All At Once

Anna was stuck in her life and stuck in the middle of nowhere… would Andy come to the rescue?

Just my luck! Anna thought as she pulled into the lay-by, smoke pouring from the bonnet of her car. Breaking down in the middle of nowhere.

She was on her way back from her friend Emma’s wedding, and was feeling annoyed. In fact, these days, Anna always seemed to be annoyed, but today she had a good reason. She’d been the only single person at the wedding apart from some distant cousin of the groom’s. Emma had insisted on sitting the two singletons together at dinner, and it was clear from the start the cousin’s sole focus was trying to get together with Anna.

She’d spent the entire reception trying to avoid him and had been glad when she could make her excuses and head back to her room for the night. After a string of disastrous relationships, she’d sworn off men, but Emma being Emma hadn’t listened.

The wedding venue, she had to admit, was superb. Emma was a huge fan of the recent Hollywood movie ALittleinLove and had managed to book Weddington Hall where some of the movie had been shot. Its red brick walls had shone in the late-September sunshine and the sweeping drive up to the stately home had been lined with large stone urns, filled with dusky pink and burnt orange flowers to match the autumnal colours of the wedding bouquet and buttonholes.

Although Anna would have loved to explore the hall and gardens, she had set her alarm early and checked out before any of the wedding party surfaced. She hadn’t wanted a repeat performance of last night. The unfortunate downside to this decision was that her stomach now wouldn’t stop growling. She wished she’d ordered room service before leaving.

A hand-painted sign stood ahead of her and she squinted at it, managing to read The Copper Kettle. Assuming this was a café, she looked around but, seeing nothing on either side of the road, she shrugged her shoulders. Perhaps

The Copper Kettle was a mobile café towed to the lay-by and then towed away again at the end of the day.

This is getting me nowhere. Anna opened the car door, pulled the lever to unlock her bonnet, instantly wishing she hadn’t when even more smoke poured out, and quickly shut the car door again. She wished now that she’d let Ellis have the car when they split up the previous year. It had caused nothing but trouble ever since, but after he’d declared his intention to take it, she’d stubbornly refused, saying she needed the car for work whereas he worked from home.

Anna fumbled in her bag for her mobile phone and groaned. Of course there’s no signal, she thought, lowering her head into her hands in exasperation.

Why was this happening to her? She was a good person; she worked hard, gave to charity, was kind to animals. She’d even rescued a spider from the bath the other day rather than sucking it up the hoover like she used to.

A light tap on the window made her look to the side.

“Are you OK?” A dark-haired man in his mid-thirties looked at her with concern.

“Fine, thank you.” She nodded, wondering if it would be rude to quickly lock the door.

“You don’t look fine,” he said, pointing to the lights on her dash. “You’ve overheated. I can take a look for you.”

The man walked around to the front of her car and lifted the bonnet. Anna knew she should probably get out and speak to him, but every fibre of her being warned her against it. He was a stranger, she was in a strange place and, to top it off, she had no mobile signal.

“You’ve completely run out of water.”

He was back at the window. “I’ll pop to the café and get some from Betty.”

Anna watched him walk over the road, admiring his bottom in the tightfitting blue jeans, and then he disappeared into a hedge.

So there is a café. Curiosity got the better of her and she opened the car door. After all, the man was out of sight now. It was then that she saw the recovery truck parked behind her in the layby. Andy’s Roadside Recovery was on the side, and Anna assumed her good Samaritan must be Andy.

Her stomach growling again, she followed the path Andy had taken, stopping dead in amazement at the sight before her when she walked through the hedge. The bustling café was filled with early-morning travellers. The smell of bacon cooking made her mouth water.

“Oh, there you are.” Andy was standing before her, balancing two cups in one hand. “I was just bringing you a cup of coffee. We’ll have to let the engine cool down completely before we refill it and get you going.”

Touched by his kindness, Anna smiled. “Thank you.”

“I’m Andy by the way.” He held out his empty hand, and she shook it, surprised at the sudden warmth that found its way up her arm.

“Anna.”

Andy laughed kindly. “I’ll be needing that back at some point,” he said, his smile reaching his blue eyes.

“What?” She hadn’t even realised she was still shaking his hand and let it go as if it was a hot coal. “I’m so sorry.”

“You look like a coffee, two sugars kind of girl.” Andy handed her one of the cups. “Am I right?”

“Indeed you are.” He wasn’t – she hadn’t taken sugar in years and she only drank tea – but he looked so pleased with himself that she didn’t have the heart to tell him he was wrong.

Her stomach growled again, extraordinarily loudly. Andy laughed.

“Hungry?” She nodded. “Betty does the best fry-up for miles. Here, grab that table over there and I’ll order us a sarnie

Anna couldn’t believe how easy she was finding it to talk to Andy. “Can I tell you the truth?” she asked

each. Bacon? Sausage? Egg?”

“Bacon and egg please.” Anna headed to the table in the corner on the outside.

The café overlooked fields and woodlands, and the leaves were starting to turn beautiful shades of red, orange and brown. It was warm for the time of year. There was a slight chill but Anna knew that, as the sun got higher in the sky, it would be a glorious day.

“Here we are then.” Andy placed two plates on the table. Anna’s eyes widened at the sight of the doorstop sliced bread, six rashers of bacon and two eggs that spilled their golden yolks down the side.

“Do you often help damsels in distress?” she asked, before taking a bite and wiping her mouth hastily as the egg dripped down her chin.

“I don’t usually come across them unexpectedly in lay-bys surrounded by smoke.” He was already three bites ahead of her. “It’s a good job you stopped when you did or you could have done some real damage.”

“Bloody car is a nightmare.” And she found herself telling him all about her ex, how the car had been his pride and joy and how she had taken great pleasure in keeping it for herself after he’d cheated.

“Sounds like he deserved it if you ask me.” By the time she’d finished speaking, Andy had polished off his sandwich and was drinking his coffee. “Can’t abide cheats. In any part of life. If you can’t do it fair and square, then don’t do it. Don’t want to be with someone? Tell them. Want a nice house and nice things?

Work hard.”

“You make it sound so simple.” Anna had eaten only a quarter of her sandwich and was already feeling full.

“It makes for an easier life.” He looked her in the eye. “I own my own business, work hard, help people, and now and again, the world gives me something in return.”

“For example?”

“For example, today.” He leaned forward slightly in his chair. “There’s me, heading home from an early-morning breakdown, cursing the ungodly hour I was woken up on a Sunday, and now here I am, sharing breakfast with a beautiful woman.”

Anna blushed. “Charmer!”

“But it’s true.” He picked up his cup, putting it straight back down when he realised it was empty. “I could have moaned and groaned, got annoyed – and trust me, I did to start with – but then I remembered what a friend of mine told me. Only you have the power to control how things affect you. So, I got dressed, stuck on a smile and here I am.”

She looked over at him, stranger that he was, at his kind eyes, soft mouth and handsome face, and all at once she felt uplifted. Like anything was possible if you faced the world head on with a smile.

“It’s a lovely way to look at life,” she agreed, knowing that most mornings, Mondays especially, she greeted her alarm clock with a few choice words and three presses of the snooze button. “It might be nice to try to have a more positive attitude.”

“Trust me, it works.” He shrugged.

“What brings you to Weddington then?”

“I was at my friend’s wedding yesterday.” She pushed the plate away from her, half of the sandwich still intact. “That was delicious, but I’m done.”

“Betty’s servings are always giantsized.” He laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “Betty will pop it in a take-out tray if you ask her – shame to waste it.”

“You can have it.” She offered the plate to him.

“Goodness, no. One is enough for anybody.” He waved his hands in refusal. “So how come you haven’t spent the morning with the wedding party? Thought that was part of the whole thing these days – waking up the next day and having breakfast.”

“There was this guy there last night who clearly liked me more than I liked him, and I just couldn’t face him again this morning. I even left the party early last night.” Anna couldn’t believe how easy she was finding it to talk to Andy.

“Why didn’t you just tell him you didn’t like him?”

“I didn’t want to hurt his feelings,” Anna admitted. “Emma said he’d had really bad luck with women in the past.”

Andy raised an eyebrow. “You should have just told him the truth. Now he probably thinks he’s done something wrong, and you’ve missed out on enjoying your friend’s wedding properly. Always tell the truth if you can. Or word it in a way that is least likely to offend or hurt.”

“Can I tell you the truth?” Andy nodded. “I don’t take sugar and I can’t stand coffee.”

He laughed and stood up. “Tea?”

She nodded, and as he headed back into the café, Anna felt all at once that her life was going to be a lot happier.

E-books have been a massive success for publishers and Keeling has been at the top with her romantic comedies. Her third book follows Rose Pedal, owner of Pedals & Prosecco and the beautiful setting of wedding fayre venue Weddington Hall. Fans of Cathy Bramley and Phillipa Ashley will enjoy! A Little in Love by Florence Keeling, Simon & Schuster, E-Book Original, £2.99. Out

September 21

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