Jumping to Conclusions Read Online Free PDF Page B

trade. Still, if Tina meant what she said, both would be in very short supply in the future. The car bumped across the cobbles and Charlie switched off the headlights. No need to let them know at Peapods that he'd returned. He didn't want to talk to Drew Fitzgerald about the National fiasco. Not tonight. What had Gillian said? There was always next year? Charlie sighed. Twelve months was a hell of a long time to wait.

Chapter Three
    '... so,' Jemima turned away from the window and looked at her father, 'I was going to have to find myself somewhere to live in Milton St John by July, anyway. It's just going to be sooner now, rather than later. And, of course I'd relied on the money from Bookworms and – er – Petra – to enable me to stay on in Oxford and do exotic things, like paying the rent and buying food. I'll have to find a temporary job pretty quickly.' She grinned. 'Still, at last I'm all packed and on my way. I just thought I'd call in to say goodbye.'
    'It's lovely to see you.' Vincent Carlisle patted her shoulder. 'But surely there were other bookshops in Oxford? Wouldn't they have taken you on as temp until July? I don't mean to sound critical, love. But, surely, making yourself homeless at your age ... For God's sake, you don't want to end up like me, do you? One of the other bookshops might have been only too delighted to ..
    'Believe me, I tried all forty-three of them. None of them needed staff. They said they'd keep me on file. Probably under r for rubbish ...'
    Vincent pulled a face. 'Well, then I'm proud of you, Jem, love. Really. Getting down there early and getting on with it. You've made the right decision.'
    'The decision was made for me,' Jemima said. 'First by Bookworms going bust, and secondly by the party-thing. Being made redundant from one job and sacked from another – and both on the same day – and then being served with an eviction notice, doesn't give you many options to play with.'
    She winced as always over the party-thing. She'd told Gillian Hutchinson about it, but she'd never tell Vincent. The memory of that day still kept her awake at night. With a very scary bank loan ploughed into her new venture, two months' rent arrears on her flat, and an overdraft which would be the envy of any emerging third world nation, she'd hoped to keep her salary going until she'd worked her notice out in July. The decision to close Bookworms ahead of schedule was a hammer blow. The party-thing was simply a death knell.
    Fortunately Vincent was enraptured about Milton St John and didn't dwell on the reasons for her being railroaded out of the dreaming spires. 'I can't wait to see you standing behind your own counter, in your own shop, with your name over the door. And Milton St John must be full of really wealthy people just dying to buy books locally. You could be the next Christina Foyle.'
    Jemima was still staring out of the window. She loved her father dearly and would never tell him that her shop's location had been the one reason why she hadn't made an immediate decision to take it.
    Milton St John was a gorgeous village, and the very low rent on the Vicarage flat was a boon. The shop premises were the only ones she'd seen with a lease she could remotely afford, and the only place she'd visited that didn't have a rival bookshop within a ten mile radius. It all made sound economic sense, but her gambling-addict father and the horseracing hub of southern England seemed like a pretty lethal combination.
    She'd thought about it long and hard, and come to the conclusion that as he wouldn't actually be living there, she'd at least be able to steer him away from temptation when he did decide to visit. As she wasn't remotely interested in racing, any new friends she'd make in the village were also bound to be outsiders. She was pretty sure it wouldn't be a problem.
    'Got time for a cuppa before you go?'
    Jemima watched him shuffle across to the kitchen portion of the bedsit and wanted to cry. Yes, Vincent