If She Could See

It feels as if a lot longer than a week has passed since I last wrote a post. I’ve been really busy doing a wide range of things.

It’s ironic that when you’re looking for things to do, at first you can’t think of anything and then all of a sudden you find yourself overrun again. Or at least that’s how it happens with me.

So I’m going to be lazy today with this post, as it's sunny, and I intend to spend my time enjoying the rare rays :)

For those of you who’ve read my Inkitt novel, “Just A Moment”, this extract comes from the sequel that I am currently writing - hopefully it will entice you into reading the first novel if you haven’t yet ;) (link at the end of this post)

(Bear in mind that this is a working draft; I've not yet finalised this opening segment, but I thought you might like to read some of it)

~

Why is it always the days that you have somewhere else you’d rather be that drag on for eternity?

Hope had asked herself this question innumerable times over the years, and yet she’d still never found an adequate answer.

Days working at her Aunt Sophie’s café always seemed to last a lifetime, as there were so many better places Hope could think of being.

Finishing her task of wiping down all the tables, Hope looked at the door longingly. ‘Aunt Soph?’

‘Yes honey?’ Aunt Sophie’s blonde bob appeared around the swinging door that led into the kitchen.

‘Could I lock up a bit early? Since no one’s here.’

‘Oh no sweetheart.’ Aunt Sophie shook her head firmly. ‘You never know; someone could just be coming around the corner now.’

Hope frowned. ‘I doubt it. And it’s only a half hour to closing…’

‘Well if you’re bored darling, you could always start scrubbing down the counter. That extra half hour will fly by if you keep busy, I promise.’ Aunt Sophie smiled brightly. ‘Now, I’ve got to get back to these accounts or your uncle’ll tell me off again.’

As Aunt Sophie’s head disappeared back behind the door, Hope sighed. ‘One of these days…’ She muttered to herself, walking towards the counter, cloth in hand.

‘Hope!’

Hope turned around in surprise at the sound of the door crashing open, her face breaking into a smile as she saw the familiar face of her rebellious friend Mack. Dressed as usual in a black hoodie and jeans, despite the fact it was brilliant sunshine outside in mid-summer New York, Mack’s bleached blonde hair poked out of his hood, his blue eyes shining with glee.

‘Hey Mack.’ Hope greeted him.

‘So, guess what I just did.’ Mack declared, hopping up onto a tabletop, clearly self-satisfied.

‘Ruined the last half hour of work I’ve done by sitting on the table I’ve just cleaned?’ Hope asked sarcastically, prodding him in the small of the back.

‘Ah!’ Mack jumped off the table, rubbing his back. ‘You could have just asked me to move.’

‘Yeah, but my way was much more fun.’ Hope folded her arms with a smile.

The door of the café swung open with a loud jingling of bells. ‘Mack, I swear to god, if you’ve…’ Joe stopped short as he saw Hope, his frown turning into a smile. ‘Hi Hope. How’re you doing?’

Hope beamed. ‘Not so bad. You?’

‘Pretty good. How’s the shift been?’

Hope shrugged with a sigh. ‘It’s been uneventful. Well, at least until you two turned up that is.’

‘Yeah, I swear this place is empty every time I come in here.’ Mack said, looking around the currently empty tables. ‘How do you guys make any money?’

‘You’re never here for the lunchtime rush.’ Hope pointed out, walking around to the counter and leaning against it. ‘It can get pretty busy.’

Mack and Joe shook their heads, pretending interested understanding for politeness sake. Hope knew them both well enough to know they didn’t care.

‘So what have you two boys been up to today?’

Joe’s smile immediately turned into a scowl. ‘Someone we know thought it would be funny to steal the song I’m working on at the moment.’

His honey brown hair was typically ruffled, signifying that he was flustered by Mack’s teasing. Hope laughed at the image; it wasn’t an uncommon sight.

Producing the aforementioned sheets of music from his pocket, Mack gestured towards Hope. ‘You should take a look. I don’t know much about music, but it looks pretty good to me.’

‘It’s just a few bars really, nothing to get excited about. Plus, it’s not even finished yet.’ Joe commented, trying to snatch the sheets of music out of Mack’s hands.

‘Then how come you’ve been working on it for the past three weeks?’ Mack asked, resisting Joe’s efforts with ease.

Hope laughed. ‘Lay off him Mack. You know what he’s like when it comes to his music.’

‘Thank you Hope.’ Joe said, finally grabbing hold of the papers and tugging them away from Mack.

‘You got a name for it yet?’ Hope asked, returning to her original task of cleaning down the counter.

‘Well, not exactly. I mean, I’ve had a few ideas, but I haven’t made any decisions…’

Mack turned to Hope, interrupting Joe’s stream of words. ‘He’s written “If She Could See” at the top of one of the sheets.’

‘Am I not allowed any privacy anymore?’ Joe asked. ‘Because if so, I definitely missed that clause when I said I’d be your roommate.’

Mack and Joe had been roommates since they’d met nearly two years beforehand. In that time, Mack had introduced Joe to Hope, and the pair had become instant friends and singing partners not long after.

Now the pair were essentially inseparable. In order to help fund the album they were in the process of writing, Hope had kept her job working at the café whilst Joe had found a job at a second-hand records store. If they weren’t working, they were together singing and writing, or performing their material for the gang that Mack was leader of. Late into the night, the pair would sit up calling, discussing everything.

They had no secrets and Hope felt as if there was nothing that she couldn’t tell Joe. She’d never had a friend like him before; when they were together it just worked perfectly.

‘You gave up the right to privacy when you became partners with Hope.’ Mack said definitively. ‘You know she’s like a little sister to me, and as her big brother, I make it my business to know everything about the people she associates with.’

Hope frowned, folding her arms. ‘And when did I sign up for that? Cause you can lay off.’

At that statement, Joe laughed, whilst Mack pretended to be offended. ‘You should be honoured to have someone as conscientious as me looking out for you.’

‘I’ll have to bear that in mind.’ Hope smirked. ‘Anyway, I like the name. You’ll have to play me the song when you’ve done.’

~

So, I hope you liked that. Drop me a comment with your thoughts. It's been almost two years since I wrote the first book of this series, so I'm really enjoying revisiting the characters.

And now, I'm off to sunbathe.

#sequel #inkittauthor #extract