Pedigree Mum Read Online Free PDF Page B

disbelief, and immediately she’s up on her feet, making up the sofa bed while he stares into space, wondering what the hell just happened. Perhaps it was a hallucination. He’s never kissed anyone but Kerry – not for over thirteen bloody years. But it’s okay, it didn’t mean anything …
    Dizzy and overwhelmingly tired now, Rob is vaguely aware of saying goodnight to Nadine, then undressing to his boxers and falling into bed alone as the mauve-tinted dawn creeps into the room. Yet, when he wakes at 8.47 a.m., with his dried-out tongue gummed to the roof of his mouth, a tiny and naked Nadine is curled up on the sofa bed beside him.

Chapter Six
    Kerry was up early – 6.35 a.m. – despite Freddie’s nocturnal wakening and that
Cuckoo Clock
theme tune chirping away in her brain for much of the night. But at least she has been able to shower uninterrupted and even managed to blow-dry her hair. Normally she lets it dry naturally, which makes it sound like a considered move, in the way a celeb might share a beauty tip:
‘I try to avoid exposing my hair to heat.’
However, it’s more to do with the fact that, since having Mia, and
especially
since having Freddie, Kerry’s ‘beauty regime’ (she can’t help twitching with mirth when ever she hears that term) has been whittled down to a spot of Nivea on her face before bed. Rob is more high-maintenance than she is these days.
    Kerry has also managed to unearth her old favourite red shift dress, plus glossy heels that match – not the dress, obviously (that would be too much red) but each other, which feels like a major achievement. It’s a bit much for daytime, she suspects. But Kerry is hoping for maximum impact when she shows up to surprise Rob.
    She’s at the bathroom mirror now, applying make-up under the watchful gaze of Mia, who rarely sees her mother beautifying herself.
Teeth
, Kerry thinks a little late in the proceedings, prompting Freddie to bellow, ‘Why are you
sawing your mouth
?’
    ‘I’m not sawing. I’m just cleaning the little gaps between my teeth.’ She has a fleeting memory of a time when she could perform bathroom-related duties alone.
    ‘Why?’ Mia asks.
    ‘Er, so my breath’s nice and fresh.’ Explaining about plaque and mouth germs seems a little unnecessary at this early hour.
    A sly smile creeps across Freddie’s face. ‘That’s ’cause you’re gonna kiss Dad.’
    Kerry drops her used dental floss strip into the bin. ‘Yes, well, I hope so, sweetheart. That’s the general idea, seeing as it’s his birthday.’
    ‘Can we phone Daddy now?’ he asks, plucking her used floss from the bin and bringing it up to his own mouth.
    ‘Freddie, put that back in the bin! It’s dirty …’
    He throws it down at his feet. ‘Can I, Mum?’
    ‘Yeah, I wanna call Dad,’ Mia exclaims.
    ‘In a little while,’ Kerry says, brushing on mascara. ‘It’s only half eight and he might be having a lie in, seeing as it’s Saturday.’ She tries to remember what time he said the first people were coming round to look at the house. Around ten, was it? ‘We’ll call in about half an hour, okay?’
    Mia sucks her teeth. ‘You never let us phone him.’
    ‘Sweetheart, that’s not true. Ow.’ Kerry jabs the mascara wand into her left eye, causing it to fill with tears. ‘We speak to Daddy nearly every evening …’
    ‘Yeah, but …’ She makes a little
pfff
sound.
    ‘Come on, darling. Dad’ll soon be living with us, then you’ll see him every day.’ Dabbing her watery eye with some loo roll, she glances down at her children who are perched on the edge of the shabby enamelled bath. Still friendless in Shorling, Kerry has taken to counting the days until Rob comes home for the weekends. Yet, when he is here, she detects a sense of distance between them, almost as if they’ve forgotten how to fit together.
    ’Cause you’re gonna kiss Dad.
Freddie’s words echo in Kerry’s mind as she dabs away the mascara smears from around