It's Now or Never
Authors: Jill Steeples
âFor Jen Faraday - Not to be opened, in any circumstances, until April 2016'
When smooth-talking Alex Fellows tells Jen Faraday he can predict her future â and leaves a note with the bartender for her to collect in one year's time â she thinks it's just a line. After all, how can a man she's known for only one night see what her future holds? Or maybe it's not too hard. Recently her life has been a series of things she
hasn't
done. She didn't go to college â family trouble. She didn't get married â dumped. And she hasn't yet handed in her notice at work â too scared! If she had to predict her own future, would it be âMore of the same'?
Or maybe not. After all, she's just had a passionate one-night stand with a man who is rich and ridiculously good-looking and totally not her type. That was unexpected. And she is going to resign from her job⦠Things are already changing. Whatever that prediction says â and how Jen wishes she knew â perhaps this year is the year she takes control of her destiny!
Desperately Seeking Heaven
Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
Hopelessly Devoted to You
â
Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
by Jill Steeples is a well written and easy to like book. If you are looking for a chick lit with a twist then give this one a read.' Harlequin Junkie
**
âSo gripping, vivid, enjoyable and fascinating!!!'
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Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
**
âIt was a thoroughly enjoyable read that kept you wanting more.'
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Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
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âJill is a great writer, she knows how to tell a story. I can't wait to read more of Jill Steeples.' Dreaming with Open Eyes
**
âIf I had to sum this book up in three words, they would be Romantic, Marvellous and Amazing.' 23reviewstreet on
Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
*
**
âA truly magical novel' â
Chick Lit Reviews and News on
Desperately Seeking Heaven
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âA very cute book! It was fun, funny, and endearing and also heart-wrenching at times.' Book Binge on
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âA cute and easy read' This Chick Reads on
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JILL STEEPLES
lives in a small market town in Bedfordshire with her husband and two children.
From an early age she fell in love with the fabulously funny romances of Jilly Cooper, and vowed, one day, she would have a go at writing one of her own.
Jill loves writing short stories, particularly those with a twist in the tail, and her work has appeared in popular women's magazines around the world and in a number of charity anthologies.
It's Now or Never
is her fourth novel.
To all my lovely readers and friends who have read and enjoyed my books, a very big thank you! Your support is appreciated much more than you can ever know.Â
A special thank you to my brilliant editor, Victoria Oundjian, for her infinite patience and guidance, and to the rest of the fabulous Carina team for all their hard work and dedication.
Finally, and always, a big thank you to my lovely family for their continued understanding, love and support in the face of extreme hardship - no socks, no food and no attention - love you all! xx
For my mum
Contents
I suppose I was curious about that damned letter. Who wouldn't be? It was addressed to me, after all, and it was meant to hold all the secrets to my dazzling future. In that situation I'd defy anyone not to want to know what was held within that envelope. Part of me saw it as an elaborate joke and I wondered if that was what the funny gorgeous stranger had intended, but there was also a small part of me that couldn't help thinking that he might know something I didn't. Wouldn't that be cool? To think my whole life was known to someone else but not to me?
The thing was, I'd managed to catch a few tantalising snippets which had only stirred my interest more, but as I'd craned my head to read further, the âall-knowing one' had pulled an arm around the sheet of paper as he wrote, blocking my view to what he was furiously scribbling down.
You think that's mad?
pretty momentous
mind-blowing to say the least.
secrets ⦠hidden
Forever.
⦠not only me involved
stalkerish
at my side
tomorrow â¦
Stalkerish? What the hell! And tomorrow? Well today was tomorrow, if you get my drift, and that letter had my name written all over it â so where was the problem?
In the late morning chill of an April morning, the wine bar looked far less salubrious than it had the previous evening. There was an air of neglect and disappointment about the place as though it was carefully nurturing its own hangover, a bit like me, but I wasn't worried about that. There was only one thing on my mind and that was getting my hands on that letter.
Through the tinted windows, my hands held up to the glass, I saw a young woman in black trousers, black top and white apron behind the bar, wiping down tops and polishing glasses. I took the opportunity, pushing through the door with my shoulder.
âSorry, we're not actually open yet.' The woman turned, glancing at her watch. âIf you could come back in half an hour we should be ready for you.'
She probably thought I had a drink problem, it was only ten-thirty in the morning.
âOh no, I don't want a drink. It's just that I was in here last night and I left something behind.'
âAh okay. What was it? I'll take a look for you.'
âIt was an envelope with my name on it. Jen Faraday. The guy I was with left it behind the bar for me.'
Her eyebrows flickered at me doubtfully before she wandered off, straight to the till, where she retrieved the envelope from the small gap down the side and waved it in the air.
âThis is it, isn't it,' she said, still holding it aloft.
âYes, thank you.'
I held out my hand to take it off her, but she snatched it away, a triumphant smile on her face.
âI'm really sorry, but I can't give it to you. It says quite clearly on here, “not to be opened until April 2016”. That's a year away. Sorry,' she said, far too delightedly for her own good.
âYes, but it is actually my envelope, for me,' I said, getting irritated now by her unwavering presence between me and the letter. âCould I just have it please?'
âNo.'
âRight.' I leant over and snatched it out of her hands â quick as a ninja warrior, she snatched it right back again. For a moment there I thought about tackling her, grappling her to the floor, and reclaiming what was rightfully mine, but I was worried about being arrested and ending up in a prison cell for common assault. Besides, weighing up the situation, she seemed so much more agile and fitter than me and I had a suspicion I would be the one to come off worse in any wrestling competition.
âRight,' I said again, with authority this time. âJust to let you know, I will be speaking to your manager about this.'
âI am the manager.'
âRight. Well that's fine. Absolutely fine.'
I turned on my tail and marched out that wine bar, determined never to set foot in there again. Well not for another year at least. That's if I hadn't forgotten all about that wretched letter by then.
âYou're what?'
âI know! It's all a bit mad. It's been a bit of a whirlwind actually. Everything's happened so quickly, but I wanted you to be the first to know.'
Woah! Hang on a minute here. This couldn't be so. Some things in life are taken as a given and right at the top of the list of given things was,
numero uno
:
I, Jen Faraday, would be the first to marry out of me and my best friend Angie, because I am the marrying type. And Angie is not. And I'd been in a nine-year relationship with my long-term boyfriend, who was the reliable steady type, and with whom I'd visited bridal fairs and drawn up invitation lists and decided on a colour scheme. Coral and mint, in case you're interested. Angie wasn't even in a relationship because she'd ditched her on-off totally unreliable scumbag of a boyfriend because of his wayward tendencies.
Admittedly, there had been a slight hitch to my plans when my reliable steady boyfriend had shown a bit of uncharacteristic get-up-and-go and had⦠got up and gone, deciding that he didn't want to get married after all. Well not to me at least. He convinced me it was a mutual decision, but on reflection I think it was more mutual on his part than on my own. Within three months he'd met someone new, married her and now they were expecting their first baby together. Who doesn't love a happy ending?
âIt's Tom actually. We're back together.' Angie did have the good grace to look sheepish as she imparted this bit of earth-shattering news. âWe're going to make a go of it.'
âTom? Scumbag, grotbag Tom? But you saidâ¦'
âI know what I said, but he's changed, honestly he has. And please don't call him that, Jen. Not any more. The break up was the best thing that could ever have happened to us. It's made us realise how we feel about each other. We want to spend the rest of our lives together.'
âBlimey.'
A tiny part of me died inside. No, scrub that. A huge part of me died. Angie was my partner in crime, my soul sister on the singles dating scene. How would I ever cope in those murky waters without her?
âAre you sure you know what you're doing?' I protested. âI'd hate to think you were making a mistake. You were doing so well, Angie, getting over Tom. Why go back? Isn't that what you're always telling me? That I need to look forward and not dwell on the past?'
âThat's the whole point, Jen. I'm not going backwards. I'm moving forwards with Tom. A new promise, a new life together. Besides, this is different. We're very much in love.'
Eugh! I resisted the urge to throw up over the carpet. The only thing stopping me was the fact that it was my carpet and I'd be the one to have to clean up the mess.
Love? Ha! I thought I knew what love was until Paul had pulled the rug from beneath my feet. And if I could get it quite so wrong after nine years, how would I ever be able to know how to get it right again? Against all the odds Angie had managed it and now, without so much as a backwards glance, she was leaving me behind, floundering all alone in a lonely single wilderness. Every part of my life had hit the buffers. I'd come to a shuddering halt with a neon âNo Way Out' sign flashing in front of me, while everyone around me was moving forward with their lives, going off in exciting new directions.
