Free How To Save a Marriage in a Million by Leonie Knight

for the unfortunate few in her surrogate brood.
    If she couldn’t have children of her own, she’d decided, she’d devote that instinctive maternal part of herself to her job—caring for kids with cancer.
    She had completed her nursing degree during her pregnancy and graduated a month before thebaby was due. Then she’d put her career on hold while she’d been a full-time mum. She’d planned to go back nursing when Sam started school, but it hadn’t happened. Her son’s illness had been diagnosed when Sam had been in pre-school and he’d survived only eleven heart-breaking months.
    Making the decision to go back to work had been a turning point for her once she’d managed to control her grief and had been sure Richard wasn’t coming back. It had been an easy decision to extend her nursing qualifications to include oncology. The last two years had been immensely satisfying.
    And now Richard was back…well…there was no reason anything should change other than formalising their separation with a divorce.
    I am a good nurse, I love the children I care for and that’s all that matters .
    ‘That’s all that matters,’ she repeated in a whisper to reinforce the words she’d found herself repeating several times over the weekend when troubling thoughts of her husband had kept steam-rolling into the peaceful solitude of her days off.
    Thank goodness it was Monday afternoon and she’d finished her shift. She planned to call backand see Danny and Taylor as well as Raymond, a new admission who’d looked scared to death when he’d come in but she hadn’t had a chance to have a proper talk to him. Then she’d buy some take-away for dinner, head home and spend a quiet evening watching a DVD. Relaxing. Unwinding from her hectic day.
    She changed into jeans and a T-shirt, slipped out of her sensible black lace-ups and into low-heeled sandals, deciding to head for the hospital shop. She might even treat herself to the luxury of a cappuccino in a real china cup before she hit the wards again. At least once a week she enjoyed checking out the magazines as well, so she knew what was stocked in-house if one of her patients who needed cheering up had a passion for soccer or horseriding or fashion. Small, personal things could make a big difference.
    She breezed into the shop.
    ‘Hi, Jo. Love the five-o’clock-shadow look,’ Marnie, the woman in charge of the coffee shop cum newsagent cum florist said with a smile. Joanna was finally becoming used to her bald look but the comments still came in abundance, especially about the bump that at least now wasreducing in size. She ran her palm across the stubble on the top of her head.
    ‘Like it? Maybe I’ll keep it this short. It’s certainly easy to care for.’
    ‘Don’t you dare. You’ve got beautiful hair. Finished for the day?’ she added.
    ‘Yes, thank goodness. It’s been a long one.’ She wasn’t about to tell Marnie that it was partly due to the trouble she’d had sleeping the last couple of nights.
    ‘We all have those but in your job you probably get more than your fair share.’
    ‘Mmm…’
    Joanna began flipping through a magazine on home renovation. It had caught her eye because on the cover was a photo of a house that looked uncannily like the house she’d lived in with Richard and Sam; the house she’d loved and had had every intention of spending the rest of her days in.
    The best-laid plans, she thought with more than a hint of world-weary cynicism.
    ‘There’s a special on cappuccino today.’ Joanna could tell her friend was about to come out with a friendly jibe. If the shop was empty Marniewould sometimes give her a second cup free of charge. That was usually when she couldn’t hide her tiredness or the fact she’d had a particularly difficult day. Perhaps the prison hairstyle made her look gaunt and contributed to the poor me, I need some comfort look. She hoped that she wasn’t so transparent that even Marnie could see right through