Five Years from Now - Softcover

Toon, Paige

 
9780593715567: Five Years from Now
Softcover
ISBN 10: 059371556X ISBN 13: 9780593715567
Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group, 2023

Inhaltsangabe

BEST FRIENDS. FIRST KISS. FIRST LOVE. FIVE YEARS FROM NOW, WHAT WILL THEY BE?

“Paige Toon's romances are powerful and poignant and never fail to leave me clutching her book to my chest.” – MIA SHERIDAN, author of ARCHER’S VOICE

In the spirit of Mia Sheridan, a heartbreaking story of star-crossed, fated love, and two people who are brought together and torn apart every five years until they must make a choice that’s bigger than their lives alone.

Nell and Van meet as children when their parents fall in love. They become best friends and each other’s whole world. Then tragedy strikes and Van is sent to the other side of the globe.

Five years later, they find each other again. But they’re no longer children and the bond between them smolders into flames. New feelings surprise them both. They are destined, soulmates. Until an untimely discovery tears them apart again.

For the next two decades, fate brings Nell and Van together every five years, even as life and circumstance divide them. They will have to make a choice, but it’s bigger than their lives alone. Is it bigger than their love?

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Paige Toon grew up between England, Australia, and America and has been writing emotional love stories since 2007. She has published fifteen novels, a three-part spin-off series for young adults, and a collection of short stories. Her books have sold nearly 2 million copies worldwide. She lives in Cambridgeshire, England, with her husband and their two children.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Prologue: Forty

"Oh, baby," I murmur, brushing Luke's hair away from his forehead as he fights back tears.

He's still my "baby," even if he is almost fifteen years old.

"I can't believe I'm going to be holed up for the rest of the summer," he says in a choked voice. "And I'm going to miss Angie's party," he realizes.

I suspect this fact hurts him even more than his broken ankle.

"She'll probably get off with Jake and that'll be that, then," he adds bitterly.

I lean in and squeeze his shoulder. "Angela Rakesmith looks at you like the light shines out of your backside," I say pointedly. "You have nothing to worry about there."

Despite himself, my son grins, but it's quickly followed by a grimace.

"Do you need more painkillers?" I ask with concern, my hand halfway toward the button to call the nurse.

He shakes his head. "They make me feel sick."

"I'm sorry you'll miss the party." I am genuinely sympathetic. Luke has been looking forward to it so much. "That sucks. But think of all of the attention you'll get when you go back to school. The girls will be clambering over themselves to sign your cast. Angie will be jealous as hell."

His bottom lip wobbles and he swallows rapidly, but there's no holding back his tears of misery and frustration.

"I had so many plans for this summer! How did I do this surfing?" He slaps his hand on the bed.

"It could've been worse." I shudder at the thought.

He rolls his eyes, putting a halt to the direction my thoughts were taking. "It could always be worse. That doesn't make me feel better, Mum."

"I know it might not make a lot of sense right now, but one day..." A shiver goes down my spine as I hear myself saying the words, "...maybe five years from now, you'll look back and understand why this happened."

"No, I won't," he retorts grumpily. "I'll just think I was a stupid dick for inviting Jensen to come surfing with us."

I cast my eyes heavenward.

That's how it happened. Luke's friend Jensen got caught up in the rip current and Luke went after him. They hit the rocks on their way back in. Jensen face-planted on the reef and had to have three stitches on his eyebrow, but was otherwise unharmed. My son was less fortunate.

"You're right. You shouldn't have invited him," I say. "None of you should have been surfing at Porthleven in those conditions, especially Jensen, who is way too inexperienced."

Unlike Luke, who has been surfing almost every day since he was ten years old.

He bites his lip, knowing that he hasn't heard the last of this.

"But," I persist with making my point, despite his earlier dismissal, "maybe some good will come of this. Maybe, one day in the future, Jensen will think twice about surfing in similar conditions. Or you will. Or one of your friends will, and it might save their lives. Or perhaps there's something else you'll do this summer, someone you'll meet who you wouldn't have met otherwise, who'll have an impact on your life. This may strengthen Angie's feelings for you, or it may not-but at least you'll know and won't waste your time on her. All I'm saying is, although this feels like the worst thing ever right now, something positive might come out of it. My dad once gave me that 'five years from now' advice and I've never forgotten it."

Luke takes a deep breath, his face creasing with pain.

"Are you sure you don't need more medication?" I ask worriedly.

He shakes his head. "I'm fine. Just... take my mind off it. Please," he adds in a strained voice.

"You want me to tell you a story?" I flash him a hopeful smile.

"As long as it's not about Fudge and Smudge," he replies, chuckling and wincing in quick succession.

"How dare you?" I ask mockingly. "Fudge and Smudge are my greatest creations!"

Not strictly true and he knows it.

He grins at me. "You know I love them, really. So when did Grandad say that 'five years' stuff to you?"

"When I was your age, funnily enough. But I overheard someone say a similar thing a whole decade before that."

"And you remember?"

I nod. "Ruth was a hard person to forget."

"Who was she?"

"The love of your grandad's life," I explain. "And she wasn't Grandma," I add with a significant look.

"What happened to her?""Well, that's a whole other story..."

He gives me a rueful look. "I'm not going anywhere."

"All right, then," I say with a small smile. "I guess I'll start at the beginning."

Which, for me, was when I was five years old...



Five

There was a boy on Nell's bed.

Nell's grip on Rabbit tightened as she stared down at him. He stared back sullenly.

"Nell, this is Vian," Daddy said in his trying-to-be-jolly-nothing-wrong-here voice.

"Vian, come off the bed," Ruth urged gently.

Nell had already met Ruth downstairs. Ruth had a nice smile and red curls that bounced when she walked. Nell instinctively liked Ruth. But if Ruth was the reason Nell had a boy on her bed, Nell might have to rethink her affections.

"Vian," Ruth urged again.

Nell dragged her eyes away from the boy with his dark, unfathomable eyes and looked up at her father. "Why is he on my bed?"

Daddy seemed momentarily uncomfortable, but quickly put his jolly voice back on. "We thought you'd like to sleep in the top bunk, now that you're a big girl."

Nell shook her head. "I want my bed."

Her father exchanged an awkward glance with Ruth.

Ruth knelt down. "Can you get up, please, Vian?"

"No," Vian muttered, edging back until his entire body was flush against the wall. His dark hair looked stark against the white paint.

Nell's eyes roved around the room, taking in the unfamiliar teddies on the duvet and the toy cars lined up on the narrow shelf behind the pillow. Something told her that Vian had been sleeping in her bed for some time.

And it was her bed. It had always been her bed and her bedroom. She even had glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the wooden slats holding up the top mattress. Nell had a quick look to see if they were still there. They were.

"It's fine," Nell's father brushed Ruth off, touching his hand to her arm. "Why don't we all go and have a nice hot chocolate and a cookie?"

Hot chocolate and cookies before dinner? Nell loved the idea of this, but Vian continued to scowl. It was as though he thought she was the intruder.

"Daddy, I don't want to sleep in the top bunk," she whispered anxiously as she followed her father out of her bedroom, not understanding the reason for the upheaval. "What about my glow-in-the-dark stars?"

"We can get you some more to put on the wall," Daddy promised, turning around to scoop Nell up into his arms as he reached the bottom of the stairs.


"But I like looking up at them," she said, her eyes pricking with tears as her father carried her the rest of the way into the kitchen.

"Then we'll get you some stars for the ceiling," Daddy replied.

"But I like my bed."

"Nell, please." Her father's forehead creased with impatience as he set Nell back on her feet. "Be a good girl, OK?"

Nell was stung. She was a good girl. She loved coming to stay with her daddy in Cornwall. This was their time. Why did things have to change? Why did these people have to be here too?

Mummy had explained, of course. Daddy had a new girlfriend who had moved in "faster than the speed of light"...

"Very unlike your father. Completely uncharacteristic. I did wonder if he'd been brainwashed, but we've spoken and she seems nice enough. Probably do him good-stop him from being such a...

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Verlag
Penguin Publishing Group
Erscheinungsdatum
2023
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
059371556X
ISBN 13 
9780593715567
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
368
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
gpsr@libri.de
gpsr@libri.de

Europaallee 1
Bad Hersfeld
36244
Deutschland

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