Pieces of My Heart Read Online Free PDF

she doesn’t get hurt.’
    ‘It’ll do her the world of good to focus on men rather than school books for a while. She should be having more fun.’
    ‘Yeah, you’re right. When I think of myself at seventeen, sneaking out the bedroom window and cycling off to parties, I can’t believe I have a daughter who is so well behaved. Mind you, Sarah’s the other extreme.’
    ‘She’s not really that bad. She just likes to push the boundaries.’
    ‘And my buttons. She really knows how to wind me up.’
    ‘That might have something to do with the fact that you’re very alike.’
    ‘Me and Sarah?’
    ‘Come on, Ava, you’ve mellowed a bit over the years, but you were a live-wire in your day.’
    ‘I never spoke to my mother the way she speaks to me.’
    ‘That’s because you were too busy sneaking around behind her back. At least Sarah talks to you and tells you what she wants.’
    ‘I suppose that’s something. All the parenting experts say that communication with your kids is vital and she’s certainly good at communicating. Sometimes, though, I wish she’d put a sock in it.’
    ‘She’ll be fine, she’s just lively.’
    ‘That’s one way of putting it.’
    ‘So, what’s been happening since I’ve been away?’
    ‘The Brown-Kennedy party went well, but they haven’t paid the bill, so I need you to call the dad and sweet-talk the money from him.’ I handed her a Post-it with his number on it.
    ‘No problem, leave it to me. He’ll have a cheque in the post today.’
    ‘Great.’ I opened one of the files on my desk. ‘Now, we’ve got the Mallow twins’ seventh-birthday party in two weeks. They want a crocodile cake that spurts blood when you cut it. Helen reckons she can work something out with raspberry coulis for the blood. They want a small marquee decked out in jungle style. The mother wants safari outfits for the twins and their dad. She also wants an outfit for herself, but not shorts and a jacket. She wants us to source a sexy safari dress.’
    ‘Which is what, exactly?’
    ‘She’s thinking tight leopard-print minidress with a sun-visor to match.’
    Sally stared at me open-mouthed. ‘But she’s fifty … and fat.’
    ‘Harsh.’ Mrs Mallow was actually forty-seven, and while she wasn’t fat, she definitely didn’t have the figure required for tight minidresses.
    ‘She looks like a transvestite,’ Sally said. ‘Look, I’m no one to slag off someone for getting work done, but she needs to stop the Botox – her eyebrows are disappearing into her hairline. If I ever get like that, tell me.’
    ‘OK, I will, and you must tell me when I look like a hag and need to have something done. Now, I’ve actually sourced the dress already on the Internet. There are – would you believe? – ninety-five thousand nine hundred Google results for sexy safari dresses. The one I’ve gone with is very revealing so I think she’ll like it. I’ve worked out the costs for the party, but Helen reckons the price of making the cake and the hundred chocolate snakes, lizards, scorpions and terrapins could be higher. She’ll give us a final price tomorrow.’
    Sally looked at the numbers. ‘Thank God for parents with too much money and no sense! Now, show me this dress.’
    I pulled it out of the bag and Sally screeched, ‘You cannot be serious – it’s obscene!’
    I grinned. ‘Sally, may I remind you that the client gets whatever the client wants and this little number is what Nancy Mallow is looking for.’
    ‘All that money and no taste, it’s a travesty.’
    I glanced at my watch. ‘I’ve got to run. I’m going to drop into Nancy later on my way to collect the girls from school.’
    ‘OK, see you tomorrow. I hope she likes her stripper dress.’

5
    Unfortunately, Nancy Mallow didn’t like the dress I’d found because it wasn’t short enough, apparently.
    ‘Come on, Ava, I’m in my forties, not sixties. My legs are still in good shape so let’s show them off.’
    I tried not to