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.Was that Bea? Perhaps she saw me move closer for a better look, because suddenly she lunged for the car door and climbed inside.Briefly, the interior light illuminated her face.I sighed with relief.The sad fat lady was nothing like Bea.ON SUNDAY MORNING, I’M ASHAMED to say, I woke up in my studio on the river, with a man beating hard on his warning drums in my head.But I wasn’t taking heed.I couldn’t go around to Billie’s again, so I turned up at Al and Claudia’s house.Claudia, Al, and I have been friends since secondary school, and they therefore had no choice but to let me in.I’m sure they’d have preferred to remain in bed with each other and the papers, but it was an emergency.Because they had no children, I knew I’d get their undivided attention as well as the unconditional sympathy I was looking for.I kept forgetting we were a bit long in the tooth for that.“So, then what happened?”“Let’s put it like this.It didn’t end well,” I said.“That is self-evident, Tessa, since you’re sitting in our flat bitching about James and the girls when you should be with them,” said Al.“I’m not bitching.”Claudia picked at a croissant.“Maybe she really was scared.Amber’s only fourteen.You left her with quite a big responsibility.” Claudia was genetically programmed to see the best in people.“The girls were asleep.We were at the end of the road.”“But they weren’t asleep.”“Because Amber woke them up!”“You don’t know that.”“Claudia, whose side are you on?”“Yours, of course.Which is why I don’t think you should blow this out of proportion.She panicked when her sister felt ill and called her mum.It’s what kids do.She probably didn’t even try James’s number.”“It was plastered all over the fridge.”“Exactly.She was embarrassed because she’d forgotten what she was supposed to do.Then it was too late to back out, so she exaggerated Lulu’s illness and, to give credence to her story, mentioned how Lulu had banged her head.Otherwise she’d look foolish—worse, childish.And no fourteen-year-old wants that.”I opened and closed my mouth, like a goldfish.I could just about see the logic in it.Then I recalled Amber’s beautiful face huddled in the crook of my boyfriend’s arm and shook my head.“She’s out to get me.”“Don’t be ridiculous.She’s fourteen.”“Going on…well, fifteen, which is bad enough, these days.”“Now who’s being childish?” said Al.Claudia put a restraining hand on her husband’s leg.“Tessa has a right to be upset.”“No, she hasn’t.They went to the pub.Why couldn’t they have stayed at home and had a drink? She drank too much, then when it all calmed down she decided to have more to drink and tell James everything that was wrong with his parenting skills.”“He spent nearly an hour ‘settling’ her.” I mimed the quotation marks, still furious a fourteen-year-old required so much “settling.” “It wasn’t like that.”“I’m sure he didn’t feel as if you were lecturing him when you told him he indulged his daughter.”“All I said was he couldn’t see what was in front of his eyes.” To be honest, I couldn’t remember exactly what I’d said.Al was right.The half-bottle of wine had not improved my mood or my memory.“You spent a few hours with him and his children, then decided in your arrogance that you could do it better.No wonder he let you leave.”“Al!”“Personally, I think you’ve both been stupid about this,” he said, un-abashed.“You were a secret until a couple of weeks ago and now, suddenly, you’re moving in! Amber may have it in for you and she’d be entitled to, frankly, but she probably doesn’t even know she’s doing it.Who are you? She doesn’t know you.You should have given her a lot longer than this to get to know you [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]