Feeling LUCKY
THE STORY SO FAR: Louise and her husband Ross are just about getting by after Louise lost her job. Then Louise attends an interview in Kelthorpe, a half-hour train journey from her home. On her way back to the station, she’s shocked to receive a text telling her she didn’t get the job. Buying a consolation bar of chocolate in a newsagent’s, Louise is comforted by an elderly man, who gives her a scratchcard and tells her his name is Ted. Back home, Louise scratches the card – and wins £50,000! She returns to Kelthorpe to track down Ted, drawing a blank. She and Ross agree to wait six weeks and intensify the search before claiming the money. Meanwhile, she’s noticed an empty shop unit in a nearby village, and has a daring idea – she loves baking, so why not open her own cafe?
She had six weeks to find her benefactor. When she’d agreed that deadline with Ross, Louise had thought time would fly. But now that the idea of opening her own bakery-cafe was preoccupying her mind, time seemed to crawl.
Having rung the agent overseeing the empty shop in Snelling, she’d made an appointment to view – steeling herself to tell Ross.
She told him on the morning of her viewing. He was stunned. ‘How long have you been planning this?’
‘The idea’s been brewing for a while. And then I saw the empty shop, so…’
