Page 70 of Escape to the Country

‘This is so exciting,’ said Annie. ‘You and Tommy King! Can you imagine?’

The trouble was, Eleanor could and was desperately trying not to.

‘Oh, great,’ drawled Megan, making a face. ‘So you both get this amazing love life and I’m stuck at home with Neal.’

‘Neal’s lovely and you know it,’ said Annie, before beaming at Eleanor. ‘I can just see you two together.’

Eleanor was frantically shaking her head. ‘No,’ she told them. ‘It’s never going to happen. He’s never going to look at someone like me.’

‘Rubbish,’ said Annie. ‘Look at me and Sam! If I can be a countess, you can be a famous singer’s girlfriend.’

Megan sighed. ‘Your lives are so exciting.’

‘I don’t want exciting,’ Eleanor told them both. ‘I want dull. I’d be really happy with boring and dull right now.’

But she let Annie rattle on and Megan pretend to be jealous because she was so happy that they were friends again. She knew how close she had been to losing them and was determined to make sure that would never happen again.