Lily Alone Read Online Free PDF Page B

with poor people, but generally it was for a one-night stand. Gordon was young and posh, Mum was older and poor – and she had four children.
    Perhaps that was why she needed to buy the slinky dress, with the skirt and top as back-up outfits. She bought them all and kept poking her hand into the carrier bag to stroke them lovingly. She took us to a McDonald’s for lunch, buying us all burgers and French fries, but she just nibbled a few chips herself.
    â€˜I’m too excited to eat,’ she said. ‘Besides, I need to keep my tummy as flat as possible – that new dress doesn’t half cling.’
    â€˜Mum, you’ve got to eat.’
    â€˜I’ll probably be having a meal with Gordon. Somewhere fancy, with waiters and soft lights and maybe a violin playing.’
    â€˜You’re making it all up!’
    â€˜Well, why can’t I pretend a bit? You do all the time, Lily.’
    â€˜Yes, but you’re the grown-up. And you’re making it up too much.’
    Mum bent her head close to mine. ‘Don’t spoil it for me,’ she whispered.
    â€˜I just don’t want you to get hurt,’ I said.
    â€˜Is Mum going to get hurt?’ Bliss asked anxiously.
    â€˜No, of course I’m not, pet. I’m going to go out and have the night of my life,’ said Mum.
    â€˜With Gordon,’ said Pixie, sucking on a chip.
    â€˜Is he going to be our new dad?’ Bliss asked.
    â€˜No, love!’ said Mum, laughing.
    I breathed a sigh of relief. At least she wasn’t crazy enough to believe that.
    We went home on the bus and Mum spent hours in the bathroom, soaking herself, slapping on a mud-pack facial, and tweaking her eyebrows. Baxter played out, driving his fork-lift truck along the balconies, while Bliss and Pixie dressed up in their new finery and played a game of grown-up ladies.
    I sat at the kitchen table with my new drawing pad and felt tips and my magazine. I had peace, I had privacy, everything I always longed for, but somehow I couldn’t use my precious time properly. I flicked through the magazine quickly, noting a velvet sofa here, a painted table there, but not really taking it all in. I started drawing an ideal living room on the first page of my pad, but I drew the sofa far too small, shrunk to the size of a shoe on my vast white carpet. I couldn’t get the legs on my table right, so it lurched sideways, its bowl of oranges and apples about to spill.
    I tore the page out, crumpled it up and threw it across the room.
    â€˜Temper, temper!’ said Mum, padding into the kitchen in bare feet.
    She was wearing her old faded pink dressing gown but the rest of her was brightly coloured. She’d put a rinse in her hair to bring out the gold, she wore amazing make-up, and her finger- and toenails were blue.
    â€˜What do you think?’ said Mum, waving her fingers at me.
    â€˜You look like you’re going mouldy at the edges.’
    â€˜Thanks a bunch! It’s called Blue Moon. It’s the new trendy colour. All the models are wearing it. Don’t you like it really, Lily?’
    â€˜It looks fine,’ I said. She was looking at me so hopefully. ‘ You look fine, Mum. Really lovely.’
    â€˜How old do you think I look?’
    â€˜Young.’
    â€˜Yes, but how young?’
    â€˜Fifteen?’
    â€˜Are you taking the mickey? Actually, I look a lot better now than I did when I was fifteen, with my stomach stuck out to here and my face all over spots. God, I looked a sight then. I thought my life was over and I’d never have any fun ever again.’
    â€˜Because of me?’ I said in a very small voice.
    â€˜But I was wrong, wasn’t I?’ said Mum, putting her arms round me. ‘You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, Lily. You’re not just like a daughter – you and me are best mates, right?’
    â€˜Yeah, right,’ I said, hugging her back. I rubbed my cheek against