The English Understand Wool

I, Darlene Cooley, have an ability. Whenever I touch an object, I can see the scenes it has experienced over the past day. I've been married for five years. Every time I help my husband, Bernard Hoffman, tidy up his suits or organize his briefcase, what I see are conference rooms, whiteboards, and workstations. Once in a while, I appear in those scenes. He'll be secretly reading my messages under his desk, the corners of his mouth lifting unconsciously. Bernard is so gentle that it feels almost unreal. In winter, he places my slippers by the heater to warm them up. No matter how busy his business trips are, he video calls me right on time. When I casually mention I feel like eating caramel popcorn, he drives halfway across the city to stand in line for it. My friends all say I'm blessed, and I feel the same way. That is, until yesterday, when he comes back from a trip. I go to help him unpack, and the moment I touch that gray cashmere sweater, a flood of images rushes in. Bernard is sitting across from a short-haired woman. Her eyes are bright, and a shallow dimple appears when she smiles. He listens to her speak, earnest and focused, with his head tilted slightly to one side. A faint smile lingers at the corner of his mouth. It's been a long time since he has listened to me speak like that. The vision ends. I crouch in front of the suitcase, my hand still resting on the cashmere sweater, unable to snap out of it for a long while. Then, I stand up and walk over to the cabinet, where I pull out my own suitcase.

My mom always said, "I've never played favorites. "You and your brother mean exactly the same to me." She said it so often I almost believed it. Growing up, anything my brother had, I had too. If he got a new pair of sneakers, so did I. If he signed up for coding classes, I was enrolled in the same ones. Even this year, when we came home for the holidays, my mom smiled as she handed each of us a neatly-packaged designer shopping bag. "I picked these out for you two at the store. One for each of you, exactly the same. "These outdoor brands are expensive, you know. A single jacket costs thousands. I'd never buy one for myself, but I don't mind splurging on you two." I took the jacket. It was well-cut, structured, and looked high-quality. A small warmth stirred in my chest. However, when I tried it on, the collar felt oddly irritating against my skin. Frowning, I pulled back the lining to check. There was a ring of yellowed sweat stains around the label, and tiny flakes of dandruff were caught in the Velcro. A faint musty smell lingered on the cloth, mixed with the stale odor of cheap tobacco. It was sour and impossible to ignore.

Danny James is moving across country. California to Wisconsin to live with her best friend who she met online. Once arriving, she puts in an application to be a tour guide at the local zoo. When she got the job, she went in to meet the animals. "Lions, Tigers, and Bears, oh my!" After meeting them, she's assigned her job. After days of working there, she grew fond of the wolves. They were so interesting to her.

Sophia Blanc has worked hard to fight her demons and make an honest woman from the young girl riddled with guilt over past mistakes. Doing the job she loves the most, working as a nurse in St Peter’s hospital, she wanted nothing more than a quiet life where she could hide from the world and pretend that she wasn’t haunted by memories of her past. Until she met the suave Matt Wolffe. Matt Wolffe, also known as the Wolf of the business world and devourer of hearts was no stranger to the spotlight. It’s no secret that Matt Wolffe wants her…and she wants him too. And as they come together in a storm of desires ghosts of the past threaten to pull them apart. Author's note: Alright readers, you are in for a slow burn because, come on, my characters are not horny rabbits and this is my first CEO style romance so I'm testing the waters. So please support and comment on ways I can improve. Also please vote my book with gems. Thank you.

Samantha Jones has lived most of her life in a small village she can't await to escape. No matter her story and background, she has worked ridiculous hard to reach her dream college in Oxford. She'll be finally getting out of all that bad gossip and join a college life with her dear missed friend Emily Black. She hasn't seen Emily ever since Emily left the village five years ago. Both of them want to let the past drop and be reckless for the first time in life. Boys, booze, party, a typical student life. Samantha didn't reckon, to ever see Jacob Baker again. Especially not in her dream college. Jacob also left five years ago. To be precise, he ditched her during the worst time of her life. A hurt and betrayal that changed her whole attitude and his at the same time. He isn't the cute boy he used to be. Jacob Baker has turned into a hot womanizer with attitude issues. But he is also the ultimate party master. Seeing Samantha again stresses both their worlds. ⚠️ ⚠️⚠️Warning steamy/ explicit graphic contents and mature language! Also contains traumatic scenes! Read at own risk, not suited under 18.

The night before I was supposed to leave for my study trip to Bath, my boyfriend Ethan suddenly tagged me in our three-person group chat. "Nora, check your train ticket. There's a surprise." I opened the railway booking app. The ticket from London to Bath had turned gray. The page read clearly: Trip cancelled. Refund issued to the original payment method. The cancellation had been made yesterday afternoon. Before I could even type a reply, messages started flooding the chat one after another. My best friend Sophie sent a string of laughing emojis first. "Ethan, you lost again. You're covering all the coffee this month! I told you she wouldn't notice even the day before." Ethan replied quickly, "Fine, you win. Nora, you're so oblivious. Hurry up and buy an open ticket without a reserved seat. Sophie and I will take turns giving you ours once we're on the train." They chatted away enthusiastically, the screen filled with emojis celebrating their winning bet. Just like the camping trip, when they'd bet on whether I would cry over beetles and deliberately broke my tent zipper. Or the time before that, when they'd bet on how long it would take me to start wheezing after accidentally eating peanuts, and hid my EpiPen in the highest kitchen cabinet. Every time I told them with red-rimmed eyes that I really did mind, their answer was always the same. "What's the big deal?It was just a joke." I stared at the group chat for a long time. In the end, I said nothing. I left the three-person group and bought a plane ticket to Inverness for the next day. I wanted to see the lakes of the Scottish Highlands in winter, to see just how blue the sky could be when the wind swept across the moors. On my own, done with toxic people for good, the scenery might be just right.