Southern Roots (Paperback)

Pages : 408
ISBN : 9781798410899
Weight : 388g
Dimensions : 203 x 23 x 127 mm

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- Sapphic romance
- Second chances
- Starting over
- Family roots

“Tea, Hannah?” Mandy asked, holding up the swanky stainless-steel kettle as she leaned against the kitchen island. She poured water over the teabags in the two mugs in front of her without waiting for an answer.
“Sure. I’ll get the milk.” Hannah opened the red SMEG fridge, the only bright thing in the white, minimalistic designer kitchen, took out the milk and added a splash in each mug. “How was your day?” she asked as she grabbed a pack of chocolate biscuits from one of the cupboards and followed Mandy up the narrow spiraling staircase onto the roof terrace.
“Oh, you know… same old.” Mandy took a careful sip of her tea as she sat down at the table. The sun was setting over the pastel-colored houses of Notting Hill, but it was still stifling hot. Hannah wasn’t complaining though. The sudden heatwave that had taken London by surprise in the first week of April meant that she’d had plenty of work through the temp agency, and the six days she’d busted her ass this week serving drinks at the Serpentine Bar in Hyde Park hadn’t been that bad, with well over five hundred pounds in tips. She sat down next to Mandy and put her feet up on the chair opposite her.
“Same old?”
“Yeah. Mondays are always bloody unpredictable,’ Mandy continued. “I’ve been putting out fires all day long. One of our featured stars cancelled on the cover shoot last-minute, so we only had two hours to get someone else to fill in, and that’s not easy on a Monday morning. I managed to get Deliah la Beau in the end, you know that Instagram kid who built an empire with her fitness range.” She put her mug down and rubbed her temples. “She was a nightmare, but at least she was on time. Our intern went home in tears because the young princess threw a tantrum about the lunch she’d ordered her, so I ended up taking her out for lunch after the shoot to keep her happy until one of my editors arrived to do her interview, even though I still had a million other things on my plate. Imagine sitting through an hour’s conversation with a spoilt seventeen-year-old. As you can imagine, it wasn’t exactly stimulating. Then, as soon as I got back to the office, I had a line of people in urgent need of sign offs on just about everything. I used the kids as an excuse to get out of there early, even though they won’t be back until eight.”
“That bad, huh?” Hannah gave her a smirk. “Sounds like hard work, being an editor-in-chief. A celebrity photoshoot, a fancy lunch, people begging for your approval,” she joked.
“Very funny.” Mandy rolled her eyes and swept a lock of raven black hair out of her face with a perfectly manicured hand. “Running a fitness magazine is harder than you think. Anyway, how was your day?”
“Well, I got my first pay check, so that’s a start.” Hannah took a sip from her tea. “I’ll finally be able to pay you and Annabel some rent now, until I find somewhere cheap to live.” She felt a little hopeless saying that out loud. “Thank you for helping me get back on my feet, Mandy. I can’t believe I have to start from nothing all over again at my age. It all seems so pointless.”
“Hey, you’re doing well.” Mandy placed a hand over Hannah’s. “I’m proud of you, Hannah. For not giving up, for getting on with your life after all the shit you’ve just been through. Losing your restaurant is no joke.” She gave Hannah a warm smile. “And don’t be silly, you don’t have to pay rent. You can stay as long as you need. It’s not like we’re in a student flat anymore, and you sure are a lot tidier now.” She laughed. “But most of all, Annabel and I are really grateful that you help us out with the girls. Our marriage has been better than ever since we’ve been able to go out on dates again, so don’t feel bad about it.”
“Child minding in return for a roof above my head is not exactly a chore,” Hannah retorted. “I love your kids. And I love Annabel, you’re lucky to have her.” She rolled her shoulders, that were stiff from lugging a heavy tray around all week and nodded towards the view. “Not to mention I get to live in my favorite part of London.” She loved the view from here. The neighborhood was both eclectic and upmarket, friendly, multicultural and creative, with diverse restaurants, galleries, antique stores and bookshops strewn across the lively streets that were lined with the iconic colored houses and their pretty little front yards.
“Did I hear someone say my name?” Annabel’s face appeared in the doorway as she stepped out with a bottle of chilled white wine in one hand and three polished wineglasses in the other. “I knew I’d find you here.” She put the wine and the glasses on the wooden table and gave Mandy a loving kiss before planting one on Hannah’s cheek too. “Why are you guys drinking tea?”
Hannah raised her eyebrows and smiled. “It’s Monday. We’re trying to be good.”
“Nonsense.” Annabel opened the bottle and filled the glasses, then sat down next to Mandy. “It’s not every day that we get home and have the chance to drink a glass of wine at sunset without having the kids running around screaming our ears off. Especially not on a Monday.” She held up her glass and clinked it with Hannah’s and Mandy’s. “Cheers ladies. Here’s to kids’ birthday parties and at least an hour of blissful calm and adult conversation. Let’s enjoy it while it lasts.”
“What’s got you in such a chirpy mood?” Mandy asked her wife. “And why do you look so smart? I mean, you always look smart, but you hardly ever have make-up on. And your hair looks different.” She ruffled a hand through Annabel’s short blonde hair and inspected it from the front and the back. “I don’t know… styled? Or did you have a cut?”
“Hey, don’t mess with the hair.” Annabel chuckled as she pulled Mandy’s hand down and slapped it playfully. “Some lady spent a lot of time on that today. And yes, she even trimmed it a bit. We had headshots taken this afternoon, for our new website. It’s launching next week. I told you, remember? The launch party?”
“Oh God, I completely forgot.” Mandy winced and turned to Hannah. “Annabel’s company is re-branding. She’s making the shift from just PR to PR and marketing.”
“I know. She showed me the new logo last week. Exciting times. Five new members of staff, huh?”
“Yes. We’re launching next Thursday. Would you be able to…”
“Of course I’ll watch the twins,” Hannah interrupted her. “I’ve got another two weeks of dayshifts at the Serpentine Bar, so I’ll be home before you leave.”
“Thank you,” Annabel said with a grateful smile. “Only if you have the time. I don’t want you to feel like you have to watch them just because you live here now. It’s not like that.”
“I know.” Hannah took a sip of her Chablis and twirled it around in her mouth before swallowing it. She didn’t indulge in quality wine much anymore, now that she was broke, and she didn’t like raiding Mandy and Annabel’s wine-fridge, even though she knew they didn’t mind. “You really need to stop saying that, Annabel. As long as we’re both getting something out of this arrangement, I won’t feel so bad about intruding in your space.”
Annabel shrugged and smiled. “Okay, I won’t mention it again. Hey, have you contacted that lawyer I recommended?”
“I did. Thank you for that by the way. But he told me that as long as my name was on all the paperwork, there’s no way I’m going to get out of this mess unless Beth confesses to stealing from me. Short term, it’s not going to make any difference. The tax needs to be paid three years back, and the restaurant was in my name, so unless she suddenly appears and offers to give it back, I still owe the tax office twelve-thousand pounds, even after selling my restaurant. At least they settled for the monthly payments. That way, I won’t have to keep looking over my shoulder.” She shook her head. “I still can’t believe how stupid I’ve been. How could I not have realized that she was taking the money she told me she’d set aside for tax payments? No small restaurant owner can afford the designer clothes she bought for herself, or the trainers she got me every month. It all seems so obvious in hindsight.” Hannah bit her knuckle in anger. “Why the hell did I trust her with my finances? I’m clearly a terrible judge of character.”
“Because you trusted her,” Mandy said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “And because you’re a kind person, who would never think anything bad of the people you love.”
“If I ever see her again, I’ll kill her,” Annabel said coolly and took a sip of her wine. Then she shot Hannah an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have mentioned it. I know how worked-up you get about the subject. With good reason I might add.”
“It’s okay.” Hannah picked up her glass and stood up. She was getting worked up, Annabel was right about that, and she needed something to do so she wouldn’t explode into an angry monologue again. No one liked to listen to that, especially not on a daily basis. “How about I make us a quick dinner? I assume you guys haven’t eaten yet?” She looked from Mandy to Annabel and back.
“Thanks Hannah, but I don’t think we’ve got anything in the house, apart from baked beans and those awful sausages the kids like. Shall we just order something?”
“No, we’ve got plenty.” Hannah walked over to the herbs she’d planted alongside the edge of the roof terrace and picked a bunch of parsley. “We’ve got some good pasta, garlic, capers, chili and this.” She held up the parsley. “I even think there’s a chunk of parmesan left in the fridge. Combined with your amazing olive oil, that will be more than enough to make a mean pasta.”
“Really?” Mandy’s eyes widened. “You know I’m not going to say no to that. I love your cooking. Want some help?”
“No, I’m good. You two just stay there and enjoy yourselves.”
“Wait!” Mandy yelled after Hannah as she was about to descend down into the kitchen. “I forgot to tell you, your post has finally been forwarded. I put it next to the fruit bowl, it’s quite a pile.”