Losing You Read Online Free PDF Page B

had coped during these past four years had shown Emma what true strength and courage was all about.
    And now this damned recession had come knocking at Polly’s door, which just went to prove that there was no justice in the world, because if one person should be exempt from this ghastly downturn after everything she’d been through, it absolutely ought to be Polly.
    ‘OK, sweetie, I’m sorry,’ Polly was saying, as she reached for her wine. ‘It’s true I ran away after nursery today, and I know I shouldn’t have ... I swear it never occurred to me that they’d start ringing you, but don’t worry ... No, I promise, I’ll get back to them as soon as I finish speaking to you ... Melissa, I’m doing my best here, OK? We all are ... All right, it’s not your problem, I get that, but ... Yes, I am at Emma’s.’ She glanced at Emma and rolled her eyes. ‘No, Lauren’s in London, I thought you knew ... OK, don’t bite my head off, I was just saying ... Melissa, Melissa, I’m forty-one years old, which makes me perfectly capable of deciding how much I have to drink ... All right, I’ll stay here tonight if it makes you happy. I take it you’re at Lucy’s and her mother’s dropping you at school ... Right, her father ... And I’ll be there to pick you up ... OK, darling, love you too, no, of course I’m not mad with you, as long as you’re not mad with me.’ She gave a laugh. ‘Call before you go to sleep,’ she said, and as she rang off her eyes returned to Emma. ‘Is this the point,’ she queried, ‘at which the parent–child role reversal starts to take place?’
    Chuckling, Emma said, ‘If it is, why don’t we send them out to battle the world on our behalf while we go back to school?’
    Polly seemed to light up. ‘What a damned good idea. I mean they’re already there, aren’t they, because when you know everything, the way they do, you can’t get anything wrong, can you? So it’s absolutely right for them to be in charge. According to my father-in-law they’re already running the country anyway – and I guess from his perspective the current Cabinet does look like a scene from The Simpsons . Or maybe he’s thinking of the way we’ve all gone soft on our kids in comparison to the discipline of his day. Who knows? Who cares? Let’s just drink to us and pretend that when we wake up tomorrow everything’s going to be fab and gorgeous and the way we really want it to be.’
    Upending the bottle again, Emma said, ‘Question is, how do we really want it to be?’
    Polly groaned. ‘Don’t get me started. Just tell me how your job search is going. Any interviews lined up yet?’
    Deflating horribly, Emma replied, ‘With agencies, yes, but none of the jobs I’ve applied for through websites have yielded a single positive response. Of course, they never say why I’m not invited in, just that they’re sorry but on this occasion my application hasn’t been successful.’
    ‘So what sort of thing are you applying for?’
    ‘Just about anything, from assistant restaurant manager, to lettings negotiator, to call-centre operator. The trouble is, I don’t have any prior experience at any of them, or IT skills, or a degree that seems to mean anything at all these days, or I presume it doesn’t, because so far no one actually wants to meet me. How can they not want to meet me?’
    Polly looked suitably baffled. ‘There are clearly greater things waiting for you out there,’ she decided. ‘Remind me, what’s your degree in?’
    ‘English, much good it’s ever done me. But what did it matter when my little sandwich round got going, my stopgap, as it were, between uni and some greater glory. The trouble was it took off and off and off, until I had a dozen people working for me including two events organisers and a full-time clown, and by that I don’t mean myex-husband. Or maybe I do. Yes, I definitely do. Anyway, it’s all in the past now, and unfortunately a failed business doesn’t