Broke Read Online Free PDF Page B

hadn’t set foot in there since the undertakers had removed the body. She’d been so busy with the funeral arrangements since then that she hadn’t had time to stop and think what life was going to be like without her. But now, with everything done and dusted bar collecting the ashes, this was it.
    No more Mother demanding she do this, that or the other. No more stinking sheets to change, or backside to sponge. No more wheedling pleas for morphine – or being called a selfish bitch for refusing to double the dose.
    No more of any of it.
    Jenny was free. At long last, she was free – and it felt really, really good.

4
    Three weeks later Amy was sitting on the couch, folding the still-warm clothes she’d brought back from the launderette into piles. Bobby had fallen asleep on the way back so she’d carried him up to his bed. Thinking that he’d got up when she heard a noise in the hall, she looked round. But it wasn’t Bobby who walked in, it was Mark. And he looked really glum.
    ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked, shoving the washing aside. ‘You’re not ill, are you?’
    ‘I’ve been sacked,’ he muttered, dropping his jacket onto the couch and making his way into the kitchen.
    Sure that she’d misheard, Amy jumped up and followed him. ‘What did you say?’
    ‘You heard.’ Mark took a can of beer out of the fridge and flopped onto a chair.
    ‘Are you serious?’ Amy asked, hoping against hope that he would laugh and tell her it was a joke. When he didn’t, a sliver of fear trickled down her spine. ‘Oh God, Mark, what have you done?’
    ‘Nothing.’ He ripped the tab off the can and swallowed a mouthful of§ beer.
    Irritated that he was being so cagey, Amy said, ‘You can’t get sacked for nothing. Stan must have given you a reason.’
    Mark gripped his can and gritted his teeth. ‘If you must know, I’ve been late a few times. Now drop it – I’m not in the mood.’
    A frown of confusion creased Amy’s brow. ‘That can’t be right. I always wake you up in the morning, and I make sure you’re out of the house in plenty of time to catch your bus, so how could you be late? He must have got it wrong. Ring him. Tell him to check.’
    ‘He’s not talking about mornings,’ Mark said quietly. ‘He’s talking about lunchtimes.’
    ‘You’ve been back late from lunch?’ Amy’s frown deepened. ‘Why? What have you been doing? And what about Steve? You always have lunch with him, so has he been sacked as well?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Why not? That’s not fair.’
    Mark groaned and ran a hand over his eyes. He wished he hadn’t told her now. Wished he’d just stayed out until it was his normal time to come home, then she’d be none the wiser and he wouldn’t be getting earache.
    But Amy wasn’t about to drop it. She wanted answers, and she wanted them now.
    ‘If you don’t tell me what’s going on, I’ll ring Stan myself,’ she threatened. ‘Or, better still, I’ll ring the head office. This is blatant favouritism, and I’m not having it. Where’s that address book with the number in it?’
    ‘Just leave it,’ Mark groaned when she started rifling through the kitchen drawers.
    ‘And let Stan get away with sacking you but not Steve? No chance!’
    ‘It’s got nothing to do with Steve. Stan’s been looking for an excuse to get rid of me for ages, and now he’s found one – end of.’
    ‘That doesn’t make sense.’ Amy rounded on him, the address book in her hand. ‘It’s only a few weeks since he gave you that bonus for being employee of the month. Why would he pick you for that if he was planning to get rid of you?’
    ‘Because he’s a cunt!’ Mark hissed, annoyed at himself for not thinking this through properly. ‘Now put a sock in it, for fuck’s sake. I’ve got a headache.’
    ‘A headache?’ Amy drew her head back and stared down at him in disbelief. ‘You come home and drop a bomb like this on me, then tell me to drop it ’cos you’ve got a headache ? Are you