The Two
Lives Of Maddie Meadows
Maddie Meadows
adores her family and loves her work. But she has good reason to keep them
separate.
For single mum Maddie, home is a flat on a
run-down estate. And family consists of an excitable toddler, a lonely Dad and a
younger brother mired in a love triangle.
Meanwhile, professional Madeleine balances a
tricky day job, made worse by a jealous colleague. No one at work knows about
her other life, and she needs to keep it this way: one of the bosses has made
his feelings very clear about single parents and the people on her estate.
Thank goodness for her fun-loving and loyal
friends - although Maddie wishes they’d believe her when she insists she has no
time for love. Or so she tells herself as she fights to quell her hidden
feelings for her gorgeous colleague, Oliver, who comes from the posh part of
town.
When her friends line up their ideal man for her
– Sean, more beanstalk than Bean – Maddie wishes she’d told them the truth.
It’s hard enough juggling two lives. But, with all the added complications, how
long will be it be before Maddie’s carefully created world comes crashing down?
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Excerpt
By day, Madeleine Meadows wears suits and ensures
that her professionalism shines. But after work, Maddie Meadows is mum to an
excitable toddler and lives in a block of flats on a council estate. When her
long-standing friends, Leah and Rachel, visit she realises that nosiness has
its downsides when Leah is around.
I had the best friends – ones who would give up a
Friday night on the town so I had a bit of company. Not that I stayed in every
night. From now on, I’d be going out a lot more for work, and I saw Dad at
least one evening a week and on Saturday mornings, and I went around friends’
houses. A single parent with little spare cash couldn’t wish for more.
“Now, about that Jenga.” Rachel went
out to get the carrier bag she’d left in the hallway. She pointed towards the
front door. “Something’s happening outside.”
A blue glow flashed through the glass
– either the police or an ambulance. I followed Rachel through to the kitchen,
where she switched off the light. The flashing lights coming from the road
below transformed the white appliances and the teeth of the dinosaurs guarding
the biscuit tin from dark to a luminous blue. We hoisted ourselves onto the
worktop and lifted the net curtain over our heads, cupping our hands around our
faces to peer out. The edge of the draining board poked into my knee so I
shifted along, squashing myself against Rachel.
“It looks like your neighbour.”
Rachel pressed her face closer to the window. Her skin was a strange hue in the
gloom, her eyes reflecting the scene playing out beside us.
Two policemen stood feet away on the
balcony, their backs to us, while a policewoman came towards them talking into
her radio. Snatches of words filtered through the glass, but I had no idea what
was taking place. Another police car appeared in the car park below, its lights
flashing – but no siren, thank goodness. I didn’t need them to wake Josh. It
had been hard enough getting him to sleep earlier. Upstairs, the toilet
flushed. I rolled my eyes. Usually, it wouldn’t be a bother but it added to the
commotion outside. I couldn’t believe Josh hadn’t woken yet.
“What d’you think is going on?”
Rachel whispered.
My neighbour appeared to our left,
writhing and squirming, a policeman gripping his tattooed arms. Suddenly, light
flooded the kitchen and, like a flash photograph, the scene became imprinted in
my mind. My neighbour’s angry gaze collided with mine. Our eyes couldn’t have
met for more than a second before they dragged him away, wearing a vest and
jogging bottoms, but it felt like minutes. What would he say the next time he
bumped into me? Frantically, I tugged the net down, even though it was too
late.
“Turn off that sodding light!” I
hissed.
“Wha…?” Leah’s mouth gaped open.
“Turn. It. Off!” Rachel jabbed her
finger towards the switch.
Plunged back into darkness, Rachel
and I knelt in shamefaced silence until we heard the rattle of the front door
opening. A chill breeze swept into the room. I hadn’t noticed Leah leave the
kitchen.
“What’s she doing now?” Sounding
irritated, Rachel slipped down from the side and hurried out to investigate.
Author Bio
–
Sharley Scott is the
author of the 'Devon Seaside Guesthouse' novels - Bedlam & Breakfast and
B&Bers Behaving Madly.
Her latest book 'The
Two Lives of Maddie Meadows' is being published in early July 2020. The second
in the series 'The Gift of a Rose' will be available in the autumn.
Sharley is a
guesthouse owner in South Devon. She is thankful to have been blessed with lots
of amazing and kind-hearted guests, who are nothing like some of the characters
featured in the Devon Seaside Guesthouse series.
The Two Lives of Maddie
Meadows is a fictional account, but Sharley has never forgotten how interesting
life can be with a toddler. Some of the mischief Josh gets up to will be
familiar to all parents. Sharley has carried out the threats she made to her
son decades ago and now embarrasses him by telling tales to his girlfriend,
although he gets her back by recounting stories about his mum.
Social
Media Links –
Sharley
can be found on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/SharleyScott3/
Or follow
Sharley on Twitter: @SharleyScott
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