The Ice Cream Girls Read Online Free PDF Page A

especially since she could choose her own dress.
    In the wall of mirrors in the bridalwear boutique, I am reflected back at myself ten times – 360 degrees of me. I’ve never seen myself so completely before. No matter where I look, there I am. My tall, slenderish frame, my straight black hair pulled back into a low ponytail at the base of my neck, my make-up-free face. There I am. It’s unnerving. Especially as I can also see the blood on my hands. It’s dripping off my hands, off my fingers on to the beautiful top layer of satin silk. Everywhere it drips it leaves a little rosette of red, creating more and more flowers, until the slim-fitting skirt that is gathered at the back is like a field of snow, topped with poppies. Each one is a pure and unrelenting red; each one a stain on my soul. Poppies are the sign of remembrance, aren’t they? And this blood on my hands is saying that: remember me . It’s as if he is standing beside me, dripping his blood on to my hands so it trickles on to the dress, while his deep, slightly gravelly voice is whispering through the smile on his face, ‘Never forget, Serena. Always remember me.’
    I wonder if the saleswoman will mind if I rip this thing to shreds to get it off me? I wonder if Evan will mind if I say I don’t want to jinx my life any more by getting married again?
    June, 1992
    For nearly two years Evan and I were on nodding terms after he threw his drink on me. We’d see each other in the bar on Friday nights, in the corridors, in the pubs in town, sometimes just in the street. We’d nod and mutter, ‘All right?’ at each other as we passed, never finding the need to stop and talk. Then, one day, he stopped when we passed each other on the high street.
    ‘I’m leaving in a couple of days,’ he said at me to get me to stop.
    ‘Leaving?’ I replied, surprised that he’d initiated conversation.
    ‘Yeah, I’ve finished college. I’m going to medical school in London.’
    ‘Right,’ I said. ‘Well, good luck.’
    ‘Thanks.’
    We stood in an awkward silence for a few seconds. He hadn’t thought it through when he spoke to me, hadn’t formulated an escape plan when he opened his mouth and now we were both stuck, like flies on flypaper – desperate to get away but unable to free ourselves.
    ‘So . . .’ he said.
    ‘So . . .’ I said.
    I linked my hands together and started to pick at my left thumbnail with my right thumbnail. ‘ Just walk away ,’ a voice inside my head said. ‘ I can’t ,’ another voice replied. ‘ That would be rude. ’
    ‘ So’s murder ,’ the first voice said.
    My head snapped up to look at him, our gazes collided and a spark ignited between us.
    ‘You know,’ he said. ‘I’ve been trying to work out for ages if I fancy you or not.’
    ‘Right,’ I replied.
    He shook his head. ‘I don’t think I do.’
    ‘OK,’ I said, thinking, That’s a good thing, because as sure as eggs is eggs I don’t fancy you. Apart from a minute ago.
    ‘Shame really,’ he said. ‘Because I think we’d really get on if we got together.’
    ‘OK. How do you know that, then?’
    He shrugged. ‘I just get that feeling. You seem like the sort of girl I could take home to meet my mother.’
    ‘Why does that sound like an insult?’ I said.
    ‘It’s not. You just seem nice, that’s all. Bit of a laugh, good personality, nothing offensive about you. My parents would love you.’
    ‘Well, that’s good to know – some random boy’s parents would love me. I can rest really easy now that I know that.’
    He smiled and something lust-like somersaulted in my stomach, then danced lightly up and down my spine.
    ‘Do you want to give it a try?’ he asked me.
    ‘What, meeting your parents? No thank you. I’m sure they’re perfectly lovely, but blind parent-dates really aren’t my thing.’
    ‘I meant going out together. Do you want to give going out with me a go?’
    ‘No, not really,’ I replied.
    Evan looked taken aback,