Best Laid Plans by Patricia Fawcett Read Free Book Online

age, reasonably good looking and most important of all he absolutely adored her. Of course she could be a homemaker, he assured her earnestly, saying how refreshing that was in this day and age and there was nothing he would like better and he wanted a woman who was happy to stay home and look after the children when they came along.
    She could live with that. Love, at least on her side, was not necessarily part of the equation. She liked Mike and that was enough. She accepted that he was laid back, had a genial nature, hated to upset people, but now he needed to be more assertive and his painful slowness in learning how to do that was beginning to upset her. She despised Frank and the way he treated his son; even Christine seemed unaware of what went on in the office. The business was going nowhere fast because Frank was such a tyrant and the workforce generally disliked him every bit as much as she did. She knew the feeling was mutual, that Frank did not like her, that he thought her paintings crap, that if he had her way she would be out there seeking a proper job.
    A proper job was the last thing she wanted. She did notwant to be bothered with that for she loved the freedom of working from home, getting up around ten o’clock in the morning long after Mike had left for work, having a leisurely bath, making coffee and eating cereal and scrambled eggs whilst reading the morning paper from cover to cover. She would then get dressed and, if she felt like it, she might do some painting or now and again she might meet up with Sol for a naughty romantic liaison.
    On several days a week, she drove her little car – a luxury Christine had helped her buy – the ridiculously short drive to Snape House for afternoon tea and if the weather permitted a stroll arm in arm with her mother-in-law round the gardens. Later, she would prepare dinner for when Mike arrived home, which could be as late as seven o’clock. He often needed soothing because he was frustrated by his father’s refusal to listen to any of the ideas he might come up with to improve the business. If Frank had not thought of it himself then it was a no-no. She had never met a man who was so intransigent or as Mike said, bloody minded.
    A couple of times a month she and Christine would take a trip into Preston and do some shopping. She would steer Christine to her favourite little boutique where Christine could be relied on to buy her a little something. Her wardrobe was heaving with the sort of vintage clothes she loved, not to mention the shoes and handbags, and sometimes if she had nothing else to do in the afternoon she would spend it trying clothes on, admiring herself and parading in front of the free-standing mirror.
    She loved her little home although she was not quite so much in thrall with the village itself and she sometimes yearned for the bustle of a city existence but it was just too impractical a course to pursue, for their reliance on Frank and Christine was considerable. If Mike gave in his notice they could not be sure that his father would provide him with a decent reference and even if he did it would be looked on with suspicion and the truth was she could notrisk losing Christine’s support. She had thought once upon a time of trying for a diploma in education so that she could teach art but it was a fleeting notion because her heart was never in it and it would have meant getting up stupidly early and doing a full day at college and actually working for once.
    In any case, she did not care for kids and although she pretended to Christine that a baby was on the cards one day it most certainly was not. Mike thought she was off the pill now, thought they had been trying for a while but each month she had to disappoint him and shake her head sadly. He was muttering now about seeing the doctor just to check all was well but she could put that off for a couple of years because of her age. Relax, she told him, and it will happen one day.
    With Mike not