Two-Hundred Steps Home Volume Two

By Amanda Martin

Claire's life revolves around Starbucks, stilettos and her career as an Advertising Account Director for AJC. That is until her boss Carl decides to send her on a mission to visit every one of the 200 YHA hostel in England and Wales as part of a marketing campaign. More used to five-star spa resorts than 'flea-infested hostels' Claire only takes the assignment to save face. It becomes clear to her the 'mission' is a ruse to make her resign. Volume Two follows Claire to the Lake District where she finds herself dangling from ropes and swinging through trees in search of exciting stories for her blog.
The handsome and mysterious Josh tags along too, helping Claire face her fears. Is he looking for company, though, or a place to hide?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Amanda Martin
• Release date: Feb 28, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301426928

Amanda Martin

Amanda Martin was born in Hertfordshire, England. After graduating with first class honours from Leeds University she wandered around the world trying to find her place in it. She tried various roles, in England and New Zealand, including Bar Manager, Marketing Manager, Consultant and Artist before deciding that WriterMummy summed her up best. She lives in Northamptonshire with her husband, two children and labradoodle Kara. She can mostly be found at http://writermummy.wordpress.com

Book preview

AMANDA MARTIN

TWO-HUNDRED STEPS HOME

VOLUME TWO

Amanda Martin was born in Hertfordshire in 1976. After graduating with first class honours from Leeds University she wandered around the world trying to find her place in it. She tried various roles, in England and New Zealand, including Bar Manager, Marketing Manager, Consultant and Artist, before deciding that Writer/Mummy best summed her up. She lives in Northamptonshire with her husband, two children and labradoodle Kara and can mostly be found at http://writermummy.wordpress.com or on Twitter or Facebook.

Two-Hundred Steps Home is her latest work. Amanda is writing the novel in daily instalments on her WriterMummy blog as part of her 2013 365 post-a-day challenge. This ebook is Volume 2 and contains the 28 instalments from February. Volume 1, containing the first 31 instalments, is also available free at Smashwords.

COPYRIGHT

Published by 3AD Publishers at Smashwords

Copyright © Amanda Martin 2013

Amanda Martin asserts the moral right to be

identified as the author of this work

Also by Amanda Martin:

Two-Hundred Steps Home: Volume 1

Two-Hundred Steps Home: Volume 3

Two-Hundred Steps Home: Volume 4

Two-Hundred Steps Home: Volume 5

Two-Hundred Steps Home: Volume 6

Two-Hundred Steps Home: Volume 7

Two-Hundred Steps Home Volume 8

Dragon Wraiths

Baby Blues and Wedding Shoes

This novel is entirely a work of fiction although based loosely on the YHA Hostels of England and Wales. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved.

Thank you for downloading this free ebook. Although this is a free book, it remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy at Smashwords.com, where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

http://www.amanda-martin.co.uk

http://writermummy.wordpress.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title

Copyright

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Three

Twenty-Four

Twenty-Five

Twenty-Six

Twenty-Seven

Twenty-Eight

Follow the Blog

About the Author

ONE

Ow!

Stop being such a girl.

I am a girl and that hurts!

Josh looked up at Claire and shook his head. What possessed you to take your hands off the handlebars anyway? You said you hadn’t been on a bike since you were a nipper.

Claire lowered her head so her hair fell over her face. I felt like I was flying. I wanted to sit up and feel the wind in my face.

Dingbat! Only the pros take their hands off on a cross-country track. Josh dabbed at the blood pouring from beneath Claire’s ripped trousers.

Oh look at my GAP jeans, they’re ruined. Claire’s wail at the state of her clothes was louder than the cry of pain as Josh picked gravel from the wound.

Nothing a patch won’t fix.

I am not putting a patch on my jeans. I might be reduced to sleeping in a bunk-bed and driving a rust bucket but I am not walking round with patches on my clothes.

Find yourself a Thrifty then. What do you call them here? A charity shop. That’s where most of my stuff comes from.

Claire shuddered at the thought of wearing something already used and abused by someone else. It might be time to dip into my wages again. I couldn’t do this backpacking thing for real. She vowed to find a Mountain Warehouse or whatever at the next decent-sized town she came to. I’ll be buggered if I’m going to wreck my good clothes for Carl’s sake.

Josh applied a plaster to Claire’s knee and wiped her other scrapes and grazes with an antiseptic wipe.

You’re pretty handy at that first aid thing, Claire said. I can’t stomach the sight of blood, even my own.

I used to work in a hospital back in Oz. Josh’s voice was closed, preventing Claire from asking the questions that pushed at her lips.

So, what’s your plan for the rest of the day, Planning Lady? He looked up brightly at her and then pushed himself to his feet to sit down next to her at the table.

Move on to the next hostel. If I leave now I’ll be there before reception closes.

What is the next hostel? Josh picked at some dirt under his nails.

"Well, the nearest one is a bunkhouse and I’ve decided to leave those until the summer - I have to come back for Wooler anyway - so I’m going on to Once Brewed."

"Once Brewed? That’s the name of a hostel? Awesome! Count me in!" He turned to face her, his face split in a grin.

Claire took in his expectant expression, like a dog sitting at the fridge. Oh crap he wants to come with me. What do I do? Claire had some notion that backpackers spent a lot of time hitchhiking but she hadn’t equated that with taking anyone along with her. Can I bear to travel with someone? What if I can’t get rid of him?

While her brain churned Josh sat staring, his eyes boring into the side of her face. Oh what the hell. I can always leave while he’s asleep. It might be nice to travel with someone who knows how this hostelling thing works. It’s not like we’ll have to share a room. Most of the dorms have been single-sex so far.

She turned to face Josh, grinning at the expression on his face. Sure, why not? Can you be ready to leave in an hour?

You bet! Josh jumped up and went to leave the room. He stopped at the door, walked briskly back to Claire and gave her a quick, odoriferous, peck on the cheek. You’ve no idea how long I’ve been stuck in this damn place waiting for a lift out. You’re an angel! He turned to leave again and Claire called out to him to wait. He turned anxiously.

Josh? Take a shower.

***

TWO

God I’m so sorry. Claire flushed as she grabbed Josh’s knee instead of the gear stick for the second time.

No worries.

Even in the dark she could sense his lewd grin. Blood flushed to her face and she turned to concentrate on the road ahead. She was still searching her whirling brain for a safe topic of conversation when Josh spoke again.

Claire?

The serious tone made her glance towards him, trying to see his expression in the dark. She couldn’t and had to twist her head back quickly to concentrate on avoiding an on-coming lorry.

Yes?

Can I read your blog?

Whatever Claire had thought Josh was going to say that wasn’t it.

"Oh. Sure of course if you want to. You can read it