LITMIR.BIZ

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Bryn said. ‘They’re only a hundred calories each, and they have slow-releasing energy.’

      Under her mother’s withering glare, Scarlett’s conscience was pricked. ‘I suppose I could take some out tonight for my mates.’

      ‘Out? Tonight?’ Nina repeated. ‘I don’t think so. Summer holidays are over and you have your GCSEs this year. No socializing during the week and only once at the weekend.’

      Scarlett’s jaw dropped. ‘You can’t do that!’

      ‘It’s not open for discussion, Scarlett. That’s how it is. And by the way,’ Nina added, dropping her gaze to Scarlett’s hands, ‘when I told you last night to take off your nail varnish, I meant take it off. You know the school rules, and by my reckoning you’re breaking at least half a dozen.’

      ‘But, Mum, nobody cares. Everyone wears makeup and nail varnish, and the teachers don’t say a thing. If you’re that bothered, I’ll put nail-varnish remover in my bag and, if any of the teachers freak out, I’ll take it off.’

      ‘No, do it now.’

      Scarlett shoved another piece of chocolate in her mouth before returning the remainder to the fridge. ‘If I do, can I still go out tonight? It’s not as if school’s started properly.’

      In the midst of their negotiations, Liam had appeared like a spectre only vaguely aware of the world around him. Without uttering a word, he grabbed something from the fridge and wedged it between two slices of bread before disappearing.

      ‘I give up, honestly I do.’

      Scarlett’s face lit up and she ran over to give her mum a dramatic hug. ‘Thank you, Mum,’ she said, scurrying out of the kitchen before Nina realized her daughter thought she had been talking to her. Nina was going to have to up her game if she were to avoid being outmanoeuvred by her children in the coming year.

      Nina stood on the landing staring at two firmly closed bedroom doors, and as she listened to Bryn preparing dinner downstairs she could feel her frustration get the better of her. She accepted that they were all in a period of adjustment, but was it too much to expect Liam and Scarlett to at least acknowledge the efforts their stepfather was making, even if they chose not to reciprocate? Her marriage could be a great opportunity for them to have a male role model in their lives at long last, if only they would recognize it.

      Liam and Scarlett’s dad worked on the North Sea oil rigs and lived a single life in Aberdeen as far as Nina was aware. His children rarely had contact with him and it had been a year or two since either of them had made noises about going to stay with him. Nina had been a lone parent in every sense of the word and, despite heroic efforts, there had been limits to the advice and support she could offer her children, not to mention time. Bryn could bridge the gap. He was bridging the gap, and while Nina wasn’t quite ready to drive the point home forcefully, she wasn’t averse to helping things along.

      She tapped on Liam’s door and, after receiving no reply, pushed against the doorstop her son used to deter unwelcome visitors. The door opened only a fraction, revealing a darkened room thick with stale air. A flicker of blue light suggested Liam was using some form of electronic device to communicate with his virtual world.

      ‘Liam?’

      When she received a grunt in response, she asked, ‘How was your first day back?’

      ‘Fine.’

      ‘Dinner won’t be long. Bryn’s trying out a new recipe.’

      Nina hadn’t posed a question so received no answer or acknowledgement.

      ‘Have you made plans for the weekend?’ she continued, and although it was a question this time, an answer wasn’t necessary. If Liam had friends outside school, they rarely met, not in the real world at least. ‘Sarah’s suggested we all go out for Sunday lunch. I’d like us all to go.’

      There was a hiss of annoyance, but not an outright refusal.

      ‘OK?’ she asked.

      ‘OK, Mum. Is that all?’

      ‘Great, lovely. I’m so looking forward to having quality time with my family,’ she muttered under her breath as she closed the door and turned her attention towards Scarlett’s room.

      Of the two adolescents Nina had to contend with, she held out most hope for Scarlett. At fifteen, she was still young enough to want to please her mum, or at least Nina hoped that was the case. She tapped lightly on the door and walked in.

      Scarlett was sitting at her dressing table absorbed in the task of applying dramatic sweeps of eyeliner to accentuate violet eyes that were already guaranteed to draw attention. She had always been a pretty child and undoubtedly she would become a beautiful woman one day, but at that precise moment she was somewhere in between and it didn’t rest easy with Nina. Her daughter had plenty of friends who were boys and one day, perhaps soon, she would break someone’s heart and most likely have hers broken in return. The best Nina could hope for was that Scarlett wouldn’t follow her example and leave it until middle age to find the one.

      ‘Scarlett!’ Nina shouted loud enough to be heard above the music being channelled through headphones and assaulting her daughter’s eardrums.

      Scarlett jumped and the delicate flick of black she had been applying zigzagged towards her temple.

      ‘For f—’ Scarlett began, only to check herself. ‘Flipping heck, Mum. What did you do that for? You scared the sh—, the life out of me!’

      Try as she might, Nina couldn’t keep a straight face. ‘I think you need to redo your makeup.’

      Scarlett turned back to the mirror and examined the damage. ‘Oh great, now I’ll have to start again. I’m going to be late.’

      ‘Late out, but not late back,’ Nina told her. ‘Where are you going anyway?’

      ‘Only Eva’s.’

      ‘To do homework?’ Nina asked hopefully.

      ‘On the first day back? Not even my teachers are that mean.’

      ‘How was school?’

      Scarlett pulled a face. ‘Mrs Russell has left. She got a better job in Chester.’

      ‘Good for her,’ Nina said. Scarlett owed much of her academic success to the woman who had been her form tutor for the last four years. Whenever there had been a suggestion that she was becoming distracted or disheartened, Mrs Russell had managed to get her back on an even keel. ‘You’re going to miss her, aren’t you?’

      Scarlett shrugged. She preferred not to admit to liking any of her teachers and Nina had to read between the lines. ‘So who’s her replacement?’

      Wiping her eyelid with a dampened cotton bud, Scarlett appeared disinterested in both the question and her answer. ‘Mr Swift.’

      ‘Ooh, isn’t he that good-looking English teacher?’

      The soiled cotton bud was cast across the dressing table. ‘Urgh, if you’re into ancient relics.’ A smile began to form as she drew her dazzling violet eyes away from her reflection and towards her mum. ‘He’s about to turn thirty and the whole of our form convinced him he’s losing his hair. He’s probably gone home to ask his wife if he really does have the massive bald spot we all swore we could see.’

      ‘The poor man.’

      ‘Linus said he’s going to bring in one of his granddad’s caps as a birthday present.’

      ‘Ah yes, Linus. Will he be at Eva’s tonight?’

      ‘Probably,’ Scarlett said as she began reapplying her eyeliner.

      Scarlett had spent most of the summer helping her best friend Eva convert her parent’s garage into a crash pad. She had stayed over so often

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