Playing Her Cards Right
New year. New life. Fresh start.Newly minted career girl Magenta Bright reluctantly finds herself growing up – she’s now a live-in girlfriend, a successful business owner, and an obsessive desirer of classic leather handbags.But, fuelled by her creative talent, Magenta doesn’t seem to know when to stop. Between designing and launching a new range of bags, planning her parents’ second wedding, and whisky binges with scary international model and best friend Anya, something’s got to give, and it’s not long before her relationship with shy artist Anthony is in the firing line.Will handbags lead to heartbreak for the unstoppable Magenta Bright?
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New year. New love. Fresh start.
Newly minted career girl Magenta Bright reluctantly finds herself growing up – she’s now a live-in girlfriend, a successful business owner, and an obsessive desirer of classic leather handbags.
But, fuelled by her creative talent, Magenta doesn’t seem to know when to stop. Between designing and launching a new range of bags, planning her parents’ second wedding, and whisky binges with scary international model and best friend Anya, something’s got to give, and it’s not long before her relationship with shy artist Anthony is in the firing line.
Will handbags lead to heartbreak for the unstoppable Magenta Bright?
Playing Her Cards Right
Rosa Temple
ONE PLACE. MANY STORIES
Contents
ROSA TEMPLE
is the pseudonym of writer Fran Clark. A ghostwriter of romance novels, Fran was awarded a Distinction in her Creative Writing MA from Brunel University in 2014. To date, Fran has penned five publications as Rosa Temple: Sleeping With Your Best Friend, Natalie’s Getting Married, Single by Christmas, Playing by the Rules, and Playing Her Cards Right. A mother of two, Fran is married to a musician and lives in London. She spends her days creating characters and story lines while drinking herbal tea and eating chocolate biscuits.
A few years ago, when I was dreaming up the character of Magenta Bright, I must have bored quite a few of my friends and family senseless about her. I rambled and sounded off several ideas before I was able to launch into her story. Thank you for your patience and for not glazing over.
I’d especially like to thank my family for the time and space they gave me as I delved into Magenta’s second adventure. My husband has always been my number one fan, and not in a Misery kind of way. Thank you for your continued support and faith in this nervous wreck of a writer.
In particular, I’d like to thank Hannah Smith and the wonderful team at HQ for taking a chance on me and the wonderful support and advice you gave.
I’d love to dedicate this book to my sister, Josie Bannis. An inspirationally phenomenal woman who juggles several balls in the air with one hand while spinning plates with the other, but always manages to play her cards right.
The Mantra
You can do this.
You can.
All you have to do is keep smiling and you’ll be fine.
So, there I was, lying in my king-size bed in the hotel room, the view of a cloudless sky from the window, the sound of waves drifting in and out on the white sandy beach below, and all I wanted to do was roll over and cry.
But it was Friday morning, the third day of a short stay on the glorious Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, and it was my parents’ wedding day – not the time to be a crumbling mess. I had to put on a brave face.
I’d spent months planning this wedding since my parents, five years divorced, had announced that they were getting back together. I practically forced the beach wedding on them, thinking that some sand and a platinum ring would keep them married this time (I wasn’t leaving anything to chance). They would have been happy just to live together but in the end I’d convinced everyone that this was going to be great. The wedding to end all weddings and a great excuse for a family getaway. We hadn’t been together for a celebration like that in absolute ages.
Yes, you can do this, Magenta.
Throw off the covers and just go for it!
The scent of bougainvillea was beckoning from the open window but the only thing more noticeable than the sound of the ocean waves was how lonely a king-size bed could be. I looked over at the vacant spot beside me and blinked rapidly to chase those prickly tears away. I made up my mind. I wasn’t going to cry. I had a wedding to organize for goodness’ sake.
At the foot of the bed little Tallulah lay fast asleep in her cot bed. Her black hair plastered to her head in the heat, cheeks warm and chubby. Anthony always said her eyes were just like mine and we shared a similar disposition. If you picked up a baby picture of me, you could easily mistake it for Tallulah. It was the sand-coloured skin and the black curls that did it.
She’d become very clingy since we’d arrived on the island but I didn’t mind one bit. I loved to cuddle Tallulah. And with my emotions flying here, there, and everywhere she was the constant that kept me sane.
To the rest of the family I’d made a billion and one excuses for Anthony not having made the flight out – none of them true. No one knew that it was all over between us, that I’d asked him to be out of the house on my return. I’d told him, in no uncertain terms, that I never wanted to see him again. And before you go assuming that this was just one in a list of Magenta Bright dramas (well okay the break-up
