our seats opposite Rick and Linz, who barely seem to have noticed we’ve arrived – too lost in their own conversation.
    I clear my throat noisily.
    ‘Hey,’ says Rick, snapping his head to face forward. He still can’t look me in the eye, after the whole trampoline-boob-grabbing incident. I fold my arms protectively over my chest as if to hide the offenders. ‘Nowyou’re both here we’ll