Page 5 of Bea's Book Wagon
‘That’s what I thought,’ said Bea, buzzing with excitement. ‘I’ve got some savings – how much could a horsebox cost anyway?’
‘There’s only one way to find out,’ said Jess, grabbing her laptop, ‘eBay!’
‘I could get an old one and do it up,’ said Bea.
‘I’ll help. I could design your logo and paint it across the sides; give it a proper glow-up,’ said Jess, spreading her arms wide. ‘Whatever you like!’
‘Let’s have a look,’ said Bea, tapping away at the keyboard.
‘How much are they?’ Jess asked, peering across at the screen.
‘Hmmmm… more than I thought,’ said Bea, her face falling a little.
‘Yeah, but those have already been done up, look for the ones that haven’t.’
‘Cheaper… much cheaper,’ Bea said, scrolling down the page. ‘Hang on, this one looks good,’ she continued, tilting the laptop towards Jess. ‘It needs work, but it looks pretty sturdy.’
‘There you go! It says it’s perfect for a conversion, too. Can you afford it?’
‘Barely,’ said Bea, biting her lower lip. ‘It’ll wipe out most of my savings, but I’d have a bit left to give it a revamp and buy some stock. Just think how cute it would look with a pretty, pastel paint-job and some fairy lights around the door! I could have beanbags inside and macramé on the walls. It would be dreamy,’ she swooned, lost in the picture she was creating in her mind.
‘You only live once!’
‘Exactly, and I am here for it!’ Bea said, her mouse hovering over the buy it now button.
She hesitated.
Was this complete madness? She’d given the idea no real thought, and here she was, about to sink every penny she had into buying a beaten-up horsebox. But she had to do something to get herself unstuck. She didn’t have a job right now, anyway, so what was there to lose?
She had to be brave.
She took a large swig of her drink. ‘I’m doing it!’ she said, decisively, clicking her mouse and completing the sale in an instant. ‘There! Done!’
‘This calls for a celebration,’ cheered Jess. ‘More tequila!’
‘Yes! I’ll put some tunes on!’
As they danced around the living room, ‘I Gotta Feeling’, by the Black Eyed Peas, blasting out at full volume, Bea relished the fact she was now the proud – if terribly drunk – owner of a pre-owned horsebox.
CHAPTER 2
Bea woke early the next morning with light flooding through her bedroom window. She shoved her pounding head back underneath the pillow.
‘Oh, God,’ she groaned, her mouth parched. She reached out to feel around for a glass of water on the bedside table. ‘Eurgh,’ she grunted, massaging her forehead. Exactly how much had she drunk last night? The last thing she remembered was dancing around Jess’s living room to ‘I Gotta Feeling’.
She rubbed her eyes and pulled herself up into a sitting position. ‘Oh, God,’ she whispered, as she remembered she’d quit her job yesterday. What had she been thinking?
She could hear her parents moving about in the kitchen downstairs, and a knot formed in her stomach. There was a muffled cry of ‘See you later, love,’ shouted upstairs to her as the front door clicked shut behind them. It was Friday morning; her parents were off to bowls club.
She slumped back down on the bed. How on earth was she going to tell them? she wondered.
Bea’s duvet was strewn with empty bags of crisps, and her laptop, which was still running, was covered in cheese puffs.
‘Jeez,’ she groaned, stretching an arm out towards it. The screen sprang to life. eBay? She hardly used the auction site anymore, not since she’d made a spur-of-the-moment drunk purchase and ended up with a dozen copies of It’s A Wonderful Life on DVD in the middle of August.
She clicked into her account to look at her purchase history.
What?
