Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 116999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 585(@200wpm)___ 468(@250wpm)___ 390(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 585(@200wpm)___ 468(@250wpm)___ 390(@300wpm)
Despite growing up without it, William Walker knows all about love. He loves his wife. He loves his children. He loves the cat. He has the perfect family, and all he had to do to get it was push aside one pesky little feeling.
Unfortunately, love doesn’t pay the bills.
Following redundancy, an opportunity thrusts the amiable electrician into a world he’s only seen on the big screen, a world he’s now a part of creating. As a spark on a movie set, William is enthralled by the challenge. The freedom. The possibilities. And, in particular, by one very charismatic actor…
Laurence Cole.
The trouble with Laurence is that he makes that pesky feeling resurface. Worse, the longer he sticks around, the stronger it grows, the more it changes. Into what, William doesn’t know. It’s not love. William Walker knows all about love.
Unless…
It’s a different kind of love.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter One
William
Everything looks as it should this morning. I’m wearing the same branded uniform I’ve put on every day for the last seventeen years. The sun highlights the scratch in the dining table. Ben, my youngest, steals a piece of my toast on his way to college. My daughter, Lucy, is almost late for work. The cold glass feels familiar on my lips as I take a sip of orange juice, same as every other day. Only, today’s not the same. Today’s the day I’m going to find out whether I’ll have a job to go back to next week and, honestly, I feel all shades of sick about it.
“Don’t forget I’ll be late tonight,” my wife, Rebecca, reminds me, leaning over my shoulder to peck my cheek.
I turn in time to catch her lips. “I haven’t.” Since being promoted to National Property Manager for her banking firm, Becca has a lot of late nights. The career move also involves travel and occasional nights away. She seems to be revelling in the challenge, though. She’s happy, which makes me happy.
Becca straightens up, keys jangling in her hand. “I’ve given Ben money to go out tonight, so don’t let him con you out of more.” She turns to leave, then looks back, shoulders slumping. “Whatever happens with your job today, we’ll be okay. You know that, right?”
Seeing her face, her small smile framed by the honey bob that she keeps neat and glossy to the point of impeccable, I can’t help but believe her. That smile is infectious. Always has been, ever since the moment I first saw her back in high school, when she was assigned to help me with maths during lunch. Being Head Girl of our year, she had to do shit like that. Spend time with losers. Spend time with me. She’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever known. She’s got the purest heart, the kindest soul. She’s the greatest mother. I’m under no illusion that I could never deserve her.
“Yeah,” I agree, nodding. “Love you, babe.”
Becca scrunches her nose, blows me a kiss. “Back at ya.”
When she leaves, I blow out a sigh, stretch my arms above my head and let them fall on the table, almost knocking over my glass. There’s not much orange juice left inside, so I drink the last of it, pulling a face as I do. I prefer apple, but Becca doesn’t. So, we have orange. Sometimes cranberry if she’s in the mood for it.
For several minutes, I do nothing. I don’t finish my toast. I don’t clear the breakfast dishes. I don’t stroke the cat when she rubs at my leg. I just…sit. And wonder. Wonder how one of the biggest firms of electricians in the North West could be about to go bust. Wonder how I’ve worked my arse off since the day I left school, only to be sitting here at thirty-seven not knowing if I’m going to be able to pay my mortgage in three months’ time. Wonder why, when I scour the jobsites, there isn’t a single vacancy for a fulltime electrician paying anywhere near what I’m damn well worth given my years of experience and qualifications. Wonder why our grocery bills have doubled, why I’m contemplating how vital two kidneys are every time I pull into the petrol station, why the hot water in the radiators costs as much as liquid fucking gold…
Wonder why I still, three years shy of forty, try and get to sleep before Becca comes to bed to avoid having to decline sex, and then wonder why that’s even on my fucking mind right now.
A vibration against my leg snaps me from my musings. I reach into the pocket of my cargo pants, pull out my phone. One glance at the screen, and my chest feels like it’s been stomped on. “Morning, boss,” I say after swiping across the screen and raising it to my ear.
“Will…” Richard, my team leader and friend of ten years, takes a breath long enough for me to know what’s about to follow. My heart sinks. “It’s not good news, fella. Word came in this morning from the Big Man. Doors close, so to speak, on Friday. We’ll be paid till the end of the month.”
Fuck. I’ve worked for this company since I was sixteen years old. That’s more than half my life. “That’s…something, I s’pose.”
“So I’ve been given the task of calling round every poor fucker that’s about to be unemployed.”
“Shit. Sorry, mate.” Selfishly, the thought rather you than me runs through my head. “That mean I’m alone on today’s job?”
“Nah. I’ll probably join you around eleven. I can’t imagine the guys are gonna want to spend too long on the phone after hearing what I’ve got to say.”
I nod, even though he can’t see me. “Well, good luck, and I’ll catch you in a bit.”