Free The Sunflower Cottage Breakfast Club by Lynsey James

I’m Emily Reed. I’m staying at Sunflower Cottage for a while.’
    I decided not to drop ‘I’m here to buy up Sunflower Cottage for a huge hotel chain’ into the conversation, especially not at such a fraught time.
    â€˜Nice to meet you, I’m Noah’s cousin, Jake. This is Lucy, the missus.’
    The curly-haired woman playfully slapped his arm. ‘I prefer the word girlfriend, actually! It’s nice to meet you, Emily.’
    â€˜She’s the nice lady who’s here to take Rose’s business away from her,’ Noah chipped in.
    The friendly air immediately soured and I screwed my eyes shut to avoid Jake and Lucy’s suspicious stares.
    â€˜What Noah conveniently forgot to mention is that Rose actually wants to sell the place. All I’m here to do is buy it from her on behalf of the company I work for. So I’m not the big bad wolf like he says I am, just someone trying to do their job.’
    I finished with a smile and put a hand on my hip, showing them I wasn’t to be messed with. Jake and Lucy looked at Noah, then at me, as though they weren’t sure what to make of the situation.
    â€˜Rose can’t be selling up, can she?’ Lucy sadly twisted a lock of hair around her finger. ‘She’s run Sunflower Cottage for as long as I can remember.’
    Jake slung an arm round her shoulders. ‘Maybe she fancies a break or something; she might want to spend time with her grandkids or go on a world cruise.’
    â€˜That’s not Rose, though; she doesn’t have any grandkids. And she loves Sunflower Cottage! I can’t imagine it without her.’
    â€˜I’ve offered to help her run it,’ said Noah. ‘I’d even take it over permanently and give up the garage if she wanted me to. But no. Apparently she’d rather sell to some huge chain who’ll rip the heart and soul out of it.’
    Noah glared at me and I felt a blush creep into my cheeks. I was about to argue back and state my case when a doctor appeared before us. She had a smile on her face, which I took to be a good sign.
    â€˜Are you with Rose White?’ she asked.
    Noah nodded and stood up, trying to be brave but giving away how worried he really was. ‘How is she? Will she be OK?’
    â€˜She suffered quite a nasty bump on the head when she fell and it’s given her concussion. The biggest concern we have, though, is her leg. She broke her tibia in two places and she needs surgery to pin the bone back together again.’
    I looked up and saw Noah run a hand over his pale, worried face. Jake and Lucy rallied round him; they hugged him, patted his shoulder and told him everything would be OK. I kept my distance, but felt a sinking feeling in my heart for doing so. I knew I should go over and say something – anything – that might help, but also that it probably wouldn’t be well received. So instead I stayed an outsider, watching a scene that for some reason I wanted to be a part of.
    â€˜A… and when will she be having this surgery? How long until she’ll be back on her feet? She’s got a guesthouse to run, you see,’ said Noah.
    The doctor sighed and looked at us from behind her large, round glasses. ‘We’ve got her booked in at our earliest slot in three days’ time; there’s been a last-minute cancellation. Otherwise, she’d have been looking at a pretty lengthy wait. Recovery times vary from patient to patient and Rose isn’t as young as she used to be. Best-case scenario, we’ll get her up and moving on crutches within a week or two. She’ll need help running her guesthouse for quite a while, though. I take it she has staff to give her a hand?’
    Noah looked over at me for a moment, and then snapped his gaze away when our eyes met. From where I stood, I heard him mumble something about there being plenty of help and thanked the doctor for her time. She mentioned