‘Thanks, Mum.’ She smiled meekly and used the side of her fork to cut a mouthful.
‘You’re welcome.’
‘You were on the phone for an age!’ her dad said suddenly.
She didn’t want to look him in the eye, not when the topic under discussion had been S-E-X. ‘I guess we have a lot to talk about.’
‘Well, I guess you need to find a way to have less to talk about or, better still, wait until you see your mate. It’d be bloody cheaper! There’s no money tree in our back garden.’ Her dad was fond of telling her this, and yet, compared to Michelle’s family, they lived like kings. And if they did have a money tree, she’d give it a big shake and, with whatever dropped out, buy a ticket to California.
‘We are so proud of you. We can’t wait to see your exam results. This is just the start for you, the start of your big adventure. Our little girl . . .’ Her mum ran her palm over the tousled pineapple of hair on the top of her head and Bessie thought it odd how they saw her as a little girl and yet she knew she was a big girl with big ideas. ‘I can’t wait to see them either.’ She couldn’t wait for her adventure to begin.
CHAPTER TWO
August 20th 2021
The alarm pip-pipped its infernal noise. Bess screwed her eyes shut, reluctant to greet the day. The blanket of melancholy that wrapped her shoulders and held her tight felt as unpleasant and restrictive as it always did on days like these, weighing her down.
Reaching for her phone, she jabbed her finger on to the button that would silence the alarm, having no choice other than to admit she was awake: her face squashed into the soft pillow, the pull of her bladder, which needed emptying, and her husband’s rumbling snore, which ended with the smack of his lips. And yet she lay perfectly still, hoping pointlessly for five more minutes of escape.
Admitting defeat, she opened her eyes and rolled on to her back and, with her nightdress rucked around her middle, stared up at the ceiling and the three-arm ivory-coloured chandelier decorated with snaking leaves. The addition had seemed like a good idea when she thumbed through the interior design magazine in the newsagent’s, looking for inspiration, convincing Mario that it was all the rage. Now, though, with its bare candle bulbs and plastic droplets that from a distance looked like glass, she thought it a bit too grand and out of place in the cosy bedroom of their dormer bungalow. Not that she would ever admit this to her husband, who had taken a bit of persuading that at one hundred and fifteen quid it was what the article had described as ‘an investment piece’ – money he felt would have been better put towards a new mattress. A year or so back they had considered a replacement, but she had fallen at the final hurdle at the mere thought of giving up her beloved bed, refusing to upgrade because she knew it was the little imperfections and familiarity that gave her the best night’s sleep. A new, firmer example without the comfortable dip in which her hip lodged and without the lingering essence of its history would not be the same at all. Mario didn’t get it, but then Mario didn’t get lots of things.
She smarted at the resounding fart that now poisoned her atmosphere, making her jaw tense and her nose wrinkle.
‘Was that you or the dog?’ She nudged her husband with her right foot, her toes sliding against his wide, hairy calf.
‘I know it’s an awful thing to say,’ Mario mumbled, ‘but I honestly don’t know.’ He chuckled until the duvet shook. Bess did not find it so amusing and felt the squeak of her back teeth as she ground her upper and lower jaw with irritation. She looked at Chutney, their dark, leggy mongrel, snoring peacefully in the wide space between them on the bed.
When Chutney was a pup, they would on occasion breach the gap, scooting him to the bottom of the mattress and reaching over to make contact skin-to-skin as they indulged in quick, satisfying sex on a Saturday night, with the promise of a lie-in on Sunday. It had been a while since they had shifted the dog for this purpose, using him as both an excuse and a foot warmer. It wasn’t Mario’s fault. Newly