Free The Broken Hearts Book Club by Lynsey James

lowered my voice to a low hiss. ‘About that… I might’ve exaggerated a tiny little bit.’
    ‘How much?’
    ‘OK a lot; I got the sack from that job just before I came up here.’
    Elle’s cornflower eyes widened in surprise. Even when she was shocked, she still managed to look like a china doll. If she wasn’t my oldest friend, I thought, I’d hate her.
    ‘I’m going to get bacon rolls for us then I want to know
everything
.’ She swirled back towards the kitchen and I knew I was in for a classic Elle Nicholls interrogation, then she threw a smile to me from over her shoulder reminding me of just how much I’d missed her.
    After a full breakfast and much needed shower I felt ready to brave the outdoors. So we headed over to the Moonlight Café. George had been put off from coming after we’d told him there’d be large amounts of girl talk involved.
    Still suffering from our hangovers we worked our way through a stack of chocolate brownies with Diane throwing suspicious glances our way every few minutes, and I slowly filled Elle in on my wreck of a life.
    ‘Yours sounded so bloody perfect, I couldn’t say “oh yeah, I’ve just been given the elbow from my dream job!” Not when you were telling us about surfers and snorkelling off the coast of Australia.’
    She reached over and put a manicured hand on mine. It was so comforting to have her back in my life after all this time, especially when things were so uncertain. Elle had always known what to do and say.
    ‘You should’ve just been honest from the start Luce. You should know by now I don’t care about any of that stupid stuff. Sure, I’ve travelled loads of places, but you don’t have to lie just because you’re going through a rough patch. Anyway, from what you said earlier, good things are just around the corner. Especially if you stay and take over the book club.’
    Those words made my heart soar; so different from a couple of days ago when they prompted it to sink to my shoes. Meeting the group and sitting in on one of their meetings had had a bigger effect on me than I’d thought.
    ‘I mean I haven’t fully decided yet,’ I replied with a coy smile, popping another brownie into my mouth. ‘But it’s looking likely.’
    ‘Good! I’m going to stick around for a bit too, I reckon. No idea how long for though; knowing me, I’ll get itchy feet again before too long. So what’ll be your first act as chairwoman of the Broken Hearts Book Club?’ Elle asked.
    Her timing couldn’t have been worse. Diane had come over to clear our plates away and was now looking at me with utter disbelief.
    ‘You mean you’re actually going to lead the club?!’ she said, her voice tapering off to a hoarse whisper. ‘I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous in my life! You haven’t been here for eight years since you ruined poor Maggie’s life! It’s bad enough that you being here is rubbing salt in her wounds, but what could you possibly know about anything?! You’re practically a child; you couldn’t hope to help us deal with any of our problems!’
    I sighed. I’d been expecting something like that from her. ‘I’m thinking about it, yeah. Initially, it’ll just be for the three months Nana Lily mentioned in her will, but after that we’ll see. I know it sounds a bit mad, but I’ll only do it if I feel like I can give it a hundred percent. If I decide to lead the club, you can count on me to do a good job.’
    She took the plates and stormed off behind the counter, muttering angrily under her breath as she went. When she thought nobody was looking, she heaved a sad sigh and her face crumpled for a moment. Then, as quickly as she’d stopped, she started up again, serving customers and giving the impression she was perfectly OK.
    Elle and I left the Moonlight Café and went out onto Luna Bay high street. It was a charming little cobbled street lined with whitewashed buildings containing, amongst others, a general store, a bakery and a