Samantha Tonge still chuckles at the memory of her first book. She chuckles at her second - ‘Moon in Taurus’ – but hopefully for the right reasons. It is a romantic comedy.

Charley is suffering from Emperor’s New Clothes Disorder – the signs are all there, she IS in love… Will she see the truth before Miles departs?

Moon in Taurus

A charcoaled tuft of lace fluttered into the air. Charley watched as it rose high on the breeze and slow-danced in front of the moon, before dipping down over the fence and into next door’s garden. She pulled a tartan blanket tighter around her shoulders and prodded the embers of the bonfire with an old bamboo stick she had found in the shed. How she’d loved her wedding dress, with its beaded trim and embroidered bodice. And how cathartic it had been to ignite it, with all the flourish of lighting a birthday cake.
She leant back into the deckchair and shoved another Jaffa Cake into her mouth – well why not, if they were deemed healthy enough for the England football squad. And it had been hard work, ripping at the tailored sleeves and yanking out the petticoat. Until at midnight, her task complete, she’d sat back and watched a flurry of red, blue and silver sparks see in the New Year – warmed by the barbeque that was her dress.
A door slammed and eventually the tap-tap of heels crossed the kitchen tiles. A slight figure, wearing a Parka, appeared at the open back door.
‘Mum?’
‘Out here, Tammy,’ Charley called, staring in disbelief at the remnants of white silk. Yet how could she regret something that had felt so good? She should have torn up that dress long ago.
Tamsin traipsed across the lawn and stopped, looking from her mother towards the fire and then back to her mother again.
‘What you doing?’
‘Happy New Year, darling!’ God, it was hard to sound cheerful. ‘You look as if you’ve had a good time at Hannah’s.’
Tamsin swayed a little as she bent down over the embers.
‘Burning old clothes?’ she said, squinting as the smoke wafted into her eyes. ‘Isn’t that illegal or something?’ Then she spotted an ivory storage box, upside down in a puddle by some Japonica bushes. ‘Mum! Are you mad? Not your wedding dress?’
Charley continued to prod the embers.
‘Your wedding dress?’ repeated Tamsin, shaking her head as she sat down onto the grass near her mother. She rested her elbows on her raised knees. ‘But why? Thought you were keeping it for me?’
‘I seem to remember last time I got it out you swore you’d never wear “that hideous Bo-Peep monstrosity”.’
‘Could’ve customized it.’ Tamsin pursed her lips. ‘When are you going to get over the whole Dad and Beanie thing?’
Charley opened her mouth before quickly closing it again. She should have been used to teenage directness by now. As she stood up to go in, a cleanly folded letter fell from her lap.
‘What’s this?’ Tamsin picked it up.
‘Oh, nothing, I…’
But it was too late. Tamsin had already unfolded it and stopped reading after the first two words: Decree Absolute. Charley took back the letter and smiled a little too brightly.



Samantha Tonge

Sam.tonge (at) ntlworld (dot) com