‘I agree but I’m not doing it for them. I’m doing it for me.’
Aunt Coral gave a deep happy sigh. ‘However much you fight it, you have to listen to your heart eventually.’
‘Thanks for everything,’ said Daisy. Her heart was full to bursting having the people she loved back in her life, which was on a much more stable footing than it had ever been before. Bug yapped his annoyance at being left out.
Without warning a huge wasp flew into Daisy’s face and became tangled in her hair. She pulled away from her aunt and started to scream. She frantically swiped at her hair trying to get the wasp out without being stung. Her heart was racing as panic gripped her. The angry buzzing hitched up a notch and so did Bug’s barking.
‘Bastard!’ shouted Daisy, as the wasp broke free and flew off, in the exact same moment Bug pulled his lead from Aunt Coral’s grip and raced off towards home.
‘Oh no,’ said Aunt Coral with a gasp, her fingers shooting to her lips. ‘He’s chasing the wasp.’
Daisy reddened. ‘It’s okay. I think you’ll find he’s heading home to his basket. Maybe we should do the same.’ Daisy linked one arm through her aunt’s and the other with Max and wondered how you went about untraining a dog.
THE END
Acknowledgements
Firstly, thanks goes to my editor, Rachel Faulkner-Willcocks for a fabulous job editing this book and to Sabah Khan, Elon Woodman-Worrell and the amazing team at Avon for all their support. Thanks to my agent, Kate Nash, who is my constant safety net, and special thanks to Kim Leo for yet another stunning cover.
Special thanks to Henry Yates at Burleigh’s Gin and Graham Pound and staff at the Seven Stars Public House in Rugby for sharing their vast gin knowledge. Thanks also to everyone who has so enthusiastically supported me in my gin research – I feel we did a thorough job.
Thanks to the lovely people at the RNLI, Sarah at Devon Bat Group (she bears no resemblance to Tabitha in case you were wondering) and Christie from the National Bat Helpline – yes, there really is such a thing!
Thanks to Morton Gray for her knowledge of tarot cards and to my niece, Emma, for checking my terminology wasn’t getting old and past it.
As always, my heartfelt thanks to all my writerly friends – I hope you know who you are because there are far too many of you to fit in the acknowledgements!
Thank you to all the fabulous bloggers – you are amazing, as are all the lovely readers who continue to buy my books and write reviews. It really does mean the world.
Finally, the biggest thank you to my wonderful family for their unwavering support and acceptance of the voices in my head. I love you beyond reason.
Daisy Wickens is headed back to her childhood home … but can she survive twelve whole months there?
Escape to Devon in the first part of a gorgeous new four-part series from Bella Osborne.
Click here to buy.
Daisy’s Gin Bar is starting to take shape … but will everything go according to plan?
Part two is here and Daisy’s story continues.
Click here to buy.
It’s opening night for Locos … but will it be the success that Daisy is hoping for?
Daisy’s back in part three of Ottercombe Bay.
Click here to buy.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bella Osborne has been jotting down stories as far back as she can remember but decided that 2013 would be the year that she finished a full-length novel.
In 2016, her debut novel, It Started at Sunset Cottage, was shortlisted for the Contemporary Romantic Novel of the Year and RNA Joan Hessayon New Writers Award.
Bella’s stories are about friendship, love and coping with what life throws at you. She likes to find the humour in the darker moments of life and weaves these into her stories. Bella believes that writing your own story really is the best fun ever, closely followed by talking, eating chocolate, drinking fizz and planning holidays.
She lives in the Midlands, UK with her lovely husband and wonderful daughter, who, thankfully, both accept her as she is (with mad morning hair and a penchant for skipping).
Also by Bella Osborne
It Started at Sunset Cottage
A Family Holiday
Escape to Willow Cottage
About the Publisher
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Ottercombe Bay Page 9