Nothing to Lose (ebook)

Argumento de Nothing to Lose (ebook)

A story of love, heartbreak, and happiness, as two determined young women work against overwhelming odds.

When Jasmine?s beloved granddad dies, she is left an odd bequest in his will ? his bookie?s stall at Ampney Crucis dog racing stadium.

Despite her snobbish parents? disgust, Jasmine is determined to make a success of the business.

In London, single mum April works all hours for the dodgy Gillespie family, dreaming of the day her daughter?s dad will return. When April helps collect a debt for the Gillespies, she is left with a manic greyhound named Cair Paravel ? but her landlord?s not going to like that ?

When the prestigious Frobisher?s trophy comes up for grabs, the Gillespies will stop at nothing to have the race held at their venue ?but Jasmine and her friends are determined to have it at Ampney Crucis ?

The chorus of Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah roared along the isle, poured through the nave, then soared sacrilegiously up into the sixteenth-century rafters of St Ediths. The organist, more used to wheezing out The Old Rugged Cross, gamely tried to keep pace with the toe-tapping mourners. Even the vicar, his elbows resting on the pulpits worn carve work, was clapping his hands to the back beat.

Sandwiched between her fiancé Andrew and her parents in the front pew, Jasmine Clegg sang my oh my, what a wonderful day as the tears coursed down her cheeks. Her grandfather, currently reposing in his silk-lined, oak-veneered coffin at the top of the chancel steps, would have loved every minute of it.

It was, Jasmine thought sadly, exactly what hed wanted exactly what hed detailed more than three years earlier while he and Jasmine had been sheltering from a coastal gale, sharing cheese and onion baps and a tomato Cup a Soup.

When my time comes, Benny Clegg had waved his crusts under her nose, dont you dare let your father go for anything mournful like The Lord is my Shepherd or Abide With Me, or God forbid The Day Thou Gavest!

Jasmine had swallowed her mouthful of soup quickly, raising her voice above the crashing of the sea. What? Oh, Grandpa I dont want to even think about it!

Well I do. When I go, I want a damn good shindig. I want all my friends tapping their feet and smiling. No listen, love. I want my coffin to go into St Ediths to Entry of the Gladiators, come out to In The Mood Benny had gurgled happily here. Me and your gran had some right old times to Glenn Miller and I want everyone to have a rip-snorting singsong in the middle. That Zippy tune would be about right

Hed started to whistle it cheerfully between his teeth. Bits of bap had sprayed onto the wet shingle, and a seagull had swooped down and scooped them up with a shriek of triumph. Jasmine had looked at Benny in horror. He meant it! He was planning to die! He couldnt! Her grandfather was the only person in the world whom she truly loved. He couldnt die and leave her.

Grandpa! Stop it, please! Shed shaken the raindrops from her hair and shouted against the salt-tanged screech of the wind. I dont want to hear this! I wont listen. Anyway, youd never get away with even a partial humanist funeral in Ampney Crucis. Not with that new vicar.

Benny had swigged at the soup and emerged with a vibrant orange moustache. No? You dont reckon hed stand for it? Maybe not he seemed a bit of a miserable sod at Harvest Festival, now I come to think about it. He never saw the funny side of the marrows and hed suddenly regarded Jasmine fiercely dont you try to change tack, young lady. This is very important to me.

And youre the most important thing in the world to me and I dont want you to die!

Lord love you, Im not planning on going yet awhile. I just want to get this clear. When Im dead itll be too late, and if I leave the arrangements to your father hell go for dirges and things. You know he will, dont you?

Jasmine nodded. The Clegg sense of fun seemed to have bypassed Bennys only child with a vengeance. Her father was the least humorous person she had ever known.

The raindrops were drumming steadily on the corrugated-iron roof, which slapped and flapped above their heads. Shed sighed.

If youre being serious, youll have to have some hymns and prayers, especially if you want the service to be at St Ediths.

OK then, Ill have a couple of rousing hymns and some nice cheery prayers as a sop to you and the good Lord, then you lay me to rest on the leeward side of that oak tree with your gran so that I get the sound of the sea, the smell of the rain, and the warmth of the evening sun. Youll see to it. Jasmine, love, wont you?

And Jasmine, the last remnant of cheese and onion bap stuck miserably in her throat, nodded.

Good girl. Benny had hugged her. Thats settled, then. And the rains easing, so how about cheering ourselves up with a pint or three in the Crumpled Horn?0