Just a Simple Little Holiday: Everything Changes

By bea kendall

♥ Fern wants a second chance at a normal life ♥

Following a hit-and-run, she has mastered the art of being invisible from the comfort of her wheelchair.

But it's time to live again.

Months into a new job, and with a reputation as The Ice Queen, making friends hasn't been easy.

In fact, she can count the number of them on one finger.

When that friend – Nessa – invites her on a girly holiday in a luxury Portuguese villa, Fern's first panicked thought is to refuse.

But Nessa is very persuasive, so much so that Fern pulls on her big girl pants and eventually agrees.

Is this her chance to prove the old Fern still exists?

After all, it's Just a Simple Little Holiday.

What could possibly go wrong?

 

Women's Fiction with a mystery thread and a hint of psychopath

(originally published as the Fifth Wheel by L.S. Fellows. Same story, same author, but with just a simple little makeover)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inkfellows Publications
• Release date: Nov 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215308516

Book preview

Just a Simple Little Holiday

bea kendall

Copyright

THIS BOOK IS A WORK of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with.

Copyright © 2015 L.S. Fellows

All rights reserved. Including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the author.

Originally published as The Fifth Wheel

Written in British English.

Dedication

To my dad,

who encouraged me to be independent

and to follow my dreams.

The only disability in life is a bad attitude.

(Scott Hamilton)

Prologue

BLUE. AS FAR AS THE eye could see, everything was blue. And quiet. So very quiet.

A wheelchair lay at the bottom of the still, clear waters of the infinity pool, coloured by the azure ceramic tiles and the intense, uninterrupted Mediterranean sky.

Inside the villa on the Portuguese Algarve, silence seeped into the cool, white walls and marble floors. No one stirred. Her room was empty, the bed already made - or not slept in. The tan, buck-leather satchel, acquired earlier that week during a shopping trip to Lisbon, hung casually from the white chair in the corner.

Beneath the bed, a suspicious puddle of red stained the shiny, marble surface.

The village bells pealed, breaking the tranquillity to announce the start of Sunday mass at 10:30 AM.

But where was Fern Mortimer?

Chapter 1

AUDREY BOUNCED OUT of bed, seemingly unaffected by the countless shots of tequila that the group had imbibed during the previous evening’s bar crawl. Stretching out her pale, slender legs, she stood up, placing her feet on the cold tile floor. The chill took her by surprise and she shrieked, losing her balance, and tumbled onto the end of her roommate's bed, shocking a still-sleeping Harriet into life.

Hey! What the heck? Harriet groaned.

Get up, lazybones! We’re on holiday! said Audrey, giggling and pulling back Harriet’s cotton bedspread before hurtling out of the room. She knocked on every door and scooted towards the kitchen, calling out in a sing-song voice, Up you get, everyone! Rise and shine!

In the kitchen she stalled, surprised to see that she was not the first up.

Nessa, the holiday organiser and a friend for many years, was already preparing breakfast.

Morning, Audrey, she said with a wink, I was trying not to wake everyone.

Hi, Nessa. Did you hear the bells? How adorable was that? Audrey’s cheeks dimpled as a smile curled across her face.

Damn racket, I thought, said a sleepy Harriet who had joined them and was now heading, arms outstretched and zombie-like, for the coffee machine.

I’ll make it, seeing that I woke you up, offered Audrey. Squeezing past her friend, she guided Harriet into one of the white-painted wooden chairs.

A loud gurgling sound distracted Nessa from frying bacon and eggs; accident-prone Audrey had flicked the wrong switch and rather than starting the coffee machine, the waste disposal unit began chewing up the remnants of yesterday’s leftover lunch - pizza and stale nachos. Harriet almost fell off her chair, clutching dramatically at her chest. Raucous laughter now filled the kitchen and echoed through the hollow hallway, but still failed to awaken all residents of the spacious villa.

After managing to make something akin to coffee, Audrey and Harriet wandered outside. The sun was already high in the sky and a heat haze masked