Lucy's Book Club for the Lost and Found: A heartwarming feel good romance novel(2)

He sat back and waited while his PC rebooted. Luckily, he had only been looking at stuff on the internet, so it was no problem, but he could hear the sighs from the people around him who feared they had probably now lost whatever they had been working on. Lucy would have to sort them all out. Their stuff would still be there, in most cases, and if it wasn’t there would be smiles and apologies and a gentle reminder to make sure folks saved their work as they went along. Lucy never got cross or irritated with people, but he knew that she really didn’t have the time to give them as much attention as she did. One day he might pluck up the courage to ask if he could help.

A chiming alert sounded from the depths of his bag and he bent down to fish out his phone. A pen landed on the floor beside him, and without thinking he stretched to pick it up. His fingers curled around it, slightly too late to register the movement from above him, as another hand reached out for it. Their fingers touched.

He pulled his hand up swiftly, a flush of colour flooding his face. He thrust the pen back to its owner.

‘Sorry, I didn’t… Sorry.’

A pretty face smiled back at him. ‘No worries,’ she said, before taking the pen and turning away again, back to her computer.

Callum stared at the girl beside him, at the sparkly ring on one of the fingers that had touched his. She was deep in thought, looking at an image of flowers on the screen in front of her. A large notepad lay open beside her, covered in exuberant loopy writing in lots of different colours. The dropped pen scratched across it now, in purple ink. It was cute, shaped like an owl at the top; one of those pens that had a range of different colours in it. He wanted to say something, a witty remark perhaps that would attract her attention, but even as his mind suggested it, he knew he wouldn’t. It was just his luck she was already taken, but then who was he kidding? Even if she was single it would make no difference. He had never managed to come out with a witty remark in his life, and today would have been no different. He reached back down to find his phone, one eye still on the girl with the beautiful shiny hair and engagement ring – but she didn’t even look up.





Chapter Two





‘Odelia, Odelia!’ The voice was sharp and getting sharper. Lia put down her hairbrush and examined her reflection in the bedroom mirror. She really ought to have washed her hair.

‘Coming, Mum,’ she called, looking at her watch. Gwen would be here any minute now.

The sound of the television was loud as she made her way downstairs, and she could already hear the strains of a beautiful classic waltz playing.

‘Are you okay, Mum?’ she asked, walking into the living room.

Rose was sitting in a chair opposite the fireplace, her legs stretched out in front of her, her slippers laid neatly to one side, and both socks peeled from her feet and discarded.

She stared at Lia. ‘Who are you?’ she asked, a raucous note to her voice.

‘Mum, it’s me – Lia. Odelia, your daughter.’

The older woman looked her up and down with eyes that were still surprisingly blue. She opened her mouth to argue, and then closed it again, seeming to accept what Lia had said. ‘Well, someone’s pinched my flip-flops again. Look, these aren’t mine.’

Lia knelt on the carpet beside her, picking up a sock and gently easing it over her mother’s toes. ‘I’ll look for them in a minute, Mum. Let’s pop these back on in the meantime, shall we? It’s a bit chilly today.’ She glanced sideways at the television. ‘Oh look, Mum, Strictly Come Dancing is on. Why don’t you watch that for a minute?’ She finished with one sock and picked up the other, hoping the distraction would do the trick.

‘I used to be a dancer, you know…’

‘I know you did, Mum. You and Dad won all the medals there were going, didn’t you?’

‘We did. But that’s because he was so handsome. And he had the lightest feet. He used to whizz me around the ballroom like I was dancing on air. All the girls were in love with him.’

‘I bet they were, but you were his one and only, weren’t you? His “dancing queen”, he used to call you.’

‘That’s right… How did you know that?’ Rose’s voice had risen slightly again.

Lia smiled. ‘I don’t know, Mum, I expect you told me some time. Tell me about your costumes again… how you used to twirl and twirl, the sequins catching the light…’

‘Oh, they were so beautiful. I had one, I remember, which was exactly the same colour as my eyes. The bodice was covered in tiny crystals…’ Her gaze flickered back to the television.

Lia replaced the slippers and straightened up, a soft smile in her eyes. She had seen the photos, and that dress; her mum had been truly beautiful. She gently stroked the top of her mother’s hair before leaving the room.

With another glance at her watch she ran lightly back up the stairs to her bedroom. Her reflection looked just as it had moments ago, and she grimaced, rooting around on the dressing table for a hairband. Ponytail it was then. She piled her hair as high as she could, pulling out two small curls on either side and fixing the rest with the band. She ruffled her fringe and puffed out her cheeks, tilting her head to one side. It would have to do; Gwen’s car had just pulled up outside, and it was time to go.

Lia met her at the door. ‘Thanks so much, Gwen, come in.’