The No-Show hits shelves on April 12.
Beth O’Leary is steadily building a name for herself as the author of achingly romantic fiction.
EW has an exclusive excerpt fromThe No-Show.Check it out after the image below.
‘The No-Show’ is bestselling author Beth O’Leary’s new book.Holly Bobbins Photography; Penguin
Carter is waiting on the platform when Miranda arrives in Winchester.
“Hello,” he says as she approaches him.
“You look lovely.”
She may not think he’s a serial killer, but he’s still not in her good books.
“Ah, no,” he says, reaching to touch her arm.
“I’ve moved.”
“You’ve moved?
“Okay,” she says.
“Lead the way.”
The house isn’t far from the station.
Grand, but not especially big.
“Look, I should .
Carter pauses as they make their way up the steep concrete steps to the door.
“I should prepare you.”
“You’re about to meet my mother,” Carter says.
“And it might be a bit of .
Miranda’s brain takes a few flying leaps.
Is his mother someone famous?
Or is it something tragicis she horribly injured by whatever happened on Valentine’s Day?
“She’s not very well,” Carter says, and Miranda’s heart melts.
“Oh, Carter, I’m so sorry,” she says, reaching for his arm.
He turns his face away.
“It’s okay.”
His voice is a bit unsteady.
It’s unsettling to see Carter emotional again.
“What’s she .
What is it?”
This immediately feels like a very insensitive thing to say.
Behind them the traffic crawls by, and a bus pulls up at the nearby stop.
A pair of teenage girls stare openly at them as they step off the bus.
“Let’s go in, Carter,” Miranda says, her hand still on his arm.
She can’t see his face, but the tendons in his neck are standing out like cords.
“Yeah,” he says, moving at last.
He ducks his head as he rummages in his coat pockets for the house keys.
The hallway is dark.
Post slips beneath Miranda’s foota neutral white envelope, official-looking, addressed to Mrs. Mary Carter.
She’s very pale and thin.
Her eyes are hazel, like Carter’s, and her hair is bright white.
For a long moment everyone is very quiet, and then Mary Carter seems to spring to life.
she says, breaking into a smile that makes her relation to Carter unmistakable.
It is the perfect hostess’s smile.
“This is Miranda,” Carter says.
“Oh, how lovely, a Shakespearean name.
Come on inside, darling, let’s take tea in the living room.”
Miranda follows Carter through.
Which one is this?
Miranda frowns; what did that mean?
