A new DAWN
Having slipped her painting carefully into the portfolio case, Lauren grabbed her coat, struggling into it.
‘I don’t know why you offered to work this morning,’ her boyfriend Anthony called sleepily from the bedroom. ‘The café will still open and people will get their bacon butties if you’re not there.’
‘George hasn’t got anyone else to help with the breakfasts. Anyway, I want to give him the painting,’ she replied.
‘He’ll have to manage without you tomorrow,’ Anthony retorted. ‘And don’t forget we need to be on the road by mid-afternoon. There’s an editorial meeting I want to attend this evening and you haven’t even started packing yet.’
Lauren sighed heavily. She’d spent a sleepless night and had a throbbing headache. The last thing she wanted was to get into a spat with Anthony.
‘I’ll make sure I’m back before lunch,’ she said, as she picked up her case and left the cottage.
She took several deep breaths of sweet, dewy air – which never failed to lift her spirits – before setting off on the three-mile walk along the cliff
