Chapter 40

• Julia walked slowly to her car. The leather seats were hot from the sun and she was all too aware of her tender cheeks and the slippery cream Richard had smothered over them.
• When Julia arrived back at the cottage she threw her bag straight on the table and headed upstairs to where she’d set up her laptop for writing.
• Julia read what little of the draft of her new novel she’d completed. She could see more clearly than ever that it was abject and turgid. Suddenly, Julia was bursting with ideas. She deleted the draft without a second thought and started afresh. Julia began to type: ‘The aimless journey. A novel by Julia Jenkinson.’