Another Cup Of Coffee

Book 1: The Another Cup Series

by Jenny Kane

Genres: Women's Fiction; Clean & Wholesome Romance; Contemporary Romance

Synopsis

If you love Jenny Colgan and Katie Fforde, you're sure to love this irresistible and heart-warming story from the author of A Cornish Escape. Thirteen years ago Amy Crane ran away from everyone and everything she knew, ending up in an unfamiliar city with no obvious past and no idea of her future. Now, though, that past has just arrived on her doorstep, in the shape of an old music cassette that Amy hasn't seen since she was at university. Digging out her long-neglected Walkman, Amy listens to the lyrics that soundtracked her student days. As long-buried memories are wrenched from the places in her mind where she's kept them safely locked away for over a decade, Amy is suddenly tired of hiding. It's time to confront everything about her life. Time to find all the friends she left behind in England, when her heart got broken and the life she was building for herself got completely shattered. Time to make sense of all the feelings she's been bottling up for all this time. And most of all, it's time to discover why Jack has sent her tape back to her now, after all these years... With her mantra, New life, New job, New home, playing on a continuous loop in her head, Amy gears herself up with yet another a bucket-sized cup of coffee, as she goes forth to lay the ghost of first love to rest...

Release date: September 19, 2013

Publisher: Accent Press

Print pages: 316

Sample

One

July 2006

Shrugging off her khaki jacket, Amy bent to pick up the pile of post that lay waiting on her doormat. As her hand reached to retrieve the small brown package half-buried beneath some junk mail, Amy froze. She knew that handwriting. She also had a funny feeling that she knew what was going to be inside.

But why return it now, after all these years?

The poorly-wrapped parcel broke open as her fingers fumbled at the sticky tape, and a music cassette fell into her hands. The cover was unmarked, just as it had been when he’d taken it from her. Amy stared, disbelieving, the blood draining from her already pale face. She remembered recording at least two tracks onto it herself. Maybe there were more now.

Amy’s brother had given her the blank tape as she’d been climbing into their parents’ car, about to be driven away to start her new life as a student. ‘To record your musical memories along the way,’ he’d said with a grin. Back then Amy had had every intention to fill her gift with each musical memory associated with her student life, but the reality of actually living through those experiences had left her with little time to record more than a couple of tracks.

Flustered, Amy shook the torn packaging in her hunt for a note of explanation. A small white envelope fell to the floor. Jack’s familiar spidery scrawl stretched across its front.

Dearest Amy. Please listen to the tape BEFORE you open this. The letter will explain afterwards. J x

With a feeling that she was outside of what was happening, detached, as if she was a spectre floating above herself, Amy walked into her tiny living room and put the tape down on her coffee table, as gingerly as if it was an unexploded bomb.

What was on it now? She knew she couldn’t avoid this unexpected intrusion for long – but, on the other hand, a brief delay in order to clear her head suddenly felt essential.

Taking refuge in the kitchen, Amy placed her palms firmly onto the cool, tiled work surface, and took a couple of deep yet shaky breaths. Forcing her brain to slip back into action, she retrieved a bottle of white wine from the fridge, poured a large glassful and, squaring her shoulders, carried it through to the living room.

Perching on the edge of her sofa, her throat dry, Amy stared suspiciously at the tape for a second, before daring to pick it up and click open its stiff plastic box. Two minutes later, her hands still shaking, she closed it again with a sharp bang, and drank some wine. It took a further five minutes to gather the courage to re-open the case and place the tape into the dusty cassette compartment of her ancient stereo system. It must have been years since she’d seen a cassette, she thought, let alone listened to one. She wasn’t even sure the stereo still worked …

Swallowing another great gulp of alcohol, Amy closed her eyes and pressed Play, not at all sure she wanted to take this trip back in time …

The sheer busy-ness and bustle of the place had hit Amy instantly. Being brought up by parents with a serious café habit, the energy buzzing around the student coffee shop had felt both newly exhilarating and yet comfortably familiar. She’d instantly enjoyed walking anonymously through the crowds with her plastic mug and a soggy salad roll.

Sitting in the coffee shop one day during the second week of her first term as a student archaeologist, Amy noticed two lads, whom she’d seen in her Prehistory lecture only ten minutes before, struggling to find seats. Surprising herself by inviting them to share her wobbly plastic table, Amy recalled how she’d been even more surprised when they’d accepted her offer.

With that one uncharacteristically impulsive gesture, Amy had met Paul and Rob. Those cups of strong black coffee in the overcrowded student café were only the first of many coffee stops they shared over the next three years ...

The first track, which Amy remembered recording herself, was only halfway through, but her wine glass was already empty. With closed eyes Amy thought of them now. Rob was married with three small children. Paul was travelling the world, his archaeological trowel still in hand. Both were miles away. Their friendships remained, but were rather neglected on her side, she thought sadly. The sigh which escaped Amy’s lips was a resigned one, as the sound of Bryan Adams’ ‘Summer of ‘69’ continued to fill the room.

Amy sighed again, but couldn’t help the hint of a smile as she remembered how the student coffee shop had only appeared to own one CD, which it had played monotonously on a continuous loop. It had quickly become traditional for Amy, Paul, and Rob to time their departure to the sound of Adams’ belting out the last lines of his song.

As track one of her tape died away, and the second began, Amy realised she’d been holding her breath. Expelling air slowly as the first notes hit her ears, Amy’s racing pulse was calmed by the recollection of a happy memory that had led her to record the song fifteen years ago …

The rain was thudding down so violently that it seemed to be angling for status as a monsoon. The trainee archaeologists were still hard at it, though, stoically ignoring their soaking backs as drips ran down their necks, crept inside their T-shirts, and even permeated their underwear. Nobody knew that it was Amy’s nineteenth birthday as she stood, waist-deep in mud, in a Roman drain in South Wales during one of the wettest summers ever, soaked to the skin with her blonde ponytail plastered to the back of her neck. In the few months they’d known each other, Amy, Rob and Paul had discussed everything from their favourite curries to their preferred sexual positions, but somehow dates of birth had never come up.

Despite the appalling conditions, it had been a considerable surprise to everyone when the site supervisor had called a halt to their labours and announced they could all have the afternoon off. Heaved bodily out of the hole by two of her fellow diggers, Amy had struggled her way through the thick, squelching mud to a sad-looking group of tents huddled together at the edge of the field. Almost pointlessly, she’d replaced the day’s soaking clothes with yesterday’s damp ones, before joining her waiting colleagues and climbing into the site minibus.

As soon the bus had reached the town centre, Paul and Rob had tugged a confused Amy out, and waved goodbye to the other passengers. Bewildered, Amy had been led by the boys into a blissfully warm tearoom. Paul had spoken to the owner, explaining and apologising for their bedraggled appearance, while Rob had manoeuvred Amy to a table, complete with a green tablecloth and dainty, but rather clashing, Spode china.

When the pot of beautifully strong jet-black coffee had arrived, Amy had felt a huge surge of love for her friends – but when the plate of cupcakes arrived, each with a small pink candle glowing on top, she’d been forced to bite back tears.

As they hungrily bit into the birthday treats, Paul had told Amy that the site supervisor had discovered it was her birthday when he’d been tackling the overdue student insurance forms. He’d told the lads, and they’d hit upon the perfect birthday treat, and an excuse to escape the rain.

The music in the teashop had been gently lilting classical, but it wasn’t the calming strains of Vivaldi’s Summer which Amy had recorded onto her tape once she had returned to dry living. Having taken pity on her soggy customers for having to live without running water or proper toilets for two weeks, the kindly café proprietor had given Amy the best present she’d ever had: a hot shower and freshly tumble-dried clothes.

The neat, white-tiled bathroom in the compact flat above the café was filled with the sound of the owner’s radio. Standing in a spotless cubicle, washing the mud off and getting the tension out of her aching muscles, Amy had sung along as ‘Here Comes the Rain Again’ by the Eurythmics blared out with well-timed irony.

Amy pressed Stop. The remaining wine wouldn’t last the length of the cassette if she carried on like this. She was hungry too, after a day of dishing out tedious advice to various dull clients from various boring businesses. Without changing from her work-suit into her beloved jeans and a chunky jumper, Amy put her coat back on.

Grabbing her long-abandoned Walkman from a kitchen drawer, and thankful that the batteries miraculously worked, she slid the tape in and stuffed the unopened envelope into her pocket. Rejecting her hated court shoes, she slid on her cosy brown Hush Puppies, barely registering the sartorial clash with her smart navy trousers, and hit the road in search of supper.

With the cool evening air of Aberdeen blowing against her face, Amy walked from the granite-grey terrace that she called home towards the even greyer Union Street and its array of restaurants. Selecting an Italian that was just busy enough for her to hide in and think, while not sticking out as a single woman dining alone, Amy opted for a calzone and a fresh orange juice to counteract the wine sloshing around her empty insides. Her order was taken by a young, olive-skinned guy, who stared at her as if she might be genuinely insane when she started fiddling with her museum-piece technology.

Knowing neither her curiosity nor her nerves could wait any longer to find out what else lurked forgotten on the cassette, Amy settled back onto her padded red seat, positioned her unfashionably large headphones on her head, and started the Walkman.

Her heart thudded. She hadn’t recorded anything else herself.

But Jack had.

The shiver that shot down her spine as the first bar of the next tune kicked into life was enough to make Amy slam the Stop button down with unusual violence. The pretty-boy waiter came back with her drink, looking concerned: perhaps he’d seen her shocked expression. Or perhaps he desperately wants to tell me about MP3 players or iPods, Amy thought, forcing herself to aim a fake smile of reassurance in his direction.

Amy slowly counted to three. How bad could it be anyway? She pressed Play. This time she wouldn’t be taken by surprise.

She couldn’t believe Jack had recorded it. But then of course he had: that’s why he’d taken the tape in the first place. He’d owned a copy of the track in question, and had promised to record it for her. It had seemed funny at the time.

Amy had forbidden herself to think about Jack for so long that, now he was pushing himself back in, she feared she wouldn’t be able to cope with the reason why.

She’d had a handful of boyfriends at university. Although they had all been rewarding experiences, each liaison being flirty and fun, they had also been ultimately brief. But the moment she’d seen Jack walking down the library steps with Rob, one Monday morning fourteen years ago, Amy had known he was different. His dark hair, and soulful hazel eyes, had made an instant and permanent impact. Yet, both of them being reticent to make the first move, they had managed to ignore each other and their obvious mutual attraction for three months, driving their friends mad with their inaction. Rob, frustrated by what was fast becoming an awkward situation, had finally set them up on a friendly ‘getting-to-know-each-other’ date out of sheer desperation.

The butterflies had been stirring in Amy’s stomach before she’d even got to the pub chosen for the occasion. She’d just about convinced herself that Jack wouldn’t show up anyway, and was going to call the whole thing off, when Rob had phoned to assure Amy that no thumbscrews had been used to force Jack to come along. In fact, no persuasion had been required at all.

The pub had been poky to say the least, and the lack of sawdust on the floor was certainly an opportunity severely missed by the management. The smoke from the customers’ cigarettes had reached smog levels, and there was standing room only. Even as she’d walked through the door Amy had experienced an overwhelming temptation to run, to escape before the inevitable hurt happened, but there’d been a tiny voice of hope screaming at the back of her head. So, she’d stayed. And then Jack had arrived.

Amy couldn’t remember how they’d got talking, but in a remarkably short time they had covered their early childhoods, school days, past relationship disasters, and their hopes and fears for the future. They’d also discovered a mutual love of real, good-quality coffee – preferably served to them by someone else. By the time the barman was declaring last orders it had seemed perfectly natural for Jack to walk her home.

When they’d reached her rented terraced house, Amy hadn’t hesitated before inviting Jack in. The kettle was boiled and drinks made before she’d even thought about the social connotations of inviting a man ‘in for coffee’.

Their drinks had never been drunk. The two chipped mugs sat on the magazine strewn table in front of the tiny sofa, upon which they’d cuddled while they chatted. Jack had been the one who suggested putting on some music, and not knowing where to hunt for a suitable tape, had simply turned on Amy’s radio. They’d laughed out loud when Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ burst into the room; agreeing that, even if it wasn’t too pathetic to have a song that was ‘their song,’ that that particular track would never be it.

Despite the fact that the restaurant was filling up around her, Amy didn’t try to hide the tears which had begun to slip down her face in time to the music. It seemed absurd to remember how happy she’d been.

Forcing herself into further reminiscences, Jenny remembered how Jack had left at about two o’clock in the morning, after arranging to take her to see The Bodyguard at the cinema the following evening. Before leaving, he’d given Amy the most delicious, gentle and loving kiss she’d ever experienced. A kiss full of future promise. It had been a moment locked in time.

She told him all about her brother’s tape, and promising to return it soon, the cassette had been secured in Jack’s vast coat pocket, so that he could record their non-song. Amy hadn’t been able to stop grinning, and by the time she met up with Paul and Rob the next morning, her jaw had ached with the strain of being so elated.

Making an emergency dash to the Ladies’ cloakroom, Amy gazed at her 34-year-old reflection in the mirror. Her fair hair, really more yellow than blonde, was tied back into its practical work-day ponytail. Dark shadows circled her intensely blue eyes. Feeling suddenly very tired, Amy splashed her face with cold water. Then, telling the woman in the mirror to get a grip, she returned to her rapidly-cooling meal.

The discarded Walkman lay accusingly on the table. No one had pinched it as she’d half-hoped. No one had made her life easier by stealing the past away. Amy couldn’t begin to guess what the remainder of the tape contained. She had loved Jack so much; no one else had stood a chance.

Her year with Jack had lurched from starting to stopping, re-starting to re-stopping, until finally collapsing into an unrecognisable heap right in the middle of her finals. The confused, almost disposable, feeling which had swamped her had remained ever since, like a hostile shadow, blighting any chance of further relationships. Overwhelmed by a rejection she hadn’t understood, Amy had finished her exams, packed up her belongings for her parents to collect later, stuffed a suitcase with clothes and books, and ran.

That was almost exactly thirteen years ago. Amy inwardly groaned. Here she was in her mid-thirties, in a dull job, with no real local friends, no partner, and no children. Eking out her spare time sitting in unspectacular cafés, inhaling coffee fumes and reading novels. She had to do something about her life. And fast.

Slipping her mobile out of her pocket, Amy punched in the number before she had a chance to change her mind.

Rob answered the phone with blessed speed. Just hearing his delighted voice when he realised that the prodigal daughter was on the line made Amy feel so much better that she silently cursed herself for not calling him more often. She found herself accepting the frequently-made, but usually refused, invitation to visit, and was amazed by how happy he sounded, and by how quickly Rob made plans to invite Paul over from his current dig so that they could all make some coffee stops like they had in the old days.

Amy briefly explained what had happened. Did Rob still work with Jack? He did.

By the time she’d put the phone down on Rob, Amy’s indecisive metabolism had decided she was starving and she ate her meal without registering what it tasted like. Once she’d finished, Amy slid her hand into her pocket and fingered the envelope nervously. Placing the headphones back over her ears and pressing Play, she flinched as Jack’s soft voice spoke to her.

‘I’m sorry Amy. I’m sorry I hurt you. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve put two more tracks on your tape. I tried to imagine what you’d have put on it, if I’d returned it. I hope I got it right. I did love you. Still do, really, but, well, open the letter as you listen, it’ll explain. Oh, and as far as the last track goes, remember we had very wide musical tastes back then – don’t tell anyone who knows me I own a copy!’

The wounding, wounded lyrics of the first new track, Massive Attack’s ‘Unfinished Sympathy’, crowded her head, and Amy found she was shaking. Fresh tears threatened as she opened Jack’s letter with clumsy fingers …

So that was it.

Amy felt odd; relieved, bereft, used, but strangely free. It hadn’t been her fault. Her head thudded and an incredible anger welled up inside her. She’d wasted so much time over something beyond her control.

When the last track came on Amy couldn’t help but laugh. No wonder Jack didn’t want anyone to know they’d liked it. She could feel the weight of the last thirteen years lifting from her. He was gay. As simple as that. He must have felt as confused as she’d felt worthless. It was time to find him. Time to ask all the questions she should have demanded answers to years ago, not to mention the new ones that crashed through her head.

What had he seen in her? Amy wasn’t naïve enough to believe she’d turned him gay, but why the hell had he gone out with her in the first place? Whatever had been the point? And why hadn’t Rob ever told her? He must have known for a while if he worked with Jack every day.

Her brain did an abrupt U-turn and, with her thoughts spiralling out of control in another direction, Amy was seized with panic. Why had he told her now? What had happened to make him get in touch after so many years? Was Jack in trouble? Had someone hurt him?

As Whitney Houston’s version of ‘I Will Always Love You’ completed her tape, Amy fished the letter back out of her pocket. There was no address, but there was a mobile number.

Coming to a vastly overdue decision, Amy pulled her mobile back out of her pocket and pressed re-dial.

‘Rob. I’m not coming to visit. I’ve made a decision. I’ve been hiding long enough. I’m moving south. Please don’t say anything about anything to Jack yet. OK?’

Two

October 2nd 2006

Jack sat on the edge of the stool. It was hard and unyielding against his buttocks. He suspected if had been specifically designed not to encourage lingering at the bar. In July it had seemed so much the right thing to do. Wiping his hands down his faded jeans, Jack remembered how carefully he’d wrapped the package before posting it north. He’d visualised Amy opening it, and had contemplated her reaction for a while. Then, in typical Jack style, he’d moved on, and placed the whole event into that part of his brain where the best-forgotten actions of his life dwelt.

Propped against the bar counter behind him, Jack stared at his mobile phone. He hadn’t expected this. He read the text again.

Got tape. Got letter. Moving to London. Will c u maybe. Hope u ok. Amy

Jack gulped down a giant mouthful of Worthington’s before allowing his eyes to rove around the pulsating dance floor. He needed a distraction. Something – someone – to stop him thinking. Jack’s eyes fell on a tall slim man, about thirty years old, nice hair, dark eyes. He’d do.

Jack put his pint down and joined the fray.

Cramming the foot cream and moisturiser back amongst the more familiar clutter of books, tissues, and scraps of paper that adorned her bedside table, it struck Kit that not long ago she’d scorned such additions to her life. Nightly applications of unguents to stave off the evidence of aging were a paranoia reserved exclusively for other people.

Somehow that had changed recently. It was as if, on her last birthday, a trigger had gone off in Kit’s head, and the fear of looking old, rather than being old, had consumed her. Phil had laughed when Kit had bought a pot of Nivea. Not in an unkind way, but in a ‘so you are growing up at last’ sort of way. She knew it had annoyed her far more than it should have done, as she’d sulked in their bedroom, embarrassed at the ownership of something that the rest of the female race had taken for granted since adolescence.

As if having to admit she wasn’t twenty anymore wasn’t bad enough, other aspects of her life seemed to be losing their certainty as well. The twins were growing up way too fast. Although only nine years old (an age which was definitely the new thirteen, in Kit’s opinion), they seemed to need her less and less beyond the functions of taxi-driver, housekeeper, and meal-provider. To top it all, writing her erotica, which had once given her so much pleasure, somehow didn’t feel quite so satisfying these days.

‘I’m not even forty!’ Kit flicked a stray strand of red hair out of her eyes and, slamming the offending lotion away with her socks, pulled open her knickers drawer for consolation. It always made her feel better to see her pile of delicate silk, satin, and lace undies. They felt soft between her fingers as she trailed a hand through the soft fabric. These were also a relatively new innovation for her, but not one that her husband joked about.

Confidence, that was what it was about, and since she had, after five years of moaning and a further two gruelling years of actually trying, lost the weight gained during pregnancy, Kit had rewarded herself by throwing her hated cheap and boring knickers into the dustbin, and built up a pile of lingerie to be proud of. She had to be careful though. For the first time in her life Kit saw how buying clothes could become addictive. This was a new sensation to someone who didn’t give a damn about fashion, and regarded shopping as something inconvenient to be slotted in between coffee breaks.

Kit smiled and closed the drawer, ignoring the glint of a shiny silver vibrator Phil had given her as a present after the publication of her first smutty story. He’d be up in a minute, and the real thing was always preferable. Or perhaps she should try and get some sleep. After all, she was seeing Jack tomorrow afternoon, and judging by the tone of his voice when he’d called, it sounded as if their inevitable caffeine overload might be accompanied by some pretty heavy conversation.

October 3rd 2006

Fishing around in her kitchen cupboards, Kit produced two school lunchboxes, and began buttering slices of bread before facing the fact that she didn’t have much to put between them.

As she worked, Kit’s brain was abruptly dragged out of its sandwich-preparing stupor by the radio. ‘Let’s Dance’ was oozing out of the speakers. David Bowie’s gravel voice made her skin chill and her heart leap at the same time. It had been so long since she’d heard it. Her mind slipped back to those precious months back in 1994. She was in his old bedroom with him then, dancing in time to the words, and …

‘Mum.’

Helena was staring at Kit with a mixture of scorn and disbelief. ‘Mum, what are you doing? You’ve put milk in your coffee. You hate milk.’

Coming reluctantly back to the present, Kit bit back an expletive, and put on her “Mum is in control” face. ‘Hello love. What do you want for breakfast?’

‘Shreddies please, Mum, I always have Shreddies.’ Helena gave a grown-ups are so stupid shrug, and sat imperiously at the kitchen table expecting full waitress service. ‘And blackcurrant juice!’

Moving around the room, completing her everyday routine, Kit’s brain totally disengaged, as her subconscious carried on dancing.

Three

October 3rd 2006

Kit had begun working from home three years ago. Except she hadn’t, because she couldn’t.

Phil had designated their home’s box-sized bedroom as Kit’s office, brought her a new desk, a laptop, and evicted all the twin’s baby toys, unused curtains, spare duvets and other clutter to the loft, but it was no good. Try as she might, Kit could not take on the persona of her pseudonym, Katrina Island, and think up intricate plot lines and erotic acrobatics in a house she knew needed dusting. So each morning Kit stuffed a notebook into her bag and, after walking the twins to school, headed to her favourite café.

Kit loved Pickwicks. Cluttered with dubious antiques and mismatched furniture, it had shuttered windows and a solid wooden floor that echoed as you walked across it. Classical music played gently in the background. It was the perfect venue in which to avoid real life, and become immersed in her brand of literary progress.

As a regular customer, Kit frequently found that her arrival had been anticipated, and a piping hot cup of black coffee would already be waiting on her usual table before she’d got through the door. Today however, Kit didn’t find her essential caff. . .